Meet the staff
Born on the Island and a UPEI graduate, Sarah Outram works to further women’s leadership on PEI, serving as the Executive Director of the PEI Coalition for Women’s Leadership.
Sarah has a standing history with the Coalition; she was first hired as an Administrative Assistant, before becoming a Program Officer in late 2022. She found great joy in building connections across the Island to advance equity in leadership. Prior to her involvement with the organization, Sarah dedicated her advocacy efforts to environmental conservation with the Canadian Wildlife Federation, where she spearheaded a nationally acclaimed youth conservation program.
Sarah currently plays a pivotal role in the PEI nonprofit scene as the Past President of Fusion Charlottetown, and member of the volunteer board for five years. Fusion Charlottetown focuses on empowering the youth demographic of the city. Sarah has been instrumental in starting the projects “Fusion Earth Week” and “Fusion Flavours”, which are going into their 5th and 2nd years respectively. During her tenure, she introduced innovative governance models, and initiated the Fusion advocacy efforts for a pedestrian path paved on the hill of Buchanan Drive.
As of 2024, Sarah is a sitting member of the Community Sector Network Board, the Chair’s Circle for Gender Equality Board, and sits on the Advisory Committee for the Atlantic Summer Institute.
As someone living with Sturge Weber Syndrome (type 2), she hopes to serve as a role model for others with facial differences, demonstrating that one's appearance should never hinder their pursuit of leadership roles or personal fulfillment.
A lifelong Maritimer, Kari Kruse is the Project Manager at the PEI Coalition for Women in Government.
In this role, she plans, designs and delivers a variety of skill building and networking projects for women and gender diverse people seeking or currently in leadership positions in PEI. She is also the lead for the Coalition’s communications and social media content creation.
Kari is a recent UPEI grad (2022) where she earned her Bachelor of Arts, majoring in the interdisciplinary Diversity and Social Justice Studies program. Through this degree, she acquired knowledge and social awareness about differences between groups of people and respect for that diversity, the capacity to ask critical questions about how the world is organized and to posit other possibilities, and broad communication skills including the ability to see, understand, and translate multiple points of view for different audiences. This education provided her with a strong foundation that continues to inform her work and daily life.
Kari believes in assuming appropriate good faith in dialogue with others and works to build intentional and reciprocal bridges across the political spectrum.