Subban Jama is a lawyer, researcher, and governance specialist whose life and work have been shaped by conflict, inter-generational displacement, and the challenges of rebuilding public institutions. Her career has taken her through cities as diverse as Toronto, Jeddah, Freetown, Geneva, Nairobi, and most recently Mogadishu — each of which offers distinct visions of how people live, move, and build urban life, exposing her to a wide range of governance models, social systems, and urban complexity.

As Executive Director of CUSI, Subban leads research, policy development, and systems thinking aimed at making Somali cities more livable, functional, and fair. Drawing on her experience navigating the fragmentation and renewal that characterize post-conflict societies, as well as the dynamism of global metropoles, she envisions Somali urban centres that can withstand rapid growth, informality, and inequality while remaining grounded in local identity and responsive to the people they serve.

Over the past decade, her work in Somalia has spanned both the demand and supply sides of governance: providing direct legal support to citizens while also shaping the institutions, laws, and policy frameworks that define urban life. At both federal and state levels of government, she has drafted and advised on reforms in labour regulation, justice sector governance, environmental management, and child protection, all of which influence how cities operate, deliver services, and safeguard their residents.

Before relocating to Somalia, Subban served in government at the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, in the private sector with Deloitte Canada, and with international organizations including the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

She holds a Juris Doctor from York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, a BA in English and Political Science from the University of Toronto, and is a licensed barrister and solicitor with the Law Society of Ontario and the Somali Bar Association.