Innovolvers

Anthony Watanabe, Ph.D. - President & CEO

Through a series of business ventures, Dr. Watanabe has been helping leading organizations successfully adopt sustainability thinking. Every day, he encounters leaders who are hungry to embrace sustainability, but struggle to make it relevant to their organizations. In response, Anthony founded the Innovolve Group consultancy and built it into a hub of ideas, people and innovation designed to both move the market and market the movement of sustainability.

In addition to serving clients, Anthony volunteers to help build capacity in sustainability in Canada. He achieves this by mentoring emerging green businesses and by sitting on non profit boards such as that of the Conservation Council of Ontario.

Dr. Watanabe is an accomplished speaker having delivered presentations on sustainability to business, government and civil society organizations in Canada, the United States and Europe. A list of his most recent presentations and publications can be found on our News and Resources page.

Rose Swagemakers - Vice President Operations

With numerous years in international sales, marketing and strategic planning, Rose brings to Innovolve her extensive experience in operations and event management. Her enthusiasm and obsession with flawless execution ensures clients look and deliver their best when they take centre stage. In her previous roles as Meeting and Incentive Manager for the Netherlands Board of Tourism, Director of Sales and Marketing for Horizon & Company and President of the Society of Incentive and Travel Executives, she planned record-breaking fundraising events, creative social gatherings, and educational seminars, conferences, monthly board meetings and AGMs.

As a co-founder of the Innovolve Group, Rose heads up the organization's "Meeting the World" division where she has managed a host of successful conferences and tradeshows for clients such as Sustainable Buildings Canada, the Conservation Council of Ontario, the United Way of Greater Toronto, Corporate Knights, the Public Affairs Association of Canada and the Travel Media Association of Canada.

Rose brings her extensive international experience to bear on all projects and takes great pleasure in advising her clients on how to leverage their own resources to increase and sustain market share, identify new sources of revenue and powerfully communicate their mandate. Behind the scenes, she's committed to furthering her craft – supporting planners worldwide with strategies for hosting events that maximize impact, satisfy pocketbooks and leave light environmental footprints.

When she is not driving positive change through high impact meetings, you can find Rose seeking new adventures in foreign lands and relishing time with her two young sons.

Garrick Ng, MBA - VP of Sustainability

Garrick is on a mission to take sustainability to the masses. His path? Arming firms with tools and insights to commercialize sustainable products and services. Whether tackling branding, organizational change or ideation challenges, he merges his commercial intuition and sustainability expertise to surface hidden value. Garrick credits his industry experience in communications, consulting and brand management for the business-centric approach he takes to realizing opportunities through the triple bottom line agenda. His personal sustainability journey includes authoring a corporate citizenship report for the world’s largest spirits company, co-developing Canada’s foremost leadership forum on CSR, and serving as Chair of the Packaging Association of Canada’s Student Design Board. Prior to joining Innovolve, Garrick served in a brand management capacity for a leading global consumer packaged goods company. Garrick holds an MBA in Business & Sustainability, and a Graduate Diploma in Business & The Environment from the Schulich School of Business, along with a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia. Garrick has a history of community engagement with civil society actors ranging from youth outreach and public policy groups to internationally-focused not-for-profit organizations. Where to find him when not hunting for transformative market change: behind the lens, on two wheels, between book covers, in open air.

Jeff Ranson, HBA - Sr. Associate

Jeff is a sustainability entrepreneur. His talents? Turning challenges into opportunities and finding synergies in unexpected places. No stranger to commercial endeavours, he helps clients build businesses that are economically, socially and ecologically profitable. Prior to coming to Innovolve he was engaged in the world of small business start-ups, specializing in street level service and retail, with a focus on high quality, local sourcing, and community building. Now he's determined to change the way we live through smarter buildings, leveraging the power of new media, and big picture thinking. Jeff holds an HBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. Time well spent for Jeff: reading up on issues of the day, turning his kitchen into a workshop, and uncovering hidden treasures on city treks with his partner, Grace.

Ken Poon - Creative Director

Ken's advertising epiphany? A sudden realization that his extravagent paper napkin doodling could turn into a career. He has worked at agencies such as SMW, The Ongoing Partnership, Glennie Stamnes Strategy, Lanyon Phillips Partners and BBDO, and is founder of Design Engine Studio. His client list includes Molson, Ethical Funds, BC Hydro, Virgin Drinks, Diageo Canada, Gulf & Fraser Financial, Roy Thompson Hall, Bosa Development, Escada, Tourism Toronto, Dell, Safe Kids and the Government of Ontario. Ken holds a diploma in advertising from The International Academy of Design. When not parked in front of his Mac, Ken can be found playing pick up hockey, debating whether to finish his application for chiropractic college and catching up on sleep.

Chris Lowry, M.ED. – Associate

Chris is a consultant and entrepreneur who has founded and managed both independent media production businesses and non-profit organizations. As a specialist in education and communications he has broad experience consulting and building relationships among public sector, private sector, and civil society in Canadian and international contexts. He served as a Senior Consultant with international agencies such as CIDA Policy Branch, UN Drug Control Program (Nairobi) and UNDP/UNAIDS (Bangkok). He has won awards for his films and social marketing work, including the Peter F. Drucker Award for Canadian Non-Profit Innovation. .

He was a co-founder of Street Kids International (SKI), was senior editor of The Journal of Wild Culture, and has also worked with agencies such as MSF/Doctors Without Borders (Canada). Chris recently served on the faculty of the Institute Without Boundaries, an interdisciplinary graduate program on sustainable design at George Brown City College School of Design.

Chris is the founder and Network Director of Green Enterprise Toronto—GET (www.greenenterprise.net), an alliance of local, sustainable, independent businesses and customers. GET is the Toronto network of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE).

Stev Baycetich, MBA – Associate

Stev experiences life. For Stev, criss-crossing North America executing guerilla and experiential marketing programs with the Van's Warped Tour (North America's largest touring music festival) has its perks. Street-level consumer understanding is one of them. Stev spends his days dreaming up marketing strategies for clients spanning education, entertainment, professional sports, apparel, publishing, and beverage industries. Stev holds an MBA in Marketing from the Schulich School of Business where he was also President of the International Open Arms Committee. What does this mean for Innovolve clients? Savvy marketing expertise and solid project management skills to amplify most any communications campaign. Where to find Stev doing "market research"? Inside concert venues, under airport lights, behind the BBQ.

Alison Chafe, MBA – Associate

Alison packs a one-two punch. One: as an experienced business professional, she possesses over eight years experience working for corporations in retail, banking, insurance, telecommunications, and entertainment. Two: she harbours a passion for sustainability, brought to life in a retail sector plan aimed at leveraging sustainability principles to spark product innovation, improve brand equity/reputation, and reduce risks and costs. Alison holds an MBA in Business and Sustainability and Bachelor of Commerce in Management Information Systems. When not behind a keyboard, she can be found travelling to interesting places - near and far - or surprising opponents at the ping pong table or tobaggan hills.

Natasha Kong - Creative Services

Natasha's design career began 13 years ago when she co-founded a small new media house in downtown Toronto servicing clients such as TV Guide, Sega City, and Absolut Vodka. In 1997, after the company was sold to a consulting firm, she left and began a road show to raise capital for a small web venture. In 1999 she co-founded Savvy, Inc. and began providing creative consulting services to organizations in Canada, the U.S and Europe. Most notably, STREETSPACE a kiosk company based out of Los Angeles, hired her to oversee their pilot rollout program at the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.

In 2004, after moving back to Canada, she decided to merge her passions with her work and started freelancing for socially mission based businesses and organizations in the sustainability sector. In the last few years she has engaged on projects for Capers Community Market, the National Film Board of Canada, Evergreen, ClimateLiberal.ca, and fair trade organic coffee company Salt Spring Coffee. She is a volunteer with Evergreen and Oxfam and is a member of Green Enterprise Toronto. If she's not cooking up a new design for a client she can be found driving her new 1986 VW bio-diesel van or dreaming of her permaculture garden.

Michelle Wilson - Associate

Michelle Wilson's 25 years of experience in the event planning, medical and legal fields have allowed her to develop into a highly-skilled conference planning coordinator and database manager. An enthusiastic team player with a vast knowledge of several computer programs, Michelle brings to each project meticulous attention to detail and the ability to provide a wide range of services including registration management, production of collateral and on-site support. When not striving to ensure a successful event, Michelle can be found in the stands of one of the many arenas across the province cheering on her two children and their teammates.

Jyl Ashton Cunningham, CMP - Associate

Jyl has been happily associated with the Innovolve Group since 2005 when she worked on the Corporate Knights Roundtable as support Project Manager to Rose, who was then imminently expecting her second son. She has an enormous respect for the work Innovolve do, and through observing, and working with their dedicated commitment to sustainable practices, Jyl has considerably improved her own green philosophy and that of many of her clients. Based in Oakville, Jyl's company, JAAC Events, collaborates with Oakville Tourism, the Oakville Arts Council and the Oakville Chamber of Commerce on various local events and initiatives.

Jyl has often been described as a Jyl Of All Trades and Master of Quite a Few. Her life experiences include three major moves across two continents and four challenging career moves, including contemporary art dealer, chef/caterer, meeting manager/event designer and freelance writer. Jyl is Associate Editor, Ontario of The Planner, an industry magazine offering readers a wide variety of educational and informative articles. In 2008 The Planner will feature Anthony Watanabe as a regular author/contributor on Green Meetings.