Leslie Woo
Senior Fellow
Biography
Leslie Woo CRE® is a respected city leader with over 25 years of lived experience and expertise in building sustainable communities and shaping urban development in Canada’s fastest-growing urban region, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). As CEO at CivicAction since September 2020, Leslie is leading the transformation of civil society’s role in collaboratively accelerating solutions to complex urban challenges. CivicAction is a premier civic engagement organization that convenes established and rising leaders from all sectors, backgrounds and experiences, with a two-decade track record of impact.
Before joining CivicAction, Leslie was Chief Planning and Development Officer at Metrolinx, the regional transportation public agency, where she led the planning, policy and land development of a multi-billion dollar, multi-modal transit expansion programme for over twelve years. Leslie is a tri-sector athlete with experience in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors as well as her experience as a planner, architect, and community activator.
Leslie is actively engaged on the Toronto boards of Women’s College Hospital and the Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care, and numerous global leadership roles with the Urban Land Institute as a Trustee and as a member of the Curtis Infrastructure Initiative’s Global Advisory Board. In 2021 Leslie was federally appointed to the board of the tri-partite crown agency, Waterfront Toronto.
An accomplished leader, Leslie was named Bisnow’s 2019 Toronto Power Women in Commercial Real Estate, one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in 2017 by WXN, Spacing Toronto’s Transit Changemaker in 2016 and Canada’s Women’s Infrastructure Network’s 2015 Outstanding Leader.
In 2011, Leslie was awarded a Leadership Fellowship from the International Women’s Forum, which inspired her to create shebuildscities.org, where Leslie uses her voice and platform to amplify and celebrate other women city builders.
Leslie holds a graduate degree in Planning, and undergraduate degrees in Architecture and Environmental Studies.