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NetPositive is a Canadian non-profit social enterprise. Our team is a collective of professionals who have worked in the natural resources sector for many years.
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Our Team
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Jane Church
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Jane is interested in working with diverse groups of people and organizations to understand the big picture. She specializes in pulling together viewpoints to find new ways to understand the world and solve complex problems.
She is an experienced facilitator who has worked with companies, communities, and civil society groups. Born and raised in Toronto, Jane has spent time living and working overseas but always loves coming home to Canada. Jane has an Master of Arts in Law & Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto.
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Carolyn Burns​
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Carolyn is interested in how local communities and big organizations build relationships. She specializes in designing and implementing operations and management process to make things run smoothly and efficiently. Specifically, Carolyn has helped big corporations, academic institutions, small companies and non-profits implement operational systems to understand and manage their interactions with people.
Carolyn is from Edmonton, Alberta and has lived and worked in many countries. She has a Masters in Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business, a Graduate Certificate in Community Relations in the Extractive Sector from Queen’s University and a Honours Bachelor of Arts from McGill University. This is the fourth start-up organization that Carolyn has worked with.
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Our Advisors
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LUC ZANDVLIET
Luc is the Founder and Director of Triple R Alliance (TRA), a small collective of experts that has provided support to natural resource companies operating in frontier markets.
Luc has conducted over 90 site visits with 30+ companies. Together with Mary Anderson, Luc co-authored Getting it Right; Making Company-Community Relations Work, which benchmarks best practices with regard to company/community relations in contexts of social and political instability and is broadly used in the industry. Luc started his career in the humanitarian field, working for the International Red Cross in Ethiopia and with Médecins Sans Frontières in Burundi, the DRC, Uganda, Sudan, Eritrea and Sierra Leone. Seeing the parallels between his humanitarian work and company/community conflict in the natural resource sector, Luc made the transition to focus on improving social performance within the extractive industry.
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Sandra Sutter
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Sandra Sutter, a Cree Metis woman from the Prairies, is the Aboriginal Partnerships Manager for Tarpon Energy Services and CGT Industrial and the Executive Director for the Circle for Aboriginal Relations (CFAR) Society.
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She has been involved in the financial, utility, non-profit, accounting and oil and gas sectors in her professional and volunteer life since moving to Calgary in 1988. Sandra Chairs the Metis Women's Economic Security Council for the Province of Alberta; is the past President of the Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary where she is now on the Senate; and serves on the National Negotiating Committee for the National Association of Friendship Centres, where she served as Treasurer for a one year term.
Sandra was honoured to receive a Metis Entrepreneurial Business Award for service to the local Metis business community from Metis Region 3 in 2014. Having recently completed the Indigenous Community Industry Relations Citation program through the University of Alberta Faculty of Extension, Sandra is a life long learner with a deep passion for Indigenous community.
Sandra is a published poet, a singer/songwriter/musician and public speaker/emcee in her leisure time.
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2017 Summer Students
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We received support from Canada Summer Jobs to hire 4 students for the summer. They’re an awesome group of people and provided NetPositive with great ideas and support.
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Alisha Gordon
Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Assistant for Alberta
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Alisha is interested in building relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations in Canada, specifically in the extractive sector. Alisha is from Northern Alberta and is a post-secondary student currently studying International Indigenous Studies at the University of Calgary. Alisha previously co-founded Bridging the Gap, an organization whose purpose is to “bridge the gap” between Immigrant and Indigenous communities through youth engagement, art and advocacy. She is currently the Chief of the Indigenous Students’ Council (formerly the First Nations Students’ Association) a group focused on providing peer, cultural and educational support to Indigenous students at the University of Calgary. In her role as a Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Assistant for NetPositive, Alisha reaches out to and builds relationships with various groups and individuals in Alberta.
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Tony Zhou
Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Assistant, Toronto
Tony is interested in identifying and bridging gaps in perspectives between different parties interested in common issues. He helps organizations leverage underlying incentives to enable integrative collaboration. Tony grew up in Toronto, Ontario, and has studied and worked in many countries including the United Kingdom and China. Tony has an Honours Bachelor of Arts from McGill University and is currently working to obtain his Juris Doctor and Master in Business Administration degrees at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and Rotman School of Management. In his role as a Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Assistant for NetPositive, Tony builds relationships with various groups and individuals globally and supports the organization’s communications strategy.
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Devon Bowyer
Research Assistant, Toronto
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Devon is a fourth-year student at the University of Toronto, studying Health Policy and International Development. Devon was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. Devon is a member of the Varsity Blues Men’s soccer team, and is passionate about sport, health, and equity. After he graduates, Devon is looking to pursue a Master of Public Health, or a Master of Exercise Science, at the University of Toronto. As a Research Assistant for NetPositive, Devon’s role is to conduct research on public and private sector initiatives and performance related to natural resource development and local communities in resource rich areas. He is also conducting literature searches from a diverse range of perspectives on how communities can see sustained positive outcomes from natural resource development.
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RJ Reid
Engagement and Research Assistant, Toronto
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RJ is interested in how different groups quantify success and the impact that has on collaborative processes. He has worked previously in the monitoring, evaluation, and implementation of social investment programs funded by the extractive sector, specializing in child nutrition. Born in Kingston, RJ has a Bachelor of Arts in international relations from the University of British Columbia and is currently working on a law degree and Master of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. In his role as a Stakeholder Engagement and Research Assistant, RJ supports NetPositive’s collaborations with companies and communities, specifically the organization’s research methodology.