About Us

Cherise Burda, former executive director of Toronto Metropolitan University’s City Building Institute, has directly shaped housing, city-building, and local climate and energy policy in Ontario and British Columbia over a 25-year career. Beginning in 2012, she worked to bring concepts like missing middle housing, gentle density and transit-oriented development from the margins to the mainstream as an author, researcher and strategic communicator. More recently, Burda is known for her efforts to advance solutions for climate and housing affordability, including as an active member of the Affordability Action Council and the Task Force for Housing and Climate.

Teagan was born and raised in a small town outside of Ottawa on the traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg. She joined the Ottawa Climate Action Fund in October of 2022. She grew up learning to respect and love surrounding natural areas, and this led her to pursue a degree in Environmental Studies at Carleton University. Since graduation, she has been working in the environmental non-profit sector focused on creating change from the ground up. She is passionate about nature protection, climate action, building community and bringing all three together is what excites her most. On days away from the office, you will find her spending time with family and friends, walking her puppy and trying to get outside no matter the weather.

Aaron (he/him) joined the Ottawa Climate Action Fund in January 2025, after spending three years as part of the City of Ottawa’s Climate Change and Resiliency team. A graduate of St. Francis Xavier University, Aaron studied community development and history, a combination which helped shape his belief that the best approaches to climate action are bottom-up and community-led. Aaron has worked with the Ottawa Renewable Energy Co-operative, an organization focused on developing community owned renewable energy assets across Ontario. During his time at the City of Ottawa, Aaron oversaw the City’s residential retrofit programming, including the Better Homes Ottawa Loan Program. Outside of the office, Aaron enjoys woodworking, cycling, and spending time outdoors.

Mitchell Beer is a climate and energy communicator and publisher of The Energy Mix, a non-profit community news site and e-digest series on climate change, energy, and rapid decarbonization. He traces his background in energy efficiency and renewable energy to 1977, in climate change to 1997, and delivered an October, 2019 TEDx talk on how to build wider community buy-in for faster climate action. He received the Clean50 lifetime achievement award in October, 2022. A proud moment was building a model wind turbine out of wooden stir sticks with his then-11-year-old daughter, and improv comedy practices have often been the best part of his week. Born at 317 ppm.