Intro

At the Grand Theatre Deb Harvey is the Executive Director and Dennis Garnhum is the Artistic Director. Together, they form a dynamic duo that has the mission to transform the Grand Theatre into a leading cultural hub that brings the world to London, and also brings London to the world. World Curious, London Proud.

Bonnie Schmidt is President & Founder of Let’s Talk Science, an organization that seeks to engage children, youth and educations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Jodi Simpson is the Founder of CityMatch, an organization focused on helping London companies settle newcomers to the region.

Peggy Sattler is an MPP for London-West.

Mo Salih is a ward councillor for Ward 3 in London, Ontario.

Lissa Foster is the Executive Director of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. David served with her on the board of Pillar Nonprofit Network, which is where they first met. Lissa has had the experience in the private sector, non profit sector, and now the medical sector to have a unique perspective on what drives London’s innovation.

Amanda brings a rich perspective on the start up community and what it takes to grow innovation from the ground up in London.

Adam and Shobita have their own podcast that explores London, called Towards London. It was listening to this podcast that first sparked the idea for this one. What does make London a hub of innovation? Are we unique? What drives us to tell our stories (or, in some cases, not?)

Kate Young was first elected Member of Parliament for London West in October 2015. 

Titus has been working to connect the London community through several initiatives, most recently Springboard (formerly known as unLondon).

Peter Fragiskatos is the MP for London North Centre in London, Ontario. Peter has the opportunity to represent London both at the federal level in Ottawa and also internationally as an MP.

Kate and I served together on the board of Pillar Nonprofit Network. She's a passionate Londoner and I enjoyed exploring the areas of the city where we are doing well, and where we still have our challenges.

I find the tension that exists in London palpable. It flows through every aspect of our city. Economic. Political. Social.

The London Economic Development Corporation is one of those organizations that we hear a lot about, but don't often have the opportunity to fully appreciate what they do for the city. I enjoyed Kapil's overview of what LEDC does in our city.

I enjoyed this interview with Steve Bolton, Head Coach at Libro Credit Union. The conversation was hard to stay on the topic of London's brand as Steve has so many good comments on leadership as well. I loved how he framed the Libro strategic process around their 'why'. 

Lynn Davis was the first person we interviewed for the Branding #LdnOnt project. She set up the podcast perfectly, contrasting the traditional views on London versus a more optimistic, vibrant future.

I have lived in London for over 18 years now and continue to be frustrated by the lack of vision for our city and what makes it great. For those of us that live here, we can easily say that our city is great. Many of us choose to be here. Articulating WHY the city is great is a challenge.