Summer is upon us (though the weather out west might indicate otherwise). Now is a great time to do a deep dive into the Summit faculty in preparation for The Global Leadership Summit Canada October 18-19, 2012. So The Leadership Centre Willow Creek Canada will be posting regularly about our talented speaker lineup. First up is Marc Kielburger, the first Canadian speaker ever on mainstage at Willow Creek presenting at the Summit.

At just 12 years of age, Marc Kielburger’s brother, Craig, read about another 12-year-old boy who was murdered while working as an enslaved labourer in a carpet factory. The boy, a Pakistani, had been a child labourer since the age of four.

Craig began researching child labour and inspired the founding of “Twelve-Twelve-Year-Olds,” made up of his school friends and eventually his older brother Marc. This endeavour eventually became “Free the Children,” an international organization that has built 500 schools in Latin America, Africa, and Asia–schools that provide education to more than 50,000 children. Working with more than one million kids each year, Free the Children is the world’s largest network of children helping children through education.

Marc, 35, is chief executive director of the organization. Together the brothers founded Me to We, an organization committed to the cause of ethical living by providing socially responsible lifestyle products. Marc, director of Me to We, has co-authored the New York Times bestseller Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World, The World Needs Your Kid: Raising Children Who Care And Contribute, and a syndicated column carried by The Toronto Star, Vancouver Sun, and Huffington Post.

Marc is the recipient of many honours, including the Order of Canada and selection by the World Economic Forum as one of the 250 Young Global Leaders. His work has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, BBC as well as many other news and print media.

Here is a great video from CBC’s The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos from July 2011

That is a long way to come as a feisty teenager. What dreams did you have as a teenager? What does that make you want to accomplish today?