Purposeful People

Andrew Greer is the Managing Director at Purppl. He’s been working in social enterprise and community development for 10+ years. He’s also the BC Interior Lead, board member, and co-owner at Thrive Impact Fund. In the past, Andrew held several roles with Accelerate Okanagan, supporting tech companies through entrepreneurial development programs in the Okanagan and throughout BC. He is also a former top Canadian sales manager for Xerox. He has diverse experience working in, starting, and serving as a Board member to nonprofits, co-ops, and social enterprises. As a specialist at Purppl, he likes to spend time with leaders on impact strategy, impact measurement, business model and revenue development, and governance structures.

Jude has been an entrepreneur in the food & beverage industry the past 14 years, and has worked with Purppl as an EIR since April 2020. Alongside her business, she has enjoyed fund development and community engagement roles with several major non-profits in the UK and Canada.

Domenica is passionate about helping others and is very invested in environmental sustainability. She brings experience in marketing, international relations, research and event planning. She has worked with Parks Canada, Alberta Health Services and Horizon Housing Society. Domenica holds a BA in Communications and Media Studies and a BSc in Biological Sciences.

Debbie started in information technology focusing on business requirements analysis, and process re-engineering for a variety of businesses.  She worked in Executive roles of large corporate companies responsible for change management, workforce management and strategic planning. Debbie was also a behind the scenes partner for her husband’s business and helped her daughter start up and run her own business.  She is experienced in providing coaching and mentoring at all levels. Debbie’s passions are strategic thinking and facilitating the growth and success of others.

Hilary Henegar is a brand, community and culture builder, who has spent the last 10 years building and growing businesses, not-for-profits and communities rooted in the sharing economy – from car sharing to crowdfunding to cinema to coworking. She is co-founder of Girl Gang, an online/offline professional networking community for women and non-binary marketers, communicators, creators and technologists. She and her young family live in the traditional, unceded lands and waters of the Quw’utsun people (Duncan, BC).

Colin is the Executive Director of SCREDO – the regional economic development office for the lower Sunshine Coast. His background includes leadership of Gibsons Public Market and Potluck Cafe. He has worked with RADIUS SFU, Ecotrust Canada, the Strathcona Business Improvement Association and the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. He supports our clients with advice on social enterprise, community capital, impact measurement and public policy.

Tasia is a serial startup entrepreneur. Tasia started a clothing manufacturing social enterprise in East Asia which provided full time employment for women who previously worked in the sex industry. She’s also owned a painting company, started and sold a children’s consignment store, and started a micro finance nonprofit. She’s excellent at turning ideas into reality. She’s also an experienced business consultant, has taught business, and holds both a masters and a doctorate degree in business.

Alyssa cofounded Unlimited Contracting, a social enterprise commercial and industrial maintenance and renovation company. Alyssa has also worked with Metro Community and collaborated in the launch of two of their social enterprises. Alyssa’s specialty is coming alongside leaders to create clarity and align staff with the organizational vision, provide a structure for strategic decision making and progress evaluation, and develop financial models that support long-term sustainability.

Brian is a career marketer committed to strategically helping leaders grow their organizations. Founder and President of The Connective, Brian engages with agencies, non-profits, and tech startups to accelerate their growth in the most creatively impactful ways possible. Proudly Okanagan born and raised.

Dan is a systems thinker and social innovator who is passionate about sustainability, innovation and community engagement. He is an architect behind a simple but powerful model to transform public transportation and it starts with training youth. “The Kingston Model” has increased high school ridership from 28,000 to 600,000 annually in Kingston, Ontario. He was also responsible for designing, creating and managing the Innovation Hub @ St. Lawrence College which has become a destination for skills teaching through engagement  & collaboration on community-based, inter-disciplinary projects.

Sharon is a passionate Entrepreneur and Restaurateur for 20 years.

Owner and CEO/Founder of Kekuli Cafe, Sharon created a cafe that had something no other place had; a traditional cultural aboriginal ambience, with light pow wow music, aboriginal art, jewellery and most of all Aboriginal cuisine!

Her areas of strength include Business Development, Start-ups, Marketing, Social Media, Tourism, Indigenous Tourism, Customer Service, World Host Pow Wow Experience. Board Governance, BC Labour Market Strategy, Tourism Blueprint Strategy, and Organizing Board Structure.

Charity is a speaker, coach and product development visionary. Over the past 15 years, Charity has been instrumental in starting scaling successful businesses in gaming, healthcare, and even microbrewing. She helped propel the world’s largest virtual world for kids from startup to over 300 million global users, and has worked alongside the world’s most innovative teams including Pixar, Lucasfilm, Disney, Marvel, IBM, and Lenovo.

Charity continues to mentor startups and social enterprise entrepreneurs around the world through organizations like TechStars and Purppl, while speaking and training on leadership and team culture across North America.

Jeff is a leader with an entrepreneurial spirit. For over 10 years he lived in Laos, South East Asia, managing and expanding a social enterprise restaurant, bakery and coffee company, creating full time jobs for over 200 people (many whom were marginalized). Areas of expertise in business modelling, revenue forecasting, cost of goods management and leadership development.

Jeff thrives on collaboration and has an even balance of big picture and detail orientation, he builds efficient teams and processes and enjoys seeing people get passionate about their lives and work.

Ryan has held leadership roles in product, marketing, strategy, and general management with impact-driven startups through to fast-growing, investor-backed companies preparing to go public. Along with being a Purppl Entrepreneur-in-Residence, he is currently the founder and CEO of Scalepath.io, where he helps organizations better understand their market and identify their best opportunities to grow revenue.

Ryan holds a BA in Professional Communication and is an MBA candidate with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, focusing on entrepreneurship and business analytics.

Amanda Ladner is an entrepreneur, writer, change-maker, activist, and business coach. She co-founded three zero-waste healthy fast food restaurants in Vancouver called SMAK. She is the co-founder of SmartWhistler, dedicated to helping the municipality reduce emissions, while also improving quality of life. Amanda is committed to positive social change and climate justice and is also a passionate advocate for advancing gender equality, volunteering for Oxfam, West Coast Leaf and The Forum for Women Entrepreneurs as a mentor. Amanda has a degree in Political Science from UBC and a Masters from the London School of Economics.

Susan Smith is an CPA, C.A, and experienced executive and leader in social enterprise and social purpose organizations. She’s held various roles including Executive Director of the Naramata Centre, COO and CFO at Habitat for Humanity Canada, and VP Finance and Operations at Junior Achievement. She also ran her own consulting organization specializing in crisis management, organizational development, succession planning, human resources and financial management for small business and nonprofits. She has diverse experience serving as a Board member in the nonprofit sector. As an EIR as Purppl, she likes to spend time with leaders working on financial modelling and management, operations, executive leadership development, governance, and impact strategy.

Raissa makes the change she wants to see in the world by using her ambition and tenacity to solve the world’s biggest and her community’s most dire problems. She has over 15 years of experience developing ideas and helping social purpose organizations, innovators, entrepreneurs, and large matrix corporations achieve their fundraising and social impact goals. As a cross-sector bridge builder with expertise spanning basic science, medical technology, to social innovation, she has the skills and knowledge to make systemic change and solve complex problems. She develops, proposes, and executes creative ways to build diverse revenue streams and finance socially innovative projects.

Tehmina is a Passionate Entrepreneur having over 10 years of experience in Entrepreneurship & Community Building. Along with running her venture INSTA Foods she is currently doing a Fellowship with Acumen & Rockefeller Foundation. She volunteers with many International Organizations and run a Community of Women Entrepreneurs in Pakistan with over 8000 registered members. From her Volunteer work in Entrepreneurial Eco System for diversity and inclusion, to her focus on the environment by reducing Food Waste— everything Tehmina does speak to giving back, giving to community, giving to the world—and in many ways, her Entrepreneurial journey reflects her determination to create value for others through her work and business.

Segun Fatudimu is the Managing Director at Impact Toolbox, a Doctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia (Okanagan), and an EIR at Purppl. In the past he’s built a youth-led nonprofit that empowers young Nigerians towards high impact leadership and sustainable community engagements, built a community-based dental clinic, and was an Obama Foundation Scholar. He began his first business at the age of 11 in Nigeria and has committed to social impact in his work since then. Segun deeply understands youth leadership in social impact, and as an EIR at Purppl likes to spend time with leaders on impact strategy, impact measurement, and engagement models.

Kyle Empringham is the Director of Social Impact Partnerships at ThoughtExchange. He’s also the co-founder and Director of Finance + Fundraising at the Starfish Canada, a charity which connects young environmental changemakers through storytelling and community. He teaches college courses on climate change and environmental assessment. He’s worked with the David Suzuki Foundation and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, focusing on public and community engagement and building Indigenous partnerships. Some of the skills he brings as an EIR at Pürppl include breaking down silos and bringing partnerships together, strategizing on public engagement, communications and marketing campaigns, building a social enterprise from scratch, and leadership transition.

Selena is a values-driven communications and marketing strategist, with 25+ years experience leading teams and building brands in the Social Purpose space. A storyteller at heart, with strong analytical skills, she’s helped build brand profile and equity for some of Canada’s top co-operative businesses, including Vancity, MEC and Modo. As a Social Purpose alumna, Selena has been helping organizations articulate their  “enduring reason for being” and using it as both a competitive advantage and decision making lens, well before it became “a thing”! She’s in her happy place walking the dog, combing the beaches on Gabriola Island for sea glass, and spending time with her grandkids.

Dara Parker is currently the VP of Grants and Community Initiatives at the Vancouver Foundation as well as an EIR at Pürppl. She has held previous roles at Social Venture Partners, QMUNITY, BC’s Queer Resource Centre, Cuso International, the United Nations, and the City of Burnaby. Dara brings a strong toolkit and intuition for supporting human dynamics within organizations. Through her coaching, she assists organizations to strengthen their management, internal communications, and team building skills. She’s spent many years working towards centering justice and equity in all of her work.

Morgan Brannon has experience fundraising and leading Emergent Response at United Way, partnership development and project management at the United Nations, and project and data analysis at the World Bank. She’s also spent several years as a Finance Manager producing financial models and statements to inform firm expansion, growth forecasts & risk mitigation in the strategic management sector. As part of her EIR role at Purppl, Morgan leads portfolio relations and impact reporting for Thrive Impact Fund. As an EIR at Purppl, she likes to spend time with leaders on impact measurement and reporting, project management, partnership development and revenue growth using human-centered approaches.

Rob is a man of many hats – Director of Operations and part owner of Mochrie & Voisin Real Estate Brokerage in southern Ontario, owner and operator of multiple rental properties, Board Chair of Friends of the Grand River – an environmental impact and watershed management charity.  Rob also brings with him 15 years of experience at the national level of Habitat for Humanity Canada where he made his mark as one of the leading minds in the social enterprise space in Canada.  The number of revenue generating programs he supported nationally and locally across Canada through his time at Habitat for Humanity is extensive, including many collaboration programs with private and social impact entities.  Some may say that Rob is a serial entrepreneur with an obsession for social impact!

Brad is a career coach and small business consultant. He has run his own small business through university, has a decade of corporate experience in franchising working with hundreds of owners and leading corporate teams, and consulted with owners of organizations from 2 to 40 employees. A certified and accredited executive coach Brad is deeply committed to holding the people he works with capable and supporting them in their journey to unlock their potential.

Diane is an experienced non-profit leader with a lifelong passion for developing leaders, community collaboration and working together to find solutions to complex challenges. Over her 30 years at BGC Okanagan, retiring as CEO, Diane worked on a local, provincial, and national level to improve the lives of children, youth, and families.  Diane believes in the capacity and potential of individuals, organizations, and communities and focuses on helping individuals and organizations achieve their vision and mission, solve problems, and change things for the better.  Diane brings a positive, strengths based and engaging approach to her work.  

Brian’s experience includes founding, leading, managing, and growing a successful environmental consulting firm with offices across western and northern Canada.

He is sought after for his exemplary leadership skills and industry knowledge to participate in corporate boards as well as boards and committees of community and professional organizations and non-profits.

Julian is an impact venture catalyst. He’s helped entrepreneurs and their organisations start, grow and thrive – and has invested in a few businesses. He was the co-founder and president of Rise Kombucha. Julian brings a joyful holistic approach to all that he undertakes, and is deeply curious about how best to navigate in these paradoxical times.

Dana Bass Solomon led Hollyhock for 18 years as CEO of the west coast Canada-based and renowned lifelong learning organization. Hollyhock supports creative cultural and social entrepreneur networks. She has 30+ years of senior leadership and management in programs, facilities, and hospitality.