Habitat for Humanity Canada’s National Board is proud to announce that Julia Deans will be taking over the role of President and CEO, effective February 24, 2020.

After practicing law with Torys LLP in Toronto and Hong Kong and creating a successful business in Singapore, Julia led CivicAction, Futurpreneur Canada and the task force that developed Ontario’s first-ever immigration strategy. Most recently, Julia was the founding CEO of the Canada Children’s Literacy Foundation.

“Julia Deans has a wealth of experience leading organizations through growth and evolution. She is ideally posed to provide strategic leadership as we move through the development of a new five-year strategy for the federation,” said Ed McMahon, Board Chair of Habitat Canada’s National Board of Directors. “We’re excited to work with Julia as we grow to serve more families through decent and affordable housing.”

Habitat for Humanity Canada is a national charitable organization that provides affordable homeownership opportunities for working people on low incomes. It does this through the efforts and hard work of 54 local Habitat for Humanity organizations, operating in every province and territory to build homes with the support of donors and thousands of volunteers.

“I am very excited to join Habitat for Humanity Canada, which I’ve always admired for its inspiring network of committed people and partners building homes and communities across Canada,” said Julia. “I look forward to working with everyone in the Habitat family to increase affordable housing through community-driven home building and creating larger-scale and longer-term solutions to the severe housing issues faced by so many.”

Habitat Canada’s previous President and CEO, Mark Rodgers, announced his resignation in the fall of 2019. The national board would like to thank Mark for his dedication to Habitat for Humanity and his work serving families for almost 18 years, including the past five as President and CEO.

About Julia Deans

With degrees from Queen’s, Columbia and Osgoode Hall Law School, Julia practiced law with Torys in Toronto and Hong Kong and built QD Legal in Singapore before becoming a non-profit CEO with CivicAction, Futurpreneur Canada and the Canada Children’s Literacy Foundation and director of many non-profit and business organizations. She’s been named one of WXN’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women, a YWCA Toronto Woman of Distinction and Woman of Influence Canadian Diversity Champion and received the Pearson Centre for Progressive Policy Leadership Award and the Goodman School of Business Distinguished Leader Award in 2018. Julia is also on the boards of InvestEco, George Brown College, the Canada Post Community Foundation and jack.org, and on the Sidewalk Toronto and Goodman School of Business Advisory Councils.