January 21st, 2015

Meet Suzanne Shawbonquit

Suzanne Shawbonquit

  • Small business owner who helps local projects succeed and grow
  • Long-standing community leader and former local Ontario Trillium Foundation grant review chair, designing programs and services for youth, First Nations communities and local residents, delivering grants and supports for Sudbury
  • Member of Cambrian College’s Board of Governors, ensuring high-quality learning for students
  • Leader in Sudbury’s film and television sector
  • Strong local voice for Sudbury families—Suzanne will fight for affordable living, better health care and Northern jobs

Suzanne is a respected Sudbury small business owner and community-builder, widely known as a leader and innovator in helping both businesses and non-profit ventures succeed and grow.
Suzanne gets things done for our community. She recently founded a non-profit to give young Northerners the skills and tools to make the most of their futures, and serves on Cambrian College's Board of Directors. For six years, she led the Ontario Trillium Foundation's funding work in Northeastern Ontario, helping to direct their grants to where they'd do the most good for the community. And Suzanne's business, Sage Management Solutions, has helped countless businesses, government agencies and First Nations leaders transform the way they do business.
A leading figure in Sudbury film and new media, Suzanne has been a film producer as well as a business affairs consultant for four Aboriginal filmmakers. She was the marketing chair for a national broadcasting alliance, and worked for five years with CTV, advising Canada's largest broadcaster on Aboriginal relations and news coverage. She founded TEDxNickel City, Northern Ontario's first-ever TEDx event, and remains active in Sudbury's film community.
Suzanne has volunteered as a board member and advisor to a wide range of community organizations, including the Sudbury Regional Hospital Foundation and the Northern Lights Festival Boreal. Her work was recently honoured with a Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Suzanne is Ojibwe and lives in Greater Sudbury with her husband, Vince. They have two children.
Help out and get involved at www.suzanneshawbonquit.ca