We are thrilled to announce that Karen Restoule will be SVS's new CEO as of January 13th, 2022! She is excited to get to know all of our clients and hear about your goals, projects and plans. We are so pumped to have such an experienced leader joining our team.

Read the official press release here.

About Karen:

Karen is passionate about empowering Indigenous Nations to chart their own paths to success — on their own terms. She believes the road towards greater prosperity comes through full economic participation and self-determination. “Indigenous communities and businesses are open for business, as long as that business is handled respectfully and equitably,” Karen writes in a recent article for thehub.ca. “Canada can learn from and draw on the proven strength, resilience, and persistence of Indigenous peoples to inform its economic path forward.”

Karen’s leadership style is grounded in the Indigenous values she was raised on: empowerment, family and community, equality of opportunity, and local government. From a long line of entrepreneurs in Dokis First Nation, a small yet very mighty Ojibwe community in northeastern Ontario, she is known for her results-driven leadership style with a relational approach, innovative thinking, and ability to identify novel approaches to new and legacy challenges.

Karen is co-founder of BOLD Realities, a non-profit organization that strives to build stronger relationships between industry and Indigenous communities by convening discussions and developing tools to help build understanding. In 2018, they partnered with TakingITGlobal and Canadian Roots Exchange to launch www.whose.land, a web-based mobile app designed to equip users with information about Indigenous territories.

A graduate of the University of Toronto and of the University of Ottawa’s French Common Law Program, Karen was inducted into the Faculty of Law’s Honour Society in 2014 for using her legal education as a foundation for making a significant contribution to society. She was named Public Policy Forum’s 2018 Prime Ministers of Canada Fellow and was the recipient of CivicAction’s 2018 Emerging Leader Award.

Prior to joining SVS, Karen played a key leadership role in modernizing administrative justice as the Alternate Executive Chair and Associate Chair at Tribunals Ontario. Before that, she was the Director of the Justice Sector at the Chiefs of Ontario where she worked with Indigenous political leadership to build consensus and develop strategies to advance policy solutions to justice issues. 

Karen serves on many boards, including the Banff Forum, Canadian Club Toronto, and Journalists for Human Rights. As a member of the advisory board for Cisco Canada’s Connected North, she provides input and strategic advice on the sustainability of this leading program that uses technology to enhance educational outcomes in northern remote Indigenous communities. Karen is a regular contributor to thehub.ca, an online news outlet whose goal is to “reorient popular debate in Canada towards the big ideas that will capture and propel us collectively towards a future of growth, dynamism, and human flourishing.”

Outside of professional commitments, Karen enjoys spending time with family and friends at home in Dokis First Nation.

About Us: Shared Value Solutions

A Canadian B Corp, Shared Value Solutions is an environmental and community development consulting firm serving First Nation, Métis and Inuit Nations from coast, to coast, to coast. Our team works alongside Indigenous leaders to provide technical guidance, regulatory advice, peer reviews, planning, and negotiation strategy in relation to major resource development projects. We are a company of Indigenous and non-Indigenous environmental, cultural heritage, planning and regulatory experts committed to braiding Indigenous Knowledge with western science to further our clients’ goals of prosperity, stewardship and jurisdiction.

For us, it’s all about building long-term relationships with our clients. We want to get to know you and what you want to do so we can help you move your plans forward. 

Core Services:

• Impact Benefit Agreement Negotiation Support 
• Technical Reviews and Regulatory Process Support 
• Community and Economic Development Planning 
• Indigenous Knowledge and Land Use Studies 
• Environmental Monitoring 
• Guardians Program Development 
• Climate Change Readiness 
• GIS and Mapping 
• and a whole lot more...www.sharedvaluesolutions.com