Our defining issue is connecting the people who most need the work with the work that most needs to be done.  The social enterprises I’ve helped to co-found now operate in 8 different Canadian cities and in three Manitoba First Nations.  These non-profit businesses operate in the local food, construction and green energy sectors. Collectively, we employ over 300 people with barriers to employment and annual revenues of over $14 million and growing.  

My partner Fiona and I live in Winnipeg. We enjoy canoeing, long walks and talking with friends about new ideas. We enjoy our geothermally heated home in St. Boniface and going on road trips in our money-saving electric Chevy Bolt. Fiona’s experience working in the inner-city with women and my experience employing people with criminal records have helped us understand that poverty isn’t actually about poor people. It is about the failure of the systems that they are interacting with.

Thanks for finding your way to my webpage. I’m grateful to be connected to you.

I honestly feel we are on the cusp of a breakthrough where solving problems becomes about saving money, where fighting climate change is about creating meaningful jobs for young people and where politicians can let go of what’s holding us back and embrace what is going to propel us forward.  

I’ve worked as a senior civil servant but it was not until I left government that I realized how problems are actually solved and what value for money actually looks like (hint -  It involves new, big, bold, transformative ideas)!   

I feel connected to many progressive movements through the social enterprises I’ve helped co-found in Manitoba and across Canada. I’m what’s called a social entrepreneur.  We use strategies that work in the business world to solve social and environmental problems. 

If you’d like to book a speaking engagement or a workshop, please visit my work website www.encompass.coop.  I’ve gained a lot from living in Winnipeg and continuing to learn how to be a good Treaty person. So, if you live in Winnipeg, I’m happy to connect with you and your community (friends, family, colleagues) at no charge.  Let’s book a time to get together.  

You can learn more about me on LinkedIn. You’ll also find videos, newspaper editorials, podcasts and TedX talks and even a movie (17 minutes and it’s funny!) embedded in this website. Another good way to delve into these exciting possibilities is to get copies of my books (all proceeds to nonprofits). An Army of Problem Solvers was written in 2015 and has sold now over 10,000 copies. The Beautiful Bailout was put out in 2019.