Creating the conditions for good work.

My work has included people leadership, organizational development, learning and development, governance, operations, change and facilitation.

I tend to work close to practice. Sometimes that means building the people infrastructure around an organization. Sometimes it means designing a process, convening practitioners, supporting a leader or creating a learning environment where people can work something out together.

Building People & Organizational Capacity

I led a large, student-governed organization serving more than 45,000 students. During my tenure, the staff team grew from seven to more than thirty as the organization expanded its services and became a significant place-based organization.

This included the development and opening of the 55,000-square-foot Student Commons, the culmination of a 14-year, $24-million project.

Building the people infrastructure

• Hired the organization's first People & Culture Manager and brought in a Learning & Development advisor.
• Worked with managers and elected leaders on recruitment, development, performance, organizational change and leadership transitions.
• Built a more intentional approach to staff learning and development as the organization grew.

Organizational change

The Student Commons required new thinking about people, services, governance, facilities, partnerships and financial sustainability. My role included supporting staff and management capacity as the organization moved toward a complex, public-facing operation.

Convening Practitioners & Supporting Change

The Engineering Change Lab was a national change lab exploring the future of engineering and its contribution to sustainable development. My role sat at the intersection of operations, convening, learning and organizational development.

Convening

I helped design and support intensive multi-day Lab convenings bringing together 50+ leaders from engineering firms, universities, government, philanthropy and other parts of the sector.

The work required creating enough structure for people to do meaningful work together while leaving room for emergence.

Supporting interdisciplinary teams

I supported nine interdisciplinary venture teams as they developed emerging ideas into programs, partnerships and organizations.

• Agenda and process design
• Facilitation support
• Operational stewardship
• Participant readiness
• Reflective learning
• Prototype and partnership development

Learning, Leadership & Place

East Scarborough Storefront was a multi-partner community hub working across frontline services, community development, youth leadership and neighbourhood change. I stepped into the organization during founder succession and organizational transition.

Organizational development

I held responsibility for finance, operations, HR, governance and organizational planning. The work included strengthening role clarity, management capacity, recruitment, staff development and organizational systems.

Learning as organizational infrastructure

I created and supported Communities of Practice as a way for staff to develop skills together and bring real situations into the room.

Place-based practice

The Storefront also brought me into a rich ecosystem of residents, youth, planners, designers, funders, governments and community organizations. I developed funding proposals and supported projects connected to neighbourhood development, community design and public space.

Developing People Through Practice

A small, emerging coaching practice working primarily with leaders, emerging professionals and practitioners.

Alongside client work, I have used the practice to deepen my coaching and facilitation practice and explore the intersection of coaching, action learning and organizational learning.

• Leadership, work, identity and transition
• Decision-making and professional practice
• Coaching and reflective inquiry
• Facilitation and learning design
• Communities of Practice and practitioner development

ICF Toronto · Entrepreneurship & Impact

Selected work from my volunteer leadership and learning portfolio with the International Coaching Federation Toronto.

Where People, Process & Purpose Meet

Across these roles, I have often worked inside large, multi-player systems with many stakeholders, competing accountabilities and no single point of control.

I tend to work close to the intersection of leadership and strategic doing: close enough to senior leadership to support direction-setting and decisions, and close enough to the ground to help ideas move into action through well-designed processes, prototypes and participation structures.

Systems shift when people can stay oriented to purpose under complexity, participate meaningfully without being overwhelmed, and think and learn together across difference.