Our dedicated team of experts bring passion, experience, and commitment to driving social impact. Each member plays a vital role in supporting our mission and empowering organizations to thrive.
Staff and Associates
Michael Murr
- Executive Director
Details
Michael is a versatile and client-focused leader with broad experience in governance, strategy and operations in not-for-profit and municipal government settings. As part of his role, Michael regularly coaches and consults with social enterprise practitioners to help them navigate complex business problems, solve strategic challenges and build capacity within their organization. He is collaborative and thoughtful by nature and is inspired by the power of social enterprise as a force for good.
You can reach Michael at michael@csedottawa.ca.
Hai Doan
- Manager, Social Enterprise Consulting
Details
Hai has served as a consultant for social enterprises and a program manager for non-profit organizations for ten years after shifting her career from a marketing manager for companies. She is passionate about the social enterprise model, which brings the best of both worlds (nonprofit and for-profit) to create sustainable impact. Hai regularly coaches social business start-ups through the incubation process and provides acceleration services for social enterprises in marketing & sales, social impact measurement, business modeling, etc. She also has experience facilitating experiential learning in higher education and community context.
You can reach Hai at hai@csedottawa.ca.
Len Fardella
- Coordinator, Social Procurement
Details
Len excels at making things happen based on an innate sense of curiosity and drive. In the end, it is all about focus and execution. With extensive experience in Ottawa’s high-tech industry, almost two decades of running his own business along with work in the nonprofit world, he brings a unique perspective to social enterprise business challenges and opportunities. He is most excited when he’s in the middle of a project, driving operational and marketing change and measuring impact. He readily admits to owning many successes and some equally painful failures. Spoiler Alert: While you do learn more from the failures, the successes are always a lot more fun.
You can reach Len at len@csedottawa.ca.
Manu Sharma
- Strategic Advisor
Details
Manu Sharma is the Director of Social Enterprise Development with Ottawa Community Foundation (OCF). Manu works with social purpose organizations seeking to employ human-centred design to shift their business strategy to improve their bottom line, generate innovation, increase their social impact and/or launch new products and services. Manu has been with CSED in a strategic advisory role since 2017.
John Petitti
- Strategic Advisor
Details
John works with organizations to raise the value of their marketing and communications strategies, to make their message more compelling and, ultimately, to change their audience’s behaviour.
Over the past 40 years John has also developed strategic expertise in not-for-profit leadership, change management, issues management, crisis communications and public affairs – skills that he enjoys applying as a volunteer consultant with not-for-profit organizations focused in the areas of public and mental health, youth resiliency and community development.
Board Members
David Spring
- Member at Large
Details
With a bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Masters of International Development, I worked for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) from 1970 to 2005. I designed, planned and managed projects and programs in Africa and Asia including microfinance and small enterprise development, both at the local and national level. The experience and skills I acquired are applicable to Social Enterprise Development in Canada and I was therefore very happy to join the CSED Board.
Drayton Mulindabigwi
- Member at Large
Details
Drayton is a 4th year health sciences student, who is on a mission to find the secret behind creativity and how we can use that to better our lives. This journey led him to create 20today20tomorrow, the biggest youth-led creative hub. This hub is at the forefront of the social innovation wave, by consulting with the big players in this field, and creating their own social innovations in the process. This led him to launch The Novas Group, an expansion on the idea of creating a one stop shop for venture creation. The Novas Group continues to run successfully today. His passion for creativity knows no bounds.
Elspeth McKay
- Chair
Details
Elspeth joined the Operation Come Home team in December 2007 with more than 30+ years of experience as a senior executive in the not-for-profit sector. Elspeth is a dedicated fund-raiser, an expert in community economic development and a leader in social innovation. She has years of experience in developing programs such as supported employment, entrepreneurship, education, and social enterprise.
Kevin Holmes
- Member at Large
Details
Kevin is the Founder and Managing Director of the Social Innovation Lab at Algonquin College. He oversees the Service Learning in Design & Engineering (SLiDE) initiative which supports local social enterprise and non-profits in digital technology. He is passionate about community and leveraging the significant public trust held within our post-secondary institutions towards the greater public good. Kevin also serves as the National Co-Chair of the Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) ImpAct Project Working Group on Social Entrepreneurship.
Manjit Basi
- Member at Large
Details
Manjit facilitates and enables individuals, teams, organizations and communities to move forward together with a shared and sustainable vision. Her foundation comes from experiences in entrepreneurship, leadership and team coaching, mentoring and consulting in the business, voluntary, and government sectors – often working across organizational and sectoral boundaries. Manjit’s facility is in creating trust, fostering generative thinking, and supporting others in finding clarity and strategic coherency. She brings a systemic lens approach that builds relational intelligence.
She has a deep commitment to community that has resulted in many board experiences ranging from The Ottawa Community Foundation to Immigrant Women Services Ottawa, along with mentorship roles in various organizations. Currently, she chairs the TELUS Ottawa Community Board, the Harry P. Ward Foundation, and is an advisor to Synapcity.
Steve Beauchesne
- Member at Large
Details
Established in 2006, Beau’s has won more than 125 national and international awards for beer-making, marketing and packaging design, sustainability and business practices, and has raised more than $2 million for charity, community, and the independent arts. Steve certified Beau’s as Canada’s first-ever B-Corp brewery, helped found the first craft brewery in Rwanda, and was a founding member of the Canadian Craft Brewers Association. Steve was awarded the social entrepreneurship award by the Best of Ottawa Awards, named Design Thinker of the year by the Association of Registered Designers and Community Builder of the year by the United Way.
Tobi Awolalu
- Treasurer
Details
Tobi is a qualified chartered accountant with over 15 years accounting experience. She has worked with several public companies across the UK and Canada, gaining vital skills and knowledge along the way. She is passionate about the community and supports local charities either by being on the board or offering volunteer finance work. Tobi received her bachelor’s degree in accounting and business from Bournemouth university in the UK. She is also in good standing of the CPA and ACCA. Tobi is a member of the board of Directors and Treasurer with CSED.
Ambassadors
Aleatha Bedard-Poole
- BDC
Details
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
- Nonprofit Advisor
Details
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
- President, Platform Marketing
Details
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
- Carleton Centre for Community Innovation
Details
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 Girvan Advisors
Details
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
- Ottawa Community Land Trust
Details
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
- Office of Canada's Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Details
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
- Senior Advisor, Government of Canada
Details
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
- Secretary
Details
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
- Advisor, Finance Canada
Details
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
- Canadian Hard of Hearing Association
Details
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
- CENGN
Details
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.