Book Launch for Inside Public-Sector Innovation
Join us for the launch of Inside Public-Sector Innovation, a new book that explores how municipal leaders across Canada are turning ideas into practical solutions. The authors draw on real-world examples from rural, suburban, and urban governments to highlight how local public administrators have successfully implemented organizational, process, and service innovations to address service delivery inefficiencies, environmental sustainability, and diversity and inclusion. Through firsthand insights from the practitioners who led these initiatives, the book offers valuable lessons for policymakers, administrators, and researchers interested in how innovation can take root within the public sector. This event will feature a discussion with contributors about shaping public-sector innovation in Canadian municipalities today.
Speakers
Emma McGarry Ware is Manager of Innovation at the Regional Municipality of Durham, where she leads initiatives that help the organization design and deliver better services through collaboration, experimentation, and evidence-informed approaches. Her work focuses on building innovation capacity across government, supporting cross-departmental problem solving, and helping teams co-design solutions to complex public sector challenges. Emma leads Durham Region’s Innovation and Design Services program and has played a key role in advancing initiatives such as the Region’s Innovation Strategy and AI Design-a-thon.
Nicole Cooper is currently the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Ajax, overseeing a range of portfolios and service areas including Technology and Innovation, Legislative Services, By-law Enforcement & Animal Control, Legal & Real Estate, Human Resources and Customer Service. Nicole and her teams are known for innovations in service delivery through technology, particularly in the areas of data dashboarding, municipal elections, automation and digitization of manual processes, and customer-facing digital self-service options. Nicole holds a Master of Public Administration and an Honours B.A. from Western University.
Joseph Lyons is Assistant Professor and Director of the Local Government Program at Western University. Having taught in the program since 2013, he has a strong appreciation for its unique and important role in training local government administrators. Joseph holds a PhD in Political Science from Western University, and an MA in Global Governance from the University of Waterloo.
Simona Dinu is the Director Service Excellence at Hamilton Public Library where she leads system-wide initiatives related to customer experience, service delivery, and service design. With over two decades of experience in local government, Simona is deeply committed to strengthening service cultures and delivering customer-centered services. In her mission to connect people and ideas, she is also an instructor at an academic institution and an executive coach.
Zachary Spicer is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration at York University in Toronto, Canada. He previously served as the Director of Research and Outreach with the Institute of Public Administration of Canada. He began his career as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Brock University and completed post-doctoral fellowship at the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy at Wilfrid Laurier University and the Institute of Municipal Finance and Governance at the University of Toronto.