Executive Director, Alberta IoT

Pat is a seasoned executive with a diverse career spanning over 15 years in the technology sector and another decade in post-secondary education. An Alberta native, Pat’s technology journey has taken him through leadership roles at SMART Technologies, Pivotal CRM, and two startup ventures in optical networking and education. Pat’s dedication to the community extends to the higher education sector where he held senior management positions at SAIT and NAIT, collaborating closely with industry to shape talent development and education strategies. His expertise encompasses marketing, international distribution channel management, software product management, alliances, IP and content licensing, and education program development. This unwavering commitment to both technology and education continues to fuel his mission of supporting Alberta’s entrepreneurs in building thriving companies, developing critical talent, and connecting communities across the province. Pat is a committee member for the Canadian Blockchain Consortium and as an avid cyclist and skier, volunteers with the Bragg Creek Trails Association. 

Director of Development, Geoforce Canada

Mr. Hotte joined Geoforce Canada in 2020 as part of the acquisition of Trakopolis IoT Corp, where he previously served as Chief Technology Officer and continues to work with his team by leading the Geoforce Canada technology department focused on research and development, cross-company engineering initiatives and collaboration in the world of IoT/M2M focused on evolving visibility for customers using sensors and connectivity.    Prior to his time in the world of IoT, Laine worked for 15 years in software architecture and development for several large scale commerce integrations and business system applications across many different companies such as the American Heart Association, Cablevision Systems Corporation, US Homeland Security, Hyatt Hotels, and Verisign.

Working as a founding member and volunteer Director of the Alberta IoT Association (AIOT), Mr. Hotte works to fulfill the AIOT’s vision by promoting collaborative projects and membership engagement in a variety of topics related to his work with Trakopolis and the expanding association of technology driven companies.

Mr. Hotte holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computing Science from the University of Alberta.

CEO, Garnet Instruments

Steven Young, B.Ed., MBA, PMP is a strategic executive and organizational leader as the CEO of Garnet Instruments who has evolved the company from a product seller to a solutions provider.

A regular lecturer at the Alberta School of Business and instructor at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, Steven also faces the other way in the class pursuing his PhD in Engineering focused on the implementation of IoT and other Industry 4.0 technologies.

As former Member of the Alberta Legislature where he served as the Chief Government Whip, Steven’s understanding across politics, government and business provides a unique perspective on how to navigate challenges, capture opportunities, and create an organization that delivers value to the customer.

President, MR Control Systems International

As one of the original founders of Alberta IoT Association, Matt has been one of the key players to help the IoT Association to grow in Alberta and abroad. Currently, as a Director, Matt serves on the Alberta IoT board of directors.

Matt Eskandar is also the President of MR Control Systems International Inc. ( www.mrcsi.com ). Matt’s extensive experience in monitoring, control and automation projects worldwide has inspired him to develop a new generation of Monitoring and Control platform that merges Industrial IoT with SCADA Systems. This new platform has allowed MR Control Systems to provide software platform to help companies with their IT/OT convergence solutions.

In 2012, Matt also started the Southern Alberta IEEE Control Systems and Instrumentation joint chapters. As a key committee member, Matt has helped this chapter to grow its membership to over 1000 members and supporters in Southern Alberta.

Matt is an active member of IEEE, APEGA and APEGBC associations.

Founder & CTO, SensorUp

Dr. Steve Liang is a global influencer and change maker of Internet of Things. Steve is the founder and CTO of SensorUp, and an associate professor who holds an IoT research chair at the University of Calgary. Dr. Liang is chairing and the editor of several key IoT enabling standards in Open Geospatial Consortium and UN’s ITU-T. Dr. Steve Liang’s leading edge research and product development efforts are designed to unlock the full potential of the IoT by transforming heterogeneous “silo-ed” IoT systems into a homogeneous IoT system of systems. For example, Steve is the editor of the OGC SensorThings API, an IoT cloud API standard that has been widely implemented around the world for applications ranging from homeland security, logistics, smart cities to energy.

Steve is recognized as a thought leader, especially in IoT and geospatial technologies. Dr. Liang has published more than 60 research publications, and delivered more than 100 invited talks in more than ten countries around the world. Dr. Liang also received numerous pretisgeous awards, include Killam Emerging Research Leader Award, Calgary’s Top 40 under 40, the SSE Early Research Excellence Award, the SSE Research Excellence Award, University of Calgary’s Peak Scholar Award, and more. He served on the prestigious Council of Canadian Academies’ expert panel on Enabling Sustainability in an Interconnected World, Competing in a Global Innovation Economy: The Current State of R&D in Canada, and US Transportation Research Board’s report on Connected Airport and the Internet of Things.

CEO, CoreData

Victor is an Engineer turned technology entrepreneur with 25 years in applied computer technologies. He has successfully built companies in safety, commercial real estate, engineering automation, and is currently operating an advanced software development company focused on practical applications in artificial intelligence. Victor has extensive knowledge in emergency health services with projects for the provincial government of Alberta.

In industry, Victor applied computer advancements to oil & gas, mining, power generation, and the ISS Canada arm. Victor has degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and is currently serving as a Director in two startups,  CEO of CoreData, Vice Chair of Alberta IOT, and Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder of LevellingUp.

President & CEO, Symroc Business and Project Management

The president and CEO of Symroc, Wilson Howe, is a highly skilled engineering and business management professional with a track record of success in developing and improving projects for industrial operations. Wilson has obtained significant industrial experience in Oil and Gas exploration, production, oilsands development, chemical/petrochemical and power industries. Wilson is a Professional Engineer registered with APEGA, a certified PMP and has received his MBA with the University of Alberta. Wilson is also an original founder and a board member of Alberta IOT association.

CEO, Aurora Wireless Networks

A graduate of Queen’s University. Andy’s career includes Bell Northern Research (Nortel) developing analog, digital and radio frequency hardware for digital transmission and exploratory wireless systems, including the first T1 transceiver on a chip. Andy joined NovAtel in 1987 and became manager of the Antennas & Propagation Group and then Technical Program Manager for RF data products. His groups produced several successful products as well as a host of research and development tools, patents and publications. In 1992 Andy co-founded Murandi Communications in 1992 – doing global wireless product development & associated research. Andy was a co-founder of Aurora Wireless Networks in 2014 – focussed on ultra energy efficient long range IoT wireless data applications. Andy is both a Director and CEO.

Founder Lawcubator | Chief Advisor for Technology and Innovation Investments at Invest Alberta

Neeraj is an expert in Investments, Emerging Technologies (AI/ML/IOT/5G/LTE), Entrepreneurship, Innovation Management, Intellectual Property Consulting, Strategy & Global business expansion. He advises several Provincial and Federal governments in Asia and Europe on cross-border trade, investments, IP, innovation, technology and startup ecosystems. He is author of the book called “Creating & safeguarding a strong Intellectual Property Portfolio”. He has mentored 100+ startups globally and angel invested in a couple of startups. He holds Bachelor’s Degree in Material Science from IIT (India), Masters Degree in Mathematics from KTH (Sweden) and PGPX from UCLA Anderson School of Management (USA) in General Management.

Senior VP, Digital Strategy, Westgen Technologies

James is Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy at Westgen Technologies Inc, a Calgary-based technology company that provides low-cost clean off-grid power solutions to Oil & Gas customers and other industries. He has over 30 years of technology and marketing experience in telecom, electric utility, upstream oil and gas, and agriculture sectors in early stage, scale-up, and large enterprises. James was the last CTO at Zedi Solutions, an Alberta-based IoT platform serving the oil and gas industry and is an active angel investor and member of Valhalla Capital, Vantec and Angel Forum. He is Board Chair at TRIG, a Calgary-based IoT firm offering solutions for the rail industry. He is also an EiR with Foresight and a veteran of many Alberta StartUp TNT Investor Summits. James recently became a Venture Partner with Weave VC, a new seed-stage investment fund. James is a Professional Engineer, holds a MSc Degree in Electrical Engineering and an MBA, both from the University of Alberta, and is a Fellow with the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

Executive Vice President, Strategy, Long View

Kevin Crowe, Executive Vice President, Strategy joined Long View in 2000. He led the Managed Services division from the startup phase to being recognized as the “#1 MSP in the world” by MSP Mentor and “one of the most innovative MSPs” by CDN Magazine. In 2010 Kevin led the development of Long View’s Cloud division and defined the go to market strategy. In 2014 Kevin took on the role of Vice President for Procurement Services.

Kevin is focused on leading innovation and is proficient in combining business offerings and emerging technologies in such critical areas as Cloud, Managed Services, AI, IoT, IT acquisition and outsourcing. Kevin comes from a technology background where he has worked with such operational standards as ITIL since 1998 and is a former CISSP professional, he also has his MBA. He is the  founder of Give A Mile a charity that provides flights for people to fly and be with their palliative or critically ill loved ones. Kevin enjoys participating n endurance events such as ultramarathon running and is supported by his wife Hannah and son Ayden.

Director – Virtual Design & Construction, EllisDon

Hammad began his career at EllisDon in 2014 and currently holds the position of Director, Virtual Design & Construction responsible for EllisDon’s Civil and ICI projects in Western Canada. Hammad has close to a decade of experience and has worked in a wide range of capacities starting in architecture and moving on to the construction side of the industry. Hammad has championed various positions including Architectural Technologist, Project Coordinator, Proposal Coordinator, Building Information Modeling (BIM) Coordinator, and Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) Manager. Working with BIM and digital workflows, Hammad’s role is to match technology and projects so that they can use VDC tools to provide the necessary balance between technology, innovation, and economic efficiency. Hammad strives to implement technology to offer appropriate and novel solutions to construction problems.

Western Director, Operations (Canada), EllisDon Corporation

Justin is currently leading the team at EllisDon’s Energy & Digital Services Western Canadian division as the Director of Operations. Justin and his team are proven leaders in transforming complex buildings into intelligent, future-proof, and technologically advanced facilities within the modern built environment.

Justin has a vast amount of experience in working with teams building and operating commercial, institutional, research, and healthcare facilities. His expertise includes leading the design, procurement, installation, integration and commissioning of intelligent infrastructure including; converged building networks, VOIP systems, Access Control, CCTV, Digital Lighting, BAS, Power Metering, Electrical Systems, Nurse Call, Patient Wandering, Radio/DAS, use-case development and system integration.

Justin’s team is currently supporting projects in implementing IoT technologies in numerous commercial towers, shopping malls and hospital by leading all work related to integration and delivery of mechanical, electrical, security and IT systems.

His primary goal is to leverage his team’s experience in the area of intelligent buildings to push the boundaries of technology in the built environment while being intimately aware of pending trends, such as 5G. Furthermore, Justin strongly believes that leveraging technology and data is the key in improving the digital experience, sustainability and operations in buildings new and old.

Co-Founder & CEO, Amplify Advisors

Jesse Ferguson is an accomplished Chartered Accountant (CA) with 15+ years of financial and executive management experience. Jesse has worked with Global companies while working at Deloitte in addition to serving small and medium business including his role as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of several companies. In 2018, Jesse Co-Founded Amplify advisors. Jesse serves as the CEO and CFO of Amplify and has overseen the growth from it’s original 2 founders to 30+ employees in 3 years. Amplify Advisors specializes in Fractional CFO, Consulting, Recruiting and Technology. Jesse brings a wide range of financial and business acumen to AB IoT and is excited to be a part of the emerging industries in Alberta such as IoT.

CEO, WSN Grants and Strategy for Business

Denise has been both an instructor, and business coach to hundreds of SME’s In Calgary through a government funded Self Employment program. Denise has been a visiting instructor to many faculties at SAIT on Extreme Networking. Denise is a business and grant strategist. She helps entrepreneurs scale up assessing gaps in business systems to grow. She supports them in planning and executing their expansion plans through grants and business resources. Key areas she targets in helping businesses scale up are: research and development, hiring, training, export, and expansion. She serves fast growth technology businesses in: healthcare, technology, marketing, construction, oil and gas, finance, advanced education, publishing, agriculture, telecommunications, transportation, green energy, and manufacturing.  She currently helps align clients to resource partners such as IRAP, Alberta Innovates, BDC, EDC, Alberta Trade, CED, Western Diversification, and Trade Commissioners around the world. She has also aligned her fast growth clients to collaborate in initiates resulting in 2 joint ventures so far in 2020 (including first nations partnerships). The Canadian clientele she works with are doing business or expanding into: USA, India, Netherlands, Vietnam, Singapore, Germany, France, UK, UAE, Qatar, Africa, Columbia, Peru, and Australia.

Denise has been involved as a busines partner in international healthcare and other export ventures, and has been on a variety of boards such as The International Executive Association, Doors Open YYC, Bow West Community Resource Centre, and currently serving on the board of The Gold Mind Project (grass roots venture to help unemployed Albertans transition to new sectors and opportunities).

Denise is a collaborator in community getting active over the years with nonprofit organizations and industry associations: Calgary Women in Energy, Inn From The Cold, Human Resources Institute of Alberta, Economic Development Association of Canada, Alberta Occupational Health Nurses Association, Enactus Canada, Faculty of Graduate Studies (University of Calgary), African Canadian Golfers Club, and the Calgary Stampede.

Denise speaks on business topics and grant strategy for industry associations such as: Calgary Construction Association, Mechanical Contractors Association, Calgary Real Estate for Women, Alberta International Development Office, International Executive Association, Young Leaders in Construction, SAIT Women in Trades and Technology, Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and Alberta IoT.

Principal, Make It So Inc.

Heather Herring is a professional engineer and proud alumna of the Haskayne School of Business. She is known for her ability to pinpoint the essential elements of an idea, business, challenge or person and use her leadership, innovation, and management skills to identify opportunities for excellence. As a coach, she supports client companies in business, communications and customer development. Often described as passionate, driven, and admired for her ability to forge connections between people and industries, Heather shines brightest at the intersection of cooperation, collaboration and competition to drive success for all parties.

Her varied career includes work in academia, private and public sector companies with a focus on energy, sustainability and cleantech. She was responsible for securing research grants and developing VR and 3D printing research facilities at the University of Calgary; focusing the R&D program, overseeing field pilots for new oil sands technologies, and formulating the creation of COSIA for Total E&P Canada; and exploring the emergence of the digital oil field at Laricina. She has served on the board of Platform Calgary and TECTERRA. Currently she is an advisor and coach for several early stage companies in cleantech, medtech, agtech and edtech.