Joanne Hughes is an innovative leader of non-profit organizations and as the Executive Director for Emerging Leaders' Dialogues Canada, brings her expertise in organizational development, project implementation, revenue diversification and stakeholder partnerships. Joanne is also a Director on the Association of Emerging Leaders' Dialogues.
In 2015 and 2016, Hughes was the Festival Producer for Ottawa Capital Pride, where she established the new organization's administrative office, received municipal and provincial grants, and offered 15 signature events, including the creation of the first QueerCon, featuring a diverse range of national queer performing and visual artists.
She has managed the operational requirements of an international secretariat, The Commonwealth Association of Public Administration and Management, and in this position liaised between foreign national ministries, the private sector, civil service organizations and donor agencies at senior levels in the planning and implementation of conferences and projects on public administration across the Commonwealth. This included the management of two biennial conferences in New Delhi and Malta, which included the Commonwealth Secretariat Minister's Forum.
Joanne is the founder of two cultural festivals; Fernfest which was created in 1995, and the Ottawa Lumière Festival, started in 2004, which was voted one of the summers best festivals by the National Post in 2009.
