Welcoming new Directors to the Alberta Ecotrust Board

At our Annual General Meeting this September, Alberta Ecotrust Foundation's members elected three new Directors to our Board. Each brings a distinct depth of experience that strengthens our governance as we advance our vision of an Alberta where people and nature thrive. We're pleased to introduce Winona Lafreniere, Julie Charchun and Milton Ortega. They join Co-Chairs Rebecca Fiissel and Shafraaz Kaba, and Directors Norine Ambrose, Matt Grace, Dr. Irene Herremans, Thomas Holloway, James Stauch, Jason Unger and Eric Westrum.

Winona Lafreniere

Winona is an Indigenous relations and workforce development leader with more than 20 years of experience advancing Indigenous participation and economic reconciliation across industry, government, and the non-profit sector. As an Indigenous & Community Relations Advisor with The Channer Group, she works with organizations to align community priorities with reconciliation planning and workforce development. Earlier in her career, she led Indigenous relations for pipeline construction projects valued at $12 billion, engaging more than 30 First Nations and Métis communities. She also secured more than $3 million in program funding for skills training that created employment pathways for hundreds of Indigenous participants. Winona currently serves as Co-Chair of the Calgary Aboriginal Urban Affairs Committee and sits on advisory bodies including the Energy Futures Lab and the Clean Resource Innovation Network. She has served as an Indigenous Advisor to Alberta Ecotrust's Truth & Reconciliation Working Group for the past two years, so her appointment to the Board builds on an established relationship.

Julie Charchun

Julie is a public policy and advocacy strategist with nearly two decades of experience at every level of government. She spent eight years as Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Edmonton, where she led the full build-out of the city's LRT network, negotiated the City Charter fiscal framework that secures Edmonton and Calgary hundreds of millions of dollars annually in shared provincial revenue, and helped drive the city's first Truth and Reconciliation initiatives. Since 2022, she has run her own consulting practice, advising clients on high-stakes public affairs work. Most recently, she co-led the strategy for the national Elbows Up for Climate campaign, which secured more than $2 million in private support for a coalition of nearly 300 mayors and councillors and was recognized as one of the few climate campaigns to break through during the 2025 federal election. Julie also served as Interim Executive Lead, Governance, for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and previously as President and Board Chair of YWCA Edmonton, where she represented YWCA Canada at the UN Convention on Women's Rights.

Milton Ortega

Milton is a non-profit executive known for stepping into organizations at pivotal moments and leaving them steadier and better funded. He currently serves as Executive Director of Volunteer Calgary, where he has repositioned the nearly 70-year-old organization as the city's backbone for volunteerism, rebuilt funder trust, secured multi-year core operating funding, and contributed to Alberta's first provincial volunteer strategy. His background spans senior roles at Accessible Housing Society, where he served as the organization's first Chief Operating Officer, and the Alberta Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies, where as Executive Director he grew the membership base by 250 percent and increased annual funding by 300 percent. Milton is also a founding member and inaugural Board Chair of Centro Latino, Calgary's first organization dedicated to the socio-economic inclusion of the Latin American community. He previously served on Alberta Ecotrust's Climate Innovation Fund Advisory Committee and spent close to a decade on the Calgary Foundation's Environment Grants Committee.

Looking Ahead

Winona, Julie, and Milton join a Board that includes Co-Chairs Rebecca Fiissel and Shafraaz Kaba, Treasurer Irene Herremans, and Directors Thomas Holloway, Matt Grace, Eric Westrum, Norine Ambrose, Jason Unger, and James Stauch. Their addition reflects Alberta Ecotrust's continued commitment to bringing diverse expertise and perspective to our governance as we advance our work across climate resilience, nature-based solutions, and the circular economy.