Currently Nadia is a journalist and radio host with CBC Manitoba.

Most importantly, she is the mother of 2 young boys and therefore well versed in Star Wars, Minecraft and other equally important cultural phenomena.

A Canadian who was raised in the US, Colette cut her teeth as an activist working alongside refugees who found their way to Toronto in the 90s. Since then, she’s earned a North American reputation as a reliable ally, a tenacious advocate for social and economic justice, and a creative collaborator across traditional lines. Best known as an organizational capacity builder at United Way Toronto and a champion for inclusive local economies at the Metcalf Foundation, she has also worked behind-the-scenes on innovative poverty reduction, anti-racism and leadership development initiatives over the course of her career.

As the Executive Director of the 75-year old Atkinson Foundation, Colette focuses on strengthening movements for decent work, shared prosperity and democratic renewal.  These efforts are inspired by the example set by Joseph Atkinson who knew poverty before he knew wealth as the publisher of Canada’s largest daily newspaper, the Toronto Star.  To this day, the foundation’s public policy agenda and investment strategies reflect Mr. Atkinson’s deep personal concern for the lives and livelihoods of working people, and his pragmatic vision of a just society.

Fred holds two undergraduate degrees from the University of Saskatchewan (Bachelor of Arts Psychology and Sociology) and received his MBA in Community Economic Development from Cape Breton University. His greatest work is serving as a husband and proud father of two.

Dave used to be VanCity’s CEO and was known for the organization’s commitment to corporate social responsibility. He brought this passion forward to ATB Financial, the largest Alberta-based financial institution in 2007. As President and CEO Dave has helped ATB achieve a #2 ranking in Great Place to Work Canada’s large and multinational category (2017), be named one of Canada’s Top 50 Best Workplaces for Women (2016) and make the Aon Hewitt list of Canada’s 50 Best Employers (2015). Dave himself was at the top of Glassdoor’s list of Highest Rated CEOs in 2016 and was also recognized by Alberta Venture as one of the Top 50 Most Influential People.

Dave serves on the boards of Telus, STARS, Alberta Blue Cross, the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, and the National Music Centre in Calgary. He is also a staunch supporter of Dogs with Wings, a service agency working with blind and autistic children. Dave has an Honorary Doctor of Law degree from the University of Alberta. He and his wife Sandy have raised three children and now enjoy traveling and riding road bikes together

Chris works with organizations seeking to improve their work, communities seeking to improve their future, people looking to improve their lives. He holds and cares for process – the ways in which we work together – to encourage people to make their best possible contributions. He has an unflagging belief that the answers and leadership we need arise out of collaboration and conversation. By facilitating skillful dialogue, he does his best to hold space for futures to emerge.

Previously she was Manager of Leadership & Learning at Maytree, where she designed and delivered political and civic training for emerging and diverse leaders.

Alejandra contributes to movement building as a facilitator, trainer, mentor and strategist with various social change efforts. Active in the community benefits movement, she supports organizers and leaders.

She has a 25-year history of working for progressive social change with grassroots, immigrant, and labour groups. Alejandra has worked as a community organizer, political staff and has been a City Council candidate in Toronto.

Over the past 10 years, Matt has helped Mission Possible transition its programming from offering basic street-level care to being a leading community economic development organization in Vancouver’s downtown eastside. Through its employment readiness program and social enterprises (MP Maintenance and MP Neighbours that employ an average of 50 individuals per year in transitional jobs) Mission Possible is transforming lives by helping people experience a renewed sense of dignity and purpose through meaningful work. Mission Possible was a recipient of the Trico Social EnterPrize in 2011.

Starting in 2011, her previous position as Learning and Engagement Coordinator focused on engaging CCEDNet’s Manitoba members, creating learning programs, coordinating The Manitoba Gathering, and the Enterprising Non-Profits program for social enterprise development. Sarah is active in her neighbourhood as a board member of the Daniel McIntyre St. Matthews Community Association. She is also a dedicated board member of the growing Rainbow Trout Music Festival and a regular volunteer for the LITE Wild Blueberry Pancake Breakfast.

Dan Kershaw is the Executive Director at Furniture Bank, one of Canada’s rapidly growing  social purpose enterprises. Passionate about ‘business for good,’ Dan is the force behind the remarkable, positive growth the charity continues to enjoy. Fueled by a pioneering nature, Dan remains committed to ensuring the comfort and dignity of the clients Furniture Bank proudly serves. His particular knack for building one of a kind, intrapreneurial teams is evident at Furniture Bank. A human resources model, this is a team that continues to outperform in a culture dedicated to furnishing hope across Canada.

His is a storied career that spans well over two decades across a wide variety of industries and sectors. A celebrated thought leader, Dan holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business and a Masters in Environmental Studies from Waterloo University. Dan also teaches at Georgian College and their new “Social Entrepreneurship in the Non-Profit Sector” Program in Barrie, Ontario.

As a volunteer, Andrea serves as the Board Chair of Swallow-a-Bicycle Theatre, and is the past chair of Calgary+Acumen – the local chapter of a global nonprofit dedicated to Changing the Way the World Tackles Poverty through impact investments in social enterprises. She holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Calgary and is currently completing an MBA with a Community Economic Development focus through Cape Breton University.

As a registered Professional Engineer with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA), Colin Rioux’s career started in natural gas production and business development with EnCana Corporation (formerly PanCanadian) in Drumheller, Alberta, and progressed to reserves and M&A evaluations on Canadian deep basin assets.

He has participated in many RIPESS activities and gatherings, on various continents, from 2005 until today. Yvon took part in numerous World Social Forums including the last one in Montreal in 2016. Since October 2013, he has been a member of RIPESS’s Board and he acts now as Vice-Coordinator, he also is a member of a number of committees. Yvon is the head of RIPESS’s delegation at the UN Inter-Agency Taskforce on Social and Solidarity Economy. He also represents the RIPESS at the International Leading Group of the SSE, an organization led by France and a few other countries.  Through this latest involvement, he had the chance to speak at various events, including a UN meeting in September 2016. Yvon is RIPESS’s representative on the GSEF, Global Social Economy Forum Board.

Dayna holds a Bachelor of English and a Master in Adult Education and believes grassroots community level work is an essential element in poverty reduction. She is also an entrepreneur and owns her own yoga business providing accessible classes to the general public and has a special interest in the role of yoga in mental health and addictions.

After a brief stint designing resource industry training programs, Martin has spent most of his career leading non-profit organizations.  His accomplishments include several social housing projects, restoring/repurposing historic buildings and starting a social enterprise—Kids in the Hall Bistro–in Edmonton’s City Hall.

At the Foundation, Martin’s interests include their nine-year old Social Enterprise Fund—started in partnership with The City of Edmonton. The SEF has successfully loaned $30 million to 50 charities and non-profits in Edmonton and takes a leadership role in the developing social finance movement in Canada.

Martin’s current passion and preoccupation is Edmonton’s new Community Development Corporation, in response to the End Poverty Edmonton strategy.

Passionate about environmental and urban sustainability he is a founding Director of the Vancouver Urban Farming Society and was a founding partner at Urban Stream Innovation, a food systems technology startup. Wes has experience serving on the Executive and advisory boards of several other advocacy organizations including Conversations for Responsible Economic Development (CRED BC), LOCO BC (Past Chair), the SFU Urban Studies Graduate Student Society, and the BC Partners for Social Impact, a Provincial policy think tank examining ways to support and enable social innovation in communities and regions in British Columbia.

After having worked more than ten years in the social economy sector in Quebec, followed by ten years in international work for the Centre d’études et de coopération internationale (CECI), Anne-Marie Saulnier specialized in enterprise responsibility in global supply chain. She collaborates with United Nationals programs, international research centres and enterprises to strengthen the respect of work health, safety and the environmental conditions in Canadian organizations’ supply chains. In 2008, she co-founded Espace de concentration sur les pratiques d’approvisionnement responsable (ECPAR), a network of Canadian leaders who collaborate to implement sustainable development in their procurement from the social economy sector since 2008.

Over the past 12 years Abbas as worked in the areas community development and community building, violence prevention and activating resident leadership in Guyana, the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa and more recently in Canada (Alberta). Through his current work with CDLI Abbas continues to seek out opportunities for collaboration around refining Community Development practice and learning. Abbas is a member of Men’s Action Network Calgary [MAN-C] which is a community-based group focused on engaging men and boys to prevent domestic violence. Good facilitation practice and good process design–along with a deep belief in our common humanity–guides much of his work.

Abbas has completed a Bachelor of Science from the University of Guyana, a Bachelor of Arts in Development Studies from the University of Calgary and is a Fogarty Fellow in Research Practice & Program Evaluation from The Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami.

Blythe has a broad and diverse background in quality improvement, evaluation, strategic planning, change management and organizational development.   She is an accomplished facilitator and stakeholder engagement practitioner with over 15 years’ experience in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, including roles in community investment, corporate social responsibility, social enterprise, process safety management and change management.  Blythe is known for taking a multi-disciplinary approach to develop strategies that address complex challenges and translating those into practical action.

Blythe is currently a Board Member of the Human Venture Institute and the Wildwood Playschool, past chair of the Leadership Calgary Program Committee and a past Board Member for Volunteer Calgary (now Propellus). In 2008, Blythe was named to Calgary’s ‘Top 40 Under 40’ for her career achievements and contributions to the community. She holds a BComm in Finance and International Development from the University of Alberta, and has studied Journalism at Carleton University and Design Marketing at Parsons in New York City, and served as a Parliamentary Page in the House of Commons. 

“In my opinion, the power to act of cooperatives and mutuals is… vital, and creates hope to build a people-centric world, a world of solidarity.”

Sentiment without Action is the ruin of the Soul~ Edward Abbey

Today the world is wracked in urgent crises. How are these to be faced and still leave space to work for the good of future generations? In Alberta I’m constantly told that the Petrostate economy is “how it is” and we have no alternative system to be a part of. As an Albertan, I can see how changes made through connecting on ideas and values has profound impact. As an educator I see that skills, capacity and collaboration create and empower personal and systemic change. As a community organizer I see that shared purpose, common action and inclusion are successful in building the movement for justice. These are exciting times, sometimes fearful, often hopeful. Lately I’m finding my inspiration in finding other action oriented people and taking the steps to create just solutions to the intersecting climate and social issues we face here in Alberta.

In addition to coordinating the Calgary program since 2010, Mike is the program coordinator for the Next Up Climate Leadership Program.

Michael Toye became Executive Director of CCEDNet in August of 2008, bringing a deep background in community economic development (CED) to the Director’s chair. Upon earning his Master of Social Work at McGill, Michael helped set up two worker co-operatives that provide research, consulting and training services related to CED and the social economy.

Michael’s involvement with CCEDNet dates back to 2000 when he helped organize CCEDNet’s National Policy Forum while serving as a coordinator with the Coopérative de consultation en développement La Clé. In 2003 he joined CCEDNet officially as Community Learning Program Director.

As CCEDNet’s program director from 2003 to 2006, Michael coordinated a 3-year action-research project exploring the links between social inclusion and CED. In addition, he led the coordination of CCEDNet’s annual national conferences, which attract hundreds of CED experts and practitioners from across the country each year.  Subsequently, Michael deepened his knowledge of Canadian social policy and parliamentary process by serving as a policy analyst at the Library of Parliament in Ottawa, while teaching courses on CED and social enterprise at Concordia University.

Michael has written a number of articles and other publications on CED and the social economy, including co-editing the book, Community Economic Development: Building for Social Change.

As the Director of Strategy & Innovation at Connect First Credit Union, Kyle Setter is responsible for the areas of strategy, business innovation, community investment and post-merger integration.

With over nine years of experience in strategy and marketing, he graduated with an MBA from the Ivey School of Business, focused on strategy and leadership. He is a graduate of the Dale Carnegie Program, a Beta Gamma Sigma inductee and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Calgary.