David Thomas
David Thomas is a solution management professional, specialising in social economy, local food systems, and open source technology. For over a decade, his work has centred around social and community development, academic research, and climate policy. As Executive Director of Open Food Network Canada, David works with communities across Canada to support the growth of […]
Laurent Charlin
Laurent Charlin is an associate professor at HEC Montréal and a core member of Mila Quebec’s AI institute. He holds a Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) AI Chair on the topic of personalization and develops machine learning methods including for recommendation systems. He is also the academic co-director of the technical stream of the Next […]
Karina Lehoux
An experienced, bilingual and versatile facilitator, Karina Lehoux is recognized as a trusted accomplice thanks to her professionalism, her authenticity and her sincere interest in optimizing communication and thus helping to achieve her clients’ business objectives. Karina Lehoux is also the founder (2012) and president of the firm Eklosion – Professional Animation, which was born […]
Julie LaPalme
Julie is Secretary-General for Cooperative Housing International. Since 2014 Julie has been raising awareness, facilitating peer to peer exchanges, and sharing good practices at a global level about cooperative and other forms of community-led housing. For the past thirty years Julie has worked in cooperative housing in organizational development, government relations, property management, communication, and […]
Louis Cousin
Louis Cousin is a consultant and researcher in cooperative data infrastructures with over a decade of experience in the cooperative movement. He has held various positions as an entrepreneur, cooperative association staff member, and researcher. Currently, Louis serves as the Chief Operations Officer at Startin’blox cooperative and is a Ph.D. student at Laval University in Canada […]
Mary Nirlungayuk
Mary grew up in the remote community of Kugaaruk ( Koo- gaa- rook), Nunavut in the Central Arctic, which has a population of 1100 people. In 1982, Mary joined the Co-operative System in the Arctic as the Office Manager of Koomiut Co-op in Kugaaruk, Nunavut. Then moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba to work at Arctic Co-operatives […]
Johanne Saint-Charles
Johanne Saint-Charles is a full professor in the Faculty of Communication at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Director of the Institut Santé et société and of the WHO/PAHO Collaborating Centre on Occupational and Environmental Health (Cinbiose). Her research focuses on social and gender inequities in health and the environment. Notably considering how they are constructed […]
Ana Aguirre
Ana Aguirre is a co-founder and worker owner at TAZEBAEZ S.Coop where she leads the cooperative development area. She is the President for the International Cooperative Alliance Youth network in Europe. Among many other projects, she currently co-leads the course on Platform Cooperatives NOW! with The New School (NYC) and Mondragon. Ms. Aguirre studied at […]
Pete Westall
Pete Westall is the Chief Values Officer and part of the Executive team for The Midcounties Co-operative, (www.midcounties.coop), where he has worked for over 30 years. Midcounties Co-operative is seen as one of the leading Co-operatives in the UK, in Europe and across the world. They operate a broad portfolio of businesses, including Food, Travel […]
Ilcheong Yi
Ilcheong Yi joined the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) in October 2008. Born in the Republic of Korea, he is trained as a political scientist and social policy analyst. He specializes in poverty, social policy, labour policy, social economy, and historical analysis of the economic and social development process. Prior to joining […]