The Grebel Peace Incubator Program supports peace-related start-up initiatives through mentorship, training opportunities, and seed funding in order to validate their concepts and secure sustainable funding to effect systemic change. We know that making connections with the right mentors is a crucial ingredient in the success of a start-up.
This Mentorship Circle is intended to deepen and expand the ability of the Centre for Peace Advancement to support members of the Peace Incubator program. The Mentorship Circle does not encompass all of the many individuals throughout the Centre for Peace Advancement’s networks that provide mentorship to incubator members on an ad hoc basis. Members of the Mentorship Circle gather each semester to:
- provide collective mentorship to incubator members
- distribute grants from the Centre for Peace Advancement’s Peace Incubator Fund
The Mentors:
Doug Blair
Doug (he/him) is a financial professional with over 15 years of experience who looks to make a positive impact as an investor, advisor and philanthropist. He holds an Honours Bachelor of BusinessAdministration (BBA) from Wilfrid Laurier University and Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) from University of Waterloo.
Doug began his career at Meritas, a mutual fund company that helps investors align their portfolio with their social, ethical, governance and environmental concerns. He then worked over 10 years in the executive offices of Scotiabank in progressively more senior roles based in Toronto. Most recently, Doug was a participant in the Grebel Peace Incubator program with Demine Robotics, a Canadian/Cambodian company advocating and developing technology to safely dispose anti-personnel landmines.
He currently serves on Grebel’s endowment Investment Advisory committee, treasurer and secretary of the board of Silver Lake Mennonite Camp, and Erb Street Mennonite Church’s finance committee.
Pamela Fehr
Pam is passionate about catalyzing social change. She is currently working as an independent consultant, taking on projects that feel challenging and exciting and have the opportunity to fuel community transformation.
Pam spent ten years working with Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) with a focus on building business solutions to poverty, living and working in countries such as Nicaragua, Haiti, Mozambique, Peru and Egypt among others. After settling in Waterloo and building a family she spent ten years as Vice President Marketing at Kindred Credit Union where she had the privilege to lead the renaming, rebranding of the credit union and to develop their community engagement strategy. Recently Pam has been working at a systems level, seeking to create positive change in the affordable housing and children’s mental health sectors here in our community.
When she isn’t spending time trying to catalyze her four kids toward independence, you can find her on her bike riding the roads of Waterloo Region.
Angela Krone
Angela graduated from the University of Waterloo (BASc, 2019) and has been actively involved in the KW tech community throughout her co-op and full-time career. She has worked on a wide range of innovative projects at start-ups and large companies and currently works on the Augmented Reality team at Google.
Angela is known for asking the right questions that help drive products forward. Specializing in human centred design and playful exploration (often through prototypes and proof-of-concepts) she has seen first hand how the power of getting at the heart of a user need can dramatically impact a project’s success. She loves to both facilitate and participate in brainstorming sessions to help find new ways to approach problems.
During her time in university, Angela was actively involved in the PeaceTech community and courses taught at the Centre for Peace Advancement, and is excited to be able to return to participate as a mentor. When not working, you can find her playing board games, frisbee, or volunteering around the community.
Roopa Reddy
Roopa is an educator who believes in students’ potential to address problems that matter, for them and for society. She is a Lecturer at the Conrad School, with a focus on undergraduate teaching in social impact, using critical lenses. Before joining the faculty team at the University of Waterloo, Roopa explored models of education and social enterprises in various contexts, including in Colombia, Haiti, India, and Indonesia.
She began her career in Management consulting after graduating from the BBA/BMath program (Laurier, UWaterloo), before pursuing her Master’s in International Development at the London School of Economics.
She enjoys learning languages, dabbling in creative writing, and travel - her most recent adventure involved a multi-day trek in Peru.