instructor
Gordon Harris
President & CEO, SFU Community Trust
Gordon Harris is president and chief executive officer of SFU Community Trust. Under his leadership, the Trust is developing UniverCity, the award-winning sustainable urban community adjacent to Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby Mountain campus. Gordon and his team are making significant contributions toward the implementation of Canada’s first green zoning bylaw, promoting complete communities, increasing transportation choices, and enhancing the overall quality of the urban environment. Already home to 2,500 people, UniverCity will ultimately reach a population of more than 10,000.
Prior to joining SFU Community Trust, Gordon had a distinguished career as a professional urban planner. For 20 years he provided consulting services to a wide range of Canadian and international clients and was recognized as one of Canada’s leading providers of market-based economic analysis and strategic planning support to local governments and the private sector.
Gordon served for many years as a member of the Planning Institute of British Columbia’s governing council and he chaired PIBC’s professional practices review committee from 2007 - 2009 and served as membership committee chair from 2004 to 2007. Other current and previous community and professional board memberships include the Urban Futures Institute, Presentation House Cultural Society and the Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery. He is a contributing editor of the Ontario Planning Journal and a senior associate with the Canadian Urban Institute. In 2009 Gordon was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners in recognition of his significant contribution to the profession in Canada.