Adam Spence, Founder and Chair
Adam is the Manager, Special Projects of SiG@MaRS where he is responsible for the development of the Social Venture Exchange (SVX) project, and other initiatives to accelerate social innovation in Ontario.  He is the former Executive Director of the Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB), where he lead a number of groundbreaking research studies including Canada’s first review of the cost of poverty, successfully pressed the provincial government to implement a poverty reduction strategy in collaboration with many partners, and grew the organization’s ability to acquire and distribute fresh, healthy food through innovative agriculture programs. Adam has also worked as a community animator for the skilled trades in Hamilton, and was the Executive Director of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA), where he successfully advanced a number of reforms during Ontario’s Postsecondary Review including low-income grants for Ontario’s students.  He has spoken to audiences from students to CEO’s, and politicians to front line community organizers across Canada on issues related to education, poverty, and social innovation.  He has written extensively on these topics, and has been featured in numerous media outlets, including CNN International, TVO, CTV, CBC Television and Radio, GlobalTV, The Toronto Star, and The Globe & Mail.  Adam is a graduate of McMaster University.  He can be reached via phone at 416-673-8186.

Annie Malhotra, Project Coordinator
Annie Malhotra is the Project Coordinator for the Social Venture Exchange (SVX) initiative. Annie spent three years at Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. as an analyst and associate in their client servicing, business development, and compliance departments. Most recently, she did an internship at DreamNow, a charitable organization that helps produce ideas that do good for the world. Annie has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Economics from Lady Sri Ram College at the University of Delhi, India, and a Post Graduate Certificate in International Marketing from Humber College, Canada. Annie has successfully completed the Canadian Securities Course (CSC) and all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program.  Annie can be reached via phone at 416-673-8187.

Shrey Goyal, SVX Social Finance Fellow
Shrey Goyal is a B.Tech candidate at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. He dabbled with entrepreneurship in the cleantech space with Urja, a social startup aiming to deliver affordable clean energy solutions to rural India, recognised as an Ashoka’s Youth venture and the winner of Oxford’s Youth Business Development Challenge 2009. An alumnus of the Washington DC-based Presidential Classroom Program and a StartingBloc NYC 2011 Candidate, Shrey is an inaugural Fellow of and led enterprise liaisons for ‘Engineers for Social Impact’, a non-profit connecting top University talent with high impact Social Enterprises in India. He is an Executive Committee member at Mensa India (Delhi), and was a co-organiser for TEDxGardenCity. Shrey attended the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations 2010 Conference in Singapore, and is an inaugural Fellow at the Urban Habitats Forum of India.  He has previously worked with Unitus, an international non-profit stimulating innovation in microfinance, and recently finished a consulting gig with OECD’s international assessment program for education systems, PISA, working with the World Bank India team and the National Council for Educational Research & Training. His research interests lie in the Corporate Social Responsibility, Climate Change Financing and Financial Inclusion spaces.

Stephanie Harvell, SVX Social Finance Fellow
Stephanie is currently pursuing her MBA at Columbia Business School, where she is focusing on social enterprise and general management.  Prior to business school, she worked at Deloitte as an auditor in Los Angeles for four years.  During this time, she performed due diligence and prepared financial statements in accordance with US GAAP standards for both public and private companies.  She led engagements over a wide array of industries, ranging from non-profit healthcare to real estate to manufacturing clients.  Stephanie recently founded the NY chapter of Philanthro, a non-profit whose mission is to engage young professionals in philanthropy through social, volunteer, and leadership activities.  Traveling has garnered her interest in social business and the social enterprise program at Columbia has exposed her to a wide variety of the issues facing the field today.  She is excited by the opportunity to be a part of this innovative and entrepreneurial organization to continue the growth of impact investing.  Stephanie has a BA in Business/Economics and Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.  She enjoys traveling to new places, baking fun treats, and running.

Douglas Pawson, SVX Social Finance Fellow
Douglas Pawson is a program manager and evaluator with Causeway Work Centre, an Ottawa-based community economic development organization, which supports marginalized members of the community to become economically independent through employment-based activities, including three supported-employment programs and three social enterprises.  In this role, Douglas has gained significant exposure, and a passionate interest in, social enterprise, the social economy and civil society.  Douglas is currently studying towards a MBA in Community Economic Development at the Shannon School of Business at Cape Breton University.  Douglas holds a M.Phil in Policy Studies – Politics, Philosophy & Economics from the University of New Brunswick and a BA in Political Studies & English from Bishop’s University.

Ricardo Granja Vazquez, SVX Social Finance Fellow
Ricardo is currently pursuing an MBA at the Rotman School of Management – University of Toronto, where the focus of his studies is venture capital and private equity. Before moving to Toronto in August 2009, he spent four years at London Consulting Group (LCG) a leading Latin American consulting firm that works as a boutique, specializing in turnaround and productivity projects.  During his last year at LCG, Ricardo worked as a Project Manager for the analysis phase of projects where he led engagements in manufacturing, consumer goods, telecom, and retail industries in countries including Bolivia, Belize, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, and the USA generating over US$2 million in fees. More recently, he spent the summer on the consulting side for private equity participants in the Caribbean focusing on valuation of new ventures and corporate restructurings. Throughout his time as a consultant, Ricardo was exposed to working with clients in different countries with enormous economic, social, and environmental differences; these experiences developed his strong interest in Venture Capital to create wealth through education, healthcare, and technology. He is very excited about having the opportunity to assist in developing a market connecting innovation and capital to take on social and environmental challenges while generating financial returns.  Ricardo was born in Mexico City, has a background in Industrial Engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM) in Mexico, and is an avid golf enthusiast.

Research Associate Alumni
Nina Damsbaek
Tiffany Blair
Veena Vemuri
Asheesh Sharma
Yves Guillaume Atangana Messy
Joanna Kviring
Martha Lucia Gomez
Candice Day
David Brait