Our Team
Passionate and Dedicated

Everything we do is driven by the belief that the Alberta technology community is stronger, smarter and more innovative when we work together.

Our Board

Gail J. Powley, P.Eng

President

With over 30 years of experience, as a process control engineer and then executive, Gail has worked for companies of all sizes including: Procter & Gamble, Treiber Controls (Aspen Technology), Matrikon (Honeywell), ATCO, the Alberta Research Council (Alberta Innovates), University of Alberta, and Willowglen Systems.

Recognizing the value of supporting innovation and innovative people – she has founded and/or volunteered with organizations such as the CHOA (Canadian Heavy Oil Assn), MentorUP Alberta (Co-Founder), BESTT (Bridge for Engineering, Science, and Technology Talent (Co-founder)), AWSN (Alberta Women’s Science Network (Director)) and Women in APEGA (Chair), and most recently – Rainforest, and Alberta Regional Innovation Networks.

Gail completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Alberta.

Jeff LaFrenz

Vice President

As a serial entrepreneur, with over 30 years’ experience in technology commercialization, Jeff is co-founder and President of VizworX Inc., an ASTech Award-winning human interaction solutions company headquartered in Calgary. Jeff’s many volunteer activities have included: Schulich School of Engineering Alumni Chapter, Schulich Industry Advisory Council, UofC Senate, UofC Board of Governors, Digital Theme Lead for the Clean Resource Innovation Network (CRIN).

Shawn Baldwin

As the CEO of BitWide, Shawn Baldwin is responsible for running all facets of the business. Shawn has a proven executive management track record and over 20 years of experience driving sales growth in the Technology industry across North America. Prior to starting BitWide, Shawn was the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Officejobs.com, a Canadian leader in technical Recruitment.

Shawn also served as a Mayoral Candidate for the City of Calgary but decided to continue his journey as a business leader by introducing innovative approaches to job creation.

Pushkar Rao

Pushkar has over 20 years of experience in software development, project management, consulting, and digital transformation in the energy industry across North America. Prior to joining the leadership group at Worley, Pushkar worked at Suncor leading the technology scope of digital transformation in the Mining industry, deploying cutting edge technology at the commercial scale.

Pushkar holds an MBA from University of Calgary, MS in Computer science from University of Illinois – Chicago, and BS in Computer science from Southern Arkansas University.

Ahmad Jawad

Ahmad is an established member of the Alberta business community, having founded and expanded Intellimedia into a thriving Edmonton based Educational Technology company.  He is viewed as a strategic partner in the Alberta K-12 Education Market and has cultivated an extensive network with leaders, vendors and experts within the field.

Ahmad holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Alberta as well as an Executive Masters of Business Administration from Athabasca University and a Certificate of Management Excellence with Harvard Business School.

Ahmad is a passionate community steward, committing both time and resource to support several not for profit organizations, including: ERPBC (Edmonton Research Park Business Consortium), Alberta Innovates Regional Innovation Network (Edmonton), and more.

Evan Hu

Evan is a successful entrepreneur in the Canadian technology industry providing vision, leadership and experience to organizations ranging from start-ups to the Fortune 500.

His current focus is as founder at AltoSante Digital Health Venture Studio. With more than 30 years of experience in the creation and management of successful businesses, he has a proven track record in growing and mentoring successful professionals.

His Alberta innovation leadership roles have included Founding Partner, Creative Destruction Labs (CDL Rockies) and Board Chair, Platform Calgary.

Shay Sharma

Shay is the co-founder and CEO of Bluejarvis Technologies, a startup focused on creating digital solutions to capture and analyze informal knowledge within organizations.

She holds a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Alberta and has experience in both the engineering and digitization space. Shay has worked with numerous companies through Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada (PTAC), assisting them with their product market fit. Shay is passionate about the role of technology in nonprofits, and is currently a volunteer in the Indo Canadian Women’s Association (ICWA).

Mehadi Sayed

Mehadi is the President and CEO of Clinisys, a company that provides Electronic Medical Records and Health Data Analytics solutions to the healthcare industry across Canada. Clinisys EMR is aiming for a collaborative AI revolution in healthcare, using machine learning, artificial intelligence and data analytics to build tools for healthcare providers.

Mehadi is an innovation community builder, working with fellow entrepreneurs, industry, government and academia to champion initiatives – such as ISAIC (Industry Sandbox for AI)

Our Leadership Team

Debra Greig

Principal – Business and Professional Development Programs

Debra is a champion of life-long learning and has a passion for working with tech entrepreneurs to realize their business goals – using her knowledge and experience as an entrepreneur and corporate manager for nearly four decades.

Debra has a BSc in Computer Science and an MBA, both from the University of Alberta. Debra began her professional career as a retail manager, a job that would not have spanned twenty years had it not brought her much joy and given her invaluable business experience.

Her entrepreneurial spirit had her launch 2 companies:

  • ShirWin Knowledge & Learning Systems which fused educational methods with gaming technologies to create simulated learning environments for post-secondary students in a number of professional domains.
  • TransforMana, which uses a variety of software and face-to-face techniques to strengthen and improve business knowledge for the leaders of small technology-based companies.

Brent Zuber

Program Coordination, Southern Alberta and Hybrid

Brent is a lifelong learner and futurist – with eternal curiosity. While long an entrepreneur, Brent has worked in organizations of all size – from small to TSE Top 10 companies.

Brent has blended his strong business and technical education from the University of Regina, with a lifelong and engaged dedication to the health of his community – volunteering with a number of social and industry organizations, including the Rainforest innovation community, based in Calgary.

Dr. Isha Katyal

Chief Knowledge Officer

Julia MacKay

Program Manager – Talent Initiatives
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Christine Seibel

Program Coordinator – Talent Initiatives

Neil Goud

Business Development Officer

Horazio Carletti

Communications & Events Manager

Sitara Fernandes

Lead – Purpose Initiatives

Marc Bendico

Marketing & Design Associate

Kyle Sicotte

Web & IT Specialist