Samantha Whiteye is a community leader from Eelūnapéewi Lahkéewiit. She is very passionate and dedicated to her work within Southern Ontario and the Indigenous Communities she actively serves. Samantha comes from grassroots immersed experiences which she utilizes her lived experience and understandings to create space, advocate and lead conversations centering on Truth and Reconciliation. Leading with an ethical two eyed seeing approach Samantha demonstrates leadership as a changemaker in the environmental sector. 

Samantha is very knowledgeable and connected to her Lunaapeew/Lenape culture as she continuously weaves the medicine and teachings into her work and daily lifestyle. She is also passionate about ancestral seed sovereignty and hopes it will help build bridges back to identity for her people. 

Over the past year Samantha has worked closely with Carolinian Canada Coalition and continues her work in a new role as Indigenous Leadership Director to help shift the narratives in conservation. 

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Alexa is co-Founder and Managing Partner of Deetken Impact, where she leads portfolio management, finance and operations. Deetken Impact is a Canadian impact asset manager focused on investments in women’s empowerment, clean energy, and impact enterprises in Latin America and the Caribbean. Deetken Impact manages over US$150 million in assets across five funds with a diverse team of seasoned investment professionals based in Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and Canada, and spanning a track record of more than two decades of direct investing experience. 

Prior to joining Deetken, Alexa was an executive with African Alliance, a pan-African financial services group and an associate with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Macquarie Group in Toronto. 

Recognized as one of Vancouver’s Top Forty Under 40 by Business in Vancouver magazine, Alexa is a CFA Charterholder, a Chartered Business Valuator and holds an MA in Financial Economics from the University of Toronto.

Follow Alexa on Twitter at @lexablain or connect on LinkedIn.

Julia has held senior leadership positions in the environmental sector for nearly 30 years, managing campaigns and organizations, defining strategy and policy, and inspiring public and private action to address air pollution and climate change. Julia leads TAF’s staff in advancing the organization’s solutions to climate and air pollution, and with support from TAF’s Investment Committee, oversees the fiscal integrity of TAF’s endowment. Julia is a recipient of the 2016 Minister’s Award for Environmental Excellence for her environment and climate work and a member of the federal government’s Generation Energy Council.

James works with people, places, and partnerships to foster civic participation, promote equitable urbanism, and grow our social economy. He leads the advisory team at SVX, which helps organizations raise or invest impact capital. Ask him about advancing social equity through investments and philanthropy, experiential learning programs, and urban design.