Pillar Nonprofit Network Welcomes Mojdeh Cox as New Executive Director

For immediate release

LONDON, April 8, 2021- After an extensive nationwide search, Pillar Nonprofit Network’s Board of Directors announces its new Executive Director.

“We are thrilled to announce that Mojdeh Cox will be joining Pillar as our new Executive Director, effective April 12, 2021. Mojdeh’s deep connection to our community and her commitment to bringing people together to address complex issues will profoundly strengthen and advance our new and bold strategic plan,” says Nicole Spriet, Board Chair, Pillar Nonprofit Network. “Mojdeh has been instrumental in raising the profiles of municipal, provincial and federal equity initiatives, including being the Lead Facilitator for the City of London's Community Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, as an Advisor for the Ontario Human Rights Commission and National Board Member of the United Way Centraide Canada. Mojdeh shares our belief in the collective power of cross-sector networks to bring about transformative change.”

Most recently, Mojdeh held the position of National Director, Anti-Racism, Human Rights with the Canadian Labour of Congress (CLC). She has provided leadership on the design and execution of national advocacy campaigns, community building programs and policy development. She led the efforts in organizing the largest equity lobby day on Parliament Hill in Canadian labour history advocating for Indigenous Rights and Justice. This effort contributed to implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action #80 by establishing a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation for federally regulated workers that will be observed as a statutory holiday on September 30th.

In response to the rise of hate experienced by Muslims in Canada, Mojdeh’s strategic design of the CLC’s Anti-Islamophobia Initiative in partnership with the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), lead to the launch of a ground-breaking report presenting a pan-Canadian perspective of Muslim experiences, providing an overview of Canadian attitudes towards Muslims and illustrating a snapshot of gender-based Islamophobia. The report outlined how governments, employers, and unions can interrupt Islamophobia at work and the initiative provided a suite of tools, including a workshop that was delivered to thousands of workers across the country. 

For over a decade, Mojdeh has coached organizational and community leaders, businesses and nonprofit organizations on re-imagining their work through a heightened equity lens rooted in social justice. As a community organizer at heart, she believes in collective power. Mojdeh has built a broad and diverse network of collaborators which reaffirmed a fundamental truth: social innovation and social justice come hand-in-hand.

“I am excited to work, learn and grow with the incredible team at Pillar Nonprofit Network. London is a city where, for 18 years, I navigated multiple systems of oppression as a racialized first-generation immigrant. I am entering this role with lived and professional experiences of how systems are failing and what it takes to achieve transformational and sustainable change,” said Mojdeh. “Pillar’s strategic plan is bold, yet it is also achievable. What drives change in any community is intentional collective understanding and action and I am ready to lead Pillar as we leverage the power of our unique network to interrupt, address and counter deeply entrenched systemic issues faced by historically marginalized people. Pillar didn’t just develop a strategic plan. It’s a community call to action and I’m looking forward to working alongside our community and network on this journey.” 

Please join us at our Annual Community Connector on April 21st to help welcome Mojdeh to her new role at Pillar Nonprofit Network, register here. Read more about Pillar Nonprofit Network’s new Strategic Plan 2021-2023 here. 

Read Mojdeh Cox’s full bio below. Connect with Mojdeh on Twitter and LinkedIn. 

About Pillar Nonprofit Network:
Pillar Nonprofit Network strengthens individuals, organizations and enterprises invested in positive community impact. We support nonprofits, social enterprises and social innovators by sharing resources, exchanging knowledge and creating meaningful connections across the three pillars of nonprofit, business and government.

We believe that a connected network sparks collaboration and a willingness to lean on each other to build an engaged, inclusive and vibrant community.

About Mojdeh Cox:
Mojdeh Cox believes in the power of collective compassion, creativity and action to work towards solutions to complex social issues. Her dynamic 10+ years of experience working in co-visioning, co-designing and executing political and issue-based advocacy campaigns, and her social policy work equipped her with the analysis and practices needed in community-based leadership roles designed to bring people together.

Mojdeh has been instrumental in raising the profiles of municipal, provincial and federal political and advocacy campaigns and building community along the way. Mojdeh brings forward social assets in the form of a laudable list of contacts and connections from diverse networks.

At a time when government, businesses and nonprofit organizations look to contribute to the dismantling of systemic barriers, Mojdeh brings forward expertise in labour relations, human rights, and equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. For over a decade, Mojdeh has coached organizational and community leaders, businesses and not-for-profit organizations on re-imagining their work through a heightened equity lens rooted in social justice.

Mojdeh Cox is dedicated to bringing people together to have challenging conversations around complex issues and develop action plans to effect change.