THEODORA SAMIOTIS, Principal and Co-founder

Theodora is a communications and public affairs professional with more than 20 years of experience in the Private, Public, and Non-profit sectors.

Early in her career, she spent six years as a Federal parliamentary assistant, first as Legislative Assistant to a Federal MP, and later as Special Assistant (Quebec) to the Minister of National Defence, where she gained a deep understanding of the political and policy making process.  

She later joined Wyeth Canada (now Pfizer), as Director of Communications and Public Affairs, where she was a member of the Canadian management committee, functionally reporting to global headquarters in the US.  At Wyeth, Theodora’s responsibilities included the development of public relations programs for the successful launch of four new products in Canada, internal and external communications, federal & provincial government relations and acting as chief corporate spokesperson for the company, including crisis management.

From 2009-2017 she was an elected municipal Councillor for the City of Westmount. During her first term, as Commissioner of Environment and Sustainability, she launched the City’s first Sustainability Action Plan. In her second term, as Commissioner for Urban Planning, she had political responsibility for the administration of the most comprehensive set of architectural preservation guidelines in Canada, created Westmount’s First Heritage Committee and introduced a new process to include residents in the evaluation of non-conforming projects. In these roles she gained direct experience with addressing challenges facing cities today and with engaging citizens for better outcomes.

Theodora co-founded Voria Management Ltd. in 2017.  At Voria, her practice focusses on smaller and medium-sized organizations, which she serves on issues of strategic communications, stakeholder engagement, and government relations.  In addition to her consulting practice with Voria, she is Senior Advisor at energiPR, a public relations and integrated communications agency specializing in consumer health, lifestyle, wellness and medical sciences.  Previously she was a Special Advisor with H+K Strategies, a global public affairs firm, where she was affiliated with the Health and Wellness Sciences & Cities and Public Engagement practice areas. 

Theodora received a BA in Communication Studies and a certificate from the School of Community and Public Affairs at Concordia University, where she won the Prize for Most Outstanding Student. She has remained engaged with the school, where she teaches an undergraduate course on Public Affairs Strategies as a part-time member of the Faculty and as a member of the Advisory Board. Theodora is fluent in English, French, Spanish, and Greek.

MICHAEL McADOO, Principal and Co-founder

For more than 25 years, Michael has worked at the nexus of business strategy, public policy, and international trade. After a 6-year career as a parliamentary assistant, including as a member of the Senior Staff of the Prime Minister, he joined The Boston Consulting Group, where he became a member of the firm’s Management Committee for Canada, and was an active member of the Industrial Goods (Manufacturing) and Global Advantage practice areas.

Then, over a 13-year career with Bombardier, he held several executive positions in Strategy, International Trade and Business Development. In addition to C-Suite functional roles with Bombardier, he held operational roles, including managing a $125M P&L industrial services business, and leading a manufacturing site in Mexico, with 225 unionized employees. He has successfully resolved trade disputes and/or market access barriers in the US, the EU, Russia, China, and Brazil.

In 2017, he returned to BCG where he is currently Partner & Director, Global Trade and Investment, within the Global Advantage practice area. He is also active in BCG’s Industrial Goods practice, where he focuses on the Aerospace and Automotive sectors.

Throughout his career, Michael has also been involved in managing and growing smaller businesses. His family owned five retail outlets in consumer durables, a Nissan auto dealership, a sailboat manufacturing company, and other businesses in light manufacturing and importation and distribution. He started his own business in residential real estate while still an undergraduate, grew it to 5 properties in three cities, and ran it for more than 20 years, in parallel with his professional career. As a C-Suite executive at the Business Development Bank of Canada in 2015-16, he was the chief architect of a path-breaking advisory program aimed at High Impact Firms – generally companies with $20-100M in revenues and growth-oriented management teams. During the 18-month development and launch of the program, Michael served as Executive Advisor to Owners/CEOs and their leadership teams.  

Michael received his undergraduate education at Queen’s and Harvard, where he was a Visiting Undergraduate.  He holds Master’s degrees in international Affairs and Journalism from Columbia, and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in International Law and Economics from the University of Bern, Switzerland.   He is currently a Course Lecturer with both the Faculty of Management and School of Public Policy at McGill University, where he teaches in Strategy and International Business. Michael holds an Executive Master Professional Director certificate from the American College of Corporate Directors.  He has lived and worked in all three NAFTA countries, and is fluent in English, French, and Spanish.

At present, Michael is involved in the administration of Voria, but is not actively serving Voria clients, given his professional commitment to BCG.

FLEXIBLE TEAM STRUCTURES

In addition to its Principals, Voria has access to other specialist resources, and can staff teams quickly to meet client requirements at an optimal cost level. Our network includes a mix of senior and junior resources, with a wide range of functional and industry-sector experience. In addition to its capacity to serve clients bilingually in English and French, Voria also counts within its network team members with native fluency in key global languages such as Mandarin, Arabic, Spanish, and Hindi.