Allyson Hewitt

As the Vice President, Impact at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto Canada, Allyson has assisted hundreds of social ventures to become economically sustainable and increase their social impact. She firmly believes it is possible to make money and achieve a positive social/environmental outcome at the same time. She has been privileged to help many people and organisations achieve those dual outcomes.

She is a global leader in the field of social innovation and has developed many programs at MaRS to take this work from theory to action. This includes: Social Innovation Generation (SiG); the Centre for Impact Investing; Solutions Lab; and Studio Y which helped develop leaders for the success in the innovation economy.

Allyson is deeply committed to creating spaces for cross-sectoral collaboration and after many years working with social purpose organisations, academia and government she is currently spending her time engaging corporates in solving our most complex challenges.

Allyson’s work with government included membership on the federal Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy Co-Creation Steering Group which resulted in a significant investment ($805M) of social finance funds into the sector. Most recently, she was the Social Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Waterloo where she was a lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship and Corporate Social Responsibility. She was also a member of the Dean’s Council at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University.

In addition to public speaking, Allyson is also a highly skilled facilitator and moderator, and is often called upon to act as the master of ceremonies, panel facilitator or rapporteur at high profile events.