Who we are

Joanna Brown - Director

Joanna is a person who, no matter the subject, becomes giddy when thinking, designing, and trying out new ways to improve and change. She thrives when working with others - pushing against boundaries in our organizations and within ourselves. Joanna works to encourage change, evolve how people work together, and expand product/service offerings that are helpful to people and the planet.

Through her career as a consultant, Joanna finds energy and purpose working in the non-profit sector for environmental and social groups. Her work has provided her with hands-on project management experiences, professional wisdom, and growth through trial and error. Her inquisitive personality pushes her to explore concepts and question the why behind actions. This curiosity led her early in her career to realize that she thrives working with complexity and contradiction. Joanna has consulted for the United Way of Greater Moncton, Food for All New Brunswick, Greater Moncton Homelessness Steering Committee, ACORN, NBMC, and the New Brunswick Community Land Trust.

Joanna’s life is grounded by spending time digging in the earth and growing a boutique fruit orchard and gardens with her husband and young son in Memramcook, NB.

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Amanda Hachey - Director

Amanda’s strengths are in facilitation, public engagement, systems thinking, sustainability, and process design. She believes that in order to solve our biggest problems we need to 1) understand them from diverse perspectives – to see the whole system, 2) we need to listen to each other with curiosity and an open mind and 3) we need to experiment. NouLAB is the convenor of the processes to dig into root causes, innovate lasting solutions, and to change the way we tackle big problems.

Amanda has over 10 years’ experience in facilitating innovative experiences for small and large stakeholder groups. She has been with NouLAB since the early days, building the team and co-developing the programming. Her previous experience with the Energy Futures Lab at the Natural Step Canada gave her a head start in getting the lab movement started in New Brunswick. She is known for her innovative approach to hosting meaningful conversations within stakeholder groups, applying systems thinking, design thinking and prototyping.

Amanda has Bachelor of Business Administration from University of New Brunswick Saint John and a Master’s in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability from the Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden. Amanda is the principal and founder of Aha Ventures.

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Jules Maitland - Lead Facilitator

Jules brings her passion for human centred design, systems thinking, and prototyping, along with her unique background to our team.

She began her career as a Nurse in the UK and then pursued a BSc (Hons) in Software Engineering followed by a PhD in Computer Science (HCI) from the University of Glasgow with specific concentration in health, health-related behaviours and user research. Since that time, Jules has used her expertise in "user-experience" in leading multiple organizations, private-sector groups, non-profits and government departments in the human centred design of social and technical innovation, including vulnerable/at-risk populations.

Jules also has experience in policy making with the NB Executive Council Office's Policy Innovation Forums, digital health across the continuum of care, as well as civic technology. Jules is the founder of Jules Maitland, Human Centered R & D.

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Lewis Muirhead - Knowledge Manager

Lewis is a storyteller and entrepreneur. For the last 10 years he has been creating films, taking photos, travelling and organising for change. During this time he recognised the need for having diversity around the decision-making table and then capturing the results from these important conversations. The challenge that the Economic Immigration Lab presents requires clear, concise messaging and that is what Lewis brings to the NouLAB team.

He holds a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of British Columbia focused on Economic Geography and an M.Sc. in Strategic Leadership Towards Sustainability from the Blekinge Institute of Technology. Lewis is the founder and principal of Alternate Future Design.

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Jason Doiron - Facilitator

Jason is a social entrepreneur, community connector and innovator. He holds a BA in Multidisciplinary Arts from l’Université de Moncton. He has gained experience mainly in the nonprofit world, especially in youth development, community radio and arts and culture organizations.

He founded Covia Strategies, a New Brunswick based social enterprise that helps organizations host better conversations with communities, citizens and stakeholders. Jason is passionate about how language has an impact on the way humans interact in various contexts.

Jason’s strengths are in public engagement, facilitation and process design. He also brings a francophone perspective to the NouLAB team.

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Shawni Beaulieu - Lab Manager

Nick Scott - Facilitator/Leadership Council

Bill McKenzie - Facilitator/Leadership Council

Bill MacKenzie has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Western Ontario and a Masters of Business Administration from Queen’s University.  He joined the New Brunswick Public Service 30 years ago. The first 14 years were with the Department of Agriculture. Over the 14 years he worked on market research projects, trade policy and free trade agreements, industry competitiveness, supply management and strategic planning. He spent 13 years at Social Development first as the Director of Policy and Intergovernmental Relations and later on the Senior Management Committee as the Executive Director of Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance.  At Social Development his policy experience included poverty reduction, housing, homelessness, child welfare, early childhood development, long-term care for seniors and supports for persons with disabilities.

Since September 2013, Bill has been the Director of Strategic Partnerships with the New Brunswick Social Policy Research Network.

Karina LeBlanc - Leadership Council

Karina LeBlanc is the Executive Director at the Pond-Deshpande Centre. With a passion for supporting the growth and development of passionate change makers, Karina is invested in inspiring our youth with the possibility of entrepreneurship so that they can become opportunity creators in lieu of job seekers, fuelling the growth of the Impact Economy in Atlantic Canada and the Business for Good ecosystem. NouLAB is a core component of the Impact Economy providing us with a framework for citizen-driven problem-solving that marries research, policy and entrepreneurship. New Brunswick is now poised to be able to take a leadership role in innovation and experimentation by building on our strengths of smallness, connectivity, collaboration and a values-based culture.

Heather Boyd-Kinnie - Leadership Council

Heather is the Funding Program Manager and Program Coordinator of the Pond-Deshpande Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. She is a passionate leader and active member of New Brunswick’s startup community. Heather provides coaching and mentorship for entrepreneurs, manages PDC finances, develops innovative entrepreneurial programs, and manages events.

Heather has a background in the legal, business, education and non-profit sectors. She has had a 30-year career that has spanned the fields of law, professional development, sales & marketing, facilitation, communication, and project and office management. She also has extensive experience within the university community. She has worked within several UNB Departments coordinating complex research projects and Institutes with local, national and international staff, students, partners, and associates. Heather earned a Law Degree from Dalhousie University and was admitted to the Newfoundland & Labrador Barristers’ Society in 1986.

Team Principles

We embody a culture of learning:

• We recognise that we are in a practice

• We have a prototyping mindset

• We capture our learning to share with others

• We are responsive designers

• We are always willing to question our work

• We respect trying, failing and learning on the job

• We name tensions and work with them to work through them

• We communicate with each other through various means (and memes)

We practice autonomy:

• We self organise

• We have a culture of accountability with flexible schedules

• We are intrapreneurial - we take ownership of what needs to be done

Inward looking:

• We work in teams, with mates 

• We meet face to face

• We meet in circle

• We try for equal voice

• We value self-awareness, we aren’t controlled by ego 

• We laugh together

• We have a shared purpose and are purpose driven

Outward looking:

• We foster community by actively taking part in it

• We seek to build capacity in this work in those interested

• We seek to steward relationships with the land and all people

• We value environmental and social sustainability