Chris Besse
Chirs is the President & COO at FreshGrade. Chris is a former senior executive at Nelson Learning with a succesful track record in the educaiton publishing space and a former founding board member of C21 Canada.

Giancarlo Brotto
Giancarlo is the Education Strategist for SMART Technologies. With 17 years of experience working in K-University environments, he currently leads SMART’s engagement with the global community of thought leaders on education technology  and supports product and marketing teams to understand emerging trends in education policy and practice.

Dr. Gina Cherkowski is Co-Founder & Director of Learning Stem Learning Labs. Dr. Cherkowski is a sessional instructor at the University of Calgary in STEM Education for preservice secondary teachers equipping them with the skills, tools and mindsets they need to inspire and educate the problems solvers, creative thinkers, and innovators of tomorrow. Gina’s specialty is teaching future teachers how to use robotics and technology in the classroom to create rich, meaningful learning experiences across the STEM disciplines.

Dr. Cherkowski has co-created and teaches a graduate level course called “Creativity Across the Disciplines” where she works with practicing educators and leaders in developing their creative capacity to design, explore and put into practice innovative new ways to teach STEM and Enterprise in the 21st Century.

Ron Owston is Dean of the  Faculty of Education and former Director of the Institute for Research in Learning Technologies (now IRDL) at York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In June 2007, York University awarded him the honorary title of University Professor for his “extraordinary contribution to the University as a colleague, teacher, and scholar.”

Dr. Maurice Manyfingers
Dr. Maurice Manyfingers is a member of the Blood Tribe of the Blackfoot Confederacy of the Treaty 7 First Nations of Southern Alberta. Currently, he is the Deputy Superintendent of Education and Business Affairs for the Kainai Board of Education. In November 2010, Maurice received his Doctor of Philosophy in Education Leadership from the University of Calgary where he focused on bettering the education systems and educational experiences for First Nation, Metis and Inuit students. He is also a member of the C21 CEO Acdemy.

Mike East
Mike is the General Manager of IBM Canada’s K-12 Education Division.  Since 1990, he has worked with educational leaders and educators across Canada to design and implement industry-leading ICT infrastructures for school districts, and on the effective use of educational technology in the classroom.

Michael Furdyk
Michael Furdyk is the Co-founder of TakingITGlobal, which provides innovative global education programs that empower youth to understand and act on the world’s greatest challenges. TIG was awarded the 2013 Intercultural Innovation Award by BMW and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. Michael has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, presented at TED, and was named one of Teen People’s “Twenty Teens that will Change the World.” Over the last decade, he has keynoted over 100 events across sectors, sharing his social media expertise and insights on youth engagement and educational reform to audiences in over 30 countries.

Marc Seaman
Since joining Microsoft Canada in 2004, Marc Seaman has held the position of national director of corporate and public affairs, including responsibility for leading and managing corporate communications and citizenship across Canada. Seaman was recognized as Manager of the Year for Microsoft Canada in 2007 and was awarded the J. Elder Award as Microsoft’s Leader of the Year in 2009. His professional achievements have earned him the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Award of Excellence for Marketing, as well as the Capitale Excel Award for Communications. He was a recipient of Ottawa’s 40 under 40 by the Ottawa Business Journal in 2007.

Dr. Guy G. Tétrault
Dr. Guy G. Tétrault started his career in education in 1976. He received his B.Ed. from the University of Calgary, his M.Ed. from the U of Saskatchewan and his Ed.D. from the U of Toronto. He taught French as a Second Language and French Immersion, was the principal of 5 different schools in Alberta and Saskatchewan, was an Educational Consultant for Alberta Education for 7 years, was the Deputy Superintendent for Red Deer Catholic Schools, the Superintendent of Schools (CEO) for Medicine Hat Catholic and is now the Director of Education (CEO) for our Sun West School Division No. 207.

Krista Jones
Krista is the senior advisor & lead of the EdTech cluster at MaRS. She has been a passionate innovator and builder of technology-based businesses since 1988. As an engineer, entrepreneur, mentor, she is known for her comprehensive knowledge of existing and emerging ICE technologies and architectures. To date, Krista has personally advised over 350 startups and worked with 1,300 ventures in the ICE industries. Krista and her husband owned a children’s technology educational franchise that fostered early innovation and creativity in robotics, animation, digital art and video game design.

Secretariat

Robert Martellacci 
Robert, MA EdTech, President, MindShare Learning Technology & President, C21 Canada. He has over 25 years of expertise in the learning & technology space as an administrator at York University & Country Manager, TLC Canada School Division.  His board appointments include: vice-chair, Canadian eLearning Enterprise Alliance and board member York U IRLT.

Karen Yamada is Vice-President & CFO of C21 Canada.

David Roberts
David is the CEO of 21st Century Learning Associates, past President of C21 Canada and Sr. Advisor. He is the former ADM of Education from New Brunswick with 30+ years experience in the teaching profession. David will be participating….albeit slowly… in the Mount Tremblant Ironman in August 2012.