Margie Mendell is an economist and Distinguished Professor Emerita, School of Community and Public Affairs and Director, Karl Polanyi Institute of Political Economy at Concordia University.

Margie has published on the work and influence of Karl Polanyi, the social economy, democratizing capital and solidarity finance in Quebec and on the evolution of “social finance” internationally.

She is a member of the board and past co-founder of CAP Finance, a network of Quebec-based solidarity finance institutions that created the Social Finance Fund in Quebec, an organization that broadens access to capital for social and solidarity enterprises and organizations.

She was a member of Quebec’s Advisory Policy Committee on framework legislation for the social economy and the Action Plan for the social economy. She is a member of the Advisory Council of the Global Social Economy Forum (GSEF) and has collaborated with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Research Institute on Social Development (UNRISD) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) on numerous projects related to social finance, the social and solidarity economy, and on sustainable development performance indicators.

Margie was awarded a Prix du Québec by the Government of Quebec in 2013, named Officer of the Order of Quebec in 2014 and Member of the Order of Canada in 2017. In 2024, she was named Officer of the Order of Montreal.