The Academy for Sustainable Innovation (ASI) is a Canadian charity that helps people and organizations lead on climate action through education and engagement. Founded in 2018, we believe that a sustainable future depends as much on people leading change as it does on technology.
Our Transition Leadership programs empower Canadians to see themselves as climate leaders – regardless of industry, job title, or prior experience. We’re here to support Canadians in thinking differently about how we show up as leaders, so that together, we can transition to a world where sustainability is at the heart of all decision-making.
To help Canadians see themselves as climate leaders.
To help people and organizations lead on climate action through education and engagement.
A world where sustainability is at the heart of all decision-making.
We work in relationship with others, honoring each others’ humanity in the work. We maintain open communication and aim to build trust as our foundation. We prioritize connection and know that the process and product of our work is better for it.
We work cooperatively, responsibly using our power. We uplift each others’ strengths and step in where others request support. We seek to complement others rather than compete, knowing that our impact is greater when we work together.
We allow for fluidity in our plans and goals, adjusting to changing contexts and circumstances. We create space to allow change to happen so we can transition through it. We recognize that there are things that are rigid, and those that are malleable.
We believe that learning is lifelong, and embed this belief into our programs and approaches. We don’t assume that an age, role, or career stage exempts us from continued learning. We value diverse perspectives and ways of knowing, leading with curiosity, and appreciation.
We value the roles of imagination and storytelling in the work of climate action and are oriented towards positive futures-thinking. We acknowledge that creativity and playfulness can enhance our work, allowing us to dream up solutions and opportunities that better serve our communities.
The Academy for Sustainable Innovation is supported by funders, partners, clients, and collaborators who help us empower Canada’s climate leaders.
The ASI team is made up of passionate leaders who work to bring ASI’s vision and mission forward. The ASI Board of Directors promotes good governance, strategic direction, and oversight for our organization.
Alicia (she/they) is a climate justice advocate, sustainable impact strategist, and writer driven to imagine beyond the plausible.
Alicia is the founder of The Climateverse, a transformation lab and multimedia studio focused on radically imagining and co-creating climate just futures. There, she leverages storytelling and futures methods to articulate and inspire action towards better futures for all.
With nearly a decade of facilitation experience and five years in consulting, Alicia helps organizations and community groups develop futures-oriented impact strategies that navigate the intersections of climate, social, and economic justice. Through their work, they guide teams in unpacking complex challenges while building actionable pathways toward their desired futures.
A proud Trinbagonian-Canadian, their approach is shaped by deep engagement in the youth climate movement across Canada and the Caribbean, alongside graduate studies in ecological economics, international development, and urban planning. Their work is further enriched by ongoing education in strategic foresight, sustainability, and systems change.
As a marketing and communications professional with extensive non-profit experience, Aryn is passionate about collaborating with purpose-driven organizations and has a knack for building strong personal connections. Aryn prides herself on being able to adapt communications to a variety of audiences and is a fan of colourful spreadsheets, a lover of all things chocolate and a strong advocate for a functional (and pocketful) fanny pack.
Aryn comes to ASI with experience amplifying brand awareness for organizations rooted in sustainability. This includes working as the Marketing and Membership Manager for Decentralised Energy Canada to support the transition to a sustainable, resilient and affordable energy future. Aryn also worked as Project Manager for Critical Path Group to support entrepreneur development through venture capital conferences in the technology commercialization sector.
Aryn holds a Bachelor of Communication, Journalism from Mount Royal University and volunteers her time as Vice President for the Kamloops Bike Riders Association. Outside of work, you’ll find her mountain biking with friends or babysitting many doodle dogs.
Ed Whittingham is a passionate, results-oriented environmental professional. His background in climate change, energy policy and corporate sustainability has been developed through 20 years of working collaboratively with companies, governments, universities and non-governmental organizations in Canada and internationally. He is the former executive director of the Pembina Institute, Canada’s widely respected energy/environment NGO.
A seasoned sustainability leader and Clean50 honouree, Nadine led corporate sustainability strategy, partnership development and employee engagement initiatives for sustainable business pioneer, Interface Inc. for over ten years. Currently completing her Ph.D. in sustainability education and organizational change, she’s Faculty for the Graduate Certificate program in Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability at St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto.
Nadine is a LEED accredited professional who has served on the Boards of the National Zero Waste Council, US Green Building Council Education Advisory Committee and Canadian Business for Social Responsibility.
Tamara is a strong, creative, and entrepreneurial leader with extensive experience across the sustainability and social innovation spheres. She has 20+ years of adult education experience and has designed and delivered courses, programs, and other custom engagements all around the world. Tamara’s previous roles include Program Director in the Master’s of Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability program at BTH in Sweden, Director of Sustainability Learning Programs at The Natural Step Canada, and Associate Director of Education & Training at RADIUS SFU. She has also run her own successful consulting company for the past 10+ years, focused on facilitation, stakeholder engagement, and strategic planning.
Tamara holds a BSc in Environmental Planning, and a Masters in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability. She is also a certified Associate Coach with Integral Coaching Canada, and a certified LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methods facilitator.
Taylor is a passionate problem-solver and environmentalist who works to drive systems change toward a more climate-positive, equitable, and socially-just future. As a McMaster alumna, holding a B.Eng & Society and M.A.Sc in Chemical Engineering, Taylor holds expertise in biomaterials engineering, but recognizes that climate action requires more than technological innovation; we must build our collective capacity to enact systems change and enable collaborative leadership. In Taylor’s roles as Program Manager at the Academy for Sustainable Innovation and Sessional Instructor for McMaster’s capstone course in Engineering & Society, she leads course and program design as well as program facilitation for youth and adult learning, while managing several concurrent projects in capacity building for climate action. Taking inspiration from nature in her approach to solving challenges, she demonstrates that nature is our greatest teacher for learning how to shape a better future that works with the planet, and not against it.
Zahra Qureshi works with changemakers and founders to support their passion for a positive impact on people, communities and the planet. A Chartered Professional Accountant committed to doing business with heart, she launched Optinum Professional Corporation with a mission to reduce the overwhelm and stress caused by accounting systems, finance concepts and impact planning tools. As a coach and consultant, Zahra brings 12+ years of experience in the field of finance to help entrepreneurs and changemakers build confidence and strategic clarity for achieving financial sustainability, powerful growth, and positive social change. Optinum’s support includes outsourced services for finance/accounting and social impact management, strategic coaching for building these processes internally, financial analysis for growth-oriented organizations, and securing and managing grant and investor funding. Optinum is proud to serve a client portfolio working on 10 of the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and promote financial literacy for individuals and organizations. In 2020, Zahra also founded Social Venture Circuit with the vision to build a community of social enterprises that could grow and learn together and serves as a Treasurer on the board of directors for Common Approach to Impact Measurement.
Zahra shares her passion and knowledge through workshops and mentorship at 15+ entrepreneurship programs across Canada, covering topics such as accounting basics for new founders, financial empowerment, getting funding, the power of budgeting, and creating an impact blueprint.
Anamika Mukherjee is a recognized decarbonization and energy transition thought leader in Canada. She’s a Partner at BDC Capital’s Industrial Clean Energy Technology Fund, where she enables Canadian entrepreneurs with bold ideas around sustainability to build global companies. Before this, she was the head of technology & innovation at Cenovus Energy and chaired the Net-Zero Planning Committee at the Oil sands Pathways to Net Zero Alliance.
Anamika has a uniquely diverse career background. In 2018-2019, Anamika was seconded to the Canadian Federal Government where she worked as Chief of Staff to the Resources of the Future Economic Strategy Table, where she coordinated governments and resource sectors CEOs across Canada to land on policy recommendations to the federal government to boost Canada’s economic competitiveness. In 2016, Anamika operationalized a Cenovus-Suncor-BC Cleantech CEO Alliance cleantech venture partnership, Evok Innovations, and subsequently became part of the fund’s investment committee.
She’s led the Canadian oil and gas industry in various multi-stakeholder, provincial and federal environmental policy negotiations. She has significant experience in process engineering design, commissioning & start-up activities, and operational troubleshooting from her years at Jacobs Engineering and Suncor Energy. In 2015, Anamika was recognized by the Young Women in Energy Award for climate change innovation. In 2016, she was recognized by the Alberta Oil Magazine for her efforts to enable oil to be a part of a clean energy future. In 2017, she was featured by Natural Resources Canada’s Generation Energy for forging the path to clean energy. In 2018, Anamika received two Deputy Minister’s Awards from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada for her outstanding contribution to the Economic Strategy Tables.
Most recently, in 2022, she was featured by the Canada West Foundation as being a thought leader in decarbonization and energy transition. Anamika has been a keynote speaker and has participated on several panels on technology, energy transition, sustainability, and women in leadership.
Dr. Bala-Miller is a respected senior executive and strategic planner, with over twenty years of experience working on natural resource governance, sustainable finance and human rights.
She began her career with the United Nations Environment Program (Division of Technology, Industry and Economics) in France working to advance sustainable lifestyles among youth. Following that, she spent five years based in the UK advocacting for better corporate sustainability performance across multiple industry sectors. This included highly successful policy advocacy at the OECD, UN Agencies, and the European Commission on behalf of Consumers International – the global voice for 250 consumer rights organisations in 120 countries.
Since her return to Canada in 2008, Dr. Bala-Miller has been a champion for mainstreaming responsible investment and sustainable finance in Canada and globally. In this capacity, she spent five years at the Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE) supporting trade union pension trustees to serve as effective advocates for ESG issues such as Wage Equity, Board Diversity, A Just Transition and respect for Core Labour Standards. She also actively contributed to research and convening activities as part of the Responsible Investing Initiative at Carleton University and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and served as an advisory member of the Coalition of Universities for Responsible Investing (CURI).
Next, as Director of Partnerships and Program Development at the Canadian International Resources and Development Institute, Dr. Bala-Miller led on a number of strategic initiatives and program design for technical assistance programs that supported resource-sectors to align with the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS), and stewarded institutional partnerships with 40+ universities and over 120 government, civil society, and industry organisations. She launched her own consulting practice Palmyra Partners in 2020 which focuses on projects that bridge sustainability and social justice. Dr. Bala-Miller is also currently an advisory committee member at Diversity in Sustainability.
She holds an MA and PhD in Political Science from the University of British Columbia and an MA in Conflict Analysis and Management from Royal Roads University. She joins ASI’s Board in an independent capacity.
With a background in mechanical engineering from the University of Waterloo (Canada), Roya worked in the automotive industry for over three years gaining practical experience in problem solving and the ability to work and communicate across multiple departments. She completed a Master’s degree in Sustainability at the Blekinge Institute of Technology (Sweden), following which she briefly worked with the program as a researcher and teaching assistant. Roya then went on to consult on sustainability in the built environment in London (UK) with clients such as British Land, Sir Robert McAlpine and Dow Chemical. Amongst her key achievements, she led the sustainability strategy for a 2,500 unit master planned community in the south of the UK, provided training on green certification standards to a large construction company, and was responsible to update sustainability guidelines for a large REIT in the heart of London.
Since returning to Canada, over the past 13 years Roya has maintained a focus on sustainability in the residential sector for both new construction and existing buildings having worked with Minto Group, Mattamy Homes, and Starlight Investments. She has led the sustainability strategy for over 20 new low-, mid- and high-rise residential communities in the Greater Toronto Area, which were built to be more energy and water efficient, with a lower carbon footprint, and with spaces that support the health and well-being of the residents. She is skilled at engaging and collaborating with people at all levels of the business on sustainability/ ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) strategy development and annual reporting with an understanding of disclosure programs such as GRESB, GRI, CSDS and CSRD. However, she is most passionate about supporting initiatives that help to integrate sustainability into the business. Most recently this has included leading the development of a tool to help prioritize a large portfolio of buildings for decarbonization, assessing a range of industry tools to support climate resilience, and supporting a development team with better integrating sustainability into their existing processes.
Through her career Roya has been involved with a number of industry groups and initiatives: ENERGY STAR for New Homes Technical Advisory Committee, ENERGY STAR for Multi-Family Residential, City of Toronto’s Toronto Green Standard and Green Will Initiative, and the CHBA Net Zero Homes Steering Committee. She is currently an Associate Board Member with Sustainable Buildings Canada, and a freelance Sustainability/ ESG Consultant through her consultancy Evolve Sustainability Group.
Suzi Mikaelian is a strategic architect and advisor to mission-led enterprises navigating inflection points, moments where clarity, focus, and decisive pivots determine long-term viability. With over 25 years across corporate, nonprofit, association, and social enterprise sectors, Suzi brings a systems-thinking lens that helps leaders bridge vision with the strategic foundation to scale. Her work integrates leadership, governance, financial sustainability, and enterprise-wide design to drive results where it counts most.
As Founder of Social Mission Canada, Suzi partners with mission-led organizations to align strategy, operations, and revenue models to accelerate outcomes without added complexity. She blends commercial discipline with systems leadership, helping teams stay anchored, gain clarity, realign priorities, and focus resources where they matter most.
Her cross-sector portfolio spans corporate M&A, nonprofit unification, association transformation, and social enterprise optimization. She has led financial restructuring, governance transformation, revenue diversification, and national leadership programs that build adaptive capacity. Her advisory work also includes innovation, product and service development, go-to-market planning, investor readiness, and stakeholder-centered strategies that drive value.
Suzi has partnered with women-led and BIPOC-led enterprises across sectors such as environmental innovation, circular economy solutions, professional development, civic services, associations, technology, eCommerce, manufacturing, and food and beverage. Clients rely on her ability to cut through noise and unlock strategic leverage.
In board leadership roles, Suzi brings a steady systems-thinking lens to fiduciary oversight, governance, and decision-making. Whether advising through Social Mission Canada or serving on boards, she is known as a clarity catalyst and strategic reset partner helping enterprises move past surface fixes to address underlying issues, reframe priorities, and reposition for sustainable growth through grounded strategy, innovation, and ethical technology applications.
Suzi mentors founders and senior leaders and cultivates cross-sector dialogue through panels, peer networks, and thought leadership on systems change, business model resilience, and the future of mission-led enterprise.
Vanessa Coqueiro is a partner at Deloitte working with clients to optimize their finance function through automation, and helping them navigate technology decisions and implementations. With an engineering background, she started her career at Accenture and spent 10 years delivering large scale transformation projects in telecommunications and automotive industries in Brazil and Australia. After moving to Canada in 2013, Vanessa joined a boutique firm implementing financial applications in the cloud, and bringing operational efficiencies to medium sized companies across industries. With that experience, she moved to Deloitte in 2015 to start a national practice offering advisory services to finance leaders looking to embark on a transformation journey. She also spent a year running the professional services business of a software implementation partner, managing over 30 accounts.
Vanessa has worked with public and private companies globally, including government and nonprofit organizations, in both sales and delivery roles. She has over 21 years of experience providing consulting services around Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Corporate Performance Management (CPM), Payroll, Human Capital Management (HCM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Business Intelligence (BI) and Sustainability systems. Diversity & Inclusion is another cornerstone of Vanessa’s career, stemming from being a female engineer working in technology and having lived in four different countries.
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ASI is a registered Canadian charity.
Charitable Business Registration Number: 789760675R R0001
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