Headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Southwick-Trask Holdings (formerly the Proactive Group of Companies) specializes in the leading brand of change management and transformational leadership – a system of tools and processes that equip organizations –their leaders and members to successfully create and sustain their desired futures. Lesley Southwick-Trask is the architect and implementer of thousands of change interventions in 400+ large-scale organizations whose mandates require market responsive and publicly responsible sustainable strategic and operational outcomes. Lesley is the master developer, strategist, and facilitator of the state-of-the-art transformation processes and tools that concurrently build the capacity for break throughs and ongoing transformational capability at four levels - individual, team, organizational and the marketplace / societal level.

Ms. Southwick-Trask is a cultural anthropologist who has blended the social and physical sciences in her work associated with human change. She masterfully weaves modern western business acumen with ancient transformational wisdom. CEO’s and their leadership teams engage Lesley when either their present or their future appears difficult (daunting) and complex - whether this is due to the requirement for double-digit growth or a strategic turnaround in mandate, profitability or productivity. As a CEO herself – Lesley has personally experienced the realities of the market place and public arena in which she consults. Her advice represents a magical blend of the practical & proven, in conjunction with the unleashed potential that arises from the genius of human creativity.

Lesley’s work and the client successes she has masterfully navigated are highly recognized. Most recently (November 2003) Lesley was recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada (by the Women’s Executive Network in association with the Richard Ivey School of Business). This award followed her recognition as one the Top 50 CEOs in Atlantic Canada for 2001 and one of the Top 100 Women Business Owners in Canada (2001) by Profit Magazine -The Magazine for Canadian Entrepreneurs and Chatelaine (2001).

As a result of her innovative approaches, advice and strategies, Lesley has worked with thousands of individuals, their organizations, government agencies and communities, throughout North America - across all sectors, industries and levels of corporate and public governance. She has helped them understand, plan for and position themselves amidst the challenges facing them in our rapidly changing market places and society. Sharing with them her vision of the evolving knowledge based economy; Lesley inspires them to move beyond their current frames of reference. She continuously challenges the status quo within organizations of all shapes, sizes and sectors – equipping their leaders and members with the ability to simultaneously reshape their personal, corporate and community futures.

As a leading strategist and change implementation specialist, Lesley has been integrally involved in a number of important forums for change in Canada including Chairing the CIO Summit, the Roundtables on the Future of the Alberta Economy, the Roundtables on Canadian Unity and National Forums on Industry & the Economy. Lesley has created new socio-economic agendas for the provinces of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia and has developed and embedded large-scale cultural transformation throughout many complex corporations such as Manulife Financial, Canadian Occidental Petroleum, Department of National Defence, Bell Mobility, Vancouver Hospital & Health Sciences Centre, Hermes Electronics (Ultra Global) to name a few. Lesley has been instrumental in driving new multi-sector knowledge-economy infrastructures and consortia. As of late, Lesley has been instrumentally involved in the redesign of all aspects of healthcare delivery in Nova Scotia’s largest District, as well as equipping Parks Canada to pursue its 2010 mandate.

In addition to her strategic function, Lesley can be found in many other arenas. The speaking circuit is familiar territory for her. Audiences from the Conference Board of Canada to Global Pharmacists; the Canadian Association of Broadcasters to the Canadian Institute for Mining; ITAC to Canadian Retailers have found themselves provoked and entertained by Lesley's view of the future and the roads that must be traveled to get us there. Her most well known speeches are on such topics as Social Innovation, the New Business Context, The Knowledge Based Society, 21st Century Leadership, Repositioning in a Changing World, and The New Alchemists.

As a writer, Lesley is probably best known for Turning It Around: How Ten Canadian Organizations Changed Their Fortune, a book she co-authored with Eva Innes for the Financial Post, published by Random House. This publication was recognized as one of the top five business books of 1989. Her article entitled "Knights of the Knowledge Economy" was published in the September 29th, 1995 issue of the Globe & Mail's Report on Business. The media is no stranger to Lesley who has appeared on many of Canada's leading airwaves, from The Sunday Edition with Mike Duffy to the Andy Barry Show. She is currently in the midst of writing her second book – The Anatomy of Change – When Success and Failure Collide.

Lesley's work has also included serving as a faculty member on a number of programs including the Banff Centre for Management, Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Continuing Medical Education (The Clinical Leaders Program) and the Canadian Medical Association (Physicians Management Institute). As an executive coach, she has counselled over 50 top CEO’s.

Ms. Southwick-Trask’s community involvement is also highly active. In her role as a Board member of the Discovery Centre (Nova Scotia), Lesley co-founded and Chaired the Awards for Science & Technology – a highly successful recognition program for high academic and business achievers. Her other Board activities include the Council for Canadian Unity (chaired by Mr. Bob Rae -former Premier of Ontario) and Crosbie House – a leader in addiction recovery.

The above is just a small sample of Lesley’s career. She continues to be widely sought after because of her fresh ideas on strategies for optimizing human performance under changing social and economic agendas. If one wonders why this lady has her fingers in so many pies, her answer is simple: “my children” (five of them).