Chairman, Maytree

Plenary Speaker

Alan Broadbent is Chairman of The Maytree Foundation and Chairman and CEO of the Avana Capital Corporation. Avana initiates and funds civic engagement projects to strengthen the public discourse on civil society, including: the Jane Jacobs Prize, which celebrates “unsung heroes” in the Toronto Region and the Institute for Municipal Finance and Governance at the Munk Centre, University of Toronto. Alan is also Chairman of several related organizations, including the Caledon Institute of Social Policy (co-founded by Maytree in 1992), Tamarack – An Institute for Community Engagement (co-founded in 2001), and Diaspora Dialogues, which supports the creation and presentation of new writing that reflects the diversity of Toronto. Alan is also Chairman of the Tides Canada Foundation; advisor to the Literary Review of Canada; Co-Chair of Happy Planet Foods; Member of the Governors’ Council of the Toronto Public Library Foundation; Senior Fellow of Massey College, and Member of the Order of Canada.  He is the author of the book Urban Nation: Why We Need to Give Power Back to the Cities to Make Canada Strong.