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 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

Kristina loves helping others turn their ideas into reality. She has been a business consultant her entire career working with organizations of all sizes & industries – from Fortune 500 e-commerce companies to small & ambitious startup teams, in the US, Canada, Europe, Russia and Latin America. Kristina is currently an independent innovation consultant where she works closely with her clients on ways to integrate innovation strategies, tools & methods into their businesses.
As a Co-Founder, Kristina was dedicated to making sure that Hub Ottawa met the needs of its members and the community before opening its doors. She focused on connecting & establishing relationships with founding members through organizing and facilitating meaningful events, as well as creating the Hub’s initial marketing strategy and its digital presence. Once the doors opened, she led training sessions with members so that they could easily be connected to Impact Hub’s global online network.
Kristina strongly believes in curiosity, learning from failure and the power of data-informed decision making. She continually seeks to embed herself in startup ecosystems around the world and apply all that she has learned into her career.
Kristina has her MSc. in Innovation Management & Entrepreneurship from TU Berlin, M.A in Management from SGH Warsaw and her B. in International Business from Carleton University.

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 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 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.

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