Frances Westley

Frances Westley is Professor of Social Sciences and holds the J.W. McConnell Chair of Social Innovation at the University of Waterloo, Canada.

Westley is a renowned scholar and consultant in the areas of social innovation, strategies for sustainable development, strategic change, visionary leadership and inter-organizational collaboration.

Her current research focuses on the dynamics of social innovation in complex systems. Frances Westley serves on numerous advisory boards including Resilience Alliance Board of Science, World Conservation Union-Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, the Stockholm Resilience Center and the SARAS Institute.

Between 2005 and 2007 she was Director of Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, institute for innovative and multidisciplinary thinking and environmental problem-solving at the University of Wisconsin- Madison.

She is the recipient of several awards including the Ulysses S. Seal award for innovation in conservation and the Corporate Knights Award.

She is Chair of the Symposium Theme 3.