The mission of this social enterprise is to address food insecurity and help lower socio-economic populations in its community.
CCHM has been around for over 30 years and has expanded to include employment for neurodivergent individuals in the last year and a half.
Goodness Gift sells customized gift packages with most items created by and/or packaged by autistic individuals.
Zera Café is a ready-made food company that was founded to employ neurodivergent individuals.
Jim Treliving is the Chairman and Owner of Boston Pizza International (BPI)—but that’s just the tip of the iceberg of his accolades. Well-known for his role as the encouraging, savvy, entrepreneurial spirit on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, Jim has a history rooted in integrity—one which has led him well in the world of business. Jim has been at the helm of the Boston Pizza name for nearly 50 years which has received prestigious recognition, including Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies Platinum Club, Canada’s 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures, the Henry Singer Award from the Canadian Institute of Retailing and Services and, most recently, the Canadian Franchise Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Varun is the founder of Access to Success, a Toronto-based not-for-profit that runs Canada’s first accelerator for accessibility startups. Motivated by his hearing loss and Erb’s palsy, Varun helps startups, corporates and social purpose organizations implement inclusive design to help scale accessibility innovations. The 50+ companies he has worked with have gone on to benefit over 500,000 people with disabilities to date.
Varun has been recognized as a Top 50 Changemaker in Canada and received the inaugural Tom Wilson Leadership in Disability award. He holds an MBA from the University of Toronto, is a Chartered Accountant, and lives in Toronto with his wife and his hyperactive goldendoodle, Dash
Wanda Deschamps is the founder and principal of Liberty Co, a consultancy seeking to increase the participation level of the neurodiverse population in the workforce with a special emphasis on autism due to Wanda’s own diagnosis at midlife. Her approach is centred on the IDEA (Inclusion-Diversity-Equity-Accessibility) framework and focuses on inclusive leadership, entrepreneurial thinking and employee retention. Wanda is also the catalyst behind the #Women4Women collective premised on women supporting other women. She is an advocate for autistic women, as both an advisor and participant in research into autistic women’s experiences in the workplace. Wanda was recently honoured with the 2023 Life Sciences Ontario Volunteer Award. Prior to founding Liberty Co, Wanda enjoyed a 25-year career in the philanthropic sector.
Caroline von Hirschberg is the co-CEO of Spring. Caroline brings a fresh perspective from her experience starting and scaling ventures in the UK and Kenya. Through her journey from iterative product development to international product launches of renewable energy solutions, Caroline has firsthand knowledge of the value of human-centred design, the rollercoaster of managing international operations, the value of partnerships and how to raise funds from multiple sources. She’s now excited to share these insights with social entrepreneurs looking to grow their impact.
Garth Johnson co-founded Canada’s first enterprise to deploy abilities of autistic individuals as technology consultants, Meticulon, in 2013. He became CEO of auticon Canada in 2019 after the acquisition of Meticulon’s technology consulting business by auticon GMBH. Garth has over 25 years’ experience supporting the growth of successful technology companies. Prior to starting Meticulon, Garth served as VP of Business and Community Development for iStockphoto, and President of Fotolia (Adobe Stock) North America before helping to bring both companies to successful exits.
Garth brings his professional passion for building sustainable, disruptive businesses to drive auticon Canada’s mission to create long-term, successful technology careers for autistic Canadians. Garth also serves as Vice President on the Board of the Canadian Association for Supported Employment (CASE).
Erica Barbosa Vargas is the Global Head of Sustainable Finance & Innovation at SecondMuse Capital. In this role, Erica is responsible for integration of sustainability practices and impact across all investment work for the development of innovative financial mechanisms. Prior to her work at SecondMuse Capital, Erica worked as the Director of Solutions Finance at the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, where she spearheaded the Foundation’s impact investing practice. With over 13 years of global professional experience in the private sector and international development, she specializes in innovation and systems dynamics for inclusive economic development.
Wanda Deschamps is the founder and principal of Liberty Co, a consultancy seeking to increase the participation level of the neurodiverse population in the workforce with a special emphasis on autism due to Wanda’s own diagnosis at midlife. Her approach is centred on the IDEA (Inclusion-Diversity-Equity-Accessibility) framework and focuses on inclusive leadership, entrepreneurial thinking and employee retention. Wanda is also the catalyst behind the #Women4Women collective premised on women supporting other women. She is an advocate for autistic women, as both an advisor and participant in research into autistic women’s experiences in the workplace. Wanda was recently honoured with the 2023 Life Sciences Ontario Volunteer Award. Prior to founding Liberty Co, Wanda enjoyed a 25-year career in the philanthropic sector.
Don Gallant is Principal Consultant with Don Gallant and Associates, a social policy and planning agency for the public and private sectors to advance and promote social well-being and inclusion, especially for persons with disabilities. Don previously held senior management positions with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, including Director, Division of Family and Rehabilitative Services. Under his leadership, an array of community–based programs and individualized supports for persons with disabilities and their families were developed, and he was instrumental in the introduction of the Supported Employment model in the province. He serves as National Director of the Ready, Willing and Able (RWA) initiative, an initiative of Inclusion Canada and the Autism Alliance of Canada (AAC).
Luan Tolosa is an expert facilitator, strategic advisor and consultant working with later-stage, small– and medium–sized enterprises at Ignite Management Services. Luan believes in a world where opportunities are constantly being discovered and where challenges are revealed so they can be overcome. She is motivated by leading the leaders towards these opportunities and overcoming these challenges. Prior to Ignite, she worked at an impact-focused Accelerator to build its global ecosystem advisory practice and strategic program operations. Luan also spent the formative years of her career working in operations within the Commercial Real Estate industry. She continues to be active in the entrepreneurial community as an angel investor and advisor.
