About Us

Steering Committee


Betty Plewes lives in Carp Ontario. Before her retirement, she worked in international development with a focus on African development, gender relations and civil society organizations. She was Overseas Director of CUSO, CEO of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, and participated in the creation of Partnership Africa Canada, the Voluntary Sector Roundtable and the McLeod Group. Her experience in the voluntary sector includes serving on boards, editing a journal, and writing on many aspects of sector work.


Rieky Stuart lives in Victoria and still works part-time as a consultant on organizational change and gender equality with UN organizations, governments and NGOs. Her daughters roll their eyes when she says she plans to retire. She has lived across Canada—from Nova Scotia to Saskatchewan—and also in Asia and Africa. Her last staff position was as Executive Director of Oxfam Canada, and she also worked as Deputy Director of the Canadian Council for International Cooperation and taught at St. Francis Xavier University’s Coady Institute. She has been a volunteer teacher, consultant and Board member, and is currently affiliated with Gender at Work and with the Climate Legacy Project.


Roy Culpeper is an Ottawa-based economist who has devoted his career to social justice issues. His work as a researcher and a public servant has focused on development in Canada and internationally. He is particularly interested in the crucial role of financial markets, institutions and policies, in shaping livelihoods and economic outcomes. He led the North-South Institute, an organization whose motto was “Research for a fairer world”, for fifteen years. Since then he has occasionally been a consultant. He is the volunteer Chair of the Group of 78 which works to advance the causes of peace, justice, and planetary survival; and of the Coalition for Equitable Land Acquisitions and Development in Africa, which focuses on the rights and access to land, particularly of women farmers.

Wendy Quarry lives in Ottawa but has spent almost all of her working life focused on other countries. As such she has lived with her family in Ghana, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Permanently back in Canada since 2006 she continues work as a consultant internationally and currently mentors research groups in evaluation and communication. Prior to her international work she was a broadcaster in radio and television in Montreal in the mid-to late 70’s. Being part of the Climate Legacy Steering Committee is a welcome opportunity to be involved in, and learn more about, climate activism in her own country.


Tim Brodhead started a lifelong interest in development and social change as a volunteer in Nigeria. As first executive director of a network of European NGOs, co-founder of Inter Pares and President of the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, he spent twenty-five years in international development work before becoming President of the J.W. McConnell Foundation in Montreal. The Foundation, with a mandate to enhance Canada’s sustainability, resilience and innovation, supports projects nation-wide. Since his retirement, Tim attends meetings of the many non-profit boards he sits on and helps his brother run a small farming operation near Ottawa.


Staff

Léanne Colbeck is currently pursuing a double-major B.A. in International Development (Environment and Sustainable Development) and Philosophy. Her studies are focused around the sustainable and ethical development of communities, through policy, project development, advocacy, and on-the-ground engagement. She has worked in digital marketing, admin, and volunteer management for non-profits for six years.

Eric Murphy is an experienced journalist and non-profit communications writer. He’s well-accustomed to wearing a variety of different hats as a writer and editor, and is equally comfortable covering breaking news stories from the back of a moving taxi or drafting donor engagement out of a tent in rural Kenya. Eric studied journalism at Carleton University in Ottawa, and had the chance to write and edit for a number of local publications, including Ottawa Life Magazine and Apt613. After moving to Toronto, he tried his hand at non-profit communications and hasn’t looked back.