Marie-Elise Lebon
Marie-Elise Lebon is the Coordinator of “Réseau de soutien à l’immigration francophone de l’Est de l’Ontario”, a host program of the Economic and Social Council of Ottawa-Carleton (CESOC), an organization which helps francophone immigrants settle in Ottawa by providing them access to resources and links to established francophone communities.
In her current capacity, Marie-Elise plays a key role in the coordination of the Eastern Ontario chapter while leading a team of three officers. Marie-Elise has helped strengthen networks between municipalities and immigration agencies with the objective to increase the francophone immigrant presence within the province of Ontario’s eastern region in partnership with various non-profit organizations and government agencies servicing the francophone communities. Marie-Elise has been instrumental in building capacity for municipalities on specific francophone issues such as education, health, employability, and hosting.
Social and cultural causes are Marie-Elise’s passion. She has held positions such as project Manager, Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal; Consultant, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT); among others.
With more than 20 years of work in the non-profit sector and experience dealing with government and inter-governmental agencies, Marie-Elise is also exceptionally knowledgeable with fundraising strategies, grant writing, and the implementation of projects aimed at restructuring organizations in order to improve overall efficiency while streamlining operations. Notably, in her capacity as consultant for the Kenya Girl Guides Association (KGGA), she revitalized the KGGA in the late 1990s. The KGGA chapter is instrumental in providing leadership skills training to young girls and engaging in fundraising activities in particular to improve the nutrition, health and education of abandoned children in Nairobi slums.
Marie-Elise’s also possesses managerial experience in the area of Human Resources. In the past she has held several positions as a Human Resources Manager for Pepsi, and as Staff Manager for the Airport Authority in Haiti. As an entrepreneur, Marie-Elise is also the founder and chair of her own company MEL Productions, a service company specializing in the organization of special, corporate, social and artistic events.