Meet the Team

Maria Antonakos - Founder and Chief Strategist

Prior to establishing OPUS, Maria was the Senior Director of Philanthropic Services for The Canadian Women’s Foundation where she led the foundation’s philanthropic and major gifts programmes, and helped established Women Play BIG – an ongoing national think-tank for women philanthropists.

From 1999-2002, she was the Capital Campaign Manager for the $20 million project to renovate Roy Thomson Hall. In her early career, Maria worked with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestras Canada and The Boris Brott Festival. She has led workshops for City of Toronto cultural organizations in fundraising, strategic planning, board governance and marketing, and has taught fundraising at Humber College.

In September 2008 Maria launched a course in strategic philanthropy for senior commerce students at the DeGroote School of Business. The course is sponsored by philanthropists, Doris Buffett, Michael Lee Chin, Bob Levis and Jeff Wheeler.

In her spare time, Maria is also a singer and composer. She has produced two CDs: four corners no walls, and Mystras, Siren Songs of the Mediterranean, both released by Marquis/EMI Music in Canada, the US and Europe. Maria was honoured to be featured in the documentary series Women in Music on Bravo! television. A graduate of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, Maria continued post-graduate work at New York University and The Juilliard School.

In addition to her passion for philanthropy, business, the arts and languages, Maria has twice run the Marine Corp Marathon in Washington, DC – the ultimate test in persistence, she is proud to have crossed the finish line at mile 26.2 each time!

Maria lives lives with her husband, Dr. Harald Stover, and their twin babies in Dundas, Ontario.