Karen Farbridge

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Karen Farbridge is mayor and a former city councillor of the city of Guelph, Ontario.

Karen was first elected to Guelph City Council in 1994, representing Ward 1. In 2000 she became Guelph's first woman Mayor. In all, Karen served on Council for 9 years and continues to serve the City of Guelph through her many volunteering pursuits.

During her six years as Councillor, she was a member of a number of committees including: Finance and Administration; Community Services; Planning, Environment and Transportation; Guelph Economic Development Advisory; and the Downtown Economic Strategy Steering. She was also a member of the Police Services Board, the Wellington-Dufferin Health Unit Board and the Guelph Non-Profit Housing Board.

Karen was the first woman to hold the office of Mayor in Guelph. During her tenure she initiated an extensive community consultation process designed to develop a strategic framework to manage community change. The resulting plan -- called SmartGuelph -- emphasized the importance of collaborative-based decision making along with the need to balance economic, social and environmental sustainability. SmartGuelph was one of a national series of similarly focused initiatives.

Most recently, Karen has worked on strategic initiatives for the Office of Vice President Research at the University of Guelph and taught courses on cities, democracy and environmental policy for the Department of Political Science. She also regularly speaks and writes on issues of urban sustainability and has recently been appointed to the Municipal Executives' Resource Group of the Smart Growth Canada Network.

In 2005, Karen was the recipient of the YMCA-YWCA of Guelph’s prestigious Women of Distinction Award in the business and professions category.

Karen graduated with an M.Sc (1985) and Ph.D (1989) in Biology from the University of Guelph. What began as a volunteer stint at the Ontario Public Interest Research Group in Guelph (OPIRG) while she was completing her degrees turned into a 10-year job as Director.

In the 2006 municipal election, Farbridge defeated Kate Quarrie and regained the mayor's chair.