Linda Coady
Distinguished Fellow in Residence
Liu Centre on Global Issues, University of British Columbia
www.ligi.ubc.ca/
Linda Coady has a favourite quote: “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” It’s a saying that has inspired her approach to problem solving and her work at VANOC where she is responsible for the sustainability program for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
Coady has built a career using her ability to work with diverse interests to uncover new approaches to challenging issues. Prior to joining VANOC, she was Vice President, Pacific Region for World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Canada. She is also a 20-year veteran of the BC forest industry, serving as a Vice President of Environment for both MacMillan Bloedel and Weyerhaeuser’s BC Coastal Operations. Working with environmental groups, indigenous peoples, government and community representatives, she helped lead a series of initiatives that reduced conflict over coastal old growth forests and introduced new policies and practices for forest management and conservation.
Linda has led a number of award-winning projects. Her work has been recognized with awards from Canadian Business for Social Responsibility, the Ecological Society of American, the World Green Building Council and the CERES/Association of Chartered Certified Accountants North American Award for corporate accountability reporting. She is also a recipient of a YWCA Woman of Distinction Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She is a former member of Canada’s National Round Table on the Environment and Economic and is on the Board of the BC-based Fraser Basin Council that promotes sustainable use of one of the largest river basins in North America. She was a founding Director of the Vancouver-based Building Opportunities with Business Inner City Society, funded by government and corporate sponsors of the 2010 Winter Games in the run-up to the 2010 Winter Games to improve access to economic and employment opportunities to business and residents in under-served neighbourhoods. At the global level she is a Director of Forest Trends, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing economic innovation that helps maintains forests and related ecosystems through investment in natural infrastructure, poverty reduction and supply chain transparency.
Born and raised in Vancouver, Linda has a degree in political science from the University of British Columbia. She and her husband and their two children currently reside in Vancouver. After the 2010 Winter Games Linda will join the Liu Institute on Global Issues at the University of British Columbia as a Distinguished Fellow in Residence.
