Victor Beausoleil

Executive Director, SETSI

Victor Beausoleil is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of SETSI, The Social Economy Through Social Inclusion Coalition. Victor is currently on the board of directors for the Toronto Community Benefits Network, The Board President of CCEDnet - The Canadian Community Economic Development Network, on the loan review committee for the Fair Finance Fund, on the advisory of the Table of Impact Investment Practitioners, on the advisory of New Power Labs, on the board of REAC - the Regional Ethno- Advisory Council for Corrections Services Canada, the Steering Committee of the Catalyst Community Finance Initiative, on the advisory of the Canadian Employee Ownership Coalition, on the advisory group of Social Capital Partners, on the advisory of the Spring Activator Blended Finance Initiative, as well as the on the advisory board of the Financial Resilience Institute, on the board of directors of Social Value Canada, board Chair of the Tribe Network and a Co-founder of the Canadian Centre for Non-Profit Digital Resilience.

Cheryll Case

Founder & Executive Director at CP Planning

Cheryll specializes in a human rights approach to urban planning. Her methods drive collaborative processes that mend relationships between various stakeholders within the community, non-profit, private, and public sectors. She is dedicated to working with diverse populations and ensuring that their experiences are responded through program design. She is the founder of CP Planning, a non-profit planning firm that applies artistic and creative methods to build bridges between stakeholders and communicate public interests as it relates to city-building.

Mary-Kate (Katherine)

Mary Kate is a Jersey girl with a Midwest heart. She works at a consulting firm in downtown Chicago and is a proud Michigan alum (Go Blue!). While Chicago is her favorite city, she can still whip out an East Coast accent and Springsteen lyrics faster than a New York minute. Mary Kate is known for loving long, deep conversations that keep her friends up way too late. She considers herself truly blessed to be the daughter, sister and close friend of the best people she knows. Mary Kate has a life-long devotion to St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother, and is beginning to discover what it means to be friends with Jesus.

Darcy Riddell

Co-founder and current board chair of Social Innovation Canada.

I have worked to change systems as strategist, process designer, environmental activist, funder and movement capacity-builder. For the last decade I have played leadership roles in Canadian and global philanthropy focused on conservation, systems change, environmental justice and social innovation. Current focus is Indigenous-led land and climate solutions, old growth and biodiversity conservation, including establishment of Indigenous rights and responsibilities for carbon management and nature-based solutions as one means to build resilient and regenerative economies.

Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook, PhD

Tanya specializes in research, education, and Indigenous/community engagement in the areas of climate resilience, technology and innovation, peacekeeping, environmental studies, and health and mental wellness. She has worked in non-profit, academic, government and grassroots settings across Canada and internationally. Tanya leads Indigenous-informed research and thought leadership, strategy, program development, partnerships and advising as: Director of Research for the Centre for Indigenous Innovation and Technology (CIIT); and Associate of Evergreen and Future Cities Canada (FCC). Key Indigenous-focused programs she developed and led for FCC are: i) Indigenous Re-imagining of Cities:

Co-Director of 7GenCities at Dark Matter Labs

Jayne Engle

President & CEO at Future Generations University

Dr. Jayne Engle is the President and CEO of Future Generations University. Her background spans practice, research, and teaching in a wide range of geographic and cultural contexts, including sites of societal transition: a Peace Corps tour of duty in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union and PhD fieldwork in Haiti after the catastrophic 2010 earthquake. She’s held multiple leadership roles in community planning and economic development, philanthropy, and innovation ecosystems, including with the J.W. McConnell Foundation and Dark Matter Labs. She co-founded Seven Generation Cities (7GenCities) with the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, an initiative co-led with Indigenous community leaders, municipalities and other civil society partners aiming to transform civic and social infrastructure for the long term, centering principles of Truth and Reconciliation, and Indigenous ways of knowing, alongside multiple knowledge and wisdom systems.

Michelle Baldwin

Michelle Baldwin is a senior advisor, transformation at Community Foundations of Canada exploring societal transition and transformation at the intersection of equity, climate and economy. She is also a faculty member in the governance, leadership, ethics program at Huron University College, serves as the vice chair for Atlohsa Family Healing Services, and is past chair for the Ontario Nonprofit Network. In her past role as executive director at the Pillar Nonprofit Network, Baldwin co-founded and collaborated to create Innovation Works, a shared space for social innovators and VERGE Capital, a social finance program for Southwestern Ontario. She is a network builder, systems thinker, productive disruptor and cross-sector collaborator.

Systems Transformation Advisor at Community Foundations of Canada

Heenal Rajani

Co-founder of Reimagine Co.

Meet Heenal Rajani, co-founder of Reimagine Co. and one of our 20 Under 40 Class of 2020 recipients TIRELESSLY INVESTED IN community betterment and environmental awareness, Heenal Rajani and his wife, Kara Rijnen, have taken Reimagine Co. from a pop-up concept to full-blown package-free grocery store dedicated to sustainable living and promoting awareness through workshops, demonstrations and shared learning.

Narinder Dhami

Narinder has been recognized as Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 and a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader. Her work spans across sectors and silos, bringing depth and rigour to drive social impact in North America and the Global South. She is the President of the Sonor Foundation and Executive Lead and Co-Founder of New Power Lab. Narinder has built, designed and scaled social ventures across the globe. In partnership with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) she designed and led a venture philanthropy fund, LEAP | Pecaut Centre for Social Impact, and alongside Sandra and Joseph Rotman at the University of Toronto, she was the founding Executive Director and architect of Rise, a microfund for entrepreneurs with mental health and addiction challenges, where she was awarded UofT’s Excellence Through Innovation Award.

President of the Sonor Foundation and Executive Lead and Co-Founder of New Power Lab.

Jerry Koh

Systems change, impact & innovation at NiceFutures

Jerry Koh works with purpose-driven organizations to address complex challenges in communities and cities. From building inclusive smart cities, accelerating municipal climate solutions adoption, fostering community wellbeing and growth, to youth development, and poverty reduction. He helps develop strategic partnerships, bring together coalitions, and build capacities to develop, test, and implement solutions using strategic foresight and systemic and human-centered design approaches. Jerry is a systems innovation and systemic design leader with over 20 years of experience spanning governments, nonprofits, and multinational corporations in Canada, the US, and Asia.

Kasha Huk

Kasha Huk serves as Chief of Staff within the executive office of the GIIN. In this role, she supports strategic and operational priorities towards the overall mission of the organization, working alongside the CEO and President. Prior to joining the GIIN, Kasha held a number of positions across the B Corp community of impact-driven businesses, including as Head of Canada for B Lab, the non-profit organization behind B Corp certification, and as Head of Activism for The Body Shop US and Canada. Kasha has also worked as an external programs consultant for the BMW Foundation in the US and Canada, and began her career with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations

Chief of Staff within the executive office of the GIIN.

Robert Barnard

Founder of Toboggan Flats

Continuing his 35-year quest to make the world better for youth and young adults, Robert launched #TobogganFlats in 2023. It will build and manage a unique brand of affordable coliving for young people to repurpose vacant office space in downtowns across Canada. Robert remains committed to growing #Youthful Cities - a think-and-do tank he cofounded in 2012. It creates data-driven solutions that make cities more youthful places to live, work, and play. Youthful Cities builds indexes, creates compelling stories, hosts summits, and runs innovation labs. Its latest creation is Youth Data Lab - an AI-driven open data platform for anyone designing policies and programs for young people.

Stephanie Guidoin

Kasha Huk serves as Chief of Staff within the executive office of the GIIN. In this role, she supports strategic and operational priorities towards the overall mission of the organization, working alongside the CEO and President. Prior to joining the GIIN, Kasha held a number of positions across the B Corp community of impact-driven businesses, including as Head of Canada for B Lab, the non-profit organization behind B Corp certification, and as Head of Activism for The Body Shop US and Canada. Kasha has also worked as an external programs consultant for the BMW Foundation in the US and Canada, and began her career with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations

Chief of Staff within the executive office of the GIIN.

Jean-Noé Landry

Executive Director of Open North

Jean-Noé Landry is a social entrepreneur, Canadian climate activist, international open data movement leader. He recently completed the Obama Scholars 2021-2022 program at Columbia University in New York City where he was actively engaged in the Climate School’s Decarbonization, Climate Resilience, and Climate Justice Network, delivered presentations at the Earth Institute and Columbia Global Centers, while being locally involved in several environmental justice initiatives with WE ACT For Environmental Justice in Harlem.

Patrick Dubé is an entrepreneur, a seasoned manager, and a socio-environmental polymath. He is an active practitioner in the fields of social innovation, system design and regenerative development in Quebec and throughout Canada. After earning a master's degree in anthropology and pursuing Ph.D. studies on complex natural systems at the University of Montreal/CNRS in Strasbourg, Patrick started an entrepreneurial journey in the technological innovation sector. From 1999 to 2004, he co-founded and operated an A.I. startup that aimed to reduce the number of misdiagnoses in hospital settings. His work received several innovation awards from public and private organizations.

Faculty Lecturer, Department of Human Resources Management

Patrick Dube

Kizito Musabimana

Founder & Executive Director of RCHC

Kizito prides himself in being a storyteller with a dream of telling successful African stories to the world. After graduating from the Film & Television Production program at Toronto Film School, he attended the Independent Producers program at Centennial College. He learned the art of building bridges through cross-sector collaboration to create a world we wish to see – a more connected, self-sufficient, and just society.

Among multiple intersections of identity, Njoki Mbũrũ is a storyteller, poet, and imagination alchemist from Kenya. Having completed the LEVEL Youth Public Policy Program through the Vancouver Foundation in 2020, she continues to advocate for policies, projects, and partnerships that uplift the leadership of Indigenous and Black people and communities. Between November 2022 to August 2023, Njoki completed a storytelling fellowship with the Community Foundations of Canada; an experience which propelled her to explore the relationships between public policy, emerging technologies, storytelling and power.

Fellow at the Community Foundations of Canada

Njoki Mbũrũ

Teresa Dukes

Executive Director of the Social Innovation Office at the Government of Manitoba,

Teresa Dukes is the Executive Director of the Social Innovation Office at the Government of Manitoba, where she tackles complex problems using bold solutions. Teresa’s career has been dedicated to driving better outcomes for society by transforming systems through partnerships, effective processes, and data. Her team brings together community organizations, the private sector and government to solve complex social and environmental challenges not solved by one sector alone, by using innovation and social finance tools.

Tonya Surman is fuelled by her belief in the power of collaboration and belonging. She knows that putting the right people in a room is only the first step in creating real change. If you truly want to radically redesign our future, you need to first build a culture where everyone knows they have value and a voice. She did this with the Constellation Model, an entirely new take on governance. She did this with the Centre for Social Innovation, which re-invented the workplace by collecting social purpose organizations under one roof. She did this with Community Bonds, an innovation that allows a nonprofit to turn to their social capital into financial capital.

Chief Executive Officer at Centre for Social Innovation

Tonya Surman

Louise Adongo

Founder of Caprivian Strip Inc (CSI)

Louise Adongo is a bold and grounded leader with 15+ years' experience in systems change, policy, evaluation, strategic planning and governance. She is founder of Caprivian Strip Inc (CSI) and She brings care and intention to uncovering the roots of tangled problems; enabling shifts to greater resilience, sustainability and impact.

Danya Pastuszek (she/her) is Co-CEO at The Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement, which supports more than 400 communities across Canada to end poverty in ways that honor people, place and planet. She has lived and worked in both the US and Canada. Her early career was spent in New York City, working with resettling refugees and then with with people impacted by the US’s systems of criminal justice. In 2012, she moved to Salt Lake City and began a decade-long career at United Way of Salt Lake, supporting cross-sector partnerships designed to support economic mobility.

Co-CEO at The Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement

Danya Pastuszek

Laura Schnurr

Director, Climate Transitions at Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement

Laura leads Tamarack's work on Climate Transitions and the Sustainable Development Goals. She is passionate about supporting cities and communities in their journeys towards ensuring a just, equitable and sustainable future for the next 7 generations and beyond. Through events, publications, communities of practice and other learning opportunities, Laura is helping advance the 2030 Agenda in Canada with a specific focus on the goals related to equity and climate change.