Ambassadors

Aleatha Bedard-Poole

Aleatha is a Senior Advisor on the Strategy Deployment and Governance team at BDC where she has been dedicated to working with entrepreneurs over the last ten years of her career. A passionate advocate for entrepreneurship; she actively volunteers with organizations that have a mandate to support positive social impact and seek prosperity beyond profits. Aleatha served on CSED’s Board of Directors from 2016 – 2022 and was Board Chair from 2019-2022. She has also been a CSED mentor.

Becky Rossi

Becky’s work is focused on strengthening the sustainability and impact of organizations creating positive social and environmental change. For over a decade, she has partnered with global, national and community groups in the private, public and nonprofit sectors, lending her expertise in strategic management, business development, finance and policy. She holds a Master of Business Administration degree and Graduate Diploma in Nonprofit Management from the Schulich School of Business. Becky served on CSED’s board until 2019.

Doug Michaelides

Doug is president of Platform Marketing, an Ottawa-based management consulting firm specializing in go-to-market strategy and performance. He is an entrepreneurial business leader with deep business management and planning experience. As a consultant, Doug has served clients in both the private and not-for-profit sectors in sales, marketing, strategy, executive coaching and general management capacities. He is committed to social enterprise and environmental causes. He also sits on the Board of Directors of EnviroCentre.

Dr. Tessa Hebb

Dr. Hebb is a Distinguished Research Fellow of the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation, Carleton University, Canada. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University where she teaches a Masters-level course in Responsible and Impact Investment. She is currently working with the investor network Ceres on climate risk issues. Dr. Hebb is a frequent guest speaker on impact investment, responsible investment and impact measurement issues. She has published many books and articles on responsible investing and impact investing including the volumes the Routledge Handbook of Responsible Investment, SRI in the 21st Century: Does it make a Difference to Society; Working Capital: The Power of Labor’s Pensions; No Small Change: Pension Fund Corporate Engagement; and The Next Generation of Responsible Investing.

LoriAnn Girvan

LoriAnn is an entrepreneurial leader with over 30 years of experience in community planning, nonprofit management and urban development in Canada, the United States and Africa.  Her social purpose real estate achievements include supporting the development of 2,000 affordable and supportive housing units and multiple community facilities designed to advance equity across diverse neighbourhoods.

As Principal of LoriAnn Girvan Advisors, she works with nonprofits and citybuilders to undertake real estate and community initiatives that achieve social purpose in housing, placemaking and regeneration initiatives.  Most recently, she was Toronto Artscape’s Chief Operating Officer responsible for all facets of development, operations and finance to achieve the organization’s mandate to make space for creativity and foster positive community change.

Loriann was a member of the CSED Board from 2016 to 2021.

Mike Bulthuis

With a focus on supporting communities to thrive, Mike has worked at the intersections of social policy, research and community mobilization for over 20 years. He joined the Ottawa Community Land Trust as Executive Director in late 2022, and works with partners to leverage social finance tools within the community to buy rental properties – and move them into non-profit status as affordable housing forever. He has worked in policy development with the federal public service on issues including homelessness, social finance, social innovation and urban infrastructure, and has also held leadership positions in the non-profit environment, including at Ottawa’s Alliance to End Homelessness, and with the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. He has served with local and national Boards furthering community health, social planning and public justice, and served on the CSED Board from 2016 to 2019.

Osman Naqvi

Osman is currently the Regional Advisor, Ontario and Parliamentary Secretary Assistant in the Office of Canada’s Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. Osman has a long-standing history of supporting entrepreneurs and non-profits. He has been the founder of various charities and a social enterprise. Osman has served on governance boards for many causes including youth, women, refugees, and education. Osman served on the CSED Board from 2021-2023.

Priya Thakkar

Priya has more than 10 years of experience working in the public sector and with NGOs to drive social change (big and small). She believes in the power of collaborative efforts to strengthen our communities and foster economic growth.

Rachael Belanger

Rachael is a lawyer at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in the business law group. Her work focuses on debt financing across a broad range of industries, including the non-for-profit, renewable energy and governmental sectors.  Rachael’s focus is on providing clients practical and innovative legal advice to support them in achieving their economic and impact goals. Rachael received her JD from the University of Toronto and is called to the bar in Ontario. She has been a member of the Board of Directors and Secretary with CSED beginning in 2021.

Read Guernsey

Co-founder of JustChange, a microgranting organization in Ottawa that pools the donated funds of like-minded youth into a periodic grant for ideas that demonstrate potential for positive social or environmental change. Currently, he is an advisor/economist for Finance Canada in the financial sector policy branch (see https://www.fin.gc.ca/branches-directions/fsp-eng.asp for description of the branch).

Read was the Board Chair from 2013 to 2017. He also served as Secretary.

Richard Plummer

Richard leads the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, a national organization dedicated to eliminating barriers to accessibility and increasing inclusion for people with hearing loss. He is also the Principal of Plum Solutions Consulting providing organizational change, partnership and business development strategies to the health care and NFP sectors. Richard built his career through senior leadership and executive positions within key institutions including JW McConnell Foundation, United Way, Independent Living Centres, Youth Services Bureau and YMCA YWCA. Richard brings extensive expertise in social impact investing, program design, strategic planning and labour inclusion strategies having lead a number of social enterprise and collective impact initiatives nationally and locally. He has been a member of local, provincial and national advisory committees to address community development and social-economic impact initiatives. Richard’s passion is in facilitating partnerships between the NFP, Government and Private Corporations towards aligning assets that help to build strong, vibrant and collaborative communities.

Robin Ramrup

Robin is the Vice-President of Finance and Corporate Governance with CENGN, Canada’s Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks. He has over 20 years general management experience, both in Canada and Internationally, in various business sectors including not-for-profit organizations, venture capital and private equity and public accounting.

Robin holds the CPA, CGA designation and has volunteered with several organizations including sitting on their boards. He served on the CSED Board from September 2022 to May 2023.