Russ Christianson

Russ Christianson

Ontario
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Biography

Working together with the founders, Russ has helped launch over two hundred mission-driven co-operative businesses in a wide variety of sectors, including: food retail, processing and distribution; renewable energy; education; culture; construction; forestry; and travel. He has worked with consumer, producer, employee-owned, First Nations, student and multi-stakeholder co-operatives to help them improve their business operations and organizational governance.

Russ is the creator of the Sustainability Scorecard, a practical tool that is used to map and evaluate organizations’ financial, social and ecological processes and metrics. In 2003, he received the Co-operative Spirit Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Ontario
Co-operative Association.

In addition to co-operative enterprises, Russ has worked with governments, businesses, community-based organizations, labour unions, and associations to develop strategic approaches to economic, social and ecological challenges. Using participatory facilitation, Russ has created citizen and customer-based market research, feasibility studies, business and strategic plans, economic analysis, and communications strategies.

As a volunteer in his own community, Russ was the founding President of the Campbellford / Seymour Community Foundation and the Aron Theatre Co-operative.

Russ has a Masters of Industrial Relations (M.I.R.) from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Commerce (honours) from Queen’s University at Kingston.

Areas of Expertise

Scaling Impact, Social Enterprise, Social Finance

Working Language(s)

English

Innoweave Clients

Ecosystem Collective, Elizabeth Fry Society

Other Clients

Canadian Worker Co-op Federation, Circle Community Land Trust, Dandelion Foods, Farms at Work, Guelph Solar Community Co-op, John Howard Society, Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek, Land Food People, Local Organic Food Co-ops, Matawa Health Co-operative, Micro-Factory Co-operative, Ontario Co-operative Association, Sustain Ontario, The Atmospheric Fund, Webequie First Nation

Contact Information