Colleen Hardwick

Colleen Hardwick, was headed for a career in Urban Planning before a twist of fate launched her into a 20 year career in the film industry. When a movie was shot in her family home, Colleen changed course to planning movies instead. She quickly ascended the ranks, ultimately founding her first company, New City Productions, which produced dozens of movies and $100 million in revenue before selling in 2000. In 2005, Colleen switched gears again, this time with an eye on the Web. With the support of the Canada New Media Fund, she began to prototype MovieSet which won the Vortex Award for Excellence in New Media Innovation by the Marshall McLuhan Festival of the Future. She blended her knowledge of film production with internet technology to pioneer behind-the-scenes film-making online, while building audience through social media. Circling back to her urban geography roots, in 2010, Colleen started to think about how to address declining trust between the public and the public sector. The result is PlaceSpeak, a pioneering location-based community consultation platform designed to authenticate online citizen engagement in order to facilitate evidence-based decision-making and public policy development. In 2018, Colleen was elected to Vancouver City Council for a four year term; bringing together her diverse background in urban planning, economic development and public engagement. Specialties: Imagining, innovating, designing, analyzing, planning, organizing, managing and executing projects ranging from movies to urban landscapes to Internet technology.