Mary W. Rowe

Biography: Mary W. Rowe is an urbanist and civic entrepreneur. She is currently the President and CEO of Canada's Urban Institute, the national charity focussed on policy and best practice research to identify place-based solutions that build community resilience. Prior to returning to Toronto to lead CUI, she lived in New York City and worked with government, business and civil society organizations to strengthen the economic, social, cultural and environmental resilience of the city and its neighborhoods. Her particular focus is creating local, national and international learning networks of urban practitioners developing local innovations that foster local livability and resilience, of which art and cultural heritage are key components. Her tenure in New York City followed five years of intense work in the recovering city of New Orleans post Katrina, where she helped form the New Orleans Institute for Resilience and Innovation, a loose alliance of initiatives that emerged in response to the systemic collapses of 2005. Current initiatives include https://mainstreetcanada.ca/ and www.citytalkcanada.ca .