A Family Story

A Family Story

In 2012, Nan-b and Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien engaged their grandchildren to find their own voice as future philanthropists by asking them what issues were of concern to them. The 4th generation of the family stated water as their biggest concern.

Extensive reading and engagement with key leaders in the water sector opened the eyes of the de Gaspé Beaubien grandparents to the state of freshwater in North America. Their grandchildren were right.

And so, believing in the passion and creativity of youth and the value of entrepreneurship to channel that potential for sustainable societal impact, the De Gaspe Beaubien Family Foundation founded Aqua Hacking and launched the Aqua Hacking Challenge to become a source of solutions for our most-pressuring water issues.

Our Main Targets

Our Main Targets

The water crisis

AquaHacking Team

Isabelle-Anouk Bourduas
Isabelle-Anouk Bourduas

Chief Operating Officer

Anne-Pascale Richardson
Anne-Pascale Richardson

Program Director

Alec Sicard
Alec Sicard

Development and Programming Manager

André Dupont-Moguel
André Dupont-Moguel

Development and Programming Manager

Carmen Joy King
Carmen Joy King

Head of Communications

Kariann Aarup
Kariann Aarup

Advisor

Dominique Monchamp
Dominique Monchamp

Senior Advisor

Caroline Thomassin
Caroline Thomassin

General Counsel
and Corporate Secretary

Vittoria DePalma
Vittoria DePalma

Controller

Board of directors

Nan-B De Gaspé Beaubien
Nan-B De Gaspé Beaubien

Nan-b de Gaspé Beaubien is co-chair of the de Gaspé Beaubien foundation and devotes her time to philanthropic endeavors that continue to break new ground supporting environmental causes, enterprising families and enterprising women, public health, and education.  An internationally renowned expert on topic of family enterprise, she is a regular speaker at global conferences and top universities worldwide.

Fondation de Gaspé Beaubien

David A. Ullrich
David A. Ullrich

David Ullrich is the Executive Director of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. His responsibilities include working with over 100 U.S. and Canadian mayors from across the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Basin to advance the protection and restoration of the resource. The Initiative leads many efforts to accelerate the work to become a more sustainable region by integrating the environmental, economic, and social activities to improve the quality of life and well being of its people.

Pierre Béland
Pierre Béland

A world-reknowned expert on conservation of beluga whales, Dr Beland has published three books, numerous scientific and popular articles, and has hosted a TV series on the environment. He is senior research scientist with the St. Lawrence National Institute of Ecotoxicology, a non-profit organization dedicated to research and education on marine mammals and toxic compounds in estuarine ecosystems.

Rachel Havrelock
Rachel Havrelock

Dr. Rachel Havrelock is Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she specializes in Environmental Humanities. She is the founder and director of the UIC Freshwater Lab, which focuses on the social contexts of fresh water and its infrastructure. The Freshwater Lab endeavors to train a new generation of water leaders, to communicate Great Lakes water issues to the general public, and to engage unaffiliated groups in water planning. Dr. Havrelock is the author of River Jordan: The Mythology of a Dividing Line (University of Chicago Press) and numerous articles on water, borders, and oil in the Middle East.

George Heartwell
George Heartwell

George Heartwell serves in the part-time capacity of Community Sustainability Coordinator at Grand Valley State University following his retirement as Mayor of Grand Rapids. During his 12-year tenure as Mayor, Grand Rapids was recognized by the United Nations as the country’s first Regional Center for Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development, by the US Chamber of Commerce as the nation’s most sustainable mid-sized city, and Heartwell was recognized by the US Conference of Mayors with the first place award for climate protection in the large city category. He was credentialed by the United Nations to represent US Mayors at COP21, the United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change in Paris in December 2015.

Leah Konrady
Leah Konrady

Prior to joining One Region as President, Leah worked for CH2M in California, focusing on government affairs and community outreach for water infrastructure. While in Washington, D.C. she served as a Legislative Assistant for Congressman Pete Visclosky and worked at the Northeast Midwest Institute as Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program collaborating with the bipartisan Congressional Great Lakes Task Force.

Allen Lalonde
Allen Lalonde

Allen Lalonde is IBM Canada’s Senior Innovation Executive and Director of IBM Canada’s Research & Development Centre, a role he has held since May 2013. In directing IBM’s investments and collaboration in strategic innovation initiatives across Canada, Allen and his team are focused on driving social and economic growth in Canada through IBM’s leadership, participation and support of collaborative innovation initiatives and models, and especially through IBM’s support for big data, analytics and cognitive research projects. In this role, Allen collaborates with Municipal, Federal and Provincial governments, academic institutions and researchers, and industry associations and partners to establish, progress and execute such initiatives. He leads a team of research, project management, business development and operations leaders who are dedicated to exciting research projects to answer Canada’s most pressing challenges, including challenges like those prioritized with the AquaHacking Movement.

Bruce Lounsbury
Bruce Lounsbury

Bruce Lounsbury is the founder and former CEO of the Newterra Environmental Group, a leader in the design and manufacturing of modular water and wastewater treatment systems with operations in Canada, US, Europe and South America. Under his direction, Newterra grew from a start-up in Brockville, Ontario to a global company with more than 200 employees and 6 operating locations worldwide, serving industrial, energy, mining and residential/commercial customers. In 2015, Mr. Lounsbury joined XPV Water Partners, a growth equity investment firm that focusses on water related investments, as Executive in Residence assisting in new investment opportunities.

Rodney Northey
Rodney Northey

Rodney Northey is a specialist in environmental law known for his passionate advocacy, with major clients including proponents, municipalities and Aboriginal governments. A member of Gowling WLG’s Environmental Law Group, Mr. Northey is in his 28th year of private practice focused on environmental, land use, energy and regulatory approvals. From 2016 to 2017, Mr. Northey was a member of an expert panel appointed by the Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change to carry out a Canada-wide consultation and review of Canada’s environmental assessment process.

Matthew Price-Gallagher
Matthew Price-Gallagher

Matthew Price-Gallagher is President & CEO, Watercluster Scientific Inc. Watercluster Scientific Inc. is a Montreal-based privately held corporation focusing on innovative science-based technology solutions using nanotechnology. For the past seventeen years, Mr. Price-Gallagher has guided the Company through its commercial and R&D initiatives with leading researchers and engineers around the world. Current research partners include Brojde Center for Innovation in Engineering and Computer Science and the School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, both at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as well as NanoSpun Technologies, a spin-off of the Technion.

Advisory Committee