Our Leadership
Our leadership is accountable to our membership and our partners, and are responsible for the governance and management of the Calgary Innovation Coalition. They represent a broad cross-section of Calgary’s innovation ecosystem, and our board of directors include innovation entrepreneurs, technology founders, and educators.
The Calgary Innovation Coalition and our members have the experience and expertise to help you build the future.
Meet our Staff
Meet our directors
COMMUNITY INITIATIVES COMMITTEE
Technology Development Advisor
DIRECTOR
Vice-President, Strategic Initiatives, Partnerships and Engagement
ADVISOR
Director, Economic, Research & Strategy
Meet our Staff
Advisory Board:
COMMUNITY INITIATIVES COMMITTEE
Technology Development Advisor
Committee Members:
Meet our Directors
DIRECTOR
Vice-President, Strategic Initiatives, Partnerships and Engagement
Director, Economic, Research & Strategy
DIRECTOR
Bilal Rasool
BOARD
Bilal's career has been focused on commercializing technologies and helping startups build and scale their businesses. In his current roles as Interim Director, Founder Success at Platform Calgary and Co-Director of the Alberta Catalyzer program, Bilal adopts learnings from years of program development and startup engagement to build best-in-class experiences for early-stage founders in order to help them propel their businesses forward.
Prior to his current role, Bilal led partnerships at Platform Calgary, held several roles supporting research technologies at Innovate Calgary, advised energy and cleantech companies through the Kinetica Ventures Energy Technology Accelerator and was involved in corporate innovation initiatives across a wide array of industries, spanning energy, telecommunications and agriculture.
Bilal holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an MBA degree from the University of Calgary.
Melanie McDonald
DIRECTOR
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Kate Klopovich, MBA
DIRECTOR
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Mike Procee
BOARD
Mike Procee is an intrapreneur, entrepreneur, board member, energy industry professional, innovation & entrepreneurship educator, innovation Podcast host, Doctor of Business Administration Candidate with a focus on corporate innovation, and a founding member of the Calgary Innovation Peer Forum.
Mike strives to provide practical solutions to large organizations looking to leverage innovation as a way to achieve their long-term strategy, sharing his journey with those interested along the way and utilizing his knowledge to help others.
Constantly exploring how to take opportunities from ideation to execution inside large organizations.
Josh Welz
BOARD
Josh is an engaged and connected community leader, focused on developing Okotoks in a purposeful and socially focused way. As an economic development professional for 10+ years and an entrepreneur for even longer, he is interested in all forms of business, people and where the two intersect. One of his current focuses in Okotoks is "OkoTech:" a bold new incubator fueling the next wave of tech innovation in Southern Alberta, helping accelerate early-stage startups with mentorship, community, and the resources they need to scale — right from the heart of Okotoks.
Josh is proud to call Okotoks home alongside his wife Ashlee and two beautiful children Sloan and Jude. Cooking, reading, video games and sports of all varieties are what fill his free time.
Meet our Staff
Michelle Wagner
Regional Innovation Network (RIN) Director
Michelle Wagner (she/her) is an accomplished leader with deep expertise in program development, organizational change, and stakeholder engagement.
With experience spanning the non-profit, public health, and corporate sectors, she has successfully designed, launched, and scaled programs that strengthen communities and drive organizational growth.
Her leadership includes senior roles with Alberta Women Entrepreneurs, the Canadian Mental Health Association, and the Blue Zones Project, where she advanced strategic initiatives, aligned partnerships, and spearheaded large-scale community engagement. Michelle is recognized for her ability to guide cross-functional teams, foster collaboration, and align diverse stakeholders around shared goals.
Outside of her work, Michelle loves running, volunteering, travelling, and is a trauma-informed yoga instructor.
Meet our Directors
Inês Bartilotti
INTERIM BOARD CHAIR
Born analog but thriving in the digital age, Inês Bartilotti bridges the classic and the modern with ease. Fluent in three languages (and learning a fourth), she has worked across six countries, shaping industries, institutions, and communities through strategy, partnerships, and cross-sector collaboration. Her global experience and cultural fluency inform a unique ability to connect ideas, people, and systems.
As Senior Director of New Ventures at Innovate Calgary, Inês plays a key role in advancing the Calgary innovation ecosystem. She supports early-stage ventures through a systems-thinking approach—helping founders navigate complexity, identify strategic opportunities, and bring impactful solutions to life. Her work strengthens innovation pipelines, fosters cross-sector partnerships, and contributes to a more inclusive and resilient economic landscape.
Rather than specializing in one area, Inês embraces breadth. With a background in medicine and an executive MBA, she blends scientific insight with business acumen. Her curiosity about human behavior, ability to simplify complexity, and commitment to evidence-based decision-making define her work—whether she’s shaping policy, building innovation ecosystems, or mentoring the next generation of changemakers.
Jamie McInnis, M.ED, PMP
BOARD
Jamie received her Master’s in educational policy from the University of Alberta.
She is experienced in working with private, non-profit, Indigenous and government organizations to fund research and product development to address challenges identified by partners.
With over 17 years of experience in research portfolio management and securing over $74M in funding for research execution, Jamie is skilled in working closely with partners to change narratives. Her work facilitates industry and stakeholder relations, team formation, and change management and guides the development of impactful contributions.
With over 77,000 square feet of lab space and $55M of supporting infrastructure, Jamie is leading the ARIS scientific, technical and research administration teams in developing novel, impactful solutions that diversify our economy, train tomorrow’s technical experts and provide students unique experiences working side-by-side with partners.
These shared learning experiences focus on emerging technologies and applications in Clean Energy, Green Building Solutions, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing and Unmanned Heavy Lift Aerial Vehicles.
David Yiptong
BOARD, GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE
Technology development, commercialization and community engagement have been at the heart of David’s recent work. He has worked with hundreds of technology startups and entrepreneurs, helping them build their businesses and connecting them with resources and support in the community. Their successes are what drives David’s passion for the sector in Calgary and Alberta.
David brings a wide range of experience having worked in startups, large corporations, and not-for-profits, in industries ranging from manufacturing, energy, and telecommunications. He continues to volunteer to coach students and entrepreneurs through various programs in Calgary.
Advisory Board:
Stephan Zuberec
ADVISOR
Shane thrives in connecting, serving and celebrating entrepreneurs and community leaders. He spent two decades in the Kitchener-Waterloo innovation ecosystem before a startup acquisition brought him to Cochrane in 2019. He’s held various roles working in and with startups, scaleups, large companies and incubators and is currently the Program Manager of Cochrane’s Startup Incubator. He is a founding Board member of Innovate Cochrane and enjoys all sorts of outdoor adventures and sporting activities alongside his wife and 3 children.
Ursula Sherwood
BOARD
Ursula is a passionate supporter of entrepreneurs. She has over 30 years’ experience in small business entrepreneurship, having successfully owned and operated several small businesses. She is a certified business coach and has been working directly with entrepreneurs for the past 10+ years. Throughout her career, Ursula has worked in a variety of industries, including IT, oil and gas, health, and arts, within both the for profit and non-profit sectors.
In her current role as Executive Director of Community Futures Highwood, Ursula and her team work exclusively with rural entrepreneurs, assisting them across the entire business life cycle (from start up to exit) with coaching, programming, and loans. A current project that Ursula is very excited about is the OkoTech tech incubator developed in partnership with Economic Development of the Town of Okotoks, supporting tech entrepreneurs in the pre-revenue stage through mentorship and education.
In her free time, she loves to explore the outdoors, going hiking, kayaking and camping.
Committee Members:
Pej Ghanipour
COMMUNITY INITIATIVES COMMITTEE
Pej brings over two decades of experience in technology commercialization, spanning from venture capital analysis to co-founding and successfully exiting a tech startup. Currently serving as a Technology Development Advisor (TDA) at Alberta Innovates, he mentors a portfolio of 140 startups in Calgary.
Previously, Pej managed intellectual property commercialization at Innovate Calgary and oversaw two startup accelerator programs. He also held leadership roles at Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) and the University of Lethbridge.
Pej holds a BSc (Hons.) in Physics and Astronomy and a MASc in Computer and Electrical Engineering from UBC.
Kim Caves
GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE
Kim Caves is an Advisor with Alberta Innovates and has a rich history in the digital transformation journey from the beginning. Her most recent role was as an account executive selling enterprise cybersecurity software. Today she works with small and medium businesses helping with their business development strategies, particularly good sales practices.
Emmanuel Oluwatosin
GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE
Emmanuel is a Certified Leanstack, Certified Startup Coach, and the founder of Startupcourt, a non-profit organization dedicated to working with black and new immigrants to conceptualize and establish new business ventures. He possesses a remarkable track record in effectively formulating real-time business and product strategies and translating them into impactful actions, ensuring operational excellence and achieving significant financial results.
Emmanuel holds the belief that many startups face failure due to entrepreneurs investing time and resources in building the wrong products or services. Consequently, he actively collaborates with individuals and businesses to implement Continuous Innovation principles and establish an effective innovation process. As a first-generation immigrant, Emmanuel is deeply passionate about technologies, startups, and creating opportunities for underserved demographics.
Michael Kerr
Director
Alberta Innovates
LinkedIn
Andrew Browne
Court Ellingson
Kari Gordon
Nima Najand, Ph.D
Director, Life Sciences Innovation Hub
Jennifer Jensen
Vanessa Gagnon
Brigitte Legault
BOARD CHAIR COMMUNITY INITIATIVES COMMITTEE
Haley Jabusch
Brenda Beckedorf
Zak Biggs
Jaret Hargreaves
Natoya Abiola, MBET
Simon Raby, Ph.D
Shane Pegg
