The Team

Ray Pennings is Senior Fellow and Director of Research at Cardus, working out of our Calgary office, where he lives with his wife Kathy and son, Chris. Ray brings a host of skills to Cardus, being one of Canada's top authorities in industrial relations, as well as public policy, political activism and political affairs generally. He has headed several of Cardus' largest research projects over the years, including Buying a Labour Monopoly: An Examination of Job Targeting Programs and their Operation in the Canadian Construction Sector" (1998), "Competitively Working in Tomorrow's Construction"...

Michael Van Pelt, President of Cardus, a public policy think tank, has more than 20 years of experience in public life, including advocacy with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the Chamber of Commerce and serving as a municipal Councillor. Michael is also a principal partner of Big Road Partners, a public square consulting firm.  He continues to consult widely, helping institutions strategically connect their beliefs with their behaviours. A graduate of McMaster University, Michael has authored and co-authored numerous articles ranging from religion and public ...

My curiosities have driven me to explore organizational ideas and practices that will contribute to more adaptive and thus effective long-term institutions. These institutions could be small nonprofits or cities. Questions of resilience and persistence have different answers depending on scale, context and what we hope to achieve. It is critical that we constantly combine knowledge and practice if we want our organizations to respond well to change. Resilient enterprises invest energy in designing and nurturing intelligent processes that allow room for surprise, novelty and feedback signals. One...

Robert Joustra is an editor and researcher with Cardus, with special focus on Comment and Cardus Policy in Public. He is working on a PhD in international politics at the University of Bath and lectures in international politics at Redeemer University College. He is the author of Toronto the Good, an editor of Think Different and an editor, with Senior Fellow Jonathan Chaplin, of God and Global Order: Religion and American Foreign Policy (Baylor University Press, 2010). His articles and reviews appear in The Globe and Mail, The Calgary Herald, Books & Culture, The Other Journal, the Review...