Meet the Advisory Board

We have brought together leaders and thinkers in the field of digital media from all across Canada to form the University of Waterloo Stratford Advisory Board. They represent academia, industry and government and they are ready to lead Canada into the digital age.

 

Tony Chapman

CEO, Capital C

Tony Chapman is a passionate Canadian, entrepreneur, and the Founder and CEO of Capital C, Marketing Magazine's Agency of the Year 2006 and one of Canada's most respected branding and advertising agencies. Tony is also one of the youngest individuals to be inducted into the Marketing Hall of Legends, and is a frequent contributor to the mainstream press on topics including consumerism, brand-building, and business strategy. His thinking has been featured in television documentaries in England, Australia and Canada, and in webcasts around the globe. Tony is also a sought after speaker and a keynote at major conferences throughout North America. He is currently finishing his first book, The RecoEconomy™ with Bennett Klein, Partner and Creative Director of Capital C.

 

Ken Coates

Professor of History, University of Waterloo

Ken Coates was recently the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Waterloo. He is a well-known historian specializing in aboriginal studies and Canada's north.

Ken Coates is a passionate advocate for higher education with particular interest in digital media, Canadian competiveness and the Japanese science and technology revolution. Ken's vision includes a renewed appreciation for the traditional arts disciplines with a keen understanding of how these disciplines are key to society's future. The solutions to environmental issues to name just a few - will be found through the traditional disciplines in policy, behaviour and cultural change.

 

Tobi Day-Hamilton

Director of Advancement, University of Waterloo Stratford Campus

Tobi Day-Hamilton is the Director Advancement and Public Affairs for the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus. She sees the Waterloo Stratford Campus as an environment of collaboration and innovation - a sandbox where students, researchers, government and industry work together to present everyone with unique opportunities.

Before coming to the University of Waterloo, Tobi spent 12 years with Quarry Integrated Communications where she managed client relationships including Nortel, FedEx and SunLife. A graduate of Waterloo's English Rhetoric and Professional Writing program, Tobi joined the Waterloo team in 2005 and has held various roles including Arts Alumni Officer, Arts Marketing Manager and the Director of Arts Advancement.

 

Arlene Dickinson

CEO, Venture Communications

Arlene Dickinson is a 20-year veteran of Canada's marketing industry, and is CEO and sole owner of Venture Communications Ltd.

Her vision has driven Venture's growth, successfully building it from a small, local firm into one of Canada's largest independent marketing firms, with offices in Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa. Arlene believes strongly that marketing's purpose is to deliver business results. She is well known for pioneering how marketing can be accountable to delivering on clients' business goals.

Her accomplishments, vision and leadership have been recognized with a number of awards, but perhaps her greatest honor was Venture's selection as one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies for three consecutive years.

Since Fall 2007, Arlene has appeared as one of the "Dragons" on CBC's Dragons' Den - a national television series which invites people to pitch business ideas to the Dragons, in an effort to persuade them to invest.

 

Ginny Dybenko

Executive Director - Waterloo Stratford Campus

Ginny Dybenko comes to the role of Executive Director of the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus with five successful years as the Dean of the Wilfrid Laurier School of Business & Economics and over 30 years of corporate experience. As Dean, her leadership role set the strategic direction for one of the largest Business Schools in Canada including bringing a unique Management of Innovation curricular focus, introducing a unique Executive Masters in Technology Management and bringing mobile technology into the university classroom. Her new role focuses on setting future direction for the University of Waterloo in Digital Media - an area critical to the University and, indeed, to Canada.

Ginny previously held a number of senior executive roles in both Bell Canada and a high tech startup - including a five year period as President and CEO of Bell Advanced Communications. In that role she contributed to Bell Canada's pursuit of Canada's first broadband initiative, Canada's Information Highway, CA*net; the formation of a Professional Services business unit within Bell Canada and the pioneering of Bell's first successful Electronic Commerce service offering.

 

TIM JACKSON

Vice-President, External Relations, University of Waterloo

Tim Jackson was named interim Vice-President, External Affairs in June 2011 and been working with the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus to move our initiatives forward.

Tim Jackson comes to the post with a long history as an entrepreneur and business leader. He was seconded from the Accelerator Centre where he was CEO and associate vice-president, commercialization. A founder and partner of Tech Capital Partners, he was earlier CFO and CEO at PixStream. He has also acted as CFO, CEO, or board member for numerous other technology companies. As a chartered accountant and active community member, Tim has chaired several not-for-profit boards and received many awards and designations. Tim is a frequent speaker on innovation, corporate culture, leadership, community building, acquisitions and investing, and related topics.

 

Tracey Jennings

Corporate Tax partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Tracey Jennings is Canadian Leader of PwC's Technology, Information, Communications and Entertainment and Media Practice and also the Entertainment & Media (E&M) Sector Leader for Canada. Tracey will lead the development of the webinars as well as advise the project team on the development of investment drivers. Tracey works with clients in all of E&M sectors including broadcasting, film production and distribution, digital media including video games and newspapers. She has over 23 years of experience providing advice including tax planning, compliance, and international tax advice to E&M companies from large multi-nationals to smaller emerging companies.

Tracey frequently speaks on a number of topics relevant to the Entertainment & Media Industry including presentations of the key trends as outlined in PwC's Global Entertainment and Media Outlook. She frequently advises both Canadian and Foreign based companies looking to locate in Canada on various business and structuring needs including the tax incentives available to production and video game and digital media companies.

Tracey is a graduate in Business Administration and became a Chartered Accountant in 1989. She became a partner in PwC in 2000.

 

Gary Maavara

Vice President and General Consul, Corus Entertainment

Gary A. Maavara is Vice President and General Counsel for Corus Entertainment Inc., overseeing all legal and regulatory affairs associated with the Company's extensive operations in radio, television, programming, films, books, music, toys and websites.

Prior to joining Corus, Gary was employed in a variety of executive and operating roles with CanWest Global Communications Corp. His career includes 10 years with CTV in senior level positions including Group Vice President, Programming; Vice President Sports, Chief Legal Counsel and Vice President Operations and Engineering. Prior to joining CTV, Gary practiced intellectual property and communications law at a major Bay Street law firm, with a client roster that included CTV, Standard Broadcasting, several NHL clubs and Loblaw Companies Limited.

 

Mayor Dan Mathieson

Mayor of the City of Stratford

Dan Mathieson has been the Mayor of Stratford since 2003 and has served on Council since 1995 as a Councillor and Deputy Mayor. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Guelph and a Masters of Public Administration Degree from the University of Western Ontario.

Dan is currently Chair of the Ontario Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) and South West Economic Alliance (SWEA). As well, he is Co-Chair of the Perth County Task Force on Methamphetamine and the Physician Recruitment Committee. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Festival Hydro, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, the Advisory Board of the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus, Kings University College at the University of Western Ontario, a founding Director of the Stratford Institute and a national Director of the Fathers of Confederation Buildings Trust and the Confederation Centre of the Arts.

 

Don McDougall

President and CEO, Rambri Management Inc. & eJust Systems

Don is President & CEO of Rambri Management, a real estate development company and eJust Systems, a software firm focused on the justice sector, both located in Stratford, Ontario.

Prior to his current responsibilities, Don had a long and illustrious career that spanned both public and private sectors covering several industries including technology, aerospace, consumer goods and entertainment. Don has held senior positions with several firms including President of Labatt Brewing Company, President of Accuform Golf Inc., and President of Novatronics Inc.

Don has been a member of several business and community based boards including Air Ontario, Toronto Blue Jays, Stratford Festival and the Advisory Board of Ivey Business School. Don holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Prince Edward Island and an MBA from Ivey Business School.

 

Kevin Newman

Digital News Evangelist & Co-Host: Question Period at BellMedia

For three decades Kevin Newman travelled the world's hotspots as an Anchor and Correspondent for ABC News, CBC News, CTV News and most recently as the Founding Anchor and Executive Editor of Global National. He returned to Canada in 2001 to create a new national newscast, and within five years it was Canada's Most-Watched Newscast. He pioneered the first daily news podcasts in Canada, and most recently founded a new media and documentary company, NewMan Media Ltd. Kevin has been awarded distinguished Emmy, Peabody and Gemini Awards for his work. In 2008 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Western Ontario.

 

Tom Parisi

Regional Vice President, RBC Royal Bank

Tom Parisi is the Regional Vice President for RBC Royal Bank in the Huron, Perth and Oxford Markets.

Tom joined RBC in 1986 as a Customer Service Representative in the Toronto Area. He went on to work in a variety of positions including Commercial Account Manager, Senior Account Manager Retail, Branch Manager for the Oshawa Community as well as other Branch Manager roles in the Toronto Area. He was promoted to Sales & Market Manager, Huron Perth Oxford in February 2003, before rising to his current position as Regional Vice President in November 2006.

Tom is active in the Stratford community. He was named as President for the Stratford Summer Music Board in 2008, he will be concluding his role as President this year which will also be the 10th Season. He also currently sits on the board of the Stratford General Hospital Foundation, the Advisory Board for Smart 21 Communities and the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus Advisory Board. He continues to be actively involved in various fundraising events having participated in the Weekend To End Breast Cancer in 2008, annual events for Big Brothers, Heart & Stroke and Taking Steps Against Breast Cancer, just to name a few. He was also on the Stratford Rotary Complex Fundraising Campaign Committee.

Tom continues to further his education. Most recently he achieved his Fellowship Institute of Canadian Bankers, Associate Institute of Canadian Bankers and Letter of Accomplishment.

Tom has resided in Stratford for the last 8 years with his wife Donna and his two daughters, Hannah & Olivia.

 

DOUGLAS PEERS

DEAN OF ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

Douglas Peers joined the University of Waterloo on 1 July 2011 as Dean of Arts and Professor of History. He was previously Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Associate Vice-President Graduate at York University from 2007 to 2011. In 2009 he was elected president of the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies.

Prior to coming to Ontario, he spent 20 years at the University of Calgary where he was Professor of History and Associate Dean and Interim Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. In 2004 he was interim Vice-President (Programs) of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He has sat on a number of boards including the management board of the Aid to Scholarly Publications Program of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences from 2005 to 2010 and the Board of Directors of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute from 1996 to 2005. In 1993 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

The author of two books and co-editor of three collections, Doug has published more than 20 articles and chapters on the intellectual, political, medical and cultural dimensions of 19th century India, with a particular interest in the impact that the military had upon the character of colonial rule. He is currently co-editing India and the British Empire, a companion volume in the Oxford History of the British Empire series. He lives in Waterloo with his wife Sandra and daughters Jennifer and Robyn.

 

Paul Salvini

Chief Technology Officer, Christie Digital Systems Canada Inc.

With 20 years of industry-focused experience and impressive academic credentials, Paul Salvini joined Christie Digital Systems Canada Inc. as Chief Technology Officer in July of 2011. Based in the company's Kitchener, Ontario office, Paul guides the systems and software direction of Christie, both for current offerings and for new growth platforms, including exploration of new concepts and technologies designed to benefit Christie's extensive, global customer base.

Formerly CTO at Side Effects Software, Paul has led award-winning teams of engineers and software developers in creating advanced visualization, simulation and display technologies. His work with 3D animation for major Hollywood film studios and his expertise in turning complex data sets into visualization solutions, for defence and academic entities, plays well to major Christie customer sets.

No stranger to the academic world, Paul is President of the University of Waterloo Alumni Council and holds appointments as Adjunct Professor of Engineering and KMDI Senior Research Fellow at the University of Toronto.

 

Kevin Tuer

Managing Director, Canadian Digital Media Network

Kevin Tuer is Managing Director of the Canadian Digital Media Network and Vice-President, Digital Media for Communitech. The Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN), a federal Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research, is dedicated to establishing Canada as a world leader in Digital Media by enabling connections and collaboration of people across the country - entrepreneurs, companies, research institutes and government - and bringing more digital solutions to market. Kevin has held several engineering and senior management positions in the high tech industry over the past 15 years including Senior Research Engineer with Computing Devices Canada (now General Dynamics Canada) as well as co-founder and CTO of Handshake VR. Kevin holds a BASc (Honours) in Mechanical Engineering, a MASc in Mechanical Engineering, and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

 

John Wilkinson

John Wilkinson was first elected in 2003 as the MPP for Perth-Middlesex. In 2007, he was re-elected as the MPP for Perth-Wellington. He was the first Certified Financial Planner elected to the Ontario Legislature.

During his first term he served as Vice Chair of the Standing Committe on Finance & Economic Affairs, Vice Chair of the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of the Environment and then as Parliamentary Assistant to Premier Dalton McGuinty in his role as Minister of Research & Innovation.

During his second term John was called to Cabinet and served as Minister of Research & Innovation, then as Minister of Revenue and finally as Minister of the Environment.

John Wilkinson played a vital role in securing $10 million of provincial support for the construction of our permanent Stratford Campus building. As Minister of Research & Innovation, he was responsible for Ontario's $1.6 billion Innovation Agenda, which included digital media as a focus for world class research and commercialization excellence.

John and his wife live in Stratford, where he founded Wilkinson & Keller Financial Planning Limited. They have three children, a daughter in graduate school, a son attending UW and a son in high school.

 

Ian Wilson

Executive Director, Stratford Institute

Ian Wilson is the Executive Director of the Stratford Institute. Ian joined the University of Waterloo as Director of Stratford Initiatives in 2009. When he retired from his post as Librarian and Archivist of Canada in 2009, he became the Librarian and Archivist of Canada Emeritus.

Ian's career spans many areas, including archival and information management, university teaching and government service. He has worked diligently to make archives accessible and interesting to a wide range of audiences. While helping to safeguard the integrity of archival records and library services, he has encouraged public involvement and outreach. He has published extensively on history, archives, heritage and information management and has lectured nationally and internationally.

Ian holds honorary degrees from both Queen's University and York University, is a Member of the Order of Canada, holds an appointment of Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France, is a recipient of the 2005 Award of Merit from the Association for Canadian Studies. He is also a fellow of the Association of Canadian Archivists, the Society of American Archivists and the Archives Association of Ontario.

Find more information about Ian in the Canadian Encyclopedia.

 

Gary Wreford

Vice President - Central Processing Technology, Scotiabank

Since 1990, Gary Wreford has worked in the Banking Industry in Canada originally with National Trust and subsequently with Scotiabank. His current role is Vice President, Central Processing Technology.

Over the years his responsibilities have included the delivery and support of banking systems on both mainframe and distributed platforms. He was the development lead in the conversion of National Trust systems and technology to Scotiabank and since then has been involved in a number of system conversions resulting from acquisitions and realignment. Most recently he has focused his attention on the strategic evolution of technology and systems for Human Resources, Alternative Mortgage Lending, Automobile Lending and Shared Services for the Bank.

He brings to Scotiabank more than 30 years of experience in the information technology sector. Prior to joining the Bank, he worked in financial systems for a major electrical utility in Ontario.

Mr. Wreford has served on a number of community and church boards.

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