Wild Matriarch Inc.

Overview

Wild Matriarch is an experienced, agile, and innovative boutique consultancy specializing in a suite of strategic advisory services related to governance, culture, and reputation. Beyond strategy, Wild Matriarch delivers results for its clients thanks to its transparent, thoughtful, and thorough approach to project management. We are committed to diversity and matching client projects with responsive and creative experts. Our advantage is our ‘unicorns:’ we recruit smart teammates with varied creative and professional backgrounds and quirky personal interests to bring fresh ideas and a holistic systems perspective to all our engagements. Ultimately, we connect people and ideas. By acting as the bridge between our clients and the wider world, we improve and expand reputations, surprise and delight audiences, and foster a larger culture of understanding. Our unique combination of diversity and innovation is paired with a deep understanding of the safety and regulatory imperatives of nuclear and other high-reliability industries, where social license is crucial to long-term success. We embrace the future of work; help clients transition to ‘Industry 4.0;’ and are immersed in the realities of our virtual, digitized world; all while remaining human-centric.

Founded in 2019, Wild Matriarch brings over 25 years of international nuclear experience to establishing effective management systems; corporate assessments in leadership; culture for safety and culture for security; and corporate reputation management through effective change management. This array of niche expertise is clear in our superior strategic communication planning and execution, which supports our commitment to respectfully engaging diverse publics. We ensure that our clients check their blind spots, anticipate the unexpected, and are prepared for their many well-earned successes.

Endorsement: We support the Statement of Principles for Canada’s SMR Action Plan, as its intentions align with our vision, mission, and mandate.

Relevant Figures: Our core team consists of:

President, Founder & Principal Consultant Susan Brissette, MBA

Ms. Brissette is a trusted advisor with over 25 years' experience in high-reliability organizations. Her strategic thinking has helped nuclear projects in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. A proven innovator, Brissette gets big ideas off the ground and tirelessly advocates for the nuclear industry and the women in it. As the catalyst behind Women in Nuclear (WiN) Canada, the organization grew to 1,000 members during her tenure as President. She served on the WiN Global Executive and chaired its Communications Committee. Her credentials qualified her to take part in multiple International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) missions to emerging and established nuclear nations focused leadership and safety. Her Canadian experience includes developing the communications & engagement strategy for the launch of Bruce Power; revamping utility management systems to address inefficiencies and regulatory challenges; developing and implementing safety & security culture assessments; and fostering among industry a peer network on human and organizational factors. She empowers her teams to stage groundbreaking and highly successful events such as the ‘International Conference on Quality, Leadership and Management in the Nuclear Industry’ for the IAEA and the European Atomic Forum (FORATOM), and a conference co-hosted by Canada’s Nuclear Innovation Institute and the United Kingdom’s University of Strathclyde Advanced Nuclear Research Centre, which included the first Hackathon of its kind. Ms. Brissette is creative, communicative, and strategic, with a proven track record of inspiring multicultural and multidisciplinary teams to successfully co-create ambitious projects, programs, and concepts. She brings a unique skill set, fresh ideas, and a perspective grounded in diversity to all of her clients.

Senior Strategist, Meghan Warby, B.A. (Hons.), M.A.

Ms. Warby spent over a decade consulting for and within Ontario’s public sector. As that government’s first Community Manager, she developed accessible, inclusive, bilingual, and privacy-legislation-compliant social media strategies, content, policies, and training. She worked alongside the Privacy Commissioner, the Digital Service, and all Ministries while in Cabinet Office and on Treasury Board Secretariat's Open Government Team. Meghan shaped public consultations and leveraged digital for engagement campaigns as varied as the Budget, open data, and agricultural issues. Her experience liaising between teams was informed by years at global consultancy H+K Strategies (formerly Hill and Knowlton, and its subsidiary Group SJR), and in stakeholder projects with arts nonprofits. In her private sector roles, she managed multimillion-dollar budgets to produce successful innovative multi-platform campaigns for brands such as HSBC, Ford, WarChild, and Oyster Bay Wines. She is the recipient of multiple awards, including broadcaster TVO for short documentary production; Screecraft’s global pilot competition; and national outlets’ soundbites as an expert in digital communication. She has guest lectured at the Canadian Film Centre’s Media Lab and the University of Toronto and led panels at South By Southwest Digital for four consecutive years. Her volunteering spans Wellspring, DocuWeeks, and Gilda’s Club. Her passion for smart, shareable, savvy, and sticky content translates to all projects, and is reflected in her founding role in Canada’s first female-founded and fronted film co-op, The Counterbalance Collective.

A broader constellation of creative, thoughtful, diverse subject-matter experts rounds out our team on a project-by-project basis.

Our Role in Supporting Canada’s SMR Action Plan:

Our team’s core priorities are:

• To improve the general public’s understanding of Canada’s vibrant nuclear ecosystem, from its role in aiding our country’s decarbonization efforts, to its safety culture, innovative technology, rewarding careers, and the people who make it possible.
• To increase the diversity and inclusion efforts and outcomes for the nuclear industry.
• To enable, enrich and expand a positive dialogue among diverse publics to build confidence and trust in the continued role of nuclear power in meeting Canada’s decarbonization goals.

We believe that the exciting new development of SMRs offers our team an opportunity to: reach more Canadians; discuss nuclear in accessible, interesting ways; help industry engage more effectively with the rich diversity of citizens who have an interest in our technology; and showcase innovative stories positioning Canada as a global leader.

Interest & Motivation for Engagement: As subject matter experts in the areas of safety culture, corporate reputation management, and creating compelling content, we see perfect alignment with the SMR Roadmap’s timing, mandate, and potential. Our team would be honoured to assist in convening meaningful conversations, sharing our knowledge, and bridging gaps within and among diverse voices across Canada.

Where we fit in the SMR ecosystem: Trusted advisors to industry, leaders in change management and safety culture, innovators in developing compelling content for public and private sector organizations.

Our vision: To foster new conversations and bring an intersectional lens to nuclear advocacy.

Additional information: Our goal is to deepen the public’s trust and understanding of nuclear power within the context of our choices to achieve Canada’s 2050 climate goals. Alongside our commitment to shaping a more inclusive industry by engaging youth, Indigenous people, women, the LGBTQ2S+ community, and racialized Canadians, our organizational vision and our team skills are well aligned with the SMR Roadmap.

Actions