Kalen Taylor is the Manager of Impact Investment at the Winnipeg Foundation, responsible for the development and delivery of the $55 million Social Impact Investment Fund (SIIF).
Prior to their work at the Winnipeg Foundation, Kalen served as the Executive Director of Purpose Construction, a social enterprise that combines affordable housing development and rehabilitation with trades training and employment for people underrepresented in the skilled trades. Purpose Construction completes over $5 million in affordable housing construction and renovation annually. Purpose Construction is run by and for people with barriers to entering the trades; recent immigrants and refugees, Indigenous people, women, people transitioning out of the justice system, members of the LGBTQ2+ community.
Prior to that, Kalen Taylor co-founded Aki Energy Inc., a nationally award-winning social enterprise that works with First Nations to build community owned renewable energy systems, training and employing 100% local installation labour. In Aki Energy’s first 5 years, they completed over $18 million dollars in renewable energy development in partnership with First Nations communities in Manitoba.
Kalen Taylor has served as the President of Winnipeg’s Social Enterprise Centre, and a founding board member of the Social Entrepreneurship Enclave in Winnipeg’s North End.
Kalen Taylor is a graduate of Oxford University’s Executive Social Finance Program, and took a lead role in developing Aki Energy’s $4.5 million dollar ‘Community Driven Outcomes Purchase,’ working with Raven Capital Partners to co-develop and deliver the first Indigenous community-led social outcomes purchase agreement in Canada. Kalen has an Executive Masters in Project Management from the Schulitz School of Business, and LEAN Green Belt certified through the Desaultes School of Management at the University of McGill, and is a graduate of Oxford University’s Executive Social Finance program.
