Full Name
Dawn Madahbee Leach
Job Title
Vice-Chair
Company
National Indigenous Economic Development Board
Speaker Bio
Dawn Madahbee Leach is a proud member of the Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation on Manitoulin Island in Ontario where she has served as a member of her community’s elected Council. Since 1988, she has been General Manager of the Waubetek Business Development Corporation, an Indigenous Financial Institution that provides financing and economic services to Aboriginal entrepreneurs and First Nation communities throughout North-East Ontario and Southern Ontario. Under her leadership, Waubetek has proudly invested more than $100 million in 3,500 Aboriginal businesses who experience a business success rate of 94%. A graduate of the University of Waterloo Economic Developers Program, Ms. Madahbee Leach also studied at York University and Laurentian University where she earned a degree in Political Science with a minor in Law.
Dawn serves on various Boards and committees including the National Indigenous Economic Development Board where she currently serves as Chair. She is also on the Boards of the Peace Hills Trust Company and NioBay Minerals Inc. She participates in the Indigenous Working Group with Global Affairs on Trade providing input into Canada’s free trade agreements and she championed an initiative on Indigenous economic inclusion led by the international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Dawn received the 2020 INDSPIRE Award in the Business and Commerce Category. She is a recipient of the Anishnawbek Nation’s Lifetime Achievement Award; the MNP-AFOA Canada Excellence in Aboriginal Leadership Award in 2017 and was celebrated as one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network in 2018. She received the Meritorious Service Cross (Civilian Division) from the Governor General of Canada in 2019. She has been a speaker at international forums in Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Paris, Germany, the US and the UN on Indigenous economic development.
She believes strongly that economic development, and following the Anishinabek traditional values, are the keys to addressing the challenges that her people face.
Dawn serves on various Boards and committees including the National Indigenous Economic Development Board where she currently serves as Chair. She is also on the Boards of the Peace Hills Trust Company and NioBay Minerals Inc. She participates in the Indigenous Working Group with Global Affairs on Trade providing input into Canada’s free trade agreements and she championed an initiative on Indigenous economic inclusion led by the international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Dawn received the 2020 INDSPIRE Award in the Business and Commerce Category. She is a recipient of the Anishnawbek Nation’s Lifetime Achievement Award; the MNP-AFOA Canada Excellence in Aboriginal Leadership Award in 2017 and was celebrated as one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network in 2018. She received the Meritorious Service Cross (Civilian Division) from the Governor General of Canada in 2019. She has been a speaker at international forums in Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Paris, Germany, the US and the UN on Indigenous economic development.
She believes strongly that economic development, and following the Anishinabek traditional values, are the keys to addressing the challenges that her people face.
Speaking At
