Jennifer Keesmaat

Jennifer Keesmaat, born in nineteen seventy, is a prominent Canadian architect, landscape architect, and urban planner. She served as the Chief City Planner of Toronto from two thousand twelve to two thousand seventeen, where she made significant contributions to the city's urban landscape. In two thousand eighteen, she ran for mayor of Toronto, securing twenty-three point six percent of the vote and finishing as the runner-up to incumbent Mayor John Tory.

On August twenty-eighth, two thousand seventeen, Keesmaat announced her resignation from her role as Chief Planner, effective September twenty-ninth of the same year. Following her departure, she accepted a teaching position at the University of Toronto, sharing her expertise with the next generation of urban planners. In March two thousand eighteen, she took on the role of CEO at the Creative Housing Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of affordable housing projects.

In addition to her professional achievements, Keesmaat was recognized as the ninth most influential person in Toronto by Toronto Life in two thousand fourteen and ranked forty-first among the most important people in Canada by Maclean's in two thousand thirteen. After her mayoral campaign, she founded The Keesmaat Group, which collaborates with corporate and political leaders to drive urban change globally.

In two thousand nineteen, The Keesmaat Group launched the National Housing Innovation event series in partnership with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and The Globe and Mail, focusing on enhancing access to affordable housing in Canada. Keesmaat is also ranked thirty-third on Planetizen's list of Most Influential Contemporary Urbanists and sixty-third on its list of Most Influential Urbanists of all time.