Denise Siele is an award-winning public affairs professional with a record of results delivered for government, business and non-government stakeholders. As Managing Partner of SEMgroup, Denise delivers strategic event and public affairs outcomes for a diverse clientele. As Director of Strategic Initiatives and Operations at Equal Voice, she manages Canada-wide efforts to get more women elected to legislatures across the country. Past clients include the Governments of Alberta, Ontario and the Yukon, the United Nations Development Program and the Canadian Union of Public of Employees. While a Dean’s list student at Carleton University’s Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs and Policy Management, she founded one of the most successful student organizations which earned Association of the Year Honours, and helped establish Carleton’s Race and Ethnicity Hall. Passionate about building stronger communities, Denise is the Founder of the Black Women’s Civic Engagement Network, past Co-President and current Director on the Board of the Fund for a New Generation, the single largest private donor to the Ottawa School Breakfast Program feeding 11,000 children in 148 schools. She concurrently serves as a Director of the Youth Services Bureau Charitable Foundation which supports thousands of Ottawa families and youth in areas of housing/homelessness, mental health, employment, and youth justice; as a Member of the Women in Philanthropy Advisory Group for the Association of Fundraising Professionals; and as an Executive Member of the CTV Amazing People Gala supporting the construction of elementary schools in Nicaragua and Kenya. A well-sought out speaker on entrepreneurship and political engagement, she is a 2013 alumnus of the US State Department’s prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program; a 2011 YWCA Women of Distinction Award Nominee; a recipient of the 2011 University of Ottawa Engagement, Empowerment and Success Award and the 2011 Community Builder Award from Black History Ottawa.