Ben Weinlick

Executive Director

Ben is deeply committed to the work of supporting deeper belonging and engaged citizenship of people with disabilities. Making lives better for marginalized people matters to Ben because he has both the family perspective on disability and a commitment to help shift systems to be more humanized so that people served can truly thrive.

He feels honoured and a deep responsibility to steward well one of the largest, longest standing and respected disability service organizations in Edmonton.

Ben has been with Skills for over 18 years in a variety of roles from front line to senior leadership. Since 2019 he has been the Executive Director. Ben is known nationally for disability rights work and expertise in stewarding Social Innovation that aims at co-creating solutions to complex problems with diverse community members.

He doesn’t just talk about innovation and systems change, but has been part of making it happen through initiatives like co-founding MyCompass Planning , helping create the Skills Society Action Lab , stewarding Project Citizenship and launching Think Jar Collective in 2010 that aims at helping organizations learn the tools and culture of disciplined innovation.

Along the way striving to nudge positive systems change in human service organizations over the last 18 years, he’s had stellar mentors and colleagues that he shares credit with for some awards he’s received. Some of these awards include

• The Province of Alberta’s Community Justice Award in the innovation category for Co-Stewarding the Edmonton Shift Lab Anti-racism work (2022)

• The MacEwan University distinguished alumni award in 2013

• The Government of Alberta Community Disability Service Sector Leadership Award in 2014

• The Avenue magazine Top 40 under 40 award in 2013