CivicAction CEO Leslie Woo is passionate about building sustainable communities and shaping urban development
March 24, 2025
For Leslie Woo, making a meaningful impact that creates real change is far more critical than holding power or a title.
“If your motive is to rise through a hierarchy to become a President, Chief Executive Officer or the most important person in that organization, that is less important to me,” she makes clear. “I focus on the work I am doing to make a better city, to have a cleaner environment and to enable others to have more access to jobs. I have chosen work based on those things rather than jobs based on titles. In other words, my career has not been a clear trajectory through progression levels. It has zigged and zagged and I have gone sideways and taken salary reductions because of a particular role. What guides me in making my choices is about impact. I want to make a difference.”
By holding powerful positions in society, Woo, however, understands you can influence key decisions, shape public policy, direct resources and impact social, economic, and cultural outcomes.
She has done a lot of that in the last 25 years.
As Chief of Staff in the province’s Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal, Woo was instrumental in the establishment of a new government initiative to create a ministry responsible for a $2.5 billion annual capital infrastructure budget, including the establishment of the Alternate Financing & Procurement program and the regional Growth Management legislation.
With the City of Toronto as a Senior Advisor, she led the execution of the $21 billion tri-partite agreement between the three levels of government for the downtown 1,000-acre waterfront revitalization initiative.
Woo was the key author of the original Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe in 2006 which resulted in urban intensification totalling an almost 18 percent hike in multi-residential development, a two-thirds reduction of greenfield lands construction and conservation of about 800 square kilometres of agriculture and rural land.
In 12 years at Metrolinx, she oversaw strategic planning and public policy for a $60 billion transit expansion, pioneering transit-oriented development as a new line of business while serving as Chief Planning & Development Officer. She also led the organization’s network for women in management.
Since September 2020, the Women’s Leadership Initiative Toronto chapter co-founder has been driving bold action, cultivating inclusion and harnessing the collective wisdom of emerging and established leaders as CivicAction’s Chief Executive Officer.
Created in 2002 by late civic leader David Pecaut after a business and community leaders’ summit, the Toronto-based non-profit organization boosts civic engagement and addresses urban challenges in the Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area (GTHA).
In 2012, she turned down an offer to join CivicAction.
“I was happy with what I was doing at the time and did not feel the need to make a switch,” Woo, who in 2017 was listed among the Women’s Executive Network Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada, said. “When an executive search firm called five years ago, inquiring if there is anyone I could recommend for the CEO position, I told them I would think about it.”
A few days later, she informed the recruiting agency she was interested in the job.
“When I thought about it, this organization has been a big part of my career trajectory in terms of my volunteer work with them and community involvement,” she said. “They submitted my name for the International Women’s Forum Fellow in 2011-12 which changed my life and how I think about leadership.”
Woo was among 35 women from 14 countries who took part in the program that offers creative and multi-disciplinary training aimed at developing leadership and strategic management capabilities. It convenes fellows for 20 days, five of which are spent at Harvard Business School where they engage in a unique combination of classroom work, case study discussion and peer advice.
Fellows are also required to develop a legacy project that provides them with the opportunity to leverage what they learn to help expand the leadership capacity of women in their organization and community and create a ripple effect that empowers more women to aspire to leadership roles.
Merging what she learned about women’s leadership through the program and her passion for city building, Woo created a blog, shebuildscities.org.
“It combines the things I am passionate about and it helps me put out a bunch of news about how I see where we are going and describing and articulating how I feel about where I am from and my style of leadership while showcasing other women,” the 2024 Civic Engagement CEO of the Year said.
Because of the COVID pandemic, Woo met her CivicAction team for the first time 15 months later in December 2021.
“In my first three years on the job, we used ‘Real Talk’ events and other initiatives to facilitate open and honest conversation on important issues, including leadership development, equity and civic engagement,” she said. “For the organization, it was the right thing to do at the time.”
Every four years, CivicAction convenes hundreds of diverse leaders from across sectors and industries to co-create solutions to address the biggest challenges facing the GTHA.
The last summit was in 2023.
“Our focus was on the trust, affordability and prosperity gap,” the former Ontario Association of Architects member and Urban Land Institute global trustee pointed out. “We brought leaders from across the region together and that created the foundation for connecting our leadership work with our city-building work. That set the stage for our current strategic plan. We have no lack of solutions. What we are focussing on is a call for better collaboration and partnership between governments and private sector.”
One of CivicAction’s flagship initiatives is the DiverseCity Fellows year-long program for leaders from diverse communities and backgrounds who have demonstrated experience in civic change-making and are seeking to amplify their leadership skills, grow their network, explore social issues and drive positive change.
“They are the joy of my life and one of the things that makes this job the best job ever,” said Woo. “We view this program as a ‘Civic MBA’. We look for individuals who have a passion for the city and some track record of engagement in community, government or their profession. We do group interviews because we want to see the dynamics of how people behave together before individual interviews are done with alumni included in that process. These are all super talented folks, but the confidence they come out of the program with is the transformation I love to watch. The future is in good hands.”
There are about 150 applicants yearly for the nearly 25 spots.
McGill University Associate Professor Dr. Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey (Nii Laryea Osabu I, Atrékor Wé Oblahii kè Oblayéé Mantsè) was in the second cohort in 2010.
“It is truly a premier initiative that teaches participants about city building, public policy, philanthropy and municipal leadership,” said the first Black Canadian professor to receive the Governor General’s History Award for Scholarly Research. “I also had the pleasure of learning directly from Naki Osutei, a brilliant innovator and one of the pioneers and visionaries behind the fellowship program.”
The second cohort also included former Jamaican Canadian Association president Adaoma Patterson.
“This very valuable leadership program exposed me to emerging and senior leaders from various sectors, including the private sector,” said the United Way of Greater Toronto Director of Community Service Investments. “We worked collectively to understand better and provide solutions for the economic and social challenges facing the GTHA. A specific example was CivicAction’s summit of transportation that examined the current state of transit as well as policies to create a more connected and affordable transit system throughout the GTHA region.”
Urban cities face issues from rapid population growth and urbanization, but Woo said there are many solutions to mitigate the challenges.
“The problems are systemic, but the solutions are scattered,” she noted. “Do we understand how this all fits together and is anyone thinking about how we can leverage everybody’s strengths? In the case of housing affordability, there is a group focussed on lower development charges and quickening the approval process so that we can get more supply. At the other end, there is a skilled trades workforce of which hundreds are retiring. If we do not address that, we will fix this piece and then get stuck again.”
Over the years, the GTHA has launched initiatives, including ‘Mission: Affordable’ to address the challenge through collective action and policy advocacy, focusing on increasing housing supply and addressing affordability gaps.
Earlier this month, a report released by CivicAction and the Boston Consulting Group highlighted that housing affordability is forcing workers out of the GTHA, straining infrastructure and threatening economic stability.
It identifies key challenges, including restricted zoning laws, long approval timelines, misaligned market incentives and a construction labour shortage.
"Housing unaffordability in the GTHA isn't new, but it has reached an alarming level and impacts Canada's economic stability,” said Woo who serves on the Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care Board. “Many of us feel the crunch. We need action at a new speed, scale and coordination. Governments, businesses, and community leaders need to get aligned and rework housing policies, financing and planning for a livable, prosperous and sustainable region."
The tri-sector leader has co-edited a book, ‘Messy Cities: Why We Can’t Plan Everything’, that will be released in June.
Freelance writer John Lorinc who specializes in cities, climate and technology approached her about the project after they appeared on a panel.
“I grew up in a place where there was no planning act or building code, but people came up with creative ways to think about how they would build a frame, live in one section, save enough money and continue building,” said Woo who completed the Harvard Business School Driving Corporate Performance, Balanced Scorecard & Strategy Mapping program in 2019. “During the panel discussion, I said there are versions of how we build cities that are not this version we have right now and they are not any worse and may even be better.”
Over coffee a few weeks later, Lorinc told her he had an idea about Messy Cities and asked if she would contribute to the project.
The former Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges & Universities Strategic Policy Director agreed.
In the anthology of 40 essays by a range of writers from around the world, the argument is made that spontaneity and urban work-around are not liabilities, but essential elements in thriving cities.
“We said we are not defining what messy is,” said Woo who is a Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. “We just know all these folks who have different views about the city and much of it is around unplanned things that end up being vibrant. There is a collection around personal experiences and reflections, a series around nature and how we think about manicured and unmanicured landscapes and the role of nature in our cities and a section about planning and how we think about streets and buildings. We have sections focusing on global cities and urban systems and there is a ‘location specific’ part where contributors talk about people in the back alley of an industrial park with the best kuchella and everyone is drawn there.”
Woo grew up in Trinidad across the street from the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) whose Toronto Benefit Gala committee will honour her with a Vice-Chancellor Award at the 15th annual fundraiser on April 26 at the Ritz-Carlton, Toronto.
“This award stands out because it represents an acknowledgment of where I came from to where I am,” the eldest of three siblings said. “It’s a recognition of what I have been able to accomplish that I share with people and communities who most likely understand my journey.”
Woo dedicated the award to her 88-year-old mother, Jocelyn Fung, who lives in Diego Martin.
“She dreamt about becoming an interior designer, but her parents could not afford to send her to university,” the urban strategist said. “She got past that and made her life. It is because of my mom that I ended up in architecture. She is a very resourceful and resilient woman. To me, this award is about resilience. Mom is my inspiration.”
Shortly after graduating from St. Joseph’s Convent in Trinidad & Tobago, Woo came to Canada in 1978 to pursue Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo.
Her architecture thesis, ‘Waterworks’, was set on the St. Augustine campus established in 1960.
“It was more of an urban landscape project looking at how dry and wet seasons could transform the campus,” said Woo whose father, Evans ‘Ken’ Woo, passed away in 2012. “For example, taking advantage of the flooding by designing with flood plains and locating the campus buildings around water in the wet and dry seasons instead of a structured grid. It was about designing the water features that were both functionally providing grey water for irrigation of agricultural fields or as garden follies and water fountains. We should remember that the UWI St. Augustine was the original College for Tropical Agriculture. The intent was to see water not as a threat, but as a positive element to share the whole campus experience.”
After completing her first degree and a Bachelor of Architecture (honours) and studying urban and regional planning at the graduate level, she was as a Project Director for five years while being an Adjunct Professor and a key member of the team responsible for developing the Toronto 2008 Olympic bid book.
Woo’s interest in architecture was sparked while attending high school.
“As I drove through Beetham’s Shanty Town, I thought about the gap between the have-nots and the haves,” the former Women’s College Hospital board member said. “That was a starting point for me thinking in terms of equity and inclusion. When I was trying to choose a career and deciding what to study, I took into consideration my strengths in art, math and physics and the notion of architecture came up. By doing architecture, I figured I would have an opportunity to build and design homes for people that don’t have.”
She pointed to Caribbean people resilience and resourcefulness as a major reason for becoming an influential strategist on urban planning issues internationally and a transit change maker.
“I come from a place where, when you need something and it isn’t available, you will figure out a way to get it done,” Woo, the 2015 Renison University College Inaugural Distinguished Alumna Award recipient, said. “Because there is such a strong sense of community in the Caribbean, you also know how to work with people and get along with them to achieve something greater.”
When a conversation switches to the positive influences in her life, maternal grandmother Cynthia Hing King, who died in 2007 at age 94, and former Toronto Mayor David Crombie take pride of place.
Her grandmother was a third-generation Chinese Trinidadian born in Port-of-Spain.
“I have 17 cousins scattered around the world,” said Woo who was Canada’s Women Infrastructure Network Outstanding Leader in 2015. “When grandma said we are coming together for an event, everyone showed up. She was the eldest of her generation and had this amazing power to bring people together. She was also very prim and proper. Grandma served tea in a silver tray and she would have put Martha Stewart to shame. But at the same time, she understood how to enjoy life. While she could be stiff and upper crust, she was fun-loving. She taught me the joy of beautiful things and represented so many dimensions of who I am.”
Woo met Crombie in the early 1990s after he served as Commissioner of the Royal Commission on the Future of the Toronto Waterfront.
For four years until 2000, she was the Project Director for the Waterfront Regeneration Trust Crombie founded to continue the work started by the Royal Commission.
“I didn’t want to do architecture anymore and was looking to do something that was more connected to community,” Woo, the 2023 Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award selectee, said. “With architecture, I felt I was always three steps away from the end user. While doing my thesis on water quality and community development, I approached the Waterfront Regeneration Trust to do a community project around water quality. They hired me and I got to watch David Crombie in action. He is an eternal optimist who could see the positive in the direst situation. He always said a crisis should not go to waste. When one happens, he said all that was getting in the way is now shaking up so you can navigate what you want to do. He also insisted you should never try to explain or talk about more three things at a time. Through him, I learnt how to an effective communicator.”
Woo has two grown children.
Laurin Benson is a Chemical Engineer and Evan Benson is in financial technology.
