People

Arron Wood was elected in 2012 and 2016 as the Deputy Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Councilor Wood chairs the Finance and Governance portfolio. Arron is the founder and principal of the highly acclaimed Kids Teaching Kids Program which is an award winning environmental education program that promotes positive wellbeing, resilience and awareness in young people…

Benjamin Delaux is a recognized expert and entrepreneur in urban planning and real estate, with a 15-year experience in these areas. He founded Nouvelles Fonctions Urbaines, a service platform dedicated to real estate in 2003, before launching Habx in 2017 with the ambition of empowering inhabitants. Through this online marketplace, future residents become real actors…

Barbara Humpton joined Siemens Government Technologies in 2011 as Senior Vice President for Business Development and was appointed to lead the company’s approach to the federal market in 2015. Prior to joining Siemens, Humpton held senior leadership positions at Lockheed Martin and Booz Allen Hamilton, where she was a Vice President at both firms.

Rudy has served as counsel on a broad range of community impact financings involving governmental entities, educational institutions, transportation systems, cultural institutions, and entertainment venues. His practice includes advising lenders in providing credit facilities, direct lending and lines of credit throughout California and the United States, often involving commercial real estate or other asset backed…

Nina Teng researches innovative shared mobility platforms in cities across Southeast Asia at the University of Oxford’s Transport Studies Unit. At the University of Oxford’s Transport Studies Unit, Nina Teng researches innovative shared mobility platforms, particularly the role of trust in ridesharing and ride-hailing, in cities across Southeast Asia. Prior to relocating to Oxford, she…

Hannah is our Events and Partnerships Manager. In this role, she manages our events and other projects in collaboration with our members and partners. Prior to joining the NewCities team in 2018, she worked at Women in Cities International, a nonprofit that advances women’s safety in cities, after graduating with a BA from McGill University.…

Mark Maclean is the Senior Director of Business Development for the West Coast, Latin America and Entrepreneurship at Montréal International. His role is to promote the Montréal business environment to foreign companies, supporting their set up or expansion in Greater Montréal.

A lawyer and social impact strategist, Valentine Goddard is the founder and CEO of Artificial Intelligence Impact Alliance (AIIA) and the AI on a Social Mission Conference.

Nisa Malli is a Senior Policy Analyst with the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship where she leads research on the public policy implications of artificial intelligence and creating more inclusive innovation-driven economies. Previously she has worked on emerging technology, digital services, and public sector innovation for federal and municipal government and managed a nonprofit…

François Croteau is Mayor of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie for a third consecutive terme. He is also a member of the executive council of the City of Montréal responsible for issues of higher education, smart cities, information technology as well as innovation.

Abhishek Gupta is an AI Ethics researcher working on creating ethical, safe and inclusive AI systems. I am the founder of the Montreal AI Ethics community and I’m currently based out of McGill University and District 3 Innovation Center, Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

Hee Seon Jin was appointed Deputy Mayor, Urban Regeneration at the Seoul Metropolitan Government in 2015. His main concern is enhancing citizen’s participation by ongoing people-powered urban policies. He holds a Master’s Degree from Iowa State University and a Ph.D in Urban Planning from Yonsei University.