Dr. Jad Jaber
HR and Communication Leader · Researcher · Educator

Dr. Jad Jaber

I turn research on organizational culture and communication into people strategy, training and policy that leaders can use.

PhD in Communication and postdoctoral researcher in knowledge production, with more than 15 years across human resources, organizational behaviour and university teaching. Founder of Marginalized Majority, former director at Amnesty International and ACCES Employment, and author of Queer Arab Martyr.

Trilingual · English (fluent) · Arabic (fluent) · French (intermediate)

Portrait of Dr. Jad Jaber
  • 430+community consultations, in multiple languages
  • 10,000+employees trained across 15 Canadian organizations
  • 30,000+people reached through Marginalized Majority
  • $120K+in federal and provincial grants secured

  • Strategic human resources

    Workforce planning, talent management and leadership development, backed by evidence-based policies, procedures and training programs.

  • Corporate and executive communication

    Complex stakeholder management, change-management communication and large-scale federal funding applications.

  • Academic leadership

    University teaching, team mentoring, organizational data analysis and intersectional training programs.

I study how language carries power inside organizations, and what that does to equity.

My projects start with the people a policy affects. I use community consultation, surveys and thematic analysis to produce evidence that governments, funders and organizations can act on.

  • 2022
    Trans women and the barriers to transitionWomen's College Hospital, Toronto

    Research on the barriers marginalized trans women in Toronto face during transition, and on their intersectional lived experience.

  • 2022
    Research ManagerHQ Toronto

    Managed a research team and large-scale research projects, from ethics review and protocol design to study recruitment with external partners.

  • Postdoctoral
    Survey data, methodology and impactBrock University and the Canadian Arab Institute

    Led data collection, cleaning and analysis, and presented the survey methodology and impact at the Canadian Arab Institute.

  • 2018 – 2019
    An index of women's contributions in the Middle East and North AfricaAmerican University of Beirut, Knowledge Is Power project

    Developed an operational index that measures women's contributions at the organizational level, built on local and Global South knowledge sources.

  • 2018
    Displaced women and urban spaceUCL Institute for Global Prosperity, American University of Beirut, Centre for Lebanese Studies

    Appointed National Gender and Social Expert to develop a 12-month study of displaced women as active agents in urban and domestic spaces in Lebanon.

  • 2018
    Jobs for Lebanese and Syrian workersPalladium Group, Lebanon

    Led consultancy on finance and employment incentives for small and medium-sized businesses, with a gender lens on empowerment and inclusion.

  • 2016
    Data, recommendations and framework developmentSave the Children, Lebanon

    Led data collection, integration and analysis, and developed the recommendations and framework that followed.

  • 2015
    Inclusive community growthWorld Bank

    Senior consultant leading the social component of a $3 million project: stakeholder analysis, local community consultations and grievance procedures.

  • 2010 – 2011
    Youth, health and public policyAmerican University of Beirut

    Research on youth and risky behaviour to inform legal reform in Lebanon, and on violence in healthcare with the Lebanese National Order of Nurses and Physicians and the Ministry of Health.

I create workplace training and policy for organizations. Each program is built from consultation with staff and community, then written into policy the organization can keep using.

Organizations

Amnesty International/ACCES Employment/MS Society of Canada/Informa Canada/Pride Toronto/Indigenous Youth Roots/ACCT Toronto

What I have built

  • Strategy
    People and culture strategyAmnesty International

    A phased strategy with a pay-equity review, a union-specific action plan and in-house training on Care Culture and decolonizing the organization.

  • Goals
    Workforce data and three-year goalsACCES Employment

    Updated hiring, training, recognition and performance practices, and set three-year goals from employee demographic data.

  • Policy
    Workplace policy frameworksMS Society of Canada, Informa, Pride Toronto

    Frameworks built from community consultation and evidence-based research, written with HR experts, therapists, healers, grassroots activists, community members and staff.

Training programs

  • Evidence-Based Policy Creation
  • Non-Partisan Organizational Culture
  • Knowledge Production
  • Non-Verbal Communication Awareness
  • Workplace Embodied Safety
  • Empathy-Driven Employee Rights
  • Best Practices in Employee Resource Groups
  • Flattening the Organizational Structure Through Indigenous Wisdom
  • Shame in Unlearning
  • Micro and Macro Aggressions
  • Explicit versus Implicit Racism
  • Gender Sensitivity
  • Pronoun Sensitivity
  • Indigenous Centering
  • Anti-Black Racism
  • Anti-Asian Racism
  • Islamophobia

I founded Marginalized Majority and led it full-time as Executive Director from August 2020 to May 2026. It is a non-profit that runs education and capacity-building programs for marginalized communities in Canada.

Its structure came out of consultations with academics, clients and community partners. The programs take on subjects that rarely get a room of their own: intergenerational trauma, internalized homophobia, psycho-emotional healing, language barriers and racism inside organizations. Its work was supported by a Canadian Heritage grant for 2022–2023.

Programs I created

  • Intergenerational Trauma
  • The Imposter Syndrome
  • Immigrant Barriers to Accessibility
  • Activism and Cancel Culture
  • Building Your Queer Tribe
  • The Socio-Political Framework of Marginalization in the Queer Community
  • Migrating Homophobia and Transphobia
  • The Dangers of Online Queerness
  • Collective Coming Out or Coming In
  • The Future of Gender-Fluidity and Non-Binary Genders

Funded projects

  • Arts
    Artist-led workshops and community exhibitionFunded by the Toronto Arts Council

    I led a grant that funded more than 20 artists to create their own workshops, then exhibit and share their work with the community in a final gallery show. Sessions at The 519 included Navigating the Matrix and Talk to Me in Tatreez, and the project closed with the Toronto Artist Exhibition Party at Glad Day Bookshop in February 2025.

  • Capacity
    Capacity-building programs for organizationsFunded by Canadian Heritage

    A series of capacity-building and equity, diversity and inclusion programs for several organizations, including our own, covering board governance and internal organizational capacity.

Other programming

  • Weekly
    Friday community loungeThe 519, Toronto

    An inclusive multicultural lounge with yoga, painting, games and photography.

  • Talk
    Queer Immigrant RegenerationWith the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies

    A recorded talk on healing through our Global South community.

With community partners

  • 2020 – 2024
    Workshops for newcomers and BIPOC communitiesThe 519, Toronto

    Capacity-building workshops on the cultural barriers of the first years in Canada and on Canadian workplace culture. I returned over four years to run workshops and set up a weekly community drop-in.

  • 2020
    Cross-generational and migrating homophobiaAlliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention (ASAAP)

    A workshop series for queer and newcomer members, with a syllabus drawn from gender and queer theory.

  • 2019
    Sensationalizing Global South CulturesGlad Day

    A three-day workshop on biased representation of Arab and ethnic queer minorities, with readings by Global South authors.

Governance credentials

  • 2020 – 2023
    Board DirectorPride Toronto

    Served three years on the board and represented it at the 2020 flag-raising with Mayor John Tory and Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam.

  • Since 2021
    Advisory committee memberCity of Toronto

    Advises City staff and Council on removing the barriers and inequities marginalized communities face in accessing City programs and services.

I teach gender, migration and intersectional theory in university courses and guest lectures, and I carry the same material into workshops for workplaces and communities.

University courses and lectures

  • Course
    Gender and MigrationLebanese American University (chartered in New York State) · Master's course, designed and taught for its first offering

    Feminism, forced and exploitative migration, feminized labour, gendered labour markets, human-rights frameworks and public policy on displacement.

  • Lectures
    Intersectional, Global South, queer and gender theoryUniversity of Toronto and University of Toronto Mississauga

    Seven guest lectures.

  • Classes
    Gender identity, belonging and resilienceUniversity of Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University, York University

    Interactive classes on gender identity and the non-binary spectrum, cultural belonging, emotional resilience and intersectional inequalities.

  • Lecture
    Abrahamic faith, Islam and queerness

    Curated content and lectured on where faith and queerness meet.

Workshops and talks

  • Workplace
    Training programs for organizations17 programs, delivered to 15 Canadian organizations

    From evidence-based policy creation to organizational culture and workplace safety. See the full list under Training.

  • Community
    Community workshops10 programs created at Marginalized Majority

    Intergenerational trauma, imposter syndrome, immigrant barriers to accessibility and more. See the full list under Community.

  • Moderator
    Ontario's first virtual Language Advocacy DayFor marginalized Global South communities

    Moderated discussions on the language barriers facing asylum seekers and immigrants.

Book Queer Arab Martyr

A study of the layered inequalities and gendered constraints facing vulnerable communities in the Arab world, including women and queer culture.

Atropos Press, 2019 · 188 pages · ISBN 978-1-940813-37-0 · Find the book on Amazon

Article Arab Queer Language

What are the characteristics of the language used upon, and within, queer Arab culture, and how does it shape the identity and subjectivity of queer Arab individuals?

Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World, Lebanese American University, 2018 · Read the article (PDF)

My training joins two fields, the management of people and the study of how language and communication shape organizations.

  • 2018 – 2019
    Postdoctoral Fellowship in Knowledge ProductionAmerican University of Beirut, Knowledge Is Power project

    Research on how language is communicated and by whom, the power dynamics built into the language of organizational cultures, and how that language and its power affect organizational dynamics and organizational equity. Specialization in feminist economics.

  • 2012 – 2016
    PhD in CommunicationEuropean Graduate School, Saas-Fee, Switzerland

    Focus on gender and non-conforming identities. Awarded summa cum laude.

  • 2007 – 2010
    MSc in Human Resources ManagementLong Island University, Brooklyn, New York

    GPA 4.00, with distinction. Inducted into Sigma Beta Delta, the international honour society in business, management and administration.

  • 2004 – 2007
    BSc in Sociology and AnthropologyAmerican University of Beirut

Certifications

  • World Bank Social Safeguards
  • CITI research certification

I am exploring senior roles with non-profit organizations, educational institutions, public-sector bodies and mission-driven organizations. Based in Montréal, working in English and Arabic, with intermediate French.

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