OCLT Team

Get to know the people working to preserve Ottawa’s housing affordability. Learn more about the OCLT team and board members on this page.

Our Team

Mike Bulthuis
Executive Director

Mike Bulthuis (he/him) has worked at the intersections of policy, research and community mobilization for over 20 years, joining the Ottawa Community Land Trust in late 2022. He has worked in policy development with the federal public service on issues including homelessness, social finance, social innovation and infrastructure. Mike has also held leadership positions in the non-profit environment, including at Ottawa’s Alliance to End Homelessness, and with the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. He sits on the Board of the Centretown Community Health Centre and is a Director with the provincial Alliance for Healthier Communities, having earlier served with local and national Boards furthering social enterprises, social planning and public justice.

Glenn Grignon
Operations Manager

Glenn Grignon has over 36 years of co-operative housing experience as a member of the Sandy Hill Housing Co-operative. An IT professional, he has leveraged his IT skills and interest in housing as the original programmer and architect for the Ottawa-Carleton Social Housing Register along with Durham, Hamilton and Nippissing regional registries. Glenn is a local community volunteer and long-time advocate for the Canadian and International co-operative housing sectors. A firm believer in Harambee.

Our Board of Directors

Ian Fraser

Ian Fraser is currently the CEO at the RA Centre having arrived in January of 2024 from Run Ottawa where he served as Executive Director and Race Director since 2019. A multi-dimensional entrepreneur with a long history of community engagement and advocacy, Ian is the former owner and partner at Somersault Events, Human Power Performance and Cyclelogik. Ian has volunteered on numerous not-for-profit organizations such as Invest Ottawa and the OCISO.

Jaimee Gaunce

Jaimee is an Indigenous public policy leader hailing from Pasqua First Nation in Treaty Four Territory in Saskatchewan, and has built a career out of working with the housing and natural resources sectors to empower Indigenous peoples in Canada, the United States, and around the world. She currently sits on the Justice Committee for her First Nation, the Regina Homelessness Board, and several other committees and boards of directors in the community housing sector. Jaimee has a passion for helping organizations integrate impactful public policy and Indigenous reconciliation.

Emilie Hayes

Emilie Hayes is the capacity development advisor with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Sustainable Affordable Housing initiative. In this role, Emilie supports municipal, non-profit and cooperative housing providers in measurably improving the energy efficiency and affordability of existing and new affordable housing units. Previously, Emilie worked in a variety of roles in the non-profit sector over two decades with a focus on community health, community development and affordable housing advocacy.

Lisa Ker

Lisa Ker is the Deputy Executive Director of the Community Housing Transformation Centre. She has worked in the government and community-based sectors for over 30 years, including in the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services and Toronto Community Housing. More recently Lisa was Executive Director of Ottawa Salus, and is a former active member of the city of Ottawa’s Housing System Working Group, the Ottawa Alliance to End Homelessness and the Ontario Non Profit Housing Association.

Kiefer Maracle

Kiefer Maracle is an Indigenous housing specialist with CMHC and has spent the past 8 years working to help create, promote, and maintain affordable housing in Ottawa. Starting with a research position at Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation and advancing to a role as a Project Manager, Kiefer has developed a network of clients and partners that continue to help deliver new housing solutions. As an Indigenous housing specialist, Kiefer now partners to assist First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities and providers with their housing projects.

Miriam Mathew

Miriam Mathew is currently a Senior Consultant in the government relations field, leading federal advocacy, engagement, and strategic communications for trade associations and Fortune 50 companies in the energy, environment, and natural resource sectors. Miriam also supports Canadian non-profits, such as the Ottawa Riverkeepers and Nature Canada. Born in India and raised in Vancouver, Miriam’s academic journey led her to Carleton University in Ottawa, where she earned two degrees—a Master’s in Political Management and a Bachelor of Honour’s in Business Law with a minor in Entrepreneurship.

Hilary McVey

Hilary McVey is a Partner with Deloitte. She is an active community volunteer and has previously held Board roles at Parkdale Food Centre and Fisher Park Recreation Council. She has her Masters in Philanthropy and Non-Profit Leadership from Carleton University. She helps run Parkdale United Church’s In From the Cold Program. Outside of volunteering in her community, her passions include her love of travel and her pets. She believes affordable housing is critical to Ottawa’s success going forward.

Steve Pomeroy

Steve Pomeroy is a housing research consultant and part time lecturer at Carleton and McMaster. Widely recognized as one of the leading housing policy experts and thought leaders in Canada Steve has almost 40 years of experience in the housing sector, initially in the non-profit sector, local government and with CMHC before establishing Focus Consulting Inc. in 1994.Since then he has authored over 240 research studies and policy briefs. Much of his research and policy work relates to affordable housing and homelessness.

Karla Skoutajan

Karla Skoutajan has been involved in the co-operative housing movement in Canada for many years including 25 years working at the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada. She has served on the boards of many community organizations including a community legal clinic, a community health centre, a social purpose investment fund and various affordable housing organizations. Currently she serves on the board of the Agency for Co-operative Housing. Karla is a Registered Social Worker in the province of Ontario.

Ludovic Viger

Ludovic Viger had interest in geopolitics as a young entrepreneur in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, where he built an export/import agency to support Canadian enterprises with interests in China. Ludovic returned to Canada in 2010 with an interest in cooperatives and permaculture. He is a strong advocate for ethical business models as well as a volunteer for local cooperatives in the National Capital Region. Recently, Ludovic decided to write his own thoughts on why Canadian policymakers should change their assumptions as we face the dual consequences of overshoot in an ascending multilateral world order.

Jeff Westeinde

Jeff Westeinde is an active investor, entrepreneur and partner in several companies including Nucor Environmental Solutions, Milestone Environmental Contracting, Envirogreen Technologies, Clearly Solar Energy and the THEIA Partnership – a group of companies that tackles some Canada’s most complex environmental issues and develops some of the country’s most sustainable communities.