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Home > About > Innovation Ecosystem > Regional Innovation Networks > Technology Development Advisors
Technology Development Advisors are senior business advisors who provide business coaching, guidance on accessing capital through our many programs and connection to community support through various networks.
Our Technology Development Advisors are business experts that work along others within Alberta’s innovation ecosystem to provide support and access to resources to help high-growth, high-potential companies to become self-sustaining and positioned to provide economic and social benefits to Alberta.
Fill out a short questionnaire to help us better understand where you’re at on your innovation journey, and how we can best help you! If you don’t yet qualify for TDA assistance, we can provide you with some recommendations on where you can start.
Craig is a globally connected mentor, collaborator, sales expert and ecosystem builder who loves spending time with growth-minded individuals.
His first startup went from initial launch to being funded by a Tier 1 Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist and being twice named by Dow Jones as one of the 50 most promising companies in North America less than 24 months after launching.
Since returning from Silicon Valley, Craig has been helping aspiring, first-time, and early-stage founders validate business ideas and commercialize technologies.
Prior to being an entrepreneur, he had a 15-year track record of being a top-performing salesperson at every company he worked for. He has over 10,000 endorsements for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sales on LinkedIn, with over 1,000 for his favourite sales topic, Lead Generation.
Craig loves to help aspiring, first-time, early-stage, youth, rural, and underrepresented entrepreneurs learn how to start and scale a company without draining their bank account, bruising their egos or ruining relationships.
He has an Executive MBA from the University of Calgary, specializing in technology commercialization and new venture creation, and has completed level I of the Innovation Governance Program’s board training.
Craig has an infectious enthusiasm for building equitable entrepreneurship ecosystems – which is evident when he travels to and speaks at other startup communities.
Pej has over 20 years of experience in R&D and technology commercialization; from being a venture capital analyst to co-founding and exiting a technology startup, he has seen all aspects of the entrepreneurial journey from ideation to market validation to growth and successful exits.
Pej comes to the TDA role following six years at Innovate Calgary (IC), where he managed the protection and commercialization of intellectual property developed at the University of Calgary. He also led the development and management of two energy and cleantech startup accelerator programs at IC, namely: GreenSTEM and GRInSTEM.
Pej held leadership roles at Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) and the University of Lethbridge. He was one of the founding members of the Regional Innovation Network of Southern Alberta (RINSA) in 2011.
Pej is a graduate of the Westlink Technology Commercialization Internship Program. He has a BSc (Hons.) in Physics and Astronomy as well as a MASc in Computer and Electrical Engineering from UBC.
Stephan has an accomplished background in business development, marketing and sales primarily to upstream and downstream oil and gas, engineering companies and services companies. For nearly 10 years he was General Manager of the Canadian operations of an international professional technical services (technical inspection, process safety and HSE) company.
Prior to joining Alberta Innovates as a TDA he led business development efforts at ACAMP, working with startup and small company electronic hardware innovators by providing engineering technical development support, and guiding them in their product development journey from proof-of-concept to a commercial product.
Matt has a strong background in business, economic and community development, as well as in project management and program implementation. Originally from the UK, Matt worked in the banking sector and public sector in the UK and with the European Union (EU) before emigrating to Alberta in 2008.
In his time in Alberta, Matt has worked in both the public and private sectors, working with engineering companies in Central Alberta to build their respective Economic Development divisions as well as being a lead on their business development efforts. Matt has also worked as the Economic Development Officer for a community of 14,000 people and most recently as the Investment Attraction and Business Retention officer for the Central Alberta region.
In addition, Matt is a long running board member and 2015 President of the Economic Developers of Alberta (EDA) association, and the Alberta representative on the national Economic Development Association of Canada (EDAC) board. Matt is also a past community representative and chair of Red Deer’s Community Housing Advisory Board (2009-2014). He is located at the Red Deer College Centre of Innovation in Manufacturing.
Mike has technology development and commercialization experience in several industries in Canada and the U.S, and has worked in startup companies as well Fortune 500 companies. Most recently, Mike has worked with entrepreneurs and small entities to create technology development, marketing, and business plans and strategies. Through this work, he understands the challenges these organizations face developing products from inception to market entry.
Mike’s experience in areas such as startup, financing, business strategy, intellectual property, business development and team development enables him to assist Alberta companies during their journey. He believes SMEs are key for Alberta’s continued growth and diversification, and he enjoys the opportunity to work with these organizations to assist in their success.
Jennifer is an accomplished entrepreneur and former C-suite executive who’s founded, operated and exited businesses. She’s experienced in developing, commercializing and scaling technology primarily in the agriculture industry but with experience in the health, environment, food, retail and education sectors.
Her goal as a technology development advisor is to take what she’s learned in business to help others move forward. When meeting and learning about new clients and their business opportunities, she combines her background and experience to coach, mentor and connect them as they move forward on their entrepreneurial journey.
Jennifer is committed to sharing her talents and networks by providing valuable access to coaching, mentoring, and opportunities for capital to a variety of businesses as they start, scale and grow their businesses.
Her thinking is that the future to a strong economy requires collaboration between everyone in the innovation ecosystem. This includes industry, government, post-secondary institutions, and organizations like Alberta Innovates.
Jennifer has a B.Sc in Agriculture Business Management and a Directors ICD.D designation. She is a strong advocate of lifelong learning and always seeking opportunities to increase her skill set to benefit her clients.
Kara is a high-energy individual who excels in relationship building. She has vast entrepreneurial experience and expertise in the agriculture, retail, construction and oil and gas sectors.
A former Dean at Lakeland College, Kara built a strong foundation of varied industry relationships and gained valuable insight into the greater Alberta innovation network.
Kara is excited to use her network contacts in conjunction with her coaching and mentoring skills to support businesses and foster the entrepreneurial spirit that is so vibrant in our community and province. She believes that innovation through the collaboration of education, industry and government is the foundation for the future of the Alberta. As such, she looks forward to assisting entrepreneurs make advantageous connections that will sustain them on the path to success.
Kara is a strong advocate of life-long learning and is always seeking opportunities to increase her own skill set to benefit her clients and regional stakeholders. She has a Masters of Business Administration with a focus on Leadership and is working towards becoming an Executive Coach as well as a Certified Management Consultant. Kara’s office is in Lloydminster with Startup Lloydminster, a key partner to the Regional Innovation Network in East Central Alberta.
Brandy has spent most all of her career helping people commercialize new technologies, especially digital and life science solutions. At the beginning of her career, she designed and managed the entrepreneurial incubator and pitch program, Agility, at the University of Lethbridge where she trained over 200 student entrepreneurs how to start businesses. She then spent 1 year working as a product manager on a health-tech startup in Calgary. She then created the pilot program for Elevate IP Alberta, supporting over 150 companies access funding for intellectual property strategy and protection.
As a certified IDEO Design Thinker, Brandy helps start-ups view problems from various perspectives and formulate innovative solutions not obvious to others. Brandy is also a certified Lean Startup coach and UX Designer, allowing her to apply both business development and practical prototyping skills to de-risk startup-up ideas earlier to find product-market fit.
Brandy’s educational background allows her to modify the entrepreneurial frameworks she teaches to every entrepreneurs specific needs. Brandy’s aim is to help entrepreneurs set realistic goals and put business plans and financial projections into action, testing ideas along the way to save money and time. Brandy holds a Master’s in Social Impact, which allows her to assist social purpose and mission-driven companies build businesses that do good.
You will find Brandy travelling to other startup communities to share her knowledge, grow her network, and learn from others. She is a community advocate for Alberta-based startups and contributes to many community-based events and programs like MVP Mondays and Founder Fridays, which are free, virtual events open to anyone who wants to join.
When John arrived at Alberta Innovates in 2011, he came with 27 years of manufacturing experience working primarily in roles of plant and operations management.
John had the privilege to work for companies in three different countries, ranging from startup to being publicly traded. It was during this time that John was exposed to many manufacturing and quality methodologies such as Lean and Six Sigma.
Now that John is with Alberta Innovates, he continues to share that knowledge with business and industry as well as assisting them with their technology development needs, focusing largely on IP and prototype development work.
John is in Medicine Hat but serves the southeast part of the province in his role as a TDA. Working closely with his Regional Innovation Network partners, John continues to support entrepreneurs and small business while working with the many programs and offerings of Alberta Innovates and those within the Alberta Regional Innovation Network.
Lorena is well known in the Alberta innovation ecosystem through her work with organizations in the Edmonton and Calgary regions including Innovate Calgary, Kinetica Energy Technology Accelerator, TEC Edmonton, AWE, the Alberta Research Council, and many early-stage technology companies. Areas of experience and strength include energy, cleantech, ICT, operations, technology transfer and licensing, governance and board of directors, and business advisory services.
As an active mentor of the U of A Threshold Impact Venture Mentoring Service, past GrowthX Coach and Futurpreneur mentor, Lorena is passionate about helping entrepreneurs grow companies and become better leaders.