Tonya Surman
Founding Executive Director of the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI), Toronto.
Contributor Biography
Ms. Surman has been creating and leading social ventures since 1994, building her body of knowledge around multi-sectoral collaboration and entrepreneurship for social change. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) – a dynamic convergence space for 100 social mission groups and a community centre for social innovators. CSI is home to several projects, including Green Enterprise Toronto, the Enterprising Non Profits Toronto Program and the Sharing for Social Change. She also blogs at CSI online.
Previous positions include: Founding Director for the Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and Environment, whose work led to a new legislative framework to manage chemicals and the banning of Bisphenol A in baby bottles in 2008, Senior Partner in the Commons Group, founding business Manager for rabble.ca, and Executive Director of Web Networks.
She is a mother of two boys and is actively engaged in her community, founding a cooperative day care and building a community garden.
