Leslie Woo(BES 1983, BARCH 1984, MPLAN 2019)
Chief Executive Officer, CivicAction
Leslie Woo CRE® is a respected city leader with over 25 years of experience building sustainable communities and shaping urban development in Canada’s fastest-growing urban region, greater Toronto. Leslie assumed the role of CEO at CivicAction in 2020. CivicAction is a premier civic engagement organization that convenes established and rising leaders from all sectors, backgrounds and experiences, CivicAction catalyzes actions and impactful solutions to address pressing challenges in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area and beyond.
Before joining CivicAction, Leslie was Chief Planning and Development Officer.at the Greater Golden Horseshoe regional transit authority, Metrolinx, for over a decade. Leslie is a tri-sector athlete with experience in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors as well she is a seasoned urban planner, architect and tireless community activator. She holds Board positions at Womens College Hospital, Yee Hon Centre for Geriatric Care, Waterfront Toronto and the Urban Land Institute’s Curtis Infrastructure Global Advisory Board.
An accomplished leader, Leslie was named a Senior Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy in 2022, 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. Founder of shebuildscities.org, Leslie uses her voice and platform to amplify and celebrate other women city builders.