Merryn’s career has been focused on alleviating food insecurity in Canada through work in public, academic and non-profit organizations, including the national youth charity Meal Exchange. She currently serves on the board of directors of Community Share Food Bank in the Don Mills neighbourhood. She is a believer in cross-sectoral collaboration to address complex problems and public policy as a key lever for change.

Born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Merryn currently lives in Toronto with her partner and their dog, Joni. She holds a Master of Science degree from the School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Psychology from McMaster University.

And as a government geek, he’s helped advance policy within 3 government space agencies, 2 divisions of the UN, the Canadian Urban Institute, Banff Forum, and the Yukon Government. Thrilled to be a new dad, Ben and his family live together in an off-grid home (100% solar) near Whitehorse.

Originally from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Scott is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Immediately after graduating from Georgetown, Scott worked at Goldman Sachs Inc. in New York City. Scott was recognized as the 2018 Telus LGBTQ Innovator of The Year by The Inspire Awards, a 2019 Young Impact Leader by Future of Good, and a 2022 Changemaker by The Globe and Mail. Scott has contributed to or been featured in The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Forbes, Future of Good, The Chronicle Herald, and The Georgia Straight. He has also appeared as a commentator on CBC News Network and BNN Bloomberg.

His work has roots in where he grew up, supporting underserved rural and remote communities, building teams, and connecting groups to focus on a common purpose through intersecting community partnerships, population health, and business efficiencies.

Trevor holds a Master’s in Business Administration and a Diploma in Respiratory Therapy from Thompson Rivers University and a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry with a Minor in Kinesiology from the University of Regina. Additionally, he is a Certified Health Executive with the Canadian College of Health Leaders and has recently completed his Certificate in Population Health Management through Johns Hopkins.

As the Vice-Chair of Southeast College, the co-chair of the Policy and Bylaw Committee, and previous chair of the professional conduct committee for the Saskatchewan College of Respiratory Therapy, as well as the co-founder of the Dr. Mulder Health foundation; he strives to bring teams together in health and education. Born in Saskatchewan, he is proud to continually share knowledge in presentations and support the community he serves through purposeful partnerships.

Throughout his postgraduate studies, Anh-Khoi’s commitment to drive positive impact through science remained undaunted as he engaged in science communication, science education, and science policy initiatives. With a focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion, his work aimed to make science and research more accessible by inspiring the next generation to pursue science careers, improving physics educational curriculums, and improving policies in support of the next generation of researchers.

Anh-Khoi is a recipient of McGill’s Clark Science Executive Leadership Fund in 2020 which financed his enrollment in McGill’s mini-MBA program, and he is a past-President (2021) and current member of the Board of Directors for the student-led non-profit Science & Policy Exchange. In his spare time, he enjoys playing sports and exercising.

Ian grew up in a farming community in central Alberta: for the first ten years of his life his parents had a dairy farm and since then they have farmed bison. His grandparents immigrated to Alberta from the Netherlands.

Ian now lives in Montreal. In addition to his overseas experience, he has also lived, worked and studied in Moncton, New Brunswick; Gatineau, Quebec; and in Ottawa and Toronto. He is a board member at Citizens for Public Justice, a faith-based public policy and advocacy organization, and has also been involved in refugee sponsorship initiatives in Ontario and Quebec.

Outside of work, Jessie is an avid volunteer. She is currently one of the Executive Directors of the LEADER Project, an Ivey-affiliated non-profit that provides business education and mentorship to entrepreneurs in emerging regions. Through the LEADER Project, Jessie taught a two-week business bootcamp for entrepreneurs in Belgrade, Serbia. Previously, she also served as the President and a Board Member of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers – Western Chapter.

Jessie was born in Calgary, Alberta, and has had the opportunity to live in three different provinces and three different countries. Her most recent adventure was living in Mexico City with her husband and daughter. In addition to her MBA, Jessie holds an Honours Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto and a Juris Doctor from the University of British Columbia.

Since joining the Public Service of Canada in 2011, Émily has had the opportunity to play strategic roles and work on key files, including governance for the Department of National Defence, Global Affairs Canada’s consular policies and, more recently, the delivery of essential programs and services to Canadians for Employment and Social Development Canada.

In July 2019, Émily left her job with the Government of Canada in order to seek out new experiences in the private sector and a new life on Canada’s West Coast. For nearly three years, she lived in Vancouver and had the privilege of working for Navitas, a growing Canadian company and leading global education provider.

The COVID-19 pandemic gave Emily the space to self-reflect, re-examine her own values and priorities, and rethink her future. Seeing the plight worsening for the most vulnerable Canadians during the pandemic, Émily understood that she wanted to dedicate her career to building a richer, more inclusive Canada. This is why she seized the opportunity to return to her roots and resume her career in the federal public service.

Émily firmly believes that the Government of Canada has a key role to play in developing bold, innovative, hands-on solutions to today’s major social, economic and political issues, such as the labour shortage, care for seniors, support for individuals with mental health issues, systemic racism and youth disengagement.

Émily is fluent in English and French and has a basic knowledge of Arabic. She grew up in Gatineau and has a bachelor’s degree in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from the University of Ottawa. She now lives in the Greater Montréal area.

Jon was hired full time with Suncor Energy after completing his bachelor’s degree and worked as an Engineer-In-Training in technical roles in St. John’s supporting the Terra Nova offshore asset and in Calgary supporting natural gas assets throughout Alberta. Jon acquired his professional designation (P.Eng.) and built his technical skillset as an engineer focused on subsurface reservoir engineering, production engineering and project development. He has been a practicing member of both Professional Engineers and Geoscientists Newfoundland and Labrador (PEGNL) and the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) since 2008.

In 2015, Jon moved with his family to Fort McMurray developing as a leader in a variety of roles throughout the Wood Buffalo region with Suncor, including: Operations Manager, Director of Maintenance and Reliability, Director of Construction and current role as site Director of MacKay River (a SAGD In Situ Oil Sands facility). Jon also had the opportunity to lead the operation of a new technology pilot with Suncor and other industry partners, in sponsorship with Emissions Reduction Alberta. The pilot targeted an alternate in situ bitumen extraction method using electromagnetic heating and solvent injection (replacing steam injection) with a goal of providing a framework to significantly reduce carbon emissions for the process in the future.

Jon also values his community. Inspired by the community resiliency following the Fort McMurray fire in 2016 and flood in 2020, he continually seeks out opportunities to contribute. He was a site lead for the Suncor United Way campaign in 2017 and site co-chair for SunCares – a Suncor program that inspires employees to contribute to communities and support the causes that are important to them – in 2018.

Jon continues to work with Suncor in the Wood Buffalo region and lives in Fort McMurray with his wife and two daughters.

With a background filled with leadership positions and a multidisciplinary career as a lawyer and business advisor, she is now undergoing a scientific training in global environmental governance. She is actively involved in writing effective environmental policy focused on diversity and the advancement of knowledge.

Véronique is a member of the board of the International Student Network on Climate – UniC and she hosts the Network’s meetings and the upcoming conference in July 2021. As a member of the Canada Research Chair in International Political Economy, she co-organizes discussion seminars around doctoral and postdoctoral research projects. Véronique has a Bachelor of Law and an MBA in international management and studied in Germany and Chile during those programs. She is also a Joseph-Armand-Bombardier bursary recipient for her doctoral research.

Always engaged in justice issues and as an active member of society, she is also looking to help young people increase their citizen engagement. She loves to travel and discover new cultures and be outside which have contributed to her vision promoting diversity.

He teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in energy engineering at SFU, and his multidisciplinary research group is particularly interested in clean energy solutions in remote Canadian communities.

A chemical engineer by training from the University of Toronto, Sami’s interest in science and policy piqued when he interned at Ontario Power Generation, reviewing compliance to nuclear safety codes and standards as part of the Darlington Nuclear Station refurbishment project. Sami’s motivation to use his engineering knowledge to impact policymaking subsequently led him to pursue a Masters’ degree in Technology and Policy from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In his Masters’ thesis, Sami studied the market for rare-earth metals with applications in hydropower systems. He received the Hydro Research Foundation Award from the US Department of Energy, and was recognized as the Young Researcher of the Year at the World Hydropower Congress in Beijing, China in 2015. He recently obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in June 2020.

Sami has previously worked in the rare-earth mining industry in Canada, and was a Science and Technology Advisor to the Chief Scientist of Natural Resources Canada. He has taught high school and university students in South Korea, Kazakhstan and Mexico, and has volunteered in Indonesia through the GiveLight Foundation, supported by the Priscilla King Gray Public Service Fellowship from MIT. He is an avid biker, sailor, foodie and geography geek, and yearns to sail around the world one day.

From promoting the Francophonie culture to participating in the upcoming Sierra Leone elections monitoring, I am proud to promote Canadian values in West Africa. I am also committed to gender equality efforts in diplomacy by serving as the Women’s Network Co-Chair at GAC leading the largest employment equity group to empower women in leadership roles. I am passionate about Canadian foreign policy, the United Nations, and diversity issues.

I am a former Action Canada Fellow ’22 and current Board Member that organized the 20^th anniversary of the Action Canada alumni conference. In my spare time I run marathons, snowboard at Whistler, and volunteered for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. I am a graduate of Princeton and Cambridge universities and recipient of the Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan.

As a student, she joined the Alpha Eta chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta and served in numerous elected roles advocating for students, including as Vice President Internal of the Dalhousie Student Union and President of the graduate student association, where she focused on addressing gender-based violence and mental health support. She served as Co-President of her PSAC Union Local (86001) representing grant-paid employees at Dalhousie University for two years (2022-24). She has since sought to expand this work in the community serving on the board of Fusion Halifax to support young professionals coming together to improve their communities.

She worked for six years as a researcher at the MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance where she has worked to engage academics, industry leaders, and the public with policy issues. Her work at the MacEachen Institute has focused on accessibility issues in Canada’s emergency management response to improve the experience of persons with disabilities. She has also been conducting research analyzing the Government’s response to COVID-19 and is an author of the book Seized by Uncertainty: The Markets, Media, and Special Interests That Shaped Canada’s Response to COVID-19 (McGill-Queens University Press). Currently, Kaitlynne works as a Research Manager at Mount Saint Vincent University on a SSHRC-funded project exploring access to post-secondary education in Atlantic Canda for youth who have experience in care.

Kate also works with the WRHA Palliative Care Program in Winnipeg, and volunteers at Saul Sair Health Center, as a walk-in physician serving Winnipeg’s homeless population. Her work with underserved populations has led to an interest in public policy.

Prior to joining PCO, she held various policy positions in the Federal Public Service in the departments of Employment and Social Development Canada, Infrastructure Canada and Elections Canada.

She is also known for co-founding the inaugural 2019 Toronto Black Policy Conference; a policy-driven forum aimed to provide unique opportunities to collaborate, innovate and find sustainable solutions for policy issues affecting Toronto’s Black communities. The success of the conference led her to co-found the Canadian Black Policy Network (CBPN) in 2020, a non-profit organization dedicated to enhance the engagement of Canada’s Black communities in the public policy process. She is currently the Co-Executive Director at CBPN.
Sharnelle Morgan holds a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, in addition to a Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management with a specialization in Development studies from Carleton University’s Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs.

Sandra has lectured at McGill University and was recruited in 2021 by Canada World Youth to act as a mentor to the finalists of the Innovation-Challenge. Sandra has a deep desire to be part of Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, a page of history that she hopes is finally being shaped like never before.

She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Concordia + UNGE of Equatorial Guinea + University of Ottawa combined program), a Graduate Diploma in International Business (McGill) and an MBA (University of Ottawa).

Originally from La Montérégie in Quebec, Sandra proudly lives in Montreal, an inclusive urban city, where francophones, anglophones and allophones live as neighbors. With her partner, an Acadian from New-Brunswick, she is the mother of two. She is avid for the Hispanic culture and has made the choice to raise her children by speaking to them in Spanish as well.

His goals are to support the implementation of UNDRIP, the revitalization of Indigenous legal orders, and the braiding of Indigenous laws into Canada’s legal system.

Before entering law school, Josh worked for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities supporting inclusive economic development partnerships between First Nations and local governments across Canada. He has supported collaborative initiatives in investor attraction, renewable energy, infrastructure development, land planning, and emergency management. He has also held legislative and policy roles on Parliament Hill and for the British Consulate-General in Jerusalem.

Josh is an active volunteer in his community as a Big Brother and supporting new refugee families. True to his northern roots, he loves all four seasons, being outside, and playing music with friends.

As a consultant, Jenni supports community-led initiatives and communication strategies in BC, Canada, and beyond. She is an instructor of anthropology at the University of Victoria, specialising in sound, creative practices, and feminist teaching models. A big fan of public engagement, she also likes to connect artists with scientists and produce radio and soundscape compositions.

Jenni currently serves as the SoundWorks Associate Editor of the BC Studies Journal, an Advisory Member of Sea to Cedar, and a Board Member of the Western Front artist-run-centre. Previously, she was a Director of the Salmon Coast Field Station and the Pacific Community Lead at MakeWay. She holds a MA in Communication from Simon Fraser University and a BA in Anthropology from the University of Victoria, and is certified with the International Association of Public Participation BC (IAP2) and San’yas: Indigenous Cultural Safety Training Program. Jenni is a keen collaborator, ocean swimmer, and beginner gardener.

Torekore is a multinational health, insurance and technology company, consisting of its own portfolio companies operating in 4 continents with nearly 200 network partners globally. Prior to this, he worked in public health and completed a Masters in Public Health from Queens University where learning about social determinants and inequities led to an interest in the use of data and technology to help close these gaps. His early influences included working under Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, where projects focused on systems health usage through a social determinants of health lens.

He is a Vector AI award recipient 2019, Mitacs Award Winner 2020, Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference Co-Chair 2020, and continues to work as a Panel Physician with the Federal Government.

Amanda’s extensive background equips her to lead initiatives that align with the University of Calgary’s strategic objectives, particularly in community involvement and fostering partnerships with industry stakeholders. Her connection with the University of Calgary runs deep, having served on the Student’s Union executive, the Alumni Board of Directors, and as a Senator. Amanda’s dedication was honored with the Order of The University in 2008. She played a pivotal role in the Chancellor Search and Selection Committee, contributing to the appointment of the University’s 15th Chancellor, Jon Cornish. Amanda’s leadership and communication skills have earned her numerous accolades, including the Queen Jubilee II Platinum Jubilee Medal, Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40, the IABC’s Gold Quill Award in Community Relations, and the title of Alberta’s Most Enterprising Employee.

A proud alumna, she holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Calgary, further cementing her legacy and commitment to the institution.