Creating space for transformative conversations

Associates

The honorific appointment of Dialogue Associate reflects strong achievement in dialogue and a sustained, active relationship with Centre for Dialogue programming.

Senior Associates

Joanna Ashworth is a former Director of Dialogue Programs at the Centre for Dialogue, leading numerous projects and programs from 2002 to 2010. Today she is Associate Director at the Centre for Sustainable Community Development, where she is also a faculty member in the Centre’s academic program. She was a program founder and teaches in SFU’s Certificate in Dialogue and Civic Engagement.

Ann Cowan was a founding member of the Centre for Dialogue. Serving as the Director of Program Development, she helped Mark Winston develop the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue and other key initiatives. During her 23-year career at SFU, she also served as Executive Director of the Vancouver campus and founded SFU’s Writing and Publishing Program and the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing.

Tony Penikett spent 25 years in public life, including: two years at the House of Commons as Chief of Staff to federal New Democratic Party Leader Ed Broadbent; five terms in the Yukon Legislative Assembly; and two terms as Premier of Canada’s Yukon Territory. Between 1997 and 2001, Penikett served as B.C.’s Deputy Minister of Negotiations and, later, Labour. In 2006, Douglas & McIntyre published his book, Reconciliation: First Nations Treaty Making. In 2017, UBC Press will release Hunting the Northern Character,Penikett’s book on Arctic identities in the 21st century.

A mediator, lawyer, facilitator and negotiator, Glenn Sigurdson is internationally known for his work related to complex multi-party challenges involving environmental, resource and land use issues. From 2001 to 2005 he led the Dialogue Forum, a research initiative exploring protocols and effective tools for successful dialogue.

Associates

Michael Alexander: Director, SFU City Conversations
Michael is Director of SFU City Conversations, and an urbanist focusing on urban policy and public spaces.
Bob Anderson: Historian, and Professor of Communications at SFU
Bob Anderson is a professor of communication at SFU. Trained as an anthropologist, he also now considers himself an historian.
Laurie Anderson: Executive Director, SFU Vancouver
Laurie's leadership and facilitation focus is on creating the conditions that help people learn, connect, belong, grow and laugh together.
Natasha Aruliah: Facilitator, Coach and Consultant
Natasha, supports people/organisations to develop the necessary cultural competence, emotional intelligence and critical thinking that promote healing, justice and equity, in Canada, and internationally.
Heesoon Bai: Professor, SFU Burnaby
Philosophy’s task for today’s troubled world is, in the words of Raimon Panikkar, “to know, to love, and to heal.
Herb Barbolet: Centre for Dialogue Associate
Herb is passionate about life-long learning.
Shanthi Besso: Associate Director, Leadership & Community Building Programs, Lifelong Learning, SFU
Adult education maverick, aspiring system entrepreneur, program evaluation geek, jazz singer, ocean kayaker, lover-of-good-food-and-wine, mama.
Sean Blenkinsop: Professor, SFU Vancouver
Sean is a professor in the faculty of education at Simon Fraser University.
Tania Bubela: Dean and Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
Tania Bubela is Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University.
Gervase R. Bushe: Professor of Leadership & Organization Development, Beedie School of Business, SFU
A globaly recognized expert in the theory and practice of engaged workplaces and creating great organizations.
Jeff Derksen: Dean and Associate Provost, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
Jeff is an associate member of SFU’s Department of Geography and the Dean and Associate Provost (Pro Tem) of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
Stephen (Steve) Dooley: Executive Director, Campus Administration, SFU Surrey
Steve has a strong commitment to the development of community-campus partnerships.
Cassie Doyle: CEO, Canadian International Resources and Development Institute (CIRDI)
Cassie Doyle, CEO of CIRDI, a coalition of three Canadian universities and an independent centre of expertise in natural resource-led sustainable development.
Duane Elverum: Executive Director and Co-Founder of CityStudio
Despairing optimist serving the curious in design, education & cities. Sailor, cyclist & mountain runner.
Aftab Erfan: Director, Dialogue and Conflict Engagement, UBC
Aftab is a scholar-practitioner and the Director of Dialogue and Conflict Engagement at the University of British Columbia.
Patsy George: Order of Canada and Order of British Columbia recipient
Now retired, Patsy is no longer on the frontlines of social work, but she retains a keen interest in social justice and a strong desire to see improvement in the conditions of marginalized people, particularly those from Aboriginal communities.
Ginger Gosnell-Myers: Aboriginal Relations Manager, City of Vancouver
Ginger is of Nisga’a and Kwakwak'awakw heritage is passionate about advancing Indigenous rights and knowledge, while breaking down barriers between Indigenous peoples and all Canadians.
Julian Griggs: Principal, Dovetail Consulting Group
A seasoned facilitator, trainer and management consultant supporting individuals, groups and collaboratives to perform at their absolute best.
Susanna Haas-Lyons: Civic Engagement Specialist
Susanna Haas Lyons is an engagement strategist, facilitator and trainer, who supports better conversations between people impacted and decision-makers.
Suzanne Hawkes: Partner, Convergence Strategies
Suzanne is a facilitator, leadership trainer and management consultant committed to helping leaders and teams unleash the collective power and wisdom of diverse perspectives.
Matt Hern: Community Organizer, Independent Scholar, Writer and Activist
Matt is a community organizer, independent scholar, writer and activist based in East Vancouver, British Columbia (Coast Salish Territories)
Kirk Hill: Assistant Dean, External Relations, Beedie School of Business, SFU
Kirk is recognized for his talent in bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders and guiding them in working toward a shared vision and goal, all while meeting often challenging objectives and tight deadlines.
Cheeying Ho: Executive Director, Whistler Centre for Sustainability
Cheeying Ho is the Executive Director of the Whistler Centre for Sustainability.
Michelle Hoar: Co-Founder, The Tyee
Co-Founder of The Tyee and Tyee Solutions Society, Manager of The Housing Fix project.
Kim Hudson: Executive Director, Two Worlds of Knowing Project
The Two Worlds of Knowing Project explores the applications of linear and circular thinking, and the value of employing both.
Am Johal: Director, SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement
Am has worked as an advisor to provincial Cabinet Ministers, on the Vancouver Agreement, and has been a member of the Vancouver City Planning Commission.
Karen Joseph: Chief Executive Officer, Reconciliation Canada, North Vancouver
Chief Executive Officer, Reconciliation Canada, North Vancouver" Bringing together diverse perspectives and inspiring reconciliation in Canada.
Genevieve Fuji Johnson: Professor, Department of Political Science, SFU
Genevieve is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Simon Fraser University.
Peter Ladner: Chair, Better Transit and Transportation Coalition
Peter Ladner is chair of the Better Transit and Transportation Coalition. He is also chair of the board of the David Suzuki Foundation.
Michelle LeBaron, Professor, Allard School of Law, UBC
Michelle is a conflict transformation scholar/practitioner and legal scholar at UBC. She researches, writes and speaks internationally on creative ways to engage intractable conflict.
Donald MacPherson: Executive Director, Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, SFU
A drug policy change agent that is heading up the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition the new voice of drug policy based on public health and human rights.
Sean Markey: Associate Professor, SFU
Sean is an Associate Professor with the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University.
Gary McCarron: Associate Professor, School of Communication, SFU
Gary McCarron is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication, and Graduate Chair in the Graduate Liberal Studies Program.
Marnie McGregor: Director, Intergovernmental Relations, City of Vancouver
Marnie has a unique background in both urban planning and strategic communications specializing in translating technical information into clear language, and building consensus around progressive urban projects and policies.
Stuart McNish: Host, Conversations That Matter
For more than 25 years Stu has been involved in video journalism and storytelling. He won numerous awards for his work while at BCTV (now Global), he is the host of Conversations That Matter and a veteran video storyteller in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Kevin Millsip: Facilitation, Organizing, Training, Youth engagement
Kevin is the co-founder and Director of Next Up, a national leadership program for young social change leaders, cross-generational collaboration and also works as the Sustainability Coordinator for the Vancouver School Board where he focuses on Sustainable Food Systems.
Brenda Morrison: Associate Professor, Director of the Centre for Restorative Justice
Brenda is passionate about rights, responsibility and reconciliation, through enacting processes that bring justice home to our diverse communities.
Shaheen Nanji: Director, International Community Engagement, SFU International
Shaheen is the Director of International Community Engagement at SFU International. Her focuses include international development, diaspora, migration, and pluralism.
Alison Palmer: Executive Director, CAREX Canada, Faculty of Health Sciences, SFU Vancouver
Alison's professional goal is to mobilize scientific research and to make sure it gets used to inform positive change.
Tamara Pearl: Therapist & Expressive Arts Therapist
Therapist, expressive arts therapist, adjunct faculty at Adler University, cross cultural bridgebuilder, and PhD student at SFU Faculty of Education.
Daniel Savas: Visiting Professor, SFU School of Public Policy
Daniel is a survey research specialist with 27+ years experience and a Visiting Professor in SFU's School of Public Policy.
Nola-Kate Seymoar: Chair, Vancouver City Planning Commission
Nola-Kate is Chair of the Vancouver City Planning Commission, and a member of the Pacific Fisheries Monitoring and Compliance Panel, SFU's Urban Studies Advisory Council and UBC's Advisory Board to the Faculty of Land and Food Systems.
Danny Shapiro: Professor of Global Business Strategy, Beedie School of Business, SFU
Engaged scholar of global issues, academic entrepreneur, committed to academic and social innovation.
Arjun Singh: City Councillor, City of Kamloops
Arjun has a keen interest in good community conversations, strong democratic processes, and engaged citizens.
Judy Smith: Associate Dean, Lifelong Learning, SFU Vancouver
Judy is an Associate Dean of SFU Lifelong Learning and the Director of Leadership and Community Building Programs.
Ingrid Leman Stefanovic: Dean, Faculty of Environment, SFU Vancouver
Ingrid is Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Professor within the School of Resource and Environmental Management at SFU. Her research explores how values and attitudes affect environmental decision making.
Jillian Stirk: Associate, SFU Centre for Dialogue
Committed to promoting dialogue. Expertise in international peace-building, global diversity and inclusion issues.
Coro Strandberg: President, Strandberg Consulting
Coro is an expert in corporate sustainability and social responsibility, advising organizations on strategies to embed sustainability in the marketplace.
Vince Verlaan: Principal, MODUS Planning Design & Engagement
Committed to advancing the practices of "strong engagement", co-creation, dialogue and generativity, in service of social learning and action.
Janet Webber: Executive Director, SFU Public Square
Janet has years of experience fostering effective ideas exchange, and has convened innovative and impactful dialogues and events locally and internationally.
Kory Wilson: Executive Director, Indigenous Initiatives and Partnerships
Kory has a deep commitment to education, both within the institutions and in the community, and she has dedicated her working life to ensuring that Aboriginal learners and other marginalized learners succeed.
Baldwin Wong: Social Planner, City of Vancouver
Since 2005, Baldwin has been the lead staff supporting the Mayor's Working Group on Immigration, which advises City Council on issues regarding immigrants and refugees.
Baharak Yousefi: Head, Library Communications, SFU
Baharak is Head of Library Communications at Simon Fraser University, Director on the Board of the BC Libraries Cooperative, and an active member of BC's library community.