Swim Drink Fish Vice President, Gregary Ford Named to 2025 Clean50 Emerging Leader Cohort

October 10, 2024

Toronto, ON -- Swim Drink Fish is proud to announce that Vice President and Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, Gregary Ford, has been selected as a 2025 Clean50 Emerging Leaders Cohort member. This recognition celebrates Canada’s top leaders under the age of 35 who are making significant contributions to the advancement of sustainability and environmental stewardship.

Gregary’s inclusion in the Clean50 Emerging Leader cohort is a testament to his work over the past decade in the environmental sector where he has designed new tools and methods to empower a dozen new Community-Based Water Monitoring “Hubs” across Canada, grown Swim Drink Fish platforms to provide water quality information to help nearly 3 million people every year connect with their water, mobilized 8 million dollars into support water protection, and penned numerous studies, recommendations, and presentations promoting collective-governance frameworks, all to ensure that we can work together to accomplish collective impact for our waters.

“Gregary Ford was chosen after rigourous screening and research by Delta Management, with advice from internal researchers and external advisors, and was among Honourees selected from an initial pool of well over 1,000 well qualified nominees.“

- Gavin Pitchford, CEO, Delta Management Group

Gregary’s most notable achievement is the launch of the Biinaagami shared platform, an original initiative created in collaboration with the Anishinaabek Nation and the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. Biinaagami weaves Indigenous Knowledge with cutting-edge technology, using ceremony, mapping, inclusive storytelling, augmented reality, and community engagement to drive ecosystem restoration and nurture equitable relationships among people, wildlife, and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed. This multifaceted approach exemplifies the power of braiding tradition and innovation.

“I am honored and humbled to be recognized as a Clean50 Honouree, in part for my work on the leadership team behind the Biinaagami launch. However, Biinaagami, the Anishinaabemowin word illustrating the “shared responsibility” we have to our Great Lakes, doesn’t happen without the efforts of an amazing team, the talented storytellers at Canadian Geographic, thousands of committed individuals, and the dedication of hundreds of sovereign Nations working together to protect and restore the greatest freshwater ecosystem on our planet. I am honored to help facilitate and amplify this incredible work as a Clean50 Honouree”

- Gregary Ford, Swim Drink Fish Vice President & Lake Ontario Waterkeeper 

Gregary will be amongst 144 past and incoming Clean50 Honourees meeting on Thursday, October 10th at the “Clean50 Summit 14.0” in Toronto, to spend a day amongst peers and colleagues, tackling critical sustainability challenges facing Canada.  

For more information on Gregary Ford and the Clean50 Emerging Leader Award, visit https://clean50.com/honourees/gregary-ford/