Marni Panas

Background

About Marni Panas

As Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with ATCO Marni Panas leads the DEI activities for one of Canada's leading organizations where she is dedicated to creating safer, more welcoming and inclusive environments. She holds a degree in Health Administration and a Canadian Certified Inclusion Professional designation. Marni has contributed to legislation and policy protecting human rights for individuals at the provincial and federal levels in Canada including providing expert testimony to the Canadian Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs. She was a member of the Advisory Committee that helped draft the apology that Prime Minister Justine Trudeau delivered to LGBTQ2S+ people in Canada in the House of Commons on November 28, 2017. She started her career in DEI in health care as the Stollery Children's Hospital's first Coordinator Family Centred Care before joining the AHS Engagement & Patient Experiencing team then completing her 13 year journey at AHS by starting and leading Diversity and Inclusion at Canada's largest healthcare services provider and forth largest organization. Prior to AHS, Marni spent nearly 20 years providing senior level Human Resources and Payroll consulting / software services to municipal and education governments throughout Western Canada. She is a regular lecturer at universities throughout Alberta and has been invited to share her experiences and expertise on inclusive health and cultural safety for diverse health care providers, patients and their families locally, nationally and internationally. She is invited to appear regularly in local, national and international media such as CNN and the BBC discussing these topics. Marni is also an engaged member of her community. She received the Human Rights award from the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, nominated as an Edmonton YWCA Woman of Distinction and recently named Global Edmonton Woman of Vision. Most recently she received the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Medal and named the 2022 Distinguished Alumni from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.