About Danya Pastuszek (she/her)

Danya Pastuszek (she/her) is President and CEO of the Tamarack Institute, where she works alongside communities, partners and staff to co-design the conditions for collective leadership, strengthening the capacity of people and communities to lead change, influence systems and create more equitable futures.  

A community-builder and systems-change leader, Danya believes lasting change happens when people closest to issues have the power, relationships, trust and resources to shape solutions. Her leadership brings together community wealth building, collective impact, place-based change, data and collaborative learning. She stays grounded in the understanding that a different future is possible when communities are not problems to be fixed, but sources of knowledge, strength and possibility.

Before joining Tamarack in 2022, Danya spent a decade with the Promise Partnership of Salt Lake, co-designing partnerships across schools, neighbourhoods, municipalities and regions to advance educational opportunity, economic mobility and financial inclusion. Her early career was in direct services, spanning refugee resettlement, workforce development and criminal justice reform.

Danya’s value system is grounded in a commitment to anti-racist practice, equity and reconciliation. She recognizes that this work requires more than statements of intention; it calls for examining how power operates, confronting racism and colonialism within institutions, and changing the practices and decisions that reproduce inequity. She is committed to learning alongside Indigenous, Black and other equity-deserving communities and to building the relationships, structures and actions that centre other’s leadership and uphold the rights of equity-deserving communities.  

A requested speaker, moderator, writer, and podcast guest, Danya is a published author whose work has appeared in the
 National Observer, Social Innovation Journal, Future of Good and World Economic Forum. She has also influence narratives building durable partnerships. She is also a lifelong learner and holds an MBA, an MA in Psychology, and certifications in Systems Change, AI Stewardship, and Centring Equity in Climate Action. She is recognized as Utah Business Magazine’s CxO of the Year (2021). She volunteers as board chair at Future of Good, as an advisory committee member with Propel Impact, and as a co-founder of the Canadian Collaborative Funding Initiative.

Danya describes herself first as a mother, daughter, wife, neighbour, learner, writer, runner and community-builder - identities that are woven together and continue to shape how she understands leadership: as an act of relationship, collective action, curiosity and possible futures.

Speaking, Facilitation, & Advisory Expertise: 

• Place-based and community-led approaches

• Collective leadership and building the leadership capacity of others

• Alignment across local, regional, and national scales – the impact of jurisdictions

• Collective action, social innovation, and community impact

• Systems change and collaborative leadership

• Data strategy, shared learning, and collaborative improvement

• Community engagement and co-design

• Resourcing and sustaining collaborative efforts

• Belonging, social connection, and amplifying local voices

• Economic mobility, financial inclusion and community wealth building strategies

• Equity, anti-racist practice, and organizational change

• CEO–Board partnership, shared leadership, and building sustainable relationships across organizations 

• Strategic planning and multi-sector collaboration 

Personal & Everyday Expertise: 

• Partnering with equal parts love, patience, and improvisation 

• Running toward big goals 

• Building community, regardless of perceptions of difference 

• Asking thoughtful questions and listening closely to the answers 

• Finding joy and possibility in serious work 

• Making people feel welcomed, valued, and connected 

• Balancing strategy, relationships, and life 

• Learning continuously and changing course when learning calls for it 

• Bringing warmth, curiosity, and humanity into every room 

• Believing deeply in what people can accomplish together 

If you’d like to partner with Danya, please  complete our booking form.