A dynamic array of some of North America's most renowned and respected authorities on collaboration have now confirmed their participation at the CCI 2012.
 Margaret (Meg) Wheatley is one of the most well-respected writers, speakers, and teachers of leadership and systemic change of our time. The author of six books including the international best seller Leadership and the New Science (translated into 18 languages), she has harnessed the complex wisdom of nature - helping us imagine a simpler more natural way to lead collaboratively. A doctorate from Harvard University and founder of the Berkana Institute, Meg has been a major inspiration to the Communities Collaborating Institute since it's inception with her paper on Pioneering Leaders and for the first time Meg will be presenting her ideas and engaging with learners at the institute.
 Tim Brodhead is an inspirational leader and innovator who has been recognized as one of Canada’s great champions for collaborative community change. An Officer of the Order of Canada he has received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from both Carleton and Dalhousie Universities. Past President and the J. W. McConnell Family Foundation and Philanthropic Foundations he is now a senior fellow at Social Innovation Generation while serving on the boards of some of Canada’s most innovative organizations. An engaging and motivational speaker, Tim brings inspired wisdom for these times.
 Al Etmanski is an author, advocate, and one of Canada’s most important social entrepreneurs embracing the importance of innovating together. President and co-founder of Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN), he led the successful campaign to establish the world’s first Registered Disability Savings Plan. Al has written two best-selling books: A Good Life and Safe and Secure. He is a founding member of the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation’s Social Innovation Generation (SIG) collaboration. Al also holds a faculty position at John McKnight’s Asset Based Community Development Institute and he has received many awards and recognitions including being elected as a global Ashoka Fellow in 2003.
 Michael Jones is a Juno Award Nominee pianist and composer (12 albums) and leadership educator who will inspire our mind with his words and our souls with his music. He is the author of two books; the award winning Creating an Imaginative Life and Artful Leadership; Awakening the Commons of the Imagination. He is well known for his innovative work in bringing together authentic leadership with creative artistry to inspire personal transformation and collective learning. Michael has been a Senior Fellow with the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership, University of Maryland, the MIT Dialogue Project, and Associate Faculty with the Executive MBA programs at The University of Texas, San Antonio.
 Joe-Anne Priel may just be one of Canada’s most passionate civil servants. The General Manager of the Community Services Department which has a gross budget of over $350M and full-time staff of 1752. Joe-Anne lead the community process with the support of the Caledon Institute and developed a Social Vision for the City of Hamilton, which is now regarded as a key social policy paper in Canada and used this to guide the City of Hamilton to reach its goal of being a safe, healthy, vibrant and caring community. A founder and advocate for the poor, Joe-Anne co-convened the most significant and innovative community collaboration in Canada.
 Jenny Kain is a community innovator having worked to advance new ideas with the City of Edmonton for over 20 years. She currently works as the Director of Social Development and for many years worked with a division that supported community innovations by building effective partnerships with community agencies. She has been involved in the start up of a number of successful CED projects in the City of Edmonton including Women Building Futures, a women’s trades training and affordable housing initiative, the Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts and the Edmonton Social Enterprise Fund.
Back to top.
Tamarack has some of the most experienced and thoughtful teachers and writers of Comprehensive Community Initiatives on staff. The role of the workshop faculty will be to provide some of the latest thinking on the topic and to lead the workshop participants in an energetic discussion. The workshops will be both highly participatory and informative. Specific handouts will be available in each workshop to help facilitate ongoing learning.
 Paul Born - Paul Born is the President of Tamarack which he co-founded with Alan Broadbent of Maytree and the Avana Capital Corporation. Tamarack has more than 10,000 subscribers in it's learning community. Vibrant Communities, an initiative established in collaboration with the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation and the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, is Tamarack's signature work. Vibrant Communities is now active in 12 cities and has so far reduced the impact of poverty for more than 190,000 people in Canada since 2002.
Paul was the founder of The Community Opportunities Development Association (CODA) where he served as Executive Director for 12 years. CODA, one of Canada's most successful community economic development organizations, is where Paul also founded Opportunities 2000, a millennium campaign to reduce poverty in Waterloo Region to the lowest in Canada. This campaign received provincial, national and international awards. Paul's work has been recognized with awards from the United Nations, the Conference Board of Canada, Imagine Canada and the Governor General of Canada.
An author of three books including the best-selling Community Conversations, Paul is a motivational, inspiring and humorous speaker who loves the power of stories. He is also a consultant with extensive experience in helping organizations and communities to develop new and sustainable ideas that motivate people to collaborative action. His current area of study (a new book is in the works) is to understand the importance of a sense of community as the foundation for group or collective altruism.
Paul holds a Masters degree in Leadership, is a Mennonite inspired by Yoga and Buddhism, and a dad who loves to cook. Learn more about Paul on his page at the Tamarack's website www.paulborn.ca.
Back to top.
 Mark Cabaj - Mark is an Associate of Tamarack and Vibrant Communities and the President of the company Here to There.
Mark's current focus is on developing practical ways to assist groups understand, plan and evaluate policies, programs and initiatives that address complex issues. This includes challenges such as neighborhood renewal, poverty and homelessness, community safety, educational achievement and health. He is particularly focused on expanding the ideas and practice of developmental evaluation, a new approach to evaluation which emphasizes learning and design thinking in emerging and sometimes fast-moving environments.
Mark brings experience from a variety of sectors. In the 1990s, he served as the Foreign Assistance Coordinator for Grants in Poland's Ministry of Privatization, was the Mission Coordinator for the United Nations Development Program's first regional economic development initiative in Eastern Europe, and worked with International Privatization Group-Price Waterhouse. In Canada, he was the Coordinator of the Waterloo Region's Opportunities 2000 project – an initiative that won provincial, national and international awards for its multisectoral approach to poverty reduction – and served briefly as the Executive Director of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet). From 2002-2010, he was the Executive Director of Vibrant Communities Canada and a Director at Tamarack.
Mark lives in Edmonton, Alberta with his wife Leann and their children Isaiah and Zoë.
Back to top.
 Liz Weaver - Liz Weaver is leading the Vibrant Communities Canada team and also provides coaching, leadership and support to Ontario communities. She helps collaborative initiatives develop their frameworks of change, supports and guides their projects and helps connect them to Vibrant Communities and other comprehensive community collaborations.
Prior to this position, Liz was the Director for the Hamilton Roundtable on Poverty Reduction, which was recognized with the Canadian Urban Institute's David Crombie Leadership Award in 2009. In her career, Liz has held leadership positions with YWCA Hamilton, Volunteer Hamilton and Volunteer Canada. In 2002, Liz completed a Masters of Management for National Voluntary Sector Leaders through McGill University and her thesis ‘Storytelling and the Voluntary Sector' was published. Liz was awarded a Queen's Jubilee Medal in 2002 for her leadership in the voluntary sector, was an Athena Award finalist and in 2004 was awarded the Women in the Workplace award from the City of Hamilton.
Back to top.
 Donna Jean Forster-Gill - Donna Jean is the Community Animator for Vibrant Communities Canada - Cities Reducing Poverty Learning Community and a member of the Tamarack Team. She is learning about the possibilities of co-generating knowledge and the power of learning communities to create community change. She has been active in the voluntary sector in Canada and the US for over 15 years and most recently was director of a community organization in Hamilton, Ontario.
Back to top.
 Garry Loewen - Garry Loewen helped found, and has been an active leader of, Vibrant Communities since 2002. Currently, he is involved in the management and work planning of this national initiative, in addition to serving as coach to the Winnipeg Poverty Reduction Council in Manitoba. As a coach, he helps the initiative develop its framework of change, supports and guides its projects and helps connect WPRC to Vibrant Communities and other comprehensive community collaborations.
Early in his working life, Garry held senior management positions with Air Canada. He then served as a parish minister for five years. He has founded or led several Winnipeg-based organizations, including the North End Community Renewal Corporation, SEED Winnipeg Inc, Opportunities for Employment Inc. From 1999 to 2000, Garry was Executive Director of The Canadian Community Economic Development Network. He was also Community Economic Development Director for the Mennonite Central Committee Manitoba from 1991 to 2000. Garry is currently self-employed as a community economic development consultant and is Board Chair of Assiniboine Credit Union in Winnipeg.
Garry lives in Winnipeg with his wife Teri, surrounded by his children, grandchildren and extended family.
Back to top.
To learn more about Tamarack's full team of respected coaches, practitioners and staff, click here.
|
