Meet the staff
Hannah Bell holds an MBA in Innovative Management from UPEI and has 30 years of varied experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors in Canada and the UK. Prior to being elected, she served as Executive Director of the PEI Business Women’s Association for 5 years. Hannah Bell is the owner of consultancy firm ‘The Solution Agency’, helping businesses build capacity and influence change through the power of storytelling, practical training and skills development, strategic planning and partnerships, and sustainable project design.
Hannah Bell is a community leader locally and nationally – as Board President and Chair at The Guild for 5 years, representing the province as governor with National Trust Canada, and as champion for Startup Charlottetown, part of the Startup Canada entrepreneurs network. She served as an MLA from 2017-2023.
She lives in Parkdale with her daughter, Ava, and her mother, Judith.
A lifelong Maritimer, Kari Kruse is the project manager at the PEI Coalition for Women’s Leadership. Kari is responsible for project design, planning and delivery across initiatives that advance women’s democratic leadership and civic education on the Island. She co-led the Tech-Safe Island project, which contributed to the development of the Digital Self-Defence Toolkit for people experiencing technology-facilitated violence. Currently, Kari leads the Beyond Voting project, a civic education workshop series for newcomers to Canada, and works in close collaboration with a Newcomers Advisory Committee to ensure the content reflects lived experiences.
Kari graduated from UPEI in 2022 with a degree in Diversity and Social Justice Studies and is a proud feminist and 2SLGBT+ community member. Kari believes in assuming appropriate good faith in dialogue and works to build intentional, reciprocal bridges across the political spectrum.