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SiG@Waterloo Innovators in Action Speaker Series 2010

The SiG@Waterloo "Innovators in Action" Speaker Series, will apply the ideas of social innovation to a number of specific sectors and issues - education, youth mentorship, inclusion, collaboration and cultural change. Each of the keynote speakers will share their experiences of operating at the national level to identify and address the root causes of intractable social challenges. Each keynote lecture will be followed by a local panel discussion who will share their reflections on the presentation and offer insight into their own experiences.

May 5 - Ric Young at The Museum, Kitchener, ON

May 19 - Cindy Blackstock at The Museum, Kitchener, ON

June 2 - Penny Milton at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, Waterloo, ON

June 16 - Ilse Treurnicht at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, Waterloo, ON

June 23 - Bruce MacDonald at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, Waterloo, ON

All lectures are FREE to attend. RSVP required.
Spaces are limited. Register to attend below!

SiG@Waterloo presents Ric Young

SiG@Waterloo presents Ric Young

Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: The Museum, 10 King Street West, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Ric Young - Architect of numerous campaigns for change and one of Canada's leading authorities in the field of social innovation.

Eric (Ric) Young was a pioneer in the field of social marketing. He cut his teeth on the early stages of the PARTICIPaction campaign, and was co-founder of Canada’s first dedicated social marketing agency. He left that company in the mid-90s to start E.Y.E. | The Social Projects Studio™ – a company dedicated to the creation and development of breakthrough social change initiatives. Working with leading government, corporate and not-for-profit clients, he became increasingly frustrated by the inadequacy of the tools, models and methods society has at hand for tackling our most complex problems. This led him, in the year 2000, to propose to DuPont Canada that they embark on an initiative “to foster new mindsets, new skill sets, and a new culture for social innovation in Canada”. He worked with DuPont over several years to develop the Social Innovation Initiative, eventually forging a partnership with McGill University to create one of the world’s first social innovation think tanks. This think tank gave rise to the best-selling book, Getting To Maybe. He is on the faculty of the Boston College Centre for Corporate Citizenship. His current voluntary roles include: membership on the board of Ecotrust Canada, the Canadian advisory board of Right To Play and the editorial board of the Social Marketing Quarterly. He is a fellow of The Royal Society of the Arts, a member of Massey College’s Quadrangle Society, and a fellow of SiG (Social Innovation Generation) at the University of Waterloo.

SiG@Waterloo presents Cindy Blackstock

SiG@Waterloo presents Cindy Blackstock

Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: The Museum, 10 King Street West, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Cindy Blackstock - Executive Director of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada.

A member of the Gitksan Nation, she has worked in the field of child and family services for over 20 years. Key interests include exploring the over representation of Aboriginal children in child welfare care, structural drivers of child maltreatment in First Nations communities, human rights and the role of the voluntary sector in expanding the range of culturally and community based responses to child maltreatment.

Current professional interests include serving as an Atkinson Economic Justice Fellow, J.W. McConnell Family Foundation Social Innovation Generation Fellow, co-director of the Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare and a board member of the National Aboriginal Youth Organization.

SiG@Waterloo presents Penny Milton

SiG@Waterloo presents Penny Milton

Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, 25 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Penny Milton - CEO of Canadian Education Association.

Penny Milton has been Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Education Association since 1996. She was past Chair of the Toronto Board of Education, Executive Director of the Ontario Public School Board Association, and served as Deputy Minister of the Ontario Premier’s Council of Health, Well-being and Social Justice. She has held several public appointments including current membership on The Minister’s Curriculum Council and Governance Review Committee for Ontario. She was a founding Director of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation and now serves as a Director of ArtsSmarts and Goodwill Industries. She is the author of several book chapters, numerous articles and presentations on policy issues in education.

SiG@Waterloo presents Ilse Treurnicht

SiG@Waterloo presents Ilse Treurnicht

Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, 25 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Ilse Treurnicht - CEO of MaRS Discovery District.

Ilse Treurnicht is the CEO of MaRS Discovery District, a leading innovation centre located in Toronto. She oversees both the development and operations of the MaRS Centre and its broad suite of entrepreneurship and innovation programs.

MaRS offers advisory services, market intelligence and entrepreneurship education to emerging companies in health care/life sciences, digital media/ICT, cleantech and social purpose businesses across Ontario. Ilse has worked closely with the leadership of Toronto's academic institutions and teaching hospitals to create MaRS Innovation, an integrated commercialization platform for 14 Toronto Institutions and served as the interim Managing Director for a year following its formal launch in early 2008.

Ilse joined MaRS in early 2005 from her role as President & CEO of Primaxis Technology Ventures, a start-up stage venture capital fund focused on the advanced technologies sector. Prior to Primaxis, Ilse was an entrepreneur with senior management roles in a number of emerging technology companies.

She is an active member of Canada's innovation community, and has served on the boards of private companies, industry associations and research organizations, and has been a member of several government advisory panels.

Ilse holds a DPhil in chemistry from Oxford University, which she attended as a Rhodes scholar.

SiG@Waterloo presents Bruce MacDonald

SiG@Waterloo presents Bruce MacDonald

Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Time: 7pm-9pm
Venue: Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, 25 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Bruce MacDonald - President and CEO, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada.

In 1995, Bruce joined the staff of Big Brothers and Sisters of Canada as Director of Marketing and Special Events. Three job titles and two organization names later, Bruce eventually moved into the senior staff position, becoming President and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada in March 2004. Prior to BBBSC, Bruce was involved with the Hamilton-Burlington YMCA, Stoney Creek YMCA, Ontario Senior Games and the Kinsmen and Kinette Clubs of Canada. Bruce holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Sports Administration from Laurentian University and a Masters in Management in the Voluntary Sector from McGill University.

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The 100 - Episode 2 on Social Entrepreneurship

Jennifer King (of Capacity Waterloo Region) and I, joined local community animators Hilary Abel and Brock Hart last Sunday, March 14 to record Episode 2 of The 100 podcast.

The 100 is a podcast on local events, politics, cafes, food, technology, arts, the music scene and a whole lot more, in and around the Region of Waterloo.

Jennifer and I were invited to discuss our views on social enterprise and social venture organizations.

Would love to get feedback and comments on our segment, especially when it comes to our perspective on social entrepreneurship and social innovation. Enjoy!

(download)

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Who are you Kitchener?

I came across this poster at a meeting earlier this morning. It seems that I fall under the 'Urban Promoter' category after taking the short quiz.

Check out the website, details in the attached photos.

(download)

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Ignite Waterloo

Last Wednesday, we hosted the first-ever Ignite Waterloo at the Waterloo Regional Children's Museum in downtown Kitchener. It was certainly a great night, and from the numerous tweets, photos and blog posts that emerged following the event, it seems to have gone over well with the community in attendance.

For those of you who missed it, we've put together a three-minute video (see above) that I hope captures the spirit of Ignite Waterloo.

A slide deck of all the Ignite Waterloo presentations can be found below.

Ignite! Waterloo
View more documents from Ignite Waterloo.
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