Natasha Alani

Natasha Alani is Chief Operating Officer (COO) at J.W. McConnell Foundation. Natasha completed an MBA with a concentration in Strategy at McGill University and has an undergraduate degree in Finance. As a fellow for the Marcel Desautels Institute for Integrated Management, Natasha worked on the Social Innovator's Integration Lab. Natasha started her career in finance, which included working on Mergers and Acquisitions in Boston. She later led an international ethnographic design research study to understand the impact of illiteracy on the growing technological divide in rural communities. This led to the development and publishing of design principles shared by Adaptive Path, an international design consultancy. Natasha's journey in social justice began in San Francisco where she led two businesses in the city's downtown core, which provided on the job training for employees experiencing severe mental illness.

Natasha also founded a sustainable food services company, Kiffin, which served organizations like C2 Montreal and McKinsey Consulting in their efforts to promote sustainability and social justice through food. Natasha served as the President of the Desautels African Business Initiative (DABI) and has been featured in the Globe and Mail for her pursuit of social innovation with a business lens. She has lived and worked from Boston to San Francisco and from China to Uganda. She now oversees operations at the McConnell Foundation, a leader in Canadian social innovation and social finance.