Our Founding Story
Impact Hub Ottawa is the story of six youth leaders (and countless amazing people) taking action around an ambition to create a cohesive community of change agents and the infrastructure so everybody can pursue their passions in creating social change. None of the six founders grew up in Ottawa. In fact, four of the six were not even born in Canada. They moved to Ottawa to study, work, and stay with family.
After staying here a short while and feeling rather frustrated that Ottawa did not have a home for collaboration among changemakers and the infrastructure dedicated to social innovation, they found each other through social and professional circles, and decided to build a new type of community asset for Ottawa’s future. The founders had all experienced Impact Hubs around the world and were intrigued by the model and grassroots approach. They decided not to reinvent the wheel and bring a proven model to Ottawa to catapult the city onto the global stage of social innovation.
The journey began in 2011 with weekly community meetups across a number of neighbourhoods in the city. They used the meetups to build grassroots interest, engagement, and critical mass. Impact Hubs don’t come about because of founders alone; the community plays a huge role. It's true in this case. Not a day went by during the founding journey where someone didn’t lend a hand, listen, volunteer, champion the idea or make an introduction. The community planned meetups, events, conduct surveys, and as soon as a space was secured, hosted a 48-hour interior design charrette.
With the community’s support they put together a brilliant Board of Directors with Tracey Clark, CEO of Bridgehead as Chair and secured initial founding impact investors. The momentum led to the official launch in November 2012.
Our founding is built on community co-creation and grassroots involvement. Creating with community is in our DNA. We cherish our values and our founding history, as we look to the future.
Our Founding Team
Kasia Polanska
Kasia Polanska
Kasia Polanska is a management consultant specializing in organizational development. Enthusiastic about creative and systema…
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Kasia Polanska
Kasia Polanska
Kasia Polanska is a management consultant specializing in organizational development. Enthusiastic about creative and systematic approaches to complex problems and opportunities, she brings a new way of understanding organisational processes through stakeholder engagement, facilitation, and collaboration. She is a part of the founding team of Hub Ottawa, and uses innovative facilitation methods to engage the community. She also continues to share her passion for entrepreneurship with students at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business.
Kasia holds a BA in Mass Communications and Business, and an MA in Public Administration from Carleton University. She was a fellow of the EU-Canada Civil Society Educational Network at Freie Universität in Berlin, Germany, and has received the Graduate Award in Social Innovation to work on collaborative ventures and governance of multi-tenant non-profit centres.
Ivy So
Ivy So
Ivy is currently Advisor for Strategic Initiatives in the Executive Office of Nonprofit Finance Fund, an impact investing org…
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Ivy So
Ivy So
Ivy is currently Advisor for Strategic Initiatives in the Executive Office of Nonprofit Finance Fund, an impact investing organization committed to connecting money to mission effectively. In this role, Ivy serves at chief of staff and also manages special projects, including new product development of a new impact investing vehicle.
Previous to NFF, Ivy worked on building the market for social impact bonds in Canada at the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing, and also worked in impact investing for the base of the pyramid at Acumen. She has spent a number of years as a management consultant at Deloitte, where she played an instrumental role in initiating Deloitte Canada’s Social Finance practice. Ivy has also spent time in Kingston, Jamaica, as a Social Enterprise Advisor for a local non-profit on behalf of Cuso International.
She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a first class honours bachelor’s degree from Simon Fraser University.
Kristina Medow
Kristina Medow
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Kristina Medow
Kristina Medow
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Jane Porter
Jane Porter
Jane is a Consultant at Stratos who helps public and private sector clients improve their sustainability performance by provi…
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Jane Porter
Jane Porter
Jane is a Consultant at Stratos who helps public and private sector clients improve their sustainability performance by providing support for strategy development, implementation, and assurance. Part of the Stratos Mining Team, Jane is knowledgeable about the social and environmental issues facing the natural resource sector through working with clients such as the Mining Association of Canada, Sherritt, Capstone, Statoil and several federal government departments. Jane is skilled in stakeholder engagement and facilitation processes. Aside from supporting stakeholder advisory panels for industry associations and corporations, she helped to facilitate the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations 10 Year Review Workshop and developed a stakeholder engagement strategy and guidance document for the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement for Environment Canada. She has a strong background in reporting and communications having completed materiality assessments for large corporations, and having written public reports such as the 2013 Sustainability Progress Report for the International Council of Forest & Paper Associations and a report on the sustainability of the pulse industry for Pulse Canada.
On the side, Jane is a Co-Founder at HUB Ottawa, a collaborative workspace and member community for social entrepreneurs and impact professionals. Prior to working at Stratos, Jane spent four years in Europe where she completed one year of her Bachelor of International Business undergraduate degree at Carleton, University in Lyon, France and her Masters in Corporate Environmental Management from the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland.
Jason Pearman
Jason Pearman
Jason likes to try new things. He field tested landmine removal technology in Bosnia, chaired a municipal advisory committee …
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Jason Pearman
Jason Pearman
Jason likes to try new things. He field tested landmine removal technology in Bosnia, chaired a municipal advisory committee on environmental issues, was an officer of parliament (Page), and co-founded HUB Ottawa.
Jason managed the design and construction of HUB’s 3,100 sq. ft. space, and was responsible for HUB’s collaboration platforms and elected official engagement until retiring from the core team after HUB’s 1st year of full operations. His efforts were recognized, as were HUB’s other cofounders, with being named a 2012 Rising Star in Ottawa’s entrepreneurship scene.
Jason believes that well networked teams, and the adoption of tools and processes from a variety of sectors are the best ingredients for solving wicked problems; you’ll often find him developing and executing strategies that use this approach to address challenges in government, business and the social sector.
Jason’s latest projects include supporting the New Ottawa campaign, and building a framework to accelerate the testing of mHealth and eHealth tools.
Jason has his B.Sc. in Biological Engineering from the University of Guelph, and his M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Alberta.
Vinod Rajasekaran
Founding Executive Director
Vinod is the HUB’s resident rocket scientist. After studying aerospace engineering at Carleton University, Vinod went on to…
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Vinod Rajasekaran
Founding Executive Director
Vinod is the HUB’s resident rocket scientist. After studying aerospace engineering at Carleton University, Vinod went on to do his Masters in Public Policy, Social Enterprise, and Citizen Engagement at the University of Bristol in the UK. It was while studying in the UK that Vinod first stumbled upon HUB, and was enchanted by the innovative space.