Jennifer Keesmaat
Jennifer Keesmaat (born 1970) is a Canadian real estate developer and urban planner who served as Chief City Planner of Toronto from 2012 to 2017 and the runner-up in the 2018 Toronto mayoral election to Mayor John Tory, where she won 23.6% of the vote and lost to Tory in each of Toronto's 25 wards.
Jennifer Keesmaat | |
|---|---|
Keesmaat in 2010 | |
| Chief City Planner of Toronto | |
| In office September 2012 – September 29, 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Gary Wright |
| Succeeded by | Gregg Lintern |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1970 (age 53–54) Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
| Political party | Independent |
| Spouse | Tom Freeman |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence(s) | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Alma mater |
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| Website | thekeesmaatgroup |
On August 28, 2017, she announced that she would resign from her position as Chief Planner, effective September 29 of the same year, and subsequently accepted a teaching position at the University of Toronto. In March 2018, Keesmaat became the CEO of the Creative Housing Society, an independent non-profit group dedicated to creation of affordable housing projects. She was named the ninth most influential person in Toronto by Toronto Life in 2014, and the 41st most important person in Canada by Maclean's in 2013.
On July 27, 2018, Keesmaat announced her candidacy for mayor of Toronto in the 2018 mayoral election. She placed second to incumbent mayor John Tory. After the mayoral election, Keesmaat founded and became CEO of The Keesmaat Group, a company that works with corporate and political leaders to advance change in cities around the world. In 2019, The Keesmaat Group founded the National Housing Innovation event series in partnership with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and The Globe and Mail, focused on improving access to affordable housing in Canada.
Jennifer is ranked #33 on Planetizen's list of Most Influential Contemporary Urbanists, and #63 on its list of Most Influential Urbanists of all time.