Greening Greater Toronto

David Pecaut (1955 – 2009)
David Pecaut was a visionary, an inspiring leader and an avid city-builder. David devoted himself to civic entrepreneurship and called for collective leadership in tackling the Toronto region’s most pressing urban challenges.

David was the Founder and voluntary Chair of the Toronto City Summit Alliance, a diverse coalition of civic leaders whose mission is to accelerate social and economic development in the Toronto region. The Alliance's 2003 report, Enough Talk, was a comprehensive action plan for much that ails the region: from transportation, economic renewal and social infrastructure to arts and culture. Since its publication, David helped mobilize the Toronto region to implement the plan by co-founding the Toront03; the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council; the Toronto Region Research Alliance; the Strong Neighbourhoods Task Force; the Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults; Luminato, the Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity; Greening Greater Toronto; and DiverseCity.

David was a Senior Partner and Managing Director in The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where he was a major force in building BCG’s global strategy, e-commerce and public policy practices.

David was also the founder and Chair of the Canadian eBusiness Roundtable, a public/private e-business policy recommendation forum; co-founded Career Edge, the national youth internship program; served on the Prime Minister's External Advisory Committee on Cities and Communities, Co-Chaired the Conference Board Roundtable on Commercialization; and served on the Boards of Canada Basketball, The United Way of Greater Toronto, and Pathways to Education.

David’s legacy of city-building lives on in the work of Greening Greater Toronto.

Kilian Berz, Partner and Managing Director, The Boston Consulting Group in Canada
Kilian has worked extensively as a consultant in financial services in Canada, the US, and Europe. Kilian manages BCG's Canadian practice and holds several leadership roles at BCG including leader of the Retail Banking practice for BCG Americas and core member in the global leadership team of the Organization practice.

Kilian is also responsible for managing major relationships with corporations in Canada and the US. As part of these relationships, Kilian has been involved in developing portfolio strategies, improving organization effectiveness, developing "start-up" organizations for innovative business models, developing client segmentation and go-to-market strategy, implementing enterprise-wide program management capability, re-designing the performance management process, developing brand management strategies.

Kilian has been part of the leadership team to many efforts creating positive social and environmental impact in Canada including the Toronto City Summit Alliance, Luminato, Toronto Region Research Alliance, and Greening Greater Toronto.

Kilian holds a Master of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Oxford and an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Bonn University.

Kilian, his wife Katharine, and their three children live in Toronto.

Eva Ligeti, Executive Director, Clean Air Partnership
A lawyer (LL.B. Windsor, LL.M. Osgoode), Eva Ligeti is the Executive Director of the Clean Air Partnership, a registered charity. She is responsible for conceptualizing, implementing and delivering innovative clean air programs and facilitating the involvement of all sectors in the effort to achieve healthy and sustainable local communities. She is the moderator of the GTA Clean Air Council, whose aim is to further regional smog reduction initiatives in the GTA.

Eva served as Ontario's first Environmental Commissioner from May 1994 until 1999. She serves on the Boards of Directors of several organizations both in the corporate and in the not-for-profit sectors.

As Ontario's first Environmental Commissioner, Eva was entrusted by an all-party committee of the Ontario Legislative Assembly to review and report on the performance of the Ontario government in complying with the Environmental Bill of Rights, one of Canada's most forward-thinking environmental laws. She managed all aspects of the work of the office of the Environmental Commissioner.

Prior to her term as Environmental Commissioner, she provided academic leadership as Principal, Sheppard Campus, Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology and Chair, School of Legal and Public Administration.

Eva practiced law with the firm of Iler, Campbell and Associates, focusing on civil litigation and administration law and she was corporate solicitor for non-profit organizations. She served as legal counsel at the Canadian Environmental Law Association.

Eva was honoured to serve in the Office of the Chief Judge, Ontario Provincial Court Criminal Division, as Clerk to His Honour Chief Judge F.C. Hayes, coordinating education and research in the areas of criminal law, statutory interpretation and constitutional law.

Mike Pedersen, Group Head, Corporate Operations, TD Bank Financial Group
As Group Head, Corporate Operations, Mike's responsibilities include Marketing, Corporate & Public Affairs, Technology, Treasury & Balance Sheet Management, Corporate Development, Legal, Compliance, the Ombudsman's Office and Economics. Prior to joining TD in July 2007, Mike worked in London, England, where he was responsible for Barclays' global private banking business and two other international businesses.

Before joining Barclays, Mike spent twelve years in a number of executive capacities at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, including Senior Executive Vice President, Retail and Small Business Banking, and Executive Vice President, Branch Banking.

He is a past chairman of the Canadian Bankers Association, was a recipient of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 award in 1998, and has a long history of community involvement. Mike currently co-chairs the Greening Greater Toronto Task Force. He is also on the board of the Toronto Region Research Alliance and is active in the United Way.

Mike graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1984 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He obtained his Masters of Industrial Relations from the University of Toronto in 1988.

Mike and his wife Martha make their home in Toronto with their three children.

Julia Deans, Chief Executive Officer, Toronto City Summit Alliance
Julia is the CEO of the Toronto City Summit Alliance, a coalition of senior business, non-profit, government and community leaders formed to address challenges to the Toronto region's social and economic future. The Alliance's current projects include Greening Greater Toronto and DiverseCity: The Greater Toronto Leadership Project, which is aimed at accelerating racial and cultural diversity of Toronto's leaders. At the Alliance, she has also been closely involved in the development and launch of the Toronto Region Research Alliance, the "Time for a Fair Deal" report of the Modernizing Income Security for Working-Age Adults Task Force, Luminato - Toronto's festival of arts and creativity, the Emerging Leaders Network, and Toronto Summit 2007 - "Making Big Things Happen", a meeting of over 630 leaders to discuss challenges facing the Toronto region.

Julia began her career as a litigation and environmental lawyer with Torys LLP, working in its Toronto and Hong Kong offices. From 1997-2001, she lived in Singapore, where she established the South East Asian operations of a major UK-based legal recruitment firm. Julia has a BA (Hons) from Queen's University, a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University, and an LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School. She is qualified to practice law in Ontario, Hong Kong, and England and Wales. Julia serves on the Board of Luminato and on the Advisory Councils of MetroLinx and the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council.

Linda Weichel, Managing Director, Greening Greater Toronto
Linda brings 20 years of experience at Canada's largest employee-owned public relations firm, Media Profile, to her one-year secondment at Greening Greater Toronto. Linda draws on her business leadership, communications expertise and passion for city building as she drives a coordinated effort across sectors to green the Toronto region.

Linda has deep knowledge of the financial services and real estate sectors, significant environmental communications experience with private, public and NOG organizations, and has successfully advanced public policy objectives over the past two decades, particularly at the municipal level.

Linda encourages walkable neighbourhoods as chair of the advisory board of Jane's Walk, and supports internationally trained professionals in securing work in their field in Toronto as a volunteer and member of the Circle of Champions with the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council's The Mentoring Partnership. In her spare time, Linda devotes herself to her great passions: international travel and singing in the Toronto Jazz Chorus.