Marsha Parry-Folkes
Vice President, Program & Service Operations, Achēv
Marsha Parry-Folkes brings over 20 years of leadership & management experience in the community-based employment and settlement sectors. She first joined Achēv in November 2008 as Manager, Language Assessment Centres, and leveraging her skills in building and sustaining strong employee and stakeholder relationships, Marsha progressed through a series of roles. She has contributed to the growth in the language sector, most notably, leading the Language Assessment Teams through the 2013 transition to the new CLARS service model with the Federal and Provincial governments.
In 2019, as Director of Language Assessment Services, Marsha’s portfolio expanded to broader oversight of assessment tools, curriculum development, training and digital projects. She has supported large teams and stakeholders across an expansive landscape to navigate several service system transformations. Following the onset of the pandemic in 2020, as Senior Director, Marsha collaborated with key stakeholders to quickly develop & implement system-wide procedures which enabled hybrid service continuity of assessments and referrals to learners across Canada.
With a passion for continuous learning, Marsha has a Master of Education in Adult Education & Community Development (OISE), as well as, Certificates in Non-Profit Leadership for Impact and Human Resources, all from the University of Toronto. As part of her community engagement, Marsha currently chairs the York Region Language Training Partnership meetings and sits at several community tables. Marsha is known for being inclusive, collaborative, and greatly values a human-centered approach to service innovation.