TORONTO (September 7, 2021) – The Urban Land Institute (ULI) Toronto is excited to announce ULI global appointments of Toronto Region leaders as well as a series of local leadership changes to its Management and Advisory Boards.

Peter Ballon, global head of real estate for CPP Investments, has been appointed as the new ULI global chair. Ballon will serve on a voluntary basis for a two-year term and will provide member leadership as the Institute focuses on three new global mission priorities: decarbonization, education, and housing. Ashley Lawrence, Managing Director, Head of Canada, Real Estate, Brookfield Asset Management will also assume a new role as Global Governing Trustee, and will sit on the Americas Executive Committee (AEC).

Effective July 1, 2021, the following Management Board leadership changes came into effect.

Vakis Boutsalis, Vice President, kg&a will serve as Co-Chair of the Communications Committee, succeeding Kim Graham, Principal, kg&a.

Christine Chea, Senior Manager, Development, GTA Urban, Mattamy Homes and Sameer Patel, Vice President, Tate Economic Research join as Co-Chairs of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, succeeding Jeanhy Shim, President, Housing Lab Toronto and Emory Davidge, Urban Planner, Engagement Practice Lead, Urban Strategies Inc.

Arthur Ho-Wong, Director and Counsel Planning and Real Estate, Habitat for Humanity Greater Toronto Area will serve as Co-Chair of the Outreach Committee, succeeding Andrew Garrett, Senior Principal, Real Estate at IMCO.

Philip Smith, Associate, Development, Oxford Properties Group will serve as Co-Chair of the Sponsorship Committee, succeeding Lisa Chandler, VP, Development, Oxford Properties Group and Casey T. Gallagher, Executive Vice President CBRE Limited will replace Ruth Fischer, SVP & Managing Director, Quebec, CBRE.

Vickey Simovic, Senior Advisor to the Chief Development Officer, Transit Oriented Development, Metrolinx will serve as Co-Chair of the Connect Committee, succeeding Joshua Butcher, Associate, Bousfields Inc. Stephanie Rosales, Development Manager, QuadReal Property Group joined as Co-Chair of the Connect Committee in January 2021, succeeding Christine Chea, Senior Manager, Development, GTA Urban, Mattamy Homes.

Kim Beckman, Managing Partner, Davies Howe LLP joined as Co-Chair of the Women’s Leadership (WLI) Committee in September of 2020, succeeding Robyn Brown, Director, Sr. Practice Lead, Planning, IBI Group.

The ULI Toronto Advisory Board welcomes new members Zahra Ebrahim, CEO, Monumental; Courtney Cooper, Principal, Alate Partners; Grace Lee Reynolds, Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Artscape Inc.; Laurie Payne, EVP, Development, Osmington Gerofsky Development; R. David Stewart, Vice President, Development, Cadillac Fairview; Salima Rawji, Vice President, Development, CreateTO; Amar Singh, Executive Vice President, Commercial Advisory & Strategy, Infrastructure Ontario; Sean Blake, Representative, Carpenters’ District Council of Ontario; Nicole Swerhun, Principal, Swerhun Inc.; Richard Whyte, Vice President and Area Manager, EllisDon; and Leslie Woo, Chief Executive Officer, CivicAction + CivicAction Leadership Foundation succeeding Jeffrey Brown, EVP, Chief Financial Officer, Porter Airlines Inc.; Bob Blazevski, President & COO DiamondCorp; Jason Lester, Development, Vice-Chair Dream; Duncan Osborne, EVP, Investments, Cadillac Fairview and Michael Turner, President, Oxford Properties.

As the largest in the global District Council network, ULI Toronto’s membership has grown significantly and in the past year we have convened more than 13,374 industry professionals online, 23% higher than our pre-pandemic audience and have attracted over 20,000 attendees through a remarkable 118 events combined during the pandemic period. Under the direction of ULI Toronto Executive Director Richard Joy, the new leadership will be tasked with continuing to build upon these successes, and leading ULI Toronto’s members and prospects through the region’s reopening.

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For more information, interviews or images please contact:

Jen Sapkowski
ULI Toronto
647-258-0017
[email protected]

About ULI Toronto
Our mission is to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide. We provide our members with independent forums for discussion and debate about city building issues and best practices. ULI Toronto carries forth that mission, while helping to shape a sustainable and thriving future for the Toronto Region. We are supported by over 2500 public and private sector members.