Richard Derham is the Executive Lead for Opportunities For All Youth, an employer-led coalition focussed on the recruitment and hiring of Opportunity Youth (16-29 year olds who are not working or in school and who face systemic barriers (also referred to as NEETs)). Prior to joining MaRS, Richard was Founder and President of TurnAround Couriers, a bicycle courier business that hires NEET youth and is now one of the largest bike courier firms by size in Toronto. It is a unique and successful social purpose business that only hires a target population (NEET youth in the city) and encourages ongoing higher education for its staff. Richard sold TurnAround Couriers in 2017, social mission intact. Prior to founding TurnAround Couriers in October 2002, Richard worked as a commercial lawyer in England and France for six years, before going to INSEAD, France to study for his MBA in 1999. He emigrated to Canada in 2000 and worked for Monitor Deloitte. Richard was called to the Ontario bar and became a member of The Law Society of Upper Canada in 2014.
Richard Derham is a member of the Toronto Sector Skills Academy, Class of 2018, one of several Workforce Leadership Academies in localities across North America.
The Workforce Leadership Academies are part of the Economic Opportunity Fellows Network, a network of leadership and fellowship programs run by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program. Within this Network, EOP connects national and local leaders from across sectors — nonprofit, government, business, philanthropy, academia, and more — to advance policies and practices with the potential to help low- and moderate-income Americans thrive in today’s economy. Learn more at as.pn/eofn.