WHO WE ARE
Meet the Team
Meet the people who deliver ORCCA’s work and impact.

Ewa Jackson
ORCCA Director
Ewa Jackson is a leader in the field of municipal climate adaptation and resilience. She has worked with municipal governments for over 20 years in the fields of sustainability, public participation, and climate change. Ewa Jackson’s particular field of interest is in the area of climate communications, and how effective and targeted communications can be used to move forward with the implementation of adaptive actions. She works with specialists in the field to keep officials at the forefront and responding to the advancements being made.
As ORCCA’s Director, Ewa oversees service delivery, provides guidance, and helps connect users to the right adaptation experts, resources, and best practices. She also leads collaborative efforts and ORCCA’s advisory committee. In addition, Ewa is ICLEI Canada’s Managing Director where she has worked on numerous adaptation and sustainability monitoring and evaluation projects, including those of local, national, and international scope. She often speaks publicly on the state of adaptation planning across Canada and internationally.

Aynsley Klassen
Project Manager
As ORCCA Project Manager, Aynsley leads the team on a variety of climate adaptation and resilience initiatives. She is an experienced leader and facilitator who expertly manages projects, and helps to develop partnerships while supporting the resource centre across a range of different adaptation programs and efforts. Before joining ORCCA, she worked at EcoSuperior Environmental Programs, a local environmental non-profit organization, where she developed, implemented, and managed community-based climate adaptation and mitigation projects in partnership with diverse stakeholders including municipal governments. More recently, Aynsley served as the Sustainability Coordinator in the Office of Sustainability at Lakehead University, where she was responsible for implementing the Sustainability Action Plan. This role involved collaborating with various institutional and community partners as well as project coordination, communications, event planning, and administrative duties. Additionally, Aynsley has substantial teaching experience and a compelling research and publication profile, both academic and professional. Aynsley holds a Master’s of Health Sciences specializing in social-ecological systems, sustainability, and health.

Curniss McGoldrick
Communications Manager
Curniss McGoldrick is a communications expert with a background in behavioural marketing and first hand experience working with governments and community organizations to lead adaptation projects in the Great Lakes basin. As Communication Manager for ORCCA, Curniss leads ORCCA’s communications efforts, applies a communication and behavioural science lens to projects and programs, and supports resource development. She also leads ICLEI Canada’s communications and engagement strategy.
Curniss’ career began conducting climate change research before joining the City of Thunder Bay as Climate Adaptation Coordinator. Curniss developed the City of Thunder Bay’s award-winning Climate Adaptation Strategy before stepping into the role of Great Lakes Advisor for the Province of Ontario. Most recently, Curniss’ skills and experience have been enhanced with experience in the communications and marketing field.

Hiba Kariem
Project Coordinator
Hiba is an experienced project coordinator who works on the delivery of ORCCA projects, provides technical assistance, and conducts research to support the development of resources. As Project Coordinator for both ORCCA and ICLEI Canada, Hiba works on a wide range of adaptation projects across local, provincial/territorial, and national scales. She works closely with communities on every step of the climate change planning process from conducting adaptation assessments and identifying actions to implementation planning and progress measurement. Hiba also develops and delivers tools and resources that build the knowledge and capacity of local governments and stakeholders in the climate change adaptation space. She keeps track of best practices and is particularly interested in the intersection between equity and climate adaptation.

Adrián Tóth
Project Coordinator
As a Project Coordinator, Adrián brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and practical insights to the team, having worked both with funding institutions as well as directly with cities on climate change. In his recent work with ICLEI Canada, he has been involved in the Financing Resilient Infrastructure (FRIP) project to help understand the role of private capital in building resilient public infrastructure. He has also helped to support the implementation of the Building Adaptive and Resilient Communities (BARC) program and the adoption of the Cost of Doing Nothing (CODN) Toolbox. Prior to joining ICLEI Canada, Adrián worked in Brussels at the nexus of climate change policy, sustainability, and city governance. He holds a Master’s of Science in Biology from the Université libre de Bruxelles.

Naomi Wolfe
Project Coordinator
Naomi is a passionate storyteller and community-builder who sees relationships as the starting point for change. She believes that through listening and sharing our stories, we develop equitable social structures that are needed for thriving, resilient communities. In her role as Project Coordinator with ORCCA, she works on projects that build social and community resilience. She also provides assistance and supports the development of resources. Previously, Naomi was a Storytelling and Engagement Lead on the Canadian Urban Institute’s Healthy Communities Initiative team. She has worked with over 1,000 projects, partner organizations, and community leaders to develop a network of placemakers and community builders committed to enhancing the public space landscape.

Haley Anderson
Project Coordinator
In her role as a Project Coordinator with ORCCA, Haley supports a wide range of climate adaptation projects and the development of climate adaptation resources for local governments. She finds joy in co-creating human-centered sustainability solutions — an approach she strives for in all of her work. With an Honours Bachelor of Design (BDes) from York/Sheridan, a Masters in Urban Development (MPl) from the TMU School of Urban and Regional Planning, and nearly 15 years of experience working on sustainability-focused initiatives, she brings a unique blend of research, design thinking, and entrepreneurship to her work. Prior to working with ORCCA, Haley helped many businesses and organizations achieve circular economy goals by creating transformative services, programs, and business models.

Sebastian Contarin
Project Coordinator
Sebastian works closely with Canadian communities on a wide range of adaptation projects through his work as a Project Cooridnator with ORCCA. He brings a wide range of experience working in climate change adaptation and mitigation in the private, non-profit, and public sectors as a consultant, researcher, and scientist. Previously, he was the Energy and Climate Change Analyst at the Town of Aurora, leading the production of the Town’s climate change and energy programs. Sebastian holds a Master’s of Climate Change from the University of Waterloo’s Department of Geography and Environmental Management as well as an Honours Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences from the University of Guelph. He has a strong passion for the atmospheric sciences and the ways in which a changing climate affects the severity and frequency of weather phenomena.

Niloofar Mohtat
Project Coordinator
As a Project Coordinator with ORCCA, Niloofar provides technical guidance and general support for a wide range of climate change adaptation projects. She draws on her experience working at the intersection of climate change adaptation, urban planning, and equity in her work, and particularly enjoys working with under-served communities to co-design neighborhood-based solutions for climate change adaptation. Before joining the ORCCA team, Niloofar developed research projects within the academic and non-profit sectors. She managed several research projects to investigate the interconnections of housing affordability, equity, and climate change in Canadian cities through the Climate and Equity Lab at York University. She also has a background in the spatial analysis of climate risks and has helped to create wildfire and flood maps at federal and provincial scales. She holds a PhD in Planning from the University of Waterloo.

Ariane Mooney
Project Assistant
As a Project Assistant with ORCCA, Ariane (or Ari) uses her research capabilities and project implementation skills to support various projects, develop resources, and contribute to knowledge and capacity building through research, writing, and workshops. Prior to this role, Ari gained valuable municipal experiences as an Environmental Outreach Student at the City of Mississauga, where she conducted research and implemented strategic plans for municipal environmental initiatives. She also worked as an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Student where she honed her ability to effectively collect, analyze, and apply climate data in a project context. Additionally, Ari has experience in community engagement and agricultural research with the University of Toronto where she actively contributed to organizing and delivering workshops on diverse topics. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Science and Environmental Biology

Nikita Popli
Project Assistant
As a Project Assistant, Nikita supports ORCCA through facilitation, stakeholder engagement, research, resource development, and communications on a variety of projects. With a diverse background spanning the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors, she brings a wealth of experience in climate action, community mobilization, and environmental communications. Before joining the ORCCA team, Nikita worked on various climate initiatives including public engagement for the City of Fredericton, electric vehicle policy research and the electrification of school buses in Atlantic Canada, and Carbon Conversations Toronto. She enjoys the challenge of conceptualizing and implementing innovative and engaging programs and transforming eco-distress into informed action.

Who Is Behind ORCCA
ORCCA is a pilot initiative led by ICLEI Canada and supported by the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) alongside financial support from the Government of Canada through the federal Department of Environment and Climate Change Canada.
ORCCA is part of a growing network of climate service organizations across Canada including the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium, Ouranos, ClimateWest, and CLIMAtlantic. Each organization provides regionally specific climate adaptation expertise to meet the needs of communities and users across the country.
Working together, ICLEI Canada and the ORCCA Steering Committee will foster regional collaboration, respond to the climate adaptation needs of communities in the Great Lakes basin and Ontario in general. Meet the team of adaptation experts and support staff who deliver ORCCA’s work and impact.