Our Team

A man with glasses and dark hair, wearing a black suit, white shirt, and a dark tie with small polka dots, standing against a light gray background.

Azeddine Labiad — Co-Founder

Azeddine is a trilingual operations and facilities management professional with over a decade of senior leadership experience in Canada and internationally. He currently serves as Facilities Administrator at the Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario (CEPEO) in Ottawa, overseeing operations across multiple sites. He holds a Master's degree in Logistics Engineering.

As Samy's father, and founder of Hope for Samy Foundation, Azeddine leads the foundation's public advocacy, government relations, and community fundraising, bringing the same rigour he applies professionally to the fight for his son's future to accelerate hope, research, and access to treatment for children affected by LGMD R5/2C.

A woman wearing a white hijab and a navy blazer smiles against a black background.

Wisal Lahkimi-Labiad — Co-Founder

Wisal is a trilingual strategic and analytics professional with extensive experience in program delivery, operations, risk analysis, and stakeholder collaboration within complex organizational environments. She holds both an Executive MBA and an MBA in Business Analytics, bringing a unique combination of strategic leadership and data-driven decision-making.

As Samy’s mother and founder of Hope for Samy Foundation, Wisal leads the foundation’s strategic direction, partnerships, advocacy initiatives, and awareness efforts, combining professional expertise with a deeply personal mission to accelerate hope, research, and access to treatment for children affected by LGMD R5/2C.

Our Story

We are Azeddine and Wisal, Samy's parents, residents of Nepean, Ontario, and the founders of this foundation. We did not come from the world of rare disease advocacy.

What we brought was everything else: years of professional experience managing complex organizations across two continents, fluency in three languages, and an absolute refusal to wait for someone else to act.

To learn more about our journey with Samy, listen to the feature aired on Radio-Canada OHdio, on the program Les malins with Jhade Montpetit.