Blaine Nicholls was formerly a senior partner in the influential Sudbury architectural firm Nicholls Yallowega Bélanger Architects/Architectes, during the time that they built the award-winning Science North and the Sudbury Health Sciences North Hospital.

Blaine became an early proponent and influential force in the establishment of the School of Architecture at Laurentian University, serving as Chair of the original Northern Ontario School of Architecture (NOSoA) community committee. He continued to serve on Laurentian’s School of Architecture ‘Steering Committee’ until the building project was completed and the project charter implemented.

In 2012, Blaine received a Sudbury ‘Community Builders Award of Excellence’ and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate at Laurentian University in 2014 in recognition of his outstanding career and contributions to the Sudbury community. In 2019 he was named a Paul Harris Fellow for service to the community from the Sudbury Rotary Club. While Blaine is now retired from practice, he and his family remain active supporters of the McEwen School of Architecture; he also serves as a member on the McEwen International Advisory Board.

Dr. Terrance Galvin is the Founding Director of the McEwen School of Architecture at Laurentian University that officially opened in September 2013. He earned a Bachelor of Environmental Design Studies and a Master of Architecture from the Technical University of Nova Scotia (TUNS) followed by a Master’s in History & Theory from McGill University and a Doctorate in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. Terrance began teaching architectural history, theory & design at McGill University, first as an Adjunct Professor and then as a Research Associate. Prior to moving with his family to Sudbury and Laurentian, he served as the Director of the School of Architecture at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Terrance has participated in design juries with the OAA in Ontario and the NSAA in Nova Scotia as well as led numerous design charrettes and workshops. He has served on major provincial and national boards governing architectural education and practice in Canada, including the Canadian Council of University Schools of Architecture (CCUSA) and the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB), where he twice served as Vice-President and President. He is the current Chair of the McEwen International Advisory Board at Laurentian University. Scholarly writings on diverse subjects related to architectural theory have been published in Canada, the USA and Germany.

Toon Dreessen is a graduate of Carleton University and recipient of the Alpha Rho Chi graduation medal. Toon became a member of the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) and a member of the Architecture Canada (RAIC) in 2005. He is a certified LEED AP and a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). As President of DCA, Toon is the face of the company and is responsible for ensuring excellence in the quality of the work.

Toon began volunteering with the OAA in 2006, serving 6 years on the Practice Committee. He served as a member of the OAA Council from 2012-2017, as Senior VP and Treasurer in 2014 and as President of the OAA in 2015 and 2016. Toon has presided over and facilitated several design juries. In 2017, as Immediate Past President of the OAA, he continued his active role with national committees. Toon currently serves on the Experience Requirements Committee and is helping to develop a National Architecture Policy as a subcommittee of the Canadian Architectural Licensing Authorities (CALA). In 2016, Toon was inducted into the RAIC College of Fellows and is an active advocate for the profession of architecture.
Toon leads DCA’s activism in the role of the built environment through social justice, gender equity, fiscal responsibility and the role of architects in strategic, visionary, and planning for infrastructure investments. Toon is a recognized public speaker and published author in local and national media. He has been featured on CBC Radio, the Globe and Mail, The Ottawa Citizen and other news publications.

Shannon Bassett is a Canadian-American architectural and urban designer. Her research, teaching, writing and practice operate at the intersection of architecture, urban design and landscape ecology. She holds a Masters of Architecture in Urban Design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and a Bachelors of Architecture with Distinction from the Carleton University School of Architecture. Shannon is a faculty member at the McEwen School of Architecture at Laurentian University.

Her writing on both China’s explosive urbanization and its changing landscape, as well as shrinking cities and the post-industrial landscape in North America, has been published in Topos, Urban Flux and Landscape Architecture Frontiers Magazine (LAF) and Canadian Architect. Her design research and work has been exhibited both nationally, as well as internationally, including at the Hong Kong Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture (2012). She is the author of (Re)Stitch Tampa: Designing the Post-War Coastal American City through Ecologies.

Brian Bigger is proudly serving in his second term as the Mayor of Greater Sudbury, having first been elected in 2014 and again in 2018. Brian was born and raised in Greater Sudbury and graduated from both Cambrian College and Laurentian University. Brian went on to earn his Chartered Professional Accountant designation in Ontario.

Prior to serving as Mayor, Brian worked in a number of capacities nationally in the private sector and municipal sector including his role as the City of Greater Sudbury’s 1^st Auditor General.

As Mayor, Brian is focused on delivering on a number of fronts including finding new ways to encourage job creating growth, investment and development in the community. He believes that Greater Sudbury is well positioned as a regional economic cluster in areas like mining, healthcare and education to leverage future growth while being an attractive community for a highly skilled and culturally diverse workforce.
In addition to strengthening the economy, Brian is focused on investing in much needed infrastructure like roads while implementing new methods, techniques and materials. Brian remains dedicated to advocating for revitalizing public transit and active transportation systems, funding for affordable housing, community safety and recreation options accessible to the whole community.

Brian is actively engaged in the community and is a member of numerous boards of directors including the Sudbury Food Bank, Greater Sudbury Development Corporation and the Sudbury Housing Corporation. As Mayor, Brian is also proud to continue to represent Greater Sudbury on the boards of FONOM, NOLUM and Ontario’s Big City Mayors (LUMCO). Mayor Bigger and his wife Lori have two children and are proud grandparents of three little boys.

Born and raised throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan, David Fortin is a Member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (MRAIC), a LEED accredited professional, and a registered architect in the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan. David worked with firms such as GEC Architects and McKinley Burkart Architects in Calgary. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in architectural design, history and theory, including systems-based courses studying farmworker housing shortages in the United States and design studios focusing on urban and rural conditions in Kenya.

David is the Associate Director of the Maamwizing Indigenous Research Institute at Laurentian University and is the Director of the McEwen School of Architecture at Laurentian. He currently teaches a graduate studio focusing on Indigenous design and has researched prairie Métis contributions to architectural thinking in Canada through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). David is a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario and the RAIC Indigenous Task Force that seeks ‘ways to foster and promote indigenous design in Canada’. He was also co-curator of UNCEDED, a team of Indigenous architects under the leadership of Douglas Cardinal, who represented Canada at the 2018 Venice Biennale in Italy.

A graduate in architecture from the University of Manitoba, Victor Kolynchuk grew up with Ojibway children in North-western Ontario and has walked hundreds of miles through the boreal forest while working for the Ministry of Natural Resources. He leads Architecture49’s Education Practice in Winnipeg and has specialized in the design of remote access projects for Indigenous Communities for twenty-five years. He believes in developing an understanding of genius loci and specific design needs through community consultation as a basis for designing meaningful environments. Mr. Kolynchuk is an international juror for the Association for Learning Environments Awards. Several of his school designs for First Nations have received OAA and Ontario WoodWORKS! Awards.

Bruce Mau is a brilliantly creative optimist whose love of thorny problems led him to create a
methodology for whole-system transformation. Across 30 years of design innovation, he’s
collaborated with leading organizations, heads of state, renowned artists and fellow optimists.
A serial entrepreneur since the age of 9, he became an international figure with the publication
of his landmark S,M,L,XL, designed and co-authored with Rem Koolhaas. He is the author of
Massive Change and MC24, and co-founder and CEO of Massive Change Network, a holistic
design collective based in Chicago.

Bruce is also the Chief Design Officer for Freeman, the pioneers in live brand experience. His zest for connecting the world brings out the best in people and projects, and resonates at home, too, in the life he shares with his wife Bisi Williams and three daughters in Winnetka, Illinois.

Originally from Saint John, New Brunswick, Geoff McCausland was first introduced to Northern Ontario while working as a tree-planter just north of Chapleau. After graduating from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, in 2008 Geoff moved to Sudbury for a four-month contract with the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra. The city’s vibrant community, rugged outdoor landscapes and wealth of opportunities caused him to declare Greater Sudbury home.

A lifelong student and avid entrepreneur, Geoff has designed beer recipes for Stack Brewing, co-founded local restaurant The Motley Kitchen, taught a generation of young musicians, performed for eight years with the Juno-nominated Silver Birch String Quartet, and toured across Canada and Europe with Sudbury-based bluegrass band Murder Murder. Geoff has recorded on fourteen albums, performed in fifteen countries, and shared the stage with many notable artists, including Serena Ryder, Tanya Tagaq, and Iskwé. Between tours and contracts, Geoff worked both in front of and behind the camera in Sudbury’s film industry – as assistant director, grip, electrician, and actor.

Since 2018, Geoff has served on City Council in Greater Sudbury representing Ward 4, as well as on the boards of Greater Sudbury Utilities, Greater Sudbury Hydro, and Conservation Sudbury.

Entrepreneur, community leader and philanthropist, Cheryl McEwen is founder and President of Make My Day Foods Inc., and Vice-Chair of the UHN Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation. Cheryl and Rob McEwen co-founded the McEwen Stem Cell Institute in Toronto and in 2013, Cheryl was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for contributions in the advancement of stem cell research. In 2016, Rob and Cheryl McEwen donated $10 million to the McEwen School of Architecture, which was named in recognition of their significant investment. Cheryl remains passionate about innovation through design and design related fields. In 2019, she was the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from York University.

Deb McIntosh is an astute user and observer of city spaces and facilities. When Deb travels her camera roll will inevitably include pictures/videos of municipal services at work: garbage collection, storm sewers, pedestrian/cyclist infrastructure and other uses of public space. These experiences have informed her research, inquiries and decision making as chair of Greater Sudbury’s Operations and Planning Committees. Prior to being elected to Greater Sudbury’s City Council (Ward 9) in 2014, Deb served as the Executive Director of Rainbow Routes Association for 11 years. Under her leadership, the organization developed and promoted pedestrian and cycling infrastructure to improve non-motorized connections within the community, as well as with the rest of Canada via the Trans Canada Trail.

In 2010, Deb co-authored the Sustainable Mobility Plan for Greater Sudbury, which has since been incorporated into the City’s Official Plan. Deb is keenly interested in how people of all demographics move through and function within their community. Much of her inspiration has come from people like Jane Jacobs and Gil Penalosa.

For the past 20 years at KPMB, Marianne McKenna’s special focus has been the architecture of concert halls and how design is used to engage community. Projects include an expansion and renovation of iconic Massey Hall in Toronto and an expansion for The Brearley School in New York City. Marianne offers diverse experience in a range of project typologies, inclusive of spaces for higher education, workplace interiors, hospitality and master planning. Marianne was the Norman R. Foster Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture in 2016 and sits on the Board of Directors for Metrolinx, a provincial agency charged with improving transportation in the Greater Toronto area.
Marianne has completed projects for the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern, the University of Toronto, McGill University, Concordia University, Torys LLP, Goldman Sachs, the Orchestra Hall Renewal for the Minnesota Orchestra, and Toronto’s Royal Conservatory TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, including the renowned Koerner Hall.

Marianne is an invested Officer of the Order of Canada (OC), and in 2014, she was recognized as one of the 50 most powerful people in Canada by Maclean’s magazine. She is an Honorary Fellow of Toronto’s Royal Conservatory and holds an Honorary Doctorate of Laws (honoris causa) degree from Laurentian University.

McLennan is the creator of the Living Building Challenge – the most stringent and progressive green building program in existence, as well as a primary author of the WELL Building Standard, which is sweeping the globe. He is the author of six books on Sustainability and Design – used by thousands of practitioners each year, including the Philosophy of Sustainable Design, which is considered the ‘bible’ for green building’ – and is both an Ashoka Fellow and Senior Fellow of the Design Future’s Council. He has been selected by Yes! Magazine as one of ‘15 people shaping the world’ and works closely with world leaders, Fortune 500 companies, leading NGO’s, major universities, celebrities and influential development companies –all in the pursuit of a world that is socially just, culturally rich and ecologically restorative. He serves as the Chairman of the International Living Future Institute and is the CEO of McLennan Design – his own architectural and planning practice designing some of the world’s most advanced green buildings. McLennan’s work has been published in dozens of journals, magazines and newspapers around the world.

Tristan O’Gorman is a graduate student at the McEwen School of Architecture (MSoA) where he is committed to imagining ways in which built and natural landscapes can work cohesively to support ecological consciousness in urban settings through research, design proposals and volunteerism. The quality of care and rigor in his past work has been recognized by the McEwen School of Architecture’s “Founder’s Award,” Laurentian University “In-Course Merit Scholarships” and the Ontario Association of Architects “Annual Scholarship,” The potential for Tristan’s future research into regenerative design within public school boards has recently been awarded funding through a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Counsel (SSHRC) of Canada graduate scholarship.

Lisa Rochon is a city builder, architectural advisor and Founder of Citylab. Through public space initiatives, she works to revitalize neglected parts of the city and empower communities through amazing, equitable design. She was the design director for the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough and the design jury chair from 2015-18 for the annual competition Winter Stations in Toronto. Lisa holds an M.A. in Urban Design Studies from the University of Toronto and an honours degree in journalism and French from Carleton University, Ottawa.

Lisa is the author of UP NORTH: Where Canada’s Architecture Meets the Land (2005) and was the award-winning architecture critic for The Globe and Mail newspaper from 2000 to 2013. Lisa’s national column defended and championed the cause of inspired, innovative architecture from Toronto to Medellin to Copenhagen to New York. Lisa remains an invited public speaker on issues in design, urban design and architecture. She has contributed numerous essays and articles for books and journals such as Alphabet City, Canadian Architect and Architectural Record (NYC). She is the two-time winner of the National Newspaper Awards and the recipient of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s Award for Journalism.

In 2018, Lisa joined the McEwen International Advisory Board for Laurentian University’s McEwen School of Architecture. She also served as a Nominator for the International Aga Khan Award in Architecture for the 14th cycle (2017 – 2019). Since 2010, her achievements have been chronicled in the Canadian WHO’S WHO.

Dee Dee Taylor Eustace is an Architect and Interior Designer practicing in Canada with her office located in Toronto, Ontario. She graduated with honours from University of Toronto School of Architecture and is both a member of the Ontario Association of Architects and the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada. Her full-service firm Taylor Hannah Architect Inc. specializes in the residential and hospitality sectors in a timelessly elegant style both in architecture, development, and interior design. With hundreds of residential and commercial projects, Dee Dee and her team work on premier addresses.

Dee Dee’s timeless work has been seen in many cities beyond Toronto. She has participated in events such as Holiday House NYC Designer Showhouse and designed feature exhibits for the Interior Design Show in Toronto for many consecutive years. Taylor Hannah Architect Inc. has participated in the Designer Show Houses for the Junior League of Toronto as well as the Gardiner Museum’s Twelve Trees of Christmas. Dee Dee was also chosen to speak at the Delicious Food Show, The Toronto Designer’s Showcase, The University of Toronto’s Faculty of Architecture as well as the Women of Influence Lecture series. Most recently Dee Dee was invited to be the Emcee for the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s awards dinner in 2019.

Charity is a large part of Dee Dee’s life as she sits on several Boards and Committees. Highlights of her charitable contributions include: Chair of the Board New Start Foundation for Mental Health & Addiction for youth with Sunnybrook Hospital; Chair of Silver Dinner of Healthy Minds Canada; Curator for the Gardiner Museum’s Twelve Trees of Christmas; Chair of the Cook for the Cure for Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation; International Chair for the International Arts and Antiques Show in NYC; Co-Chair for the Canadian Council of American Relations NYC; President of Out of the Cold Foundation; Committee Member of the Governor General’s Performing Arts; Property Development Task Force of Bishop Strachan School in Toronto; Board of Governors North York General Hospital; Chair of the Gala in the Garden for the Toronto Botanical Gardens; Committee Member of the University of Toronto Boundless Campaign for the Faculty of Architecture; Co-Chair of the McEwen Stem Cell Race; International Advisory Board of the McEwen School of Architecture, Sudbury; University of Toronto. In addition, Dee Dee is an Arbor Award University of Toronto Recipient and is part of the Artscape Foundation Board.

Ted Wilson is an Architect teaching northern building design at the McEwen School of Architecture at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. Prior to teaching at McEwen School of Architecture, he practised in Ontario for 25 years in a range of firms from sole proprietorship to being president of the Canadian architectural practice for AECOM. Ted is a Master Lecturer and faculty member at the McEwen School of Architecture at Laurentian University, where his focus remains on sustainable building systems integration and community collaboration through design.

Britney Ottley-Perrotte holds a Bachelor of Architectural Studies (BAS) and is a bilingual graduate student at the McEwen School of Architecture where she has taken an interest in the socioeconomic and environmental effects of architecture. Being a minority amongst her peers, Britney is an advocate for diversity within architecture through integrating and highlighting the practices of various cultures into her work.

Britney is a member of the Black Architects and Interior Designers Association (BAIDA), a Toronto based organization that aims to support diversity, equity and inclusion in the profession of architecture and interior design. She has worked as a co-op student with the Rainbow Routes Association, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to transforming Greater Sudbury’s urban environment by advancing and promoting trails and non-motorized routes to provide people with active, healthy and affordable recreation and transportation opportunities.