Frances Westley

Dr. Frances Westley is Professor and Director Emeritus at the Waterloo Institute on Social Innovation and Resilience at the University of Waterloo. She is a renowned scholar and consultant in the areas of social innovation, strategies for sustainable development, strategic change, visionary leadership and inter-organizational collaboration. She has published four books, including the bestseller Getting to Maybe; How the World is Changed, and over 100 academic/scientific articles. She has served on  editorial boards including Journal of Applied Behavioral Science and Ecology and Society. 

 

Before coming to University of Waterloo in 2007, Dr. Westley taught at University of Western Ontario (Sociology), McGill University Faculty of Management (Strategy and Organizational Development) and University of Wisconsin (Madison) where she was Director of the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environment. In addition she  has designed and led programs funded by McConnell Foundation, Suncor Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation for leaders in the profit and not-for-profit sectors on leadership for innovation, managing in complex environments and social-ecological transformations.

 

 Dr. Westley  has served on numerous advisory/governing boards including the Resilience Alliance Board of Science, World Conservation Union-Conservation Planning Specialist Group, the Stockholm Resilience Center, the SARAS Institute, Evergreen Canada, Engineers Without Borders and Musagetes Foundation. She is the recipient of awards including the Ulysses S. Seal award for innovation in conservation, the Corporate Knights Award, the World Economic Forum Thought Leader in Social Innovation Award and the Order of Canada

 

Frances Westley received her Ph.D. in Sociology from McGill University (1978), her M.A. Sociology from McGill University (1975), and her B.A. in English Literature from Middlebury College (1970). In 2019 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Science by Stockholm University, Sweden.