NorthGuide guides clients to build resilient economies, strong industries and lasting organizations.

Communitech Hub

Launched a national strategy to build a globally-competitive concentration of digital and mobile startups and research commercialization in Canada. Launched Hyperdrive and REV accelerator programs to compete with TechStars and YC. Launched GoNorth Canada campaign to convince expatriates to return to Canada’s tech sector. This work is tied to 30,000 jobs, over 5,000 startups and $6 Billion in venture funding.

Place-Based Innovation for Urban Core Renewal

Built and activated 90,000 square feet of open innovation space in Downtown Kitchener as part of the City’s innovation agenda and downtown revitalization efforts. Attracted hundreds of startups and dozens of global multinational firms to co-locate and collaborate, contributing to economic renewal. 

Corporate Innovation

Launched the largest open innovation program in North America to support innovation for global brands like TD Bank, Manulife, General Motors, Thomson Reuters, and OpenText. Added corporate innovation programming for enterprise-scale public sector agencies including the Canadian Digital Service, Workplace Safety Insurance Board and the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Custom Programs

Custom Programs

Communitech Outposts: Launched an employer-of-record service making it easy for Canadian tech companies to quickly onboard, pay and manage global employees in 160 jurisdictions without having to create a new corporate entity or hire a contractor.
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Future of Work & Learning Coalition: Brought together a community of employers, employees, academia and government leaders dedicated to futureproofing the workplace. Supported the coalition to design and launch pilot projects focused on data gathering, skills development, workplace training. Created an open source playbook of insights and best practices within the community to share with other regions across the country.

Canada’s Tech Network

Created and led a national network connecting backbone organizations from 28 regional tech ecosystems across the country. Members collectively supported the growth of more than 5,000 startups each year and collaborated to share specialized facilities, programs and resources with one another’s clients – market intelligence services, MoCap studio access, underground testbeds for mining technologies, global market access programming. Launched a Soft Landing program suite to help small firms enter new global markets.

Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario 

Regional economic development and community growth: created positive change in the economy of southern Ontario, alongside a team of public servants. As Deputy Minister, led the Agency in providing more than $1.2 Billion through 2,500 direct investments to businesses and community organizations, which leveraged an additional $2.2 Billion from industry partners and created or maintained over 120,000 jobs across southern Ontario.

Scale-up Platform: Invested $52 Million to create a platform of support designed to accelerate promising technology firms from $10 Million to $100+ Million in revenue with the goal of building and retaining anchor firms for the Canadian economy. In its first four years, the Ontario Scale-up Platform supported thousands of companies to create and maintain more than 48,000 jobs, attract $18+ Billion in investment and generate more than $12 Billion in revenue.

Connect the Corridor: Two-way, all-day GO service

Built and ran a powerful coalition that included businesses across all sectors, industry associations, municipalities, universities and colleges to secure two-way, all-day GO Train service between Waterloo Region and Toronto – connecting Ontario’s leading innovation ecosystems to one another.

Toronto-Waterloo Corridor 

Led the strategic coordination and marketing for the Toronto-Waterloo Innovation Corridor campaign, uniting regional leaders to position the 100km corridor as a globally competitive ecosystem. The initiative generated international recognition, influenced federal policy, secured transportation infrastructure investments, and established the region as a unified innovation hub.

Funding for Housing

Helped secure capital and operational funding for a shelter that was using an innovative care model to better support people experiencing homelessness and to help treat the root causes of the challenges they face.

Leading the EV shift

Worked with the TTC and the City of Toronto to bring their first electric bus pilot project to live and accelerate their shift to electric buses.

True North Festival

Launched Canada’s “tech for good” movement, bringing 2,000+ people together to celebrate and collaborate on a shared commitment to leverage technology to create positive change. Led all aspects of program design, speaker recruitment, event planning, marketing and generating sponsorship revenue. Added a national Leader’s Prize competition with a $1M prize for the top team generating solutions to combat “fake news” using AI.

Digital Main Street

Deployed and managed $50M in federal investments to support small businesses and create youth employment as part of the Government of Canada’s pandemic response. Invested in regional programs to support businesses transform through digital tools and technologies to better weather the impacts of COVID-19 and prepare for future growth.