Our Team

Don Huff

President

Email: huffd@ecostrategy.ca | Phone: 416-972-7404

Don Huff has 30 years of experience in the environmental, energy and natural resources sector. Positions Don has held include: Conservation Director of the Federation of Ontario Naturalist / Ontario Nature, founding staff person of Canadian Environmental Defence, President of the Sierra Club of Eastern Canada, and Legislative Analyst at Queen’s Park for the Ontario Liberal Caucus. Don provides strategic counsel to decision-makers and opinion leaders on energy, green business, natural resources, and land use. His greatest strength is his ability to rapidly and seamlessly integrate media relations, government relations and technical issues into a successful campaign. Don provides insightful, hands on leadership, and is active in all aspects of Environmental Communication Options, including:

Designing and implementing successful advocacy and environmental relations campaigns for businesses, environmental and conservation organizations as well as trade associations in Canada and the United States
Overseeing the writing, distribution and successful placement of hundreds of media releases each year
Supplying First Nations with strategic counsel and media relations services
Providing ongoing strategic counsel to conservation opinion leaders including Peter Love, (Ontario’s Chief Energy Conservation Officer) and Gord Miller (Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner)
Supplying expert communication counsel for plaintiffs in class action lawsuits (National, Ontario and British Columbia)
Developing over a dozen specialty “wire services,” to enhance web based reach of clients (see, CSRwire.ca, CleanTechWire.ca, LEDWire.ca, LOHASwire.com, etc.)
Developing communication strategies for First Nations in Ontario and British Columbia
Organizing countless press conferences across Canada, including in provincial and federal legislatures

Don has a reputation for making things happen, including:

Vice-chair bi-national trade association dedicated to Green Roofs
Coordinating a case at the largest Environmental Assessment hearing in Ontario
Office Depot – LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) marketing award winner
Drafting language for both a tri-national bird conservation treaty and Canada’s National Marine Park Policy;
Designing value-added forest outreach programs
Advocating for enhanced energy savings in new Building Codes and delivering strategic advice on energy efficiency policy
Implemented sustainability award programs
Organizing and delivered a major eco-tourism conference to enhance regional economic development.
Acting as Editor of Our Green Home – a cooperative project with Metroland
Partnering with Charles Fox (former Grand Chief or the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation) to form Penasi Communications (a First Nations owned firm)

Don was instrumental in forming the Green Group in 2007 with colleagues in advertising, marketing and opinion polling; the goal was to provide a single stop support centre for campaign development and management. Don’s latest projects include the rollout of Penasi Communications (Penasi.com) and further evolving the suite of specialty wire services that will enhance the web based reach of client media releases. With abundant knowledge of issues regarding the energy sector in Ontario, Don has provided strategic counsel for energy conservation leaders such as George Smitherman (Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Infrastructure) and Kristopher Stevens (Executive Director of the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA). In September 2009, Don acted as the media relations expert for the Conserve the Light Gathering, a conference involving Ontario First Nations communities and energy efficiency. Currently, Don provides strategic counsel to the Building Owners and Managers Association of the Greater Toronto Area (BOMA Toronto) in delivering a Conservation and Demand Management (CDM) program to commercial buildings in the City of Toronto. He is also offering advice to GreenSaver, an Ontario based non-profit organization dedicated to energy efficiency, in delivering a Multifamily Energy Efficiency Rebates program funded by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA). Most recently, Don and his staff are assisting OSEA in promoting their 1st Annual Community Power Conference, which shares information about community power, FIT and MicroFIT with conference attendees. The conference was held on November 15 – 16, 2009. followed by the Power Networking Centre, a power industry trade show organized by the Association of Power Producer Ontario and OSEA. For other team member profiles, please click on their names or avatars.