Charles is a skilled facilitator and educator whose 18 years of experience has honed a passion for creating meaningful dialogue among groups whose diverse opinions would otherwise work against a common understanding of desired outcomes.

In the fall of 2006 Charles designed and co-facilitated, with Peter Senge and Peter Block, the inaugural Connecting for Change Dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Working with the Vancouver, BC-based Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education, Charles brought together 60 corporate sector executives and 60 social sector innovators to explore approaches and projects for building connections across apparent boundaries.

Charles has facilitated projects with clients from health care to forestry and mining, software and pharmaceutical companies, educational institutions and utility firms, government and not-for-profit sectors. The meetings he has designed and facilitated have focused on innovation (e.g. a meeting with former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and 250 Western Canadian CEOs to focus on development and export of environmental technologies), conflict resolution (meeting of 200 home owners and property developers to develop a shared vision for future development), community engagement (meetings of mining firms and community groups), 100’s of strategic planning session and other team and group engagements.

Charles has taught negotiation, team building, facilitation and leadership in Executive Programs for Universities in Canada and Saudi Arabia. He was co-founder of the Learning Strategies Group in the Faculty of Business at Simon Fraser University where he was the lead in establishing the Executive Development Program, a biotech MBA and an MBA in Applied Sustainability. He serves as a coach for the Sustainable Enterprise Academy and sits on a variety of boards.

In all instances, Charles’ number one interest is helping groups to see the potential of what they might create together; to acknowledge, but not be constrained by the past, and to explore opportunities for working together toward a common future.