Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of Ottawa Riverkeeper is responsible for the strategic direction of the organization and provides guidance to the Riverkeeper. Our board members have extensive and diverse expertise, but all share a concern and passion for of the Ottawa River.
Colleen Westeinde
Chair
Frédéric Boulanger
Vice-Chair
Margot Sunter
Treasurer
David Coletto
Secretary
Colleen Mooney
Director
David Runnalls, O.C.
Director
Annie Bérubé
Director
Jason Jacques
Director
Elisabeth Ilboudo Nébié
Director
Michelle Campbell
Director
Colleen Westeinde
Chair
Colleen earned her civil engineering degree at Western University in London, Ontario and practiced in Vancouver. She returned to Ottawa with her family in 2001 and now manages Clearly Solar Energy.
Colleen enjoys swimming in, paddling through, running beside and biking along the Ottawa River to keep her sane and invigorated.
Colleen is passionate about environmental stewardship, cross-cultural understanding, building strong communities and youth engagement. Her parents taught her the importance of making a difference in her community, which is a message she hopes to pass on to her five children.
Colleen has been a life-long volunteer, for which she was rewarded the Governor General's Caring Canadian award. Colleen helped sponsor and support a Syrian refugee family in rebuilding their lives in Ottawa. She organizes a fundraising gala for the St. Joe’s Women’s, volunteers with Soup Sisters, and has welcomed two former refugees into her family. She helped launch the Refugee Sponsorship Support Program that brings together pro-bono lawyers and private refugee sponsors across the country.
Her decades of community service include being involved locally and nationally with the global peace organization CISV International, running fun international awareness and fundraising events at her children’s schools, supporting families in crises, managing youth sports teams, participating on many school parent boards and organizing their fundraisers, canvassing for March of Dimes and the Cancer, Arthritis and Diabetes Societies, organizing a Blockwatch group, and – many moons ago - student governance.
Frédéric Boulanger
Vice-Chair
Fred is an out-of-the closet design and technology geek who envisions a world where software enables the full potential of ideas, enriches lives, and is a joy to use. He has led Macadamian in its tremendous growth to become a multi-million dollar consultancy with an award-winning work culture. As a past director of the Information Technology Association of Canada, Fred is an active advocate for expanding Canada’s innovative capacities. He is also a community leader and a co-founder of the Ottawa High School Technology Program, which encourages a passion for science in high school students.
Frédéric graduated from the Université de Sherbrooke with a B.S. in Computer Science. He resides with his wife and three children in Gatineau, Quebec, where he enjoys mountain biking, skiing, and BBQ'ing for family and friends.
Margot Sunter
Treasurer
Margot is a high energy, innovative and strategic executive, and currently the COO of GGFL LLP, a mid-size Ottawa accounting firm. She is a Chartered Professional Accountant focussed on business strategy and execution.
She is recognized as a driver of change who thrives on developing cultures that embrace innovation to keep pace with change and benefit from the opportunities it creates. She has been on the boards of Causeway Work Centre, SHARE (Shareholders Association for Research and Education) and Dovercourt Recreation Association, as well as a long-time supporter of Ottawa Riverkeeper's work.
Margot can be found near the Ottawa River most days, walking, running or swimming as weather permits and has been participating in the Ottawa Riverkeeper annual 4k swim since its inception.
David Coletto
Secretary
David Coletto is CEO and a founding partner of Abacus Data a full-service market research and strategy firm based in Ottawa and Toronto. With over a decade and a half of experience in the industry, David and his partners founded Abacus eleven years ago and since then it has grown into one of Canada's most respected market research firms.
David has worked with many of Canada’s leading associations, corporations, and non-profits including Cooperation Canada, Oxfam, Shaw Communications, the Canadian Medical Association, the Bank of Canada, and the Canadian Real Estate Association.
He earned a PhD in Political Science from the University of Calgary in 2010 and is an adjunct professor at Carleton University. He is the host and producer of inFocus with David Coletto a new podcast that explores the intersection of public opinion, politics, public policy, and consumer behaviour.
He’s a Millennial, a foodie, a cyclist, and an avid traveller. He’s been tracking Canadian public opinion and consumer trends on technology, news consumption, and public policy for years and is one of Canada’s leading experts on generational change and Millennials in particular.
Colleen Mooney
Director
Colleen is the former Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa. She is a dynamic senior manager with strengths in organizational development, strategic planning and operations management. She holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Business at Western University as well as Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from Queen’s University.
She has a thorough understanding of the charitable and non profit sectors along with experience in strategic planning, governance and human resource management. She previously served as a National Trustee for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), where she oversaw governance as they transitioned to one national organization from many local chapters. As well, Colleen served on the board of Centretown Community Health Centre and is currently a member of Women United East Ontario (United Way).
David Runnalls, O.C.
Director
David Runnalls is a Fellow of Sustainable Prosperity and Visiting Professor at the Institute for the Environment, University of Ottawa. He is also a Distinguished Fellow of the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2020.
He served as President of the International Institute for Sustainable Development for eleven years before retiring in 2010.
He was Chair of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, and of the Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development . He was a member of the Advisory Council for Export Development Canada; a former member of the Council for Sustainable Development Technology Canada and former Chair of the Trade and Investment Task Force of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development.
He has served as Co-Chair of the China Council Task Force on WTO and Environment. Runnalls was the Leopold Fellow at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a member of the federal External Advisory Committee on Smart Regulation (EACSR). He served as Chair of the Adjudication Panel for the ALCAN Prize for Sustainability. He was the Canadian representative to IUCN, the World Conservation Union.
Runnalls has served as Senior Advisor to the President of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa, Canada, and to the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. He was Director of the Environment and Sustainable Development Programme at the Institute for Research on Public Policy in Ottawa. He worked with Barbara Ward to found the International Institute for Environment and Development and directed both its London and Washington offices.
Annie Bérubé
Director
Annie spent most of her career as a policy advisor and economist in the federal government, including in the office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Environment Canada and Health Canada. After volunteering in Rwanda for two years, Annie then switched to the not-for-profit sector, working at Smart Prosperity at the University of Ottawa and Équiterre as Director of government relations in Ottawa.
Annie holds a degree in economics from McGill University, a MES (ecological economics) from York University and a post-graduate diploma in environmental epidemiology from McMaster University. Annie is currently Program Director with the McConnell Foundation. She currently works to advance Canadian philanthropy’s contribution to an equitable transition to a net zero carbon economy. Annie is also a Board member for the Ottawa Climate Action Fund.
Annie can be found walking, cycling, skiing along the Ottawa river and whitewater paddling all over the watershed with her family.
Jason Jacques
Director
Jason Jacques is currently a Senior Visiting Fellow with the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Democracy (IFSD) at the University of Ottawa.
Jason’s more permanent home is with the Canadian Parliamentary Budget Office, where he is the Director General of Budgeting and CFO. He has also held various other board positions with other not-for-profit organizations across Canada that provide essential social services.
Jason holds an MA in economics from Queen’s University, is a Chartered Professional Accountant, (CMA), and a CFA Charter holder.
Elisabeth Ilboudo Nébié
Director
Elisabeth Ilboudo Nébié is an assistant professor at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change and the Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science at Arizona State University (ASU). Before joining ASU, she worked at the International Development Research Centre in Canada. Elisabeth was a postdoctoral research scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society, a center of the Earth Institute of Columbia University. Her research focuses on the human dimensions of environmental change, climate adaptation, & food and water insecurity.
Elisabeth is an anthropologist and development practitioner by training with more than 8 years of experience working directly with vulnerable and marginalized communities through her applied work with UNESCO and the International Livestock Research Institute.
She enjoys cooking and going on trips with her family.
Michelle Campbell
Director
Michelle is a lawyer with Justice Canada, advising on a variety of public, international and indigenous law files. Prior to moving to Justice in 2020, Michelle worked in the international law bureau and other policy divisions at Global Affairs Canada. She has over 15 years experience negotiating bilateral and multilateral treaties, including with the Arctic Council and the United Nations.
Michelle has been recognized with numerous federal government awards, including for her work as negotiator at the UN Convention on Climate Change, for negotiating an Arctic state oil spill prevention agreement and for contributions to Canada’s Arctic and Northern Policy Framework, Canada’s Arctic continental shelf submission under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the hosting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in Montreal.
Prior to receiving her law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Michelle received a Bachelor Environmental Science from the University of Waterloo and a Master of Science from the University of Guelph. She has published a number of papers in academic journals on ecosystem management and policy and legal tools to protect lands, species and parks in Canada.
Michelle has a passion for environmental protection and believes strongly in supporting the local community. She was previously a Director at the Ottawa Humane Society and is an avid cyclist, swimmer, runner, hiker, paddler and animal lover.