Mike Morrice grew up on the west island of Montreal as the middle brother of three boys. His family moved to Newmarket Ontario in 1997, and in 2003 he went on to study at Wilfrid Laurier University, completing a double degree in business and computer electronics. Mike was quickly hooked by the entrepreneurial spirit of Waterloo Region.
After reading a book called Ishmael, his eyes were opened to how recently we have begun living at odds with the rest of the living world. Mike was inspired to bring together his business training with his desire to see more decisive action on the climate crisis, and so he got to work.
Mike has spent the 10 years since working with hundreds of business to accelerate the shift to a green economy.
In 2008 while studying at Laurier, Mike founded Sustainable Waterloo Region (SWR) and piloted Canada’s first Green Economy Hub. Within five years, the Hub had engaged companies employing 14% of Waterloo Region’s workforce, all committed to setting and achieving voluntary climate goals. Mike also spearheaded the creation of ClimateActionWR, a collaborative effort that secured unanimous support from Regional & City Councils for our community’s first-ever climate target (a 6% reduction by 2020, since raised to 80% by 2050), and initiated what is now evolv1, Canada’s first net-positive energy multi-tenant building.
In response to global interest in replicating Green Economy Hubs, Mike founded Green Economy Canada in 2013 and led the award-winning organization until late last year. Today there are 7 Green Economy Hubs across Ontario supporting over 250 organizations lowering their impact and increasing their profitability.
Mike was named Young Alumni of the Year by Laurier (2011), Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the KW Chamber of Commerce (2012), won a Special Citation for Social Entrepreneurship by EY Canada (2018), and has been an Ashoka Fellow since 2012.
Mike describes his journey starting Sustainable Waterloo Region in a TEDx talk on his website. You can also follow the campaign on Facebook, check out his online resume, LinkedIn profile, and Twitter profile.
The nomination contest will be held on Wednesday, 6 March 2019 from 7:00pm to 8:30pm
New location!
Descendants Beer & Beverage Co.
319 Victoria Street North, (Map)
Kitchener, Ontario
This is a free event, but please register at Eventbrite.
wrgreens 