Five Questions With: Mina Mawani, MHSc, ICD.D, Chief Executive Officer, Dixon Hall

Mina Mawani doesn’t just manage change: she navigates it with the precision of someone who understands that transformation without results is just expensive chaos. As a leader who has guided organizations from vision to measurable impact, she’s built a career on finding the path from transformative ideas to outcomes that deliver.

Currently serving as CEO of Dixon Hall while holding board positions with the LCBO and Mercer Park Opportunities Corp, Mina brings a rare combination of operational excellence and strategic foresight to every challenge. Her track record speaks volumes: leading Crohn’s and Colitis Canada as President & CEO for five years, helping close a $200M IPO as the only non-resource offering on the TSX this year, and ensuring that organizations don’t just survive disruption but emerge stronger.

What sets Mina apart isn’t just her ability to see around corners, but her skill in ensuring that everyone moves forward with full confidence and commitment, no matter how tough the decisions are along the way. Whether navigating mergers with massive staffing implications or reconceptualizing entire program deliveries, she ensures that compelling visions are always backed by solid business plans.

In this interview, Mina reflects on the art of change navigation, building organizational capacity through uncertainty, and why the best transformations happen when leaders refuse to choose between bold vision and practical results.

Your family was among the thousands of South Asians expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin in the 1970s… How did those early experiences shape your leadership style?

Displacement teaches you early that stability can’t be taken for granted, often through the values that shape your upbringing. My family’s journey to Canada instilled a deep sense of resilience, adaptability, and responsibility in our home, and those principles quietly guided how we approached the world.

As I grew and took on leadership roles, that perspective stayed with me. It shaped a leadership style grounded in empathy and accountability, and an awareness of how systems can either support people or leave them behind at critical moments. I’m drawn to transformation because I understand how deeply change affects dignity, opportunity, and a sense of belonging. I lead with the belief that institutions must meet people where they are — especially those who have been pushed to the margins — because that’s often where the strongest insight and resilience exist.

You’ve led organizational transformation at institutions like the Canadian Women’s Foundation, Crohn’s and Colitis Canada, and now Dixon Hall. What does effective change management actually look like in the non-profit sector?

Real change in the non-profit sector is rarely about bold declarations. It’s about doing the quieter, harder work at the grass roots level — building trust, aligning values with operations, and being honest. Effective change management starts with clarity: clarity about purpose, about whom you serve, and about what outcomes truly matter.

Many leaders often get stuck in trying to move too fast without bringing people along. Transformation requires pacing, transparency, and the willingness to sit with discomfort. It also requires deep courage — to let go of legacy ways of working, even when they feel familiar or safe. Sustainable change happens when people understand not just what is changing, but why it matters.

At the Canadian Women’s Foundation, you championed efforts to eradicate sex trafficking. What has that taught you about building coalitions for social justice?

Issues like sex trafficking don’t sit within a single system — they exist at the intersection of gender inequality, poverty, migration, housing, and justice. Addressing them requires working at multiple levels.

What I learned at the Canadian Women’s Foundation is that lasting progress depends on relationships. Grassroots organizations bring lived experience, trust, and insight that policy alone can’t replicate. At the same time, policy change is essential if you want impact at scale and a broad level. The work is about creating space where those perspectives inform and complement each other, rather than compete.

Building coalitions for social justice means sharing power, listening deeply, and staying focused on the people who are most impacted — even when the work is complex or uncomfortable. It taught me that change doesn’t come from a single organization or leader, but from sustained collaboration, which is rooted in respect, clarity of purpose, and a long-term commitment to justice.

Your collaborative approach has been central to building partnerships across sectors. How do you cultivate collaboration that actually moves the needle?

I believe that collaboration works when it’s grounded in purpose. I’ve found that meaningful partnerships start with asking questions that may seem simple but that require complex thinking: What problem are we trying to solve? What does success look like for the community and for the people we serve — not just for our organizations? And what is each partner genuinely accountable for?

In siloed environments, trust is often the missing ingredient. Building it takes time and consistency. It also requires humility — acknowledging that no single sector has all the answers. Collaboration is rooted in shared responsibility and clear outcomes. It is a powerful tool for tackling complex challenges that no one organization can handle alone.

You’ve received significant recognition, including the Order of Ontario. What future are you working toward for equity and inclusion, and how are you preparing the next generation of leaders?

I’m working toward a future where equity is embedded in how decisions are made — not as a response to crisis or pressure, but as a starting point. That means building systems that are responsive, inclusive, and shaped by the people they serve, particularly those whose voices are too often missing from the table. Canada has enormous potential but realizing it requires confronting structural barriers honestly and consistently, not just when the spotlight is on.

Preparing the next generation of leaders means creating environments where emerging voices are trusted, mentored, and given real responsibility early on. Leadership, to me, isn’t about position or title; it’s about impact, judgment, and integrity. My role is to help open doors and create bridges — to model values-based leadership in practice, and to ensure that those coming up behind us are equipped not just with skills, but with the confidence and courage to question systems, lead with purpose and impact, and reimagine what’s possible.