CCEDNet Welcomes Three New Board Directors

March 1, 2019

Following an open call for candidates, the Board of the Canadian CED Network (CCEDNet) is pleased to announce three new appointments to our Board of Directors:

  • Krista Bissiallon is Anishinaabe kwe from Bawaating (Sault Ste. Marie) with ancestral roots in Mississaugi First Nation. Her current role is as Researcher with NORDIK Institute, a not-for-profit community based research organization located within Algoma University. Krista offers a diverse skill set and base of  knowledge from her years of work with Youth Social Infrastructure as Algoma Regional Lead, a provincial network of young people and adult allies working within institutions and grassroots to amplify the conditions for youth-led organizing in Ontario. Krista also supported the development and implementation of Northern Lights Collaborative, a five year project which is currently working with youth and institutions across Northern Ontario to center youth storytelling, reduce social isolation and increase organizational accountability to youth voices. As well, Krista has acted as Project Lead of the Edgewalker Project, a year-long project funded by the Laidlaw Foundation, investigating the relationship between youth and the philanthropic sector in Ontario. Most recently, Krista has co-founded the Young Leader’s Circle (YLC) with other leaders from across Ontario. The YLC is a provincial youth-led project, currently prototyping a model for shared leadership and community development.  Krista’s work is rooted in her passion for economic and social justice, social economies and elevating the voices of all innovators. 

  • Executive Director of the Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation (CWCF), Hazel Corcoran has been involved in all aspects of worker co-operative support including capitalization (with the CWCF’s Tenacity Works Investment Fund), technical assistance, research and writing. Trained as a lawyer at Dalhousie University, and fluent in English, French, and (partly) Spanish, Hazel has served the co-operative movement in many capacities, including as Director of le Conseil canadien de la coopération (1994-2005), and coordinator of the CoopZone Developers’ Network (2009 until January, 2018). She co-founded the Western Canada Labour-Worker Co-operative Council, a network of labour and worker co-op activists dedicated to improve conditions for workers.  She is also a co-founder of the Big Idea Rainbow Foundation, whose goal is to spread co-operativism through popular culture.  She was a Director of Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada from 2013-2016, Vice President in the last two years.  She was elected to the Board of The Co-operators in April 2016.  At the local level in Calgary, she has served in various ways, including (in the past) on the boards of First Calgary Credit Union, Calgary Co-op, la Garderie Pommes de reinette Daycare, Prairie Sky Cohousing, Calgary Unitarians, le Conseil albertain de la coopération which merged into le Conseil de développement économique de l’Alberta.  She is a Steering Committee member of CICOPA-Américas, and has a Masters in Linguistics from UC Berkeley.  Last but not least, she enjoys spending time with her husband Greg O’Neill (a co-op developer and financial analyst who lives half-time in Dartmouth, NS) as well as her young adult children/ stepchildren, and her stepgrandson.

  • Dr Gail Henderson is an assistant professor with Queen’s University Faculty of Law. Her research interests include corporate law, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, securities regulation and the regulation of financial institutions. Professor Henderson graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School as Gold Medalist in 2005, and served as law clerk to The Honourable Louise Charron of the Supreme Court of Canada. Prior to pursuing graduate studies at the University of Toronto, she practiced commercial litigation and environmental and municipal law at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Toronto. Her doctoral research focused on the role of corporate governance in encouraging greater corporate environmental responsibility. Professor Henderson has received funding for her research from the Ireland Canada University Foundation, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Foundation for Governance Research and the Canadian Centre for Ethics & Corporate Policy.

Learn more about our other Board members

Board membership is open to all CCEDNet members, with at-large Director positions elected each year.  If you are interested in joining the Board, contact us or watch for the annual call for Board nominations.