OUR TEAM
Leading Change Team
Laj Kaur
Executive Director
Meet our new Executive Director
Laj is driven by her passion for sustainability and a deep commitment to creating positive change. With a Masters in Sustainable Development, she is dedicated to promoting sustainable practices and encouraging community development.
Laj’s professional experience includes working with an array of organizations including NGO’s and private companies to design and implement sustainable business practices. Her background in marketing and event management has been instrumental in creating engaging and effective campaigns to promote sustainable development. She is a member of Community Climate Council where she facilitates conversations around climate anxiety and has been an active member of Leading Change prior to joining the team. Laj is passionate about continuing her work of intersecting business functions with sustainable development and engaging young leaders in the sustainability space.
Emily Lau
Program Coordinator
Emily is Leading Change’s Program Coordinator where she is responsible for organizing and coordinating Leading Change’s Leadership Coffee Chats series and the virtual hubs program. She is passionate about engaging and empowering youth through equitable and inclusive ways to bring together a diversity of young people to the table to build a more sustainable future.
Emily has a degree in Environment Studies and a minor in Biology from the University of Waterloo where she completed an undergraduate thesis studying barriers and opportunities for community engagement in strategies to protect the Great Lakes. She is in the process of completing a certificate in Community Engagement, Leadership, and Development to strengthen and develop her community engagement practices.
Outside of work she enjoys reading, music, travelling, volunteering, and starting crafting projects before completing any of the ones she is working on.
Steering Committee
Sebastian Chavez
Co-Director of Programs
Sebastian Chavez is a Senior Associate in the Corporate Innovation team at MaRS Discovery District, focusing on Climate. In his role, Sebastian works with corporate partners from across the Americas, Asia and Europe to accelerate the adoption of Canadian innovation in the climate technology sector. He helps diverse partners navigate decarbonization pathways and emerging climate technology, and facilitates connections across ecosystem stakeholders to help innovators achieve their climate ambitions. Sebastian specializes in hard-to-abate sectors like cement, steel, and energy.
Prior to joining MaRS, Sebastian worked in the Innovation & Technology group at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). At RBC, he worked in Data & Analytics Product Management as well as Data Strategy, collaborating with technical teams across the bank to build advanced analytics products and capture strategic opportunities to create value from data.
Sebastian holds an Honours Bachelor in Business Administration (HBA) from the Ivey Business School at Western University. While at Western, he served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Western’s University Students’ Council and completed academic research in Behavioural & Decision Science as a Research Assistant to Dr. Laurel Austin.
Fatou Dieng
Co-Director of Participants & Delegates
Fatou is a dedicated Climate Strategist at Manifest Climate, bringing a wealth of expertise to the field of climate risk management and climate-focused initiatives. Her passion for climate action and advocacy led her to join the Leading Change Steering Committee as the Co-Director of Participants.
Fatou holds a Master of Science in Environment and Sustainable Development from Université de Montréal, with a focus on climate action, sustainable finance, and climate justice. Additionally, she holds an Honors Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies: International Affairs and Environmental Studies and an Associate of Arts in Business Administration.
As a Black Senegalese immigrant womxn, Fatou is deeply committed to advancing climate justice and adaptation in Africa. In her spare time, Fatou actively contributes to a family-owned agriculture project in Senegal, advocating for sustainable practices. She is a Youth Council Member for Canada LCOY under the UNFCCC and a member of Comité Jeunesse in Montreal, championing youth engagement and climate action. Fatou also serves as a Committee Member for Réseau Environnement’s Comité Vecteur Environnement.
Aubrey-Anne Laliberte-Pewapisconias
Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Aubrey-Anne Laliberte-Pewapisconias (she/her) is a nêhiyâskwew from Canoe Lake Cree First Nation and Little Pine First Nation. Aubrey is a graduate from the University of Saskatchewan with her Bachelor of Commerce in Finance, a Global Business Certificate, and an Indigenous Governance and Politics Certificate. Continuing her studies in her home territory, she is now pursuing her Master of Sustainability in Energy Security.
Aubrey is an Indigenous Youth Advocate and Environmentalist following her ancestral teachings of protecting Mother Earth for our future generations. Furthering this and promoting collaboration with Indigenous Peoples in a clean energy future, she has attended the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP27, was Canada’s 2023 Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction negotiator at the G20 Youth Summit, and has graduated from Generation Power.
Her work extends through her roles involved with numerous organizations such as SIGA, Tatâga Inc., Canadian Roots Exchange, the Indigenous Leadership Circle, and more. Aubrey is proud to be taking on the role of Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Leading Change to work within this powerful community so we can build a future that’s more sustainable, prosperous, and socially just.
Shaniece Mitchell
Director of Partnerships
Shaniece is the Senior ESG Specialist at Meridian Credit Union where she leads the company’s ESG initiatives and programming, communications and employee engagement. She also supports with ESG reporting and additional projects for the ESG team.
She pursued her Masters of Science in Sustainability Management at the University of Toronto, Mississauga shortly after completing her Bachelors of Science in Geography and Agribusiness at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. She’s worked in sustainability positions at Uniqlo Canada and Bayer Crop Science where she managed a number sustainability programs, conducted sustainability research and assisted with ESG reporting. In addition to that, Shaniece has a background in non-profit management having worked for organizations like Habitat for Humanity Canada & Habitat GTA as well as The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.
In her spare time, Shaniece enjoys her weekly fitness workouts and is a huge proponent of adopting a whole foods plant based lifestyle!
Alicia M. Richins
Director of Strategy and Governance
Alicia (she/they) is a Sustainable Impact Strategist who fiercely champions climate justice and hopeful futures. As a consultant-facilitator, she helps organizations and community groups to develop impact strategies and systems, and to unpack the intersecting issues of climate, social and economic justice using the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a guiding framework. Her offerings are underscored by her active engagement in the climate movement in Canada and across the Caribbean, as well as her education and research in environmental studies, international development, urban planning and ecological economics. An experienced speaker and published writer, Alicia channels her creative energy into The Climateverse, a media platform reporting the news from parallel dimensions where humanity is taking transformative action to safeguard our futures.
Taylor Stimpson
Director of Participants and Delegates
Taylor is, at heart, a passionate problem-solver and environmentalist working to lead systems change toward a more climate-positive, equitable, and socially-just future. Her expertise in research, engineering design, and emergent thinking provide a basis for curated solutions to climate, waste, and sustainability challenges. She brings over 6 years of expertise in interfacial engineering with a focus on bio-based sustainable materials, from both an academic and private start-up lens. Taylor has extended this expertise in her current role as Program Manager at the Academy for Sustainable Innovation, to look at cultural, societal, and organizational interfaces, noting that change happens where there is intersection & collaboration. As a McMaster alumna, holding a B.Eng & Society and MASc in Chemical Engineering, and now as a sessional instructor for McMaster’s undergraduate Engineering & Society Capstone course, Taylor offers perspectives with a systems-lens that help us to imagine and create regenerative futures that work with the planet, not against it, supporting all human and other-than-human inhabitants. Taylor is actively involved with sustainability-focused community groups including the EcoHamilton Collective, owns and operates her small textile upcycling business, Waste Knot Co, and loves to spend her time reconnecting with nature and creativity. Taylor believes that our approaches to solving our greatest global challenges will require a healthy dose of active hope, supported by an essence of adaptability, and a passion for community.
Shared Services
Leading Change is part of Profoundry, a collective of like-minded sustainability and climate experts who help organizations create value and have a positive impact on society. Our group includes GLOBE Series, Delphi, and CBSR.
Our shared vision is to achieve a sustainable, prosperous and socially just future in a generation – and to have fun while we’re doing it. Together, we provide services and platforms that empower business, government and youth to improve performance while accelerating the clean economy.
If you share our values and are looking for a workplace that will support your professional growth, challenge you intellectually and inspire you to help us change the world, our constellation may be the employer for you.