Pedro Barata
President and CEO, Habitat for Humanity
Pedro Barata is a passionate and values-driven leader with two decades’ experience driving multi-sector collaborations that achieve solutions for communities.
Prior to joining Habitat in 2024, Pedro was executive director of the Future Skills Centre, where he led the start-up of the national research impact centre and launched multi-sector innovation pilots across Canada.
Previously, at United Way Greater Toronto, Pedro held senior roles in partnerships, research, policy, evaluation, public affairs, and communications. Often called on for his insights into building inclusive and equitable communities, Pedro has held numerous advisory roles locally and nationally, in innovation, housing strategy, income security and poverty reduction. He sits on the expert advisory panel of the Century Initiative and the boards of directors of the Agora Foundation, the Better Childcare Education Foundation, and Learnx.
Mark Cabaj
President, Here to There
Mark is President of the consulting company Here to There and an Associate of Tamarack – An Institute for Community Engagement.
While studying the Solidarity movement in Krakow, Poland, in mid-1989, Mark Cabaj experienced a variety of tumultuous events that signalled the end of communism in Eastern Europe – including walking on the Berlin Wall with a million people the week it came down in November 1989. He then rolled up sleeves and worked as an Investment Advisor in Poland’s Foreign Investment Agency, the Foreign Assistance Coordinator for Grants in the new Ministry of Privatization, and the Mission Coordinator for the creation of the United Nations Development Program’s first regional economic development initiative in Eastern Europe.
Back in Canada, Mark was the Coordinator of the Waterloo Region’s Opportunities 2000 project (1997-2000), an initiative that won provincial, national and international awards for
its multi-sector approach to poverty reduction. He served as the Executive Director of the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet) (2001) and was Vice President of the Tamarack Institute and the Executive Director of Vibrant Communities Canada (2002-2011).
Mark’s current focus is on developing practical ways to understand, plan and evaluate efforts to address complex issues. This includes challenges such as environmental sustainability, energy transitions, neighborhood renewal, poverty and homelessness, community safety, educational achievement and health. He is particularly involved in developing and promoting developmental evaluation, a new approach to assessment which emphasizes real time feedback and learning in emerging, messy and sometimes fast-moving environments and efforts to change – even transform – systems.
Mark lives in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) with his wife Leann and their children Isaiah and Zoë.
Sahir Khan
Executive Vice-President, The Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy
As a co-founder and executive vice-president of IFSD, Sahir Khan focuses on IFSD’s strategic direction, business development and engagement management.
Professionally, Sahir was a turnaround and restructuring specialist with New York-based RKG Osnos Partners LLC and with Deloitte Consulting’s New York office. In 2004, Sahir was recruited to the Canadian federal public service to manage problem files and emerging fiscal pressures by serving as the Director of Oversight and Expenditure Management at the Treasury Board Secretariat. At the Privy Council Office (PCO), he provided the prime minister with analysis and advice on budget, economic, tax and expenditure management issues and then joined the PBO as the Assistant Parliamentary Budget Officer. This mix of private and public sector experience has enabled him to get a better understanding of decision support in complex environments while running and reforming organizations.
Sahir is a regular commentator with national and regional media on budgetary matters.
Sahir has a B.Com. (Hons) from Queen’s University and an MBA in finance from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He also serves on the Board of Governors at Ottawa’s Ashbury College.
Sabine Matheson
Principal, StrategyCorp
Since 1998, Sabine has been a Principal at StrategyCorp, which serves clients across Canada and internationally.
She is the founder of StrategyCorp’s Municipal Affairs Practice Group, which has served well over a hundred municipalities across Canada on a variety of strategic projects, relating to:
- Intergovernmental Affairs (Federal and Provincial)
- Strategic Planning and Staff-Council Relations
- Operational, Organizational and Ward Boundary Reviews
- Special Policy Projects and Issue Management
She is currently strategic advisor to Ontario’s Large Urban Mayors Caucus on provincial relations.
A well-known commentator on the municipal world, she has also been an advisor to AMO, AMCTO, and OMAA.
Since 2016, she has been the lead author of StrategyCorp’s influential Annual CAO Survey, which gives voice to Ontario and Canadian Chief Administrators.
Sabine served as Chief of Staff to Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. In that capacity, she was deeply involved in the creation of Ontario’s municipal taxation and assessment regime, key reforms to Ontario’s Municipal Act and Planning Act, as well as the amalgamation the City of Toronto.
Since 2007, she has been an instructor in UOIT’s Municipal Management Program. Sabine also teaches provincial-municipal relations through AMCTO. Sabine’s policy expertise is grounded in her legal background. She was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1993 and practiced law in Toronto with a major Bay Street firm.
Elizabeth Mulholland
Chief Executive Officer, Prosper Canada
Elizabeth Mulholland is the Chief Executive Officer of Prosper Canada, a national charity dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for Canadians living in poverty through program and policy innovation.
Elizabeth joined Prosper Canada in 2011, after a 25-year policy career in the public, private and non-profit sectors, including a decade of independent policy consulting, five years as Senior Social Policy Advisor in the Office of the Prime Minister, and five years directing United Ways of Ontario’s government relations program.
Elizabeth currently serves on Payments Canada’s Stakeholder Advisory Council and the Steering Committee of Common Good, a purpose-built workplace retirement savings plan for nonprofit organizations. Elizabeth holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Geology and French from Wellesley College and successfully completed McGill University’s Graduate Summer Program in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Harvard Business School Executive Program in Strategic Management for non-profit leaders.
Robert Steiner
Assistant Professor and Director of the Dalla Lana Fellowship in Journalism and Health Impact at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto
Robert Steiner is Assistant Professor and Director of the Dalla Lana Fellowship in Journalism and Health Impact at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto.
The Fellowship is the first journalism program designed specifically to teach subject-matter specialists how to cover their own disciplines as freelance reporters for media around the world. He is also working with the Director of Communications at the World Health Organization as project director of the Global Application of Trust Evidence (GATE) Pilots at the Joint Centre for Bioethics, a WHO Collaborating Centre.
Rob began his career as a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, before receiving his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania and working as a business strategy executive, first at The Boston Consulting Group and later as Group Vice President in charge of Strategic Planning for Bell Globemedia, parent of The Globe and Mail and CTV. From 2006 to 2010, Rob served as Assistant Vice President of the University of Toronto in charge of Strategic Communications.
Rob has also worked in federal and provincial policy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was Director of Communications for the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table.
In 2004, he advised Minister of State for Public Health, Carolyn Bennett, on the creation of the Public Health Agency of Canada. In 2003 and 2002, he served as health policy advisor and principal speechwriter for Paul Martin, during his candidacy and transition to Prime Minister of Canada. In 2000, Rob managed the Liberal Party of Canada’s new media election campaign, working for Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
He lives in Toronto with his wife, a social worker and psychotherapist; they have a daughter studying art at Concordia University and son studying medicine at McMaster University.
Kathleen Wynne
Former Premier of Ontario
Kathleen Wynne was Ontario’s 25th Premier. She was first elected to the Ontario legislature in 2003 as the MPP for Don Valley West, and she became the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party in January 2013.
Kathleen has dedicated her professional life to building a better province for the people of Ontario. She and her government were guided by the values and principles that knit this province together: fairness, diversity, collaboration and creativity.
Kathleen has served as Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Minister of Transportation, Minister of Education and Minister of Agriculture and Food.
In her role as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Kathleen worked in partnership with First Nations communities to address issues such as mining development, First Nations land claims, and improving quality of life for Indigenous people living off-reserve through affordable housing and recreation programs.
As Minister of Education, Kathleen led the government’s efforts to reduce class sizes, implement full-day kindergarten and provide more opportunities for high school students to reach their full potential.
Kathleen has served as a Public School Trustee in Toronto. She has led citizens’ groups in a number of grassroots community projects, and has played a major role as an organizer and facilitator. This experience has contributed to her results-based approach to life, government and community.
Kathleen has three adult children, Chris, Jessie and Maggie, and six grandchildren, Olivia, Claire, Hugh, Violet, Arthur and George. Before moving to Alliston, Ontario, Kathleen and her partner Jane lived in North Toronto for more than 30 years.