Meet the Team

Executive Administrator

Rachel Snelgrove

Rachel Snelgrove (she/her) is a sustainability professional, passionate about equitable climate action. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Health Sciences degree in Biology & Pharmacology from McMaster University.

Rachel brings her experience from her position as Member Engagement & Support Coordinator with our predecessor, SMARTNet Alliance. She was heavily involved in the creation of Smart Net Coalition, and is looking forward to growing the organization with the membership she has worked with since 2021.

Rachel also brings her experience in ecotoxicology and population health research, which she applies to prioritize equity in Smart Net Coalition’s work. She also served as Residence Life Operations Coordinator with McMaster University, where she developed equitable hiring processes and spearheaded several sustainability initiatives.

Feel free to reach out to Rachel at info@SmartNetCoalition.ca!

President

Kristopher Stevens

Kristopher is a community builder focused on advancing a more sustainable future for his son, family, friends and the people of Canada. He is an experienced leader and advisor in the field of sustainability with more than 15 years experience. Kristopher specializes in developing and implementing strategies that bring together commercial, public, indigenous and community partners to create individual, social, economic and ecological value.

Highlights from his career include: spurring seniors community living through alternatives to living alone and in institutions, serving seven years as the Executive Director of the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, initiating Ontario’s successful Green Energy and Economy Act campaign, recruiting executives for Fortune 500 multinationals in Asia and researching economic reform in Africa and the sensitive topic of social friction in Ontario’s electricity sector.

Vice President and SEAlliance Liaison

Guy Soulière

Guy is a semi-retired, energetic bilingual entrepreneur and community volunteer. He has been a
successful innovative entrepreneur for over 40 years at Guytel.ca, a telecommunications sales
and service company.

Guy is personally interested in undertaking volunteer activities to give back to his community,
including a strong desire to help Ottawa small businesses become sustainable. He believes that
sustainable entrepreneurs are among our most potent change agents, uniquely prepared to take
on the sustainability challenges of integrating a relationship-based approach with employees,
suppliers and customers. He believes that local businesses are more than employers and profit-
makers; they are neighbours, community builders and the starting point for social innovation,
aligning commerce with the common good.

In 2010 at the age of 53, he completed a 1-year Green Business Management course at
Algonquin College. Along with improving his business practices, it was his impetus to spark and
become the co-founder of SEAlliance.ca, now the Ottawa local chapter of Smart Net Coalition.
With SEAlliance, he focuses on helping Ottawa small businesses promote, connect and help on
their sustainable journey.

Guy is proud of his work developing a business case for sustainability. Through his work, he has
saved himself thousands of dollars while becoming more sustainable, and has diverted
countless legacy telephones from the landfill through his work with the Canadian government’s
telecom e-waste repair and recycling program.

Treasurer

Mike Labbé

Michel (Mike) Labbé, MSM, is an Urban and Regional Planning Graduate from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. He has been involved in the production of affordable housing for 43 years, the first 13 working on subsidized rental projects with Lantana Non-profit Housing Corporation.

In 1992, Mike founded Options for Homes Non-Profit Corporation. As President of Options For Homes Non-profit Corporation, Mike was instrumental in developing homes for thousands of households across 12 developments. Options for Homes has become an important part of the Social Enterprise movement and has provided homes to over 6500 households across Canada.

Mike has been honoured for his work over the years as an Affordable Housing Champion by the City of Toronto in 2010, the Canadian Urban Institute Local Hero Award in 2008, and most notably, a recipient of a Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) from the Governor General of Canada in 2016.

In 2015, Mike shifted his focus to Options International to implement their model globally in order to aid with alleviating poverty – working in over 20 countries. For the past few years he has focused his time on a new cost-effective home ownership model using his knowledge built over the years, which led to the creation of Home Opportunities Non-profit Corporation and Community Wealth Co-operative.

Mike joined Smart Net as a member because he saw the potential among the membership to expand the co-operative home ownership housing sector for which he is passionate about. Through his participation in the Action Team which oversaw the transition to a non-profit model, Mike saw first hand how dedicated the Coalition members are to collaborating with one another in service of a more sustainable future. As Treasurer, Mike looks forward to expanding the Coalition’s impact as a group of passionate and value-aligned businesses.

Secretary

Josh Reinhart

As the founder of multiple companies, Josh has demonstrated exceptional leadership skills and a commitment to improving our communities through sustainable construction practices.
With Canada’s 2030 emissions targets looming, Josh is keen to apply his knowledge and experience toward improving our built environment.

Josh Reinhart is a sustainability-minded Licensed Master Electrician and Engineer In Training, as well as the founder of multiple companies. With extensive experience in residential and commercial, industrial, and institutional construction, Josh is committed to helping improve the built environment. He is particularly interested in assisting property owners with safe and informed improvements to minimize the impact and cost of both construction and operations.

In addition to his commercial interests, Josh is committed to giving back to his community.
His dedication to sustainability and community involvement aligns with his appointment to the Smart Net Coalition board.

Board Member

Larissa Stendie

Larissa brings more than 15 years of international and Canadian experience in sustainability research, community engagement, project management, and local economic development. Since 2018, she has led engagement, communications, and program coordination developing high performance, affordable homes with CleanTech Community Gateway and T’Sou-ke Centre for Sustainability in partnership with BC First Nations. She also serves on the Board of Iron and Earth, who are working for a just transition to clean energy.

Larissa holds an interdisciplinary Masters in Culture, Environment and Sustainability (political ecologist) from the University of Oslo, a BA in Political Sciences from University of Alberta, and International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) certification. In Norway, she was on the executive of the Arne Naess Chair/Oslo Sustainability Symposia and researched for The Lancet Commission on Global Governance (Political Determinants) of Health. She has articles in French, Norwegian, and Swedish publications, was involved with a book on climate psychology and communications, and co-authored a chapter in “First World Petro-Politics”(L.Adkin, ed.).

Returning to Canada, Larissa was: the Energy and Climate Campaigner for Sierra Club BC; a research manager for Parkland Institute (University of Alberta); part of CCPA-BC’s Corporate Mapping Project; managed BCSEA’s Climate Leadership Program; directed engagement and communications with the RenuWell Project (converting orphaned oil and gas wells to solar PV); and was an Analyst with Pembina Institute’s “Renewables in Remote Communities” project. Along this diverse path, she also had formative adventures as administrator of an arctic diamond exploration camp, an oil patch EMR with a helicopter ambulance, as a designing goldsmith for 6 years, ran a CIDA-funded diamond mine land reclamation project in Sierra Leone, worked on a documentary project in Palestine, advised a rural community economic development project in The Gambia, and raced a sailboat across the Atlantic. These days, she likes walking her dog with her boyfriend and looking at wildflowers.