Marjorie Brans
Marjorie Brans is winner of the Tufts University Presidential Award for Citizenship, Spirit of Lord Michael Young Award, and the Sir James Woods Award for Community Development. She has also been Environmental Defence’s Green Champion of the Year and a fellow of the Global Diplomacy Lab dedicated to promoting peace, cooperation, and a regenerative economy around the world.
Marjorie is passionate about using insurance to promote community resilience, having initiated Oxfam’s R4 project with Swiss Re and the World Food Programme to develop a climate change insurance program for subsistence farmers that has now been scaled to 18 countries and nearly 550,000 households. Finally, Marjorie is a co-founder of five non-profit initiatives in social entrepreneurship, community-based disaster preparedness, and arts-based community development.
Lucy Cummings
Dr. Lucy Cummings (she/her) is the Director of Faith Sector Resilience at New York Disaster Interfaith Services (NYDIS). In this role, she oversees NYDIS’ disaster advocacy, mitigation education, planning, and preparedness training programs, including NYDIS’ disaster chaplaincy certifications and deployments, emergency planning, Mental Health First Aid and other trainings. In 2022, Lucy led the launch of NYDIS’s Climate Resilience program – featuring climate resilience resources, networking events, trainings, and vulnerability analyses to help NYC clergy and lay leaders assess risk, harden facilities, and locate resources for climate vulnerable communities.
Prior to NYDIS, she was Executive Director at Faith & the Common Good, a Canadian interfaith environmental network, where she helped design and implement a faith building energy efficiency program for the United Church of Canada’s portfolio of 3000 buildings. Lucy taught global sustainability governance at the University of Hong Kong; serves on the board of Kindred Works, a green rental housing B-Corp; is certified as a Disaster Chaplain by National Disaster Interfaith Network; is an Adult Mental Health First Aid instructor certified by the National Council on Behavioral Health and is on the Parliament of the World’s Religions Climate Action Task Force. Lucy earned a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins, an MA from Yale’s Divinity School, and a BA from the University of Virginia.
Sally Fazal
Sally has 30 years of strategic senior leadership experience in corporate, community, academic and public sector settings, with broad experience in strategy, organizational design, and change management. Sally holds a Master of Business Administration from the Ivey School of Business at Western University, and a certificate in Restorative Justice from Simon Fraser University.
As a consultant, has Sally worked with more than 100 organizations and collectives across Canada, across multiple sectors. Her collaborative style has helped change makers at all levels synthesize and prioritize their great ideas, strengthen their strategy, and build implementation plans that make real change. Sally is a co-founder of Social Impact Advisors, which joined with Laridae Communications in 2023. While she is mostly retired, Sally continues to serve the community in volunteer roles.
Andrea Teller
(Chair)
Andrea has 30 years of senior leadership in international business and product development, marketing, procurement and quality systems implementation.
In the non-profit sector, Andrea has held consultant, advisory and volunteer roles as a Board Director for a Community Health Centre as well as support for social entrepreneurship and youth mental health and support services. Andrea has been an ongoing supporter of CREW.
Andrea has a degree from the University of Western Ontario and post graduate certificates from the Ivey School of Business, Humber College and the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Sanjay Khanna
I am Chief Futurist of SK Futures Inc., a strategic foresight consultancy dedicated to enhancing the resiliency of organizations, communities, and individuals during this era of multiple converging crises, such as human health, climate change, and technological acceleration. We develop and deliver tailored and trusted advisory services to clients in Canada and globally, spanning various sectors and domains, such as business, government, education, multilateral, not-for-profit, and non-governmental organizations. We believe everyone has The Human Right to Foresight™️.
Additionally, I have strong credentials in addressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues and climate risk, which I leverage to help clients tackle urgent and complex challenges and opportunities of sustainability and societal resiliency.
https://sanjay-khanna.com/about/meet-sanjay/
Rita Bijons
Rita is a climate activist. After reading The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery, in 2008, there was no question of anything but. She has engaged with schools, faith groups and civil society groups, MPs, MPPs, Councillors, and the City on climate mitigation and adaptation. Rita is a Board member of Climate Action Network Canada, as well as of Science for Peace. She is a founding member of ClimateFast.
Rita is Co-Chair of Green 13, residents concerned about the impact humans are having on our climate and environment. Located in Parkdale-High Park, Toronto, Green 13’s goals are to:
• increase public awareness about climate and other environmental concerns
• encourage public discourse on sustainability
• advocate for policy and behavioural change, and
• build resilience in our our community.
She is a founding member of CREW, Community Resilience to Extreme Weather.