Welcome David Miller, WWF-Canada’s new President and CEO
I believe that environmental issues are the greatest challenge of our generation. How do we ensure that our planet is not harmed by human caused climate change? How do we protect our natural environment and species at risk? And how do we do this in a way that creates jobs and sustains our economy?
These are questions that I’ve confronted throughout my career, both as the Mayor of Toronto and over the past two and a half years as the Counsel for International Business and Sustainability at Aird & Berlis LLP. In many ways my work in these roles—to build jobs and a strong thriving economy that coexists with our natural environment—mirrored the mission of WWF: a future where people live in harmony with nature.
Today, I’m proud to join that mission and this organization, with its long and distinguished history of effective action on the issues that matter most both to Canada and the world.
My passion for the environment can really be traced back to my childhood in a small farming village in England. Out of economic necessity, we all lived a sustainable lifestyle. We fed our gardens with compost heaps, reused containers, fixed or recycled everything, wasted as little as possible.
After immigrating to Canada, I learned to canoe, and developed a passion for our wilderness. That’s still where I feel most at peace, in a canoe. With friends or family, on the rivers of Ontario or in the far north. There’s something about seeing our shores from the water’s edge that puts things in perspective.
Canada is an incredible country. Its residents are naturally conservation minded. Canadians understand the value of nature and the meaning of our environmental challenges. They are looking for leadership in meeting these challenges, and I believe that WWF is one of the very few organizations in Canada that is, can, and will provide it. That’s why I’m here.
Thank you for welcoming me to your WWF community. We have a lot of work to do together. And I can’t wait to get started.
Please join us in welcoming David to WWF. His first official day will be September 3rd.
