Brian Saunderson
Mayor of Town of Collingwood & Co-Chair of Habitat in Towns

Mayor Saunderson practiced law for over 22 years. He has appeared before all levels of Courts in Ontario, as well as numerous administrative tribunals and taught business law and ethics at Georgian College as a part-time instructor. He is a great believer in the power of the individual in our communities and has served on boards of numerous not-for-profit organizations locally, provincially and nationally. He served as Deputy Mayor of Collingwood from 2014 to 2018 and was elected Mayor in 2018 at which time he stepped away from his law practice.

Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell

Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Canada

The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell is the 29th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. As the representative of Her Majesty The Queen, Ms. Dowdeswell carries out constitutional and ceremonial duties and facilitates healthy citizen and community engagement. She contributed globally as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. In Canada her diverse portfolios ranged from education and culture to environment and the management of complex public enquiries. She was the founding president and CEO of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, and later the president and CEO of the Council of Canadian Academies. She has served on the boards of Canadian and international corporate and non-profit organizations. Since taking office in late 2014, Ms. Dowdeswell has challenged Ontarians to think deeply about their role not just as residents of a province, but as global citizens. Building resilience and sustainability through inclusive economic prosperity, environmental stewardship, and social cohesion, as well as safeguarding democracy, has been the focus of her mandate.

Reza Pourvaziry

Chair of Urban Economy Forum & Co-Chair of UEF 2020

Reza Pourvaziry is an architect holding a master’s degree in Architecture from Iran, as well as an urban researcher working in this field for over 25 years. His research focuses on the concept of architecture and process of design and sustainability which were presented in articles at international conferences and featured in newspaper. He established International Art & Architecture Research Association (IAARA) in 2002 to work and research about urban architecture about habitat and settlement with focus on sustainability. He has done architecture projects that he received international architecture awards, including world architecture community for Nashr Yadavaran Administrative Building and housing project for Atlas of unbuilt world by British Council. He was part of jury and steering committee and scientific committee of programs in the field of art & architecture and urbanism. He created different development projects and programs and started working as member of Steering Committee of UN-Habitat’s best practices since 2004. He continues to work closely with UN-Habitat and was designated by under-secretary-general of UN and former Executive Director of UN-Habitat as First Global Advocate of UN-Habitat in 2016 and was introduced at 40th anniversary of UN-Habitat which was celebrated at Habitat III conference in Quito in 2016. He established Middle East Regional Center for Best Practise and Local Leadership in 2012 –2014. In 2014, Ministry of Housing and Urbanism of Iran recognized him as one of the contemporary architects in the book ‘contemporary architecture’ and since then he worked as president and co-founder of International City Leaders and he was designated for City Prosperity Initiative –Metropolitan Cities initiative by UN-Habitat. ICL and UN-Habitat work together on various research, workshops and conferences and one of the main publications is World Cities Report launched in 2016. At present he is chair of Urban Economy Forum working on urban architecture projects globally.

Eduardo Lopez Moreno
Head of Knowledge and Innovation, UN-Habitat & Honourary Chair of Urban Economy Forum 

Eduardo López Moreno, is an architect from the University of Guadalajara with more than 25 years of academic and professional experience in the areas of urban development and housing policy, poverty reduction, governance and institutional analysis. His studies include a Doctorate in urban geography at the Sorbonne University in Paris, France and a master's degree in urban sociology from the University Paris, Saint Denis, France. Eduardo López Moreno has five books on issues related to social housing, land policies, urban development and urban history. His book "The Grid in the Development of the Hispano-American City" received the Jalisco Research Award and has been published in several editions. He has published more than 30 articles in national and international magazines on urban policies, urban history, poverty and housing financing.

Adam Vaughan
Member of Canadian Parliament & Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Families, Children, and Social Development (Housing)

Adam Vaughan was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Spadina—Fort York in 2014.

As an activist and journalist, Mr. Vaughan has played a significant role in the social and economic growth of Toronto.

Mr. Vaughan served two terms as a Toronto City Councillor where he played a major role in reforming Toronto’s public housing policy. He led successful campaigns to rebuild and revitalize existing public housing, while initiating new policies to create family housing, supportive housing, and co-op housing programs. Together with residents, he spearheaded the revitalization of Toronto’s Alexandra Park community that will see new affordable housing, new commercial space, a re-built community, and more downtown parkland.

Mr. Vaughan has demonstrated strong support for the arts in Toronto. While on City Council, he championed the expansion of the Ontario College of Art and Design University and led the campaign to save Theatre Passe Muraille. He has also served on the boards of the Toronto Arts Council, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Harbourfront Centre, and Heritage Toronto.

Before entering politics, Mr. Vaughan was a broadcast journalist for more than 20 years, specializing in municipal affairs for both CBC and Citytv. He covered all three orders of government, as well as urban issues.