Alison Lawton

She was an early investor in the Acumen Fund, one of the first impact investment funds in the US. She partnered with Richard Branson’s Virgin Unite and the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing to launch Canada’s first social impact investment fund, the MaRS Catalyst Fund. Alison’ is also a founding investor and a board member of Canada's first health related social impact bond, Activate, created by the Heart & Stroke Foundation in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada and the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing.

Lawton donated $1M to the University of British Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in 2009 to establish the International Reporting Program. The International Reporting Program runs for ten years and gives journalism graduate students the opportunity to report on under-reported global issues. The students of the first year of the program won an Emmy for the investigative journalism short film 'Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground’.

In 2009, Lawton launched the Open Health Initiative as the new focus of Mindset Foundation. The Open Health Initiative focuses on the human right to health with a goal to identify innovations to transform the global problem of access to medicine. Research commissioned by the Foundation identified that the North American public had limited awareness of the problem, and supported the launch of the Access Our Medicine Initiative in 2014. Since then, over 130,000 people from 160 countries have signed a declaration calling on stakeholders to work together to find solutions. Mindset Foundation's support of social innovators also led Lawton and her team to partner with the Dispensary of Hope, a US 501(c)(3) charitable medication distributor based in Nashville, TN, on a $200M drug recovery program through a commitment to action through the Clinton Global Initiative.

Lawton completed a Master of Arts degree in Applied Sciences at Simon Fraser University in 2006. Her thesis focused on "the role of the media in creating value in financial markets."

In 2006, Lawton founded Mindset Media Society, now known as Mindset Social Innovation Foundation. Mindset Foundation is a registered Canadian charity.

In 2005, Lawton was appointed Chair of the Unite for Children, Unite Against AIDS campaign for UNICEF Canada. Some of her campaign initiatives included producing the Unite against AIDS concert series, including artists Avril Lavigne, John Mayer, and Sarah McLachlan, and UNICEF's first Canadian art auction, Unite with Art. The events raised funds for UNICEF, as well as the consciousness around HIV/AIDS and how it redefines childhood for millions of children worldwide. Alison also produced a 25-minute educational documentary for UNICEF; Hope in the Time of AIDS featured Stephen Lewis and was narrated by Pierce Brosnan.

Lawton met Lloyd Axworthy, former Director of the University of British Columbia's Liu Institute for Global Issues and former Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, in 2004. He encouraged her to cover the forcible conscription of children in Uganda's civil war.

In 2000, Lawton married Canadian businessman and philanthropist Frank Giustra. They separated in 2007 and have two children together.

In 1998, Lawton was one of three founding partners of Vancouver-based leading tech incubator IdeaPark Ventures, Inc. that was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In 2000, IdeaPark sold to Itemus Inc – a dot com incubator co-founded by Goldcorp mining magnate Ian Telfer.

In 1997, Lawton founded her own private equity boutique investment firm, Winfield Venture Group Ltd, now known as Mindset Venture Group Ltd.

Lawton graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies from Concordia University in 1995. After graduating, she joined Investor First Financial in Vancouver, BC where she started her business career in private equity sales in the areas of syndicated software, film, television, real estate and tax shelter offerings.

Alison Lawton was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. From a very young age she was involved in fundraising and volunteer work. As part of her NGO involvement, she attended the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, after which she started volunteer work for Earth Day International. It was this fundraising work that led her to approach David Richardson who convinced her to join Investor First Financial to learn about investing, knowledge that could one day enable her to start her own NGO to pursue the change she sought in the world.

Alison Lawton (born May 29, 1970) is a Canadian social venture philanthropist, social advocate, and business investor.