Catherine O’Brien

Board Chair and President, Nestlé Canada Inc., Senior Vice President Corporate Affairs

Catherine O’Brien is Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Nutrition, Health and Wellness for Nestlé Canada. In this capacity, Catherine is responsible for corporate reputation management including internal communications, stakeholder relations, media relations, issues management, government relations, Creating Shared Value programs and community partnerships. She also oversees the Nutrition, Health and Wellness group which includes the corporate dietitians and oversees the company’s Environmental Sustainability strategy. Catherine joined Nestlé Canada in 2003 and prior to that, she was an Associate Director of Corporate Affairs at Bell Canada, focused on issues management and corporate social responsibility initiatives. Catherine has also worked in the financial services industry leading Corporate Communications for Maritime Life (formerly Aetna Canada) and began her career working in public relations at St. Joseph’s Health Centre in Toronto. Catherine has a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in English from Carleton University and a diploma in Advertising and Public Relations from St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Ontario. She is actively involved in numerous committees for Food Health and Consumer Products Canada, the Association of Canadian Advertisers and other industry committees and initiatives. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Coffee Association of Canada and also a Board member of the recently launched Canada Plastic Pact. Catherine served as past Chair of Companies Committed to Kids and was a long time Board member. In 2020 she was recognized as a leader in the Canadian food industry as a Star Woman of Grocery.

David Hughes

President & CEO

Generating solutions to the complex challenges at the heart of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution gives me a strong sense of purpose which I hope will benefit future generations.

David Hughes is the President and CEO of Generate Canada.

Under David’s leadership Generate Canada has experienced seven-fold growth, forged an expansive partnership base of leading public and private sector organizations, and scaled impact through a distributed network of new ‘Solution Spaces’.  These pre-competitive systems-change labs now include  CANZA (the Canadian Alliance for Net-Zero Agri-food, the Canada Plastics Pact, Circular Construction Canada, the Energy Futures Lab, the Nature Investment Hub, and a soon-to-be launched sustainable oceans investment platform.

David previously served as President & CEO of Habitat for Humanity Canada and Pathways to Education Canada during periods of unprecedented growth and impact.  Prior to that he spent 10 years working for the Secretary General of the SOS Children’s Villages International which included senior postings to Africa, Asia, Europe, USA and the United Nations (New York and Vienna).  

David is a Senior Fellow of the Smart Prosperity Institute and has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Stem Cell Foundation, AIESEC Canada, and the Canadian branch of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project.  

He holds a degree from the University of Western Ontario in economics, a postgraduate degree from the London School of Economics (LSE) in social policy and not-for-profit management, an executive leadership certificate from Harvard University, and has been recognized as a Clean50 Honouree for “outstanding contribution to clean capitalism”.  

Learn more at www.linkedin.com/in/dwhughes

Cher Mereweather

Managing Director, Canada Plastics Pact

I’m here because the work we do everyday, has real tangible impact.

Cher is one of Canada’s leaders in food system sustainability. She has dedicated her 20+ year career to enabling companies with embracing sustainability, purpose and circularity in order to create a more resilient food system. Her work has focused on many facets of circularity including circular plastics, food waste prevention, upcycling, regenerative culture and behaviour change.

Before founding Provision Coalition Inc., recently acquired by Anthesis Group, Cher’s career included time with the Guelph Food Technology Centre (now NSF International) where she established and directed the Sustainability Consulting Business Unit, and held several executive positions in environmental economics and policy with the George Morris Centre, a Canadian agri-food think tank. Cher holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Economics and Policy and is certified in both project and change management. Cher has also been the recipient of the Canadian Grocer Generation Next award for her leadership, innovation and excellence in sustainability within the food and beverage industry. Learn more at LinkedIn.

Paul Shorthouse

Managing Director, Circular Construction Canada and Senior Director, Canada Plastics Pact

The whole is greater than the individual parts. That’s what inspires me about the power of Generate Canada… the synergies that come from connecting across our various solution spaces.

Paul Shorthouse is a distinguished business leader whose career has spanned three decades, driving sustainability-inspired innovation and impact.
Paul has held executive roles at Generate Canada, including as Managing Director of Circular Construction Canada (CCC) and Circular Economy Leadership Canada (CELC), as well as the Interim Managing Director of the Canada Plastics Pact (CPP). His experience extends to other impact-focused roles with sustainability strategy consultants (Delphi Group and GLOBE Advisors), as the Conference Director for the GLOBE Forum, and as a researcher and SCUBA dive biologist in the first half of his career.
Paul has a proven track record of providing strategic solutions and engaging with senior leaders from business and government. He has a demonstrated ability to build national-level partnerships and collaborative platforms, which he has leveraged to provide thought leadership and technical expertise for clients and partner organizations across the country.
Paul possesses a unique blend of scientific and business acumen, with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Diploma of Technology in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. Paul’s career is marked by his capacity to lead and manage complex and diverse projects, inform policy, and advise both corporate and non-profit institutions through board and committee memberships. 
Paul lives in Victoria, BC, with his wife and two children.

Ian Gordon

Loblaw Companies Ltd., Former Senior Vice President

Ian Gordon was Senior Vice President of Loblaw Companies Limited and led the development and innovations behind some of Canada’s largest consumer brands: President’s Choice, no name, Life Brand, and more.

He now leads Loblaw’s plastic reduction strategy and oversees the company’s inter-divisional steering committee. It brings a broad perspective to the plastic challenge, after holding senior sales and marketing positions with Unilever and International Multifoods consumer product companies and as President of ACLC Advertising.

He is a board member of the Canadian Sport Institute and a graduate of Queen’s University.