Alan Broadbent
Expert in urban issues; leader in Canadian politics and public discourse.
Last Contribution:
Must the Left Unite?
Contributor Biography
Mr. Broadbent is Chairman and CEO of the Avana Capital Corporation, and Chairman of The Maytree Foundation. In support of its investment activities, Avana initiates and funds civic engagement projects to strengthen the public discourse on civil society, including: the Jane Jacobs Prize, which celebrates “unsung heroes” in the Toronto Region; the Institute for Municipal Finance and Governance at the Munk Centre, University of Toronto; and Ideas That Matter, an organization to convene discourse on progressive ideas concerning the public good.
He is also Chairman of several related organizations, including the Caledon Institute of Social Policy (co-founded by Maytree in 1992), Tamarack – An Institute for Community Engagement (co-founded in 2001) – and Diaspora Dialogues, which supports the creation and presentation of new writing that reflects the diversity of Toronto.
He is also Chairman of the Tides Canada Foundation; advisor to the Literary Review of Canada; Co-Chair of Happy Planet Foods; Member of the Governors’ Council of the Toronto Public Library Foundation; Senior Fellow of Massey College, and Member of the Order of Canada and recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Medal. He is the author of Urban Nation (2008).
