Meet the Team
Logan McIntosh
Co-Executive Director
Logan cut her teeth as an organizer in the Prairies, designing deliberative processes at the University of Alberta to support sustainability action across the province.
She joined Leadnow in the spring of 2012, where she helped pioneer the distributed organizing model that powered their Vote Together federal election campaign. She went on to become Leadnow's Campaigns Director, running high-impact campaigns on some of the most pressing issues of our time.
Logan loves working with the Leadnow community and is committed to exploring how we can use digital tools to scale the impact of our organizing program and bring new people into the political process.
Sonia Théroux
Co-Executive Director
Sonia is a campaigns and communications specialist, passionate about organizing. Her first campaign experience was the 1995 Quebec Referendum, while studying Political Science at McGill University. She realised the power of people talking to people about something they care about. She has since gained skills in the non-profit and private sectors, including fundraising, campaign management, outreach and strategic communications and small business management. After years in capital campaigns, Sonia led the successful 2014 campaign to elect Victoria Mayor, Lisa Helps. She has managed or held volunteer advisory roles on campaigns at the municipal, provincial and federal levels, including a successful re-election of Mayor Helps, municipal councilors and a British Columbia MLA. As a consultant with a digital civic tech company, she advised local governments on effective public engagement strategies. She most recently was Director of Mobilizing of a federal political party and sees Leadnow as a much needed non-partisan opportunity for people to engage with, and strengthen, our democracy.
Brittany Smith
Campaign Manager
Brittany joined Leadnow doing digital acquisition on the Vote Together campaign to defeat Harper before leading the people-powered push against the Trans-Pacific Partnership. She now works on a variety of rapid-response and longer-term campaigns. She holds a Master's degree in human rights, and has worked with NGOs, grassroots movements, and the UN, on issues such as women’s rights, transitional justice, & monitoring state violence – in places like South Africa, Bangladesh, and Palestine. Other than winning, she's mainly concerned with strategy and communications (which are, indeed, two key ingredients for winning).
Rachel Tetrault
Senior Organizer
Tim Ellis
Ontario Organizer
Claire Gallagher
Campaigner
Claire completed her Masters degree in Community Development at the University of Glasgow, while working with low-income women as a community worker. She then joined the grassroots organization ACORN Canada as National Research and Communications Coordinator, where her work involved engaging low and moderate income Canadians on social justice campaigns, using digital tools. In this role, Claire also produced a number of community-led reports that received national press coverage, on issues such as affordable housing, digital equity, and universal child care. She developed policy briefs, government submissions and infographics to communicate the organization's campaign objectives with a diverse audience. Claire's written work has been published in "Campaigns: Lessons from the field" (Social Policy Press), Policy Options, and she has created content for organizations such as the Maytree Foundation and Rabble. As a senior campaigner at Leadnow, Claire is passionate about using digital methods to equip individuals and communities to mobilize against the decline of our planet and the increasing injustices in our society. She works on rapid response campaigns in Ontario, and nationally.
Cherry Tsoi
Campaigner
Cherry began campaigning for climate justice and fossil fuel divestment when she lived in Sweden during her Master's degree in environmental studies and sustainability science. Her thesis focused on social movements and democracy, taking her from Sweden to San Francisco to study the Fossil Free climate movement. A few years later, landing at Leadnow to contribute as a campaigner felt like the right step on a journey toward a lifelong commitment to championing a just transition toward a sustainable, democratic world. Before Leadnow, Cherry tried her hand at a little bit of everything - including working in urban planning, community organizing, digital marketing, communications, and event production. She currently moonlights as a yoga teacher and loves to visit the Salish Sea Gulf Islands in her free time. Cherry is deeply committed to driving an increased participation of everyday people in politics and empowering the Leadnow community to create lasting social change.
Simran Ghuman
Campaigner
Simran joined Leadnow in spring of 2018 and dove right into the Ontario election campaign. Her passion for geopolitics led to a BA Honours in Political Science but left a dissatisfaction with the status quo and a hunger for change. Then she stumbled upon Leadnow. Now, Simran spends her time working on rapid response campaigns. A first-generation immigrant, Simran is particularly vested in displaced persons and creating a world wherein everyone has a place to call home and is welcomed with open arms. She is committed to employing innovative and offbeat tactics to engage youth and minority groups and empowering them to lead the way. She is dedicated to the cause and looks forward to dismantling the status quo with people power.
Board
Marie-Marguerite Sabongui
Marie-Marguerite is a campaign strategist and environmental policy specialist. A Montreal native, she holds a BA from McGill and a Masters in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University. She began organizing in the Canadian youth climate movement. Most recently, she developed strategies and executed campaigns to mobilize the public in democratic rights, education, and human rights at Purpose, and was Chief of Staff of Here Now, a global climate movement accelerator. As a Jeanne Sauvé Fellow, she toured across Canada as one of the first Climate Reality Canada Leaders. Fun fact: she has a Lego action figure from a previous life playing a children’s TV superhero.
Patricia C. Barrera
Patty is a geek, an organizer, a paddler and holds graduate degrees in economics and political science. She’s an educator & campaign strategist. She’s developed, coordinated and run municipal, national and international campaigns. She cut her teeth in the student movement (CFS), and by fighting globalization and free-trade on the streets and in negotiating rooms through Common Frontiers and the Hemispheric Social Alliance. Patty now works in the Education Department in Canada’s largest union in the private sector, Unifor. In past lives, she has worked in Political Action and Government Relations in Unifor, at the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).
Jamie Biggar
Jamie was one of Leadnow's co-founders, and served as founding Executive Director and then Campaign Director from 2010 to 2016. Before co-founding Leadnow, Jamie completed a Master’s Degree in political ecology – which is basically politics that takes economic power and ecological integrity seriously – at the University of Victoria. He co-founded two student-led climate and sustainability organizations, and served on the board of a range of social, environmental and educational organizations. Jamie now serves on the board of the World Wildlife Fund of Canada, and he's the Director of Communications and Campaigns for the Centre for Social Innovation.
Fahad Ahmad
Fahad Ahmad is a consultant, researcher, and program evaluator who works with social purpose and community-based initiatives to enhance the impact of their mission. He is a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation scholar and is currently pursuing a PhD at the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University. Prior to pursuing his PhD, Fahad was Chief Operating Officer and then, the interim CEO of Soliya, an innovative nonprofit that mobilizes young adults from western and predominantly Muslim societies to foster greater cross-cultural understanding. He was also appointed the VP of Strategic Initiatives at Search for Common Ground.
Fahad provides consulting services to social justice and arts nonprofits that includes advice on strategic planning, partnerships, governance, and operations. He is the Chair of the board of directors of Thousand Currents, a U.S. based public foundation that supports Global South grassroots groups led by women, youth, and Indigenous peoples.
