Alberta Enterprise Corporation - Board of Directors
Fossum, Sharilee
Sharilee Fossum is currently Chief Operating Officer at DIALOG, a multi-studio design firm. Prior to joining DIALOG, she was the Chief Financial Officer at MacEwan University. Sharilee has experience in the capital markets, manufacturing, post-secondary education, public agencies and non-profit organizations. She also has experience with family business enterprises. Sharilee also serves on the board of Farm Credit Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Regina. Sharilee is a Chartered Professional Accountant and a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D).
Sadaranganey, Neil
Neil Sadaranganey has extensive industry experience in board governance, start-ups, technology, and industry, including in Silicon Valley.
He is currently the Managing Director of NTT Docomo Ventures, where he leads the team responsible for all fund and direct investments in the United States of America and Canada. Some of his notable investments include Coinbase, Mist Systems, Couchbase and Centrify.
Previously he was General Partner at Bay Partners where he drove the investment in Eloqua, which was founded in Canada and was acquired by Oracle for over $1 billion. Mr. Sadaranganey has served on the board of many public and private companies including Cornerstone on Demand, Like.com, Eventful, Hiplogic, LiveMedia, and Applied Identity.
Before becoming a venture capitalist, Neil was a software product executive at Good Technology and RealNetworks. He was a founding team member of Afara Websystems, a company acquired by Sun Microsystems. Neil started his career as a consultant with IBM and Accenture Canada.
Neil is a charter member of the C100, a global non-profit association of technology thought leaders committed to helping advance Canadian innovation.
He holds a Bachelor of Systems Engineering degree from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from Stanford University.
Scarlett, Tracey
Tracey Scarlett is the President of BioQuest Ventures Inc., providing consulting services for entrepreneurial companies looking to develop and expand their businesses as well as for organizations looking to build more effective and inclusive programs for innovators and entrepreneurs. Ms. Scarlett also is a director of the boards of the Business Development Bank of Canada, is chair of the board of trustees of the Sawridge First Nation Trusts, and is chair of the board of Bredin College. She is a past Council member of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), is a current member of the Committee for Research Partnerships for NSERC and has held director positions on numerous other non-profit and economic development boards including Travel Alberta, Edmonton Global, Edmonton Economic Development Corporation and Alberta Women Entrepreneurs.
Previously, she was Dean of the JR Shaw School of Business at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), where she established the Mawji Centre for New Venture and Student Entrepreneurship, a campus-wide initiative to build an entrepreneurial mindset into polytechnic education. As Chief Executive Officer of Alberta Women Entrepreneurs, she led development of entrepreneurship programs focused on enabling women to achieve their full entrepreneurial potential. She was also Chief Operating Officer of KMT Hepatech Inc., a biotechnology start-up spun out of the University of Alberta, and previously co-founded an electrical contracting company.
Ms. Scarlett holds a diploma in Medical Laboratory Technology from NAIT, a Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Science from the University of Alberta, and a MBA with a specialization in Technology Commercialization from the University of Alberta. Tracey has completed the Institute of Corporate Directors – Director Education Program at University of Toronto Rotman School of Management and holds an ICD.D designation.
Ferrara, Justin
Justin Ferrara is a Senior Partner at the Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP office in Calgary whose main practice is in securities law, with a focuses on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. Mr. Ferrara has represented a number of clients in a broad range of matters, including mergers and acquisitions, public and private equity financings, corporate reorganizations and corporate governance issues.
Mr. Ferrara holds a Bachelor of Commerce from McMaster University, as well as an MBA and LLB from Dalhousie University.
Competencies required for members of the Alberta Enterprise Corporation Board include private sector governance, entrepreneurship, and senior leadership experience. Justin Ferrara was directly recruited and appointed on the basis of meeting the competencies, skills and attributes as described above.
Redmond, Ted
Ted Redmond has more than 25 years of operating, transactional and business advisory experience for energy, technology and industrial businesses. He has worked with many venture capital and private equity-backed companies and their owners to raise funds and profitably growth their businesses.
Mr. Redmond’s senior roles in publicly traded and private companies include President & CEO of ZCL Composites (a Toronto Stock Exchange company), President and CEO of NCSG Crane & Heavy Haul, EVP of Energy Products & Services, the largest business segment of McCoy Corporation, CEO of Clean Air Power, and CEO of Lacent Technologies, an Edmonton-based venture capital backed start-up.
As both a CEO and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisor Mr. Redmond has led numerous venture capital and private equity-backed companies through successful turnarounds as well as buy-side and sell-side M&A transactions.
As a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group, he provided senior-level strategy and operations advice to Global 1000 companies.
Mr. Redmond holds an MBA from the Stanford Business School, an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Computer Software/Hardware from the University of Toronto, and a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Alberta.
Competencies required for members of the Alberta Enterprise Corporation Board include private sector governance, entrepreneurship, and senior leadership experience. Ted Redmond was directly recruited and appointed on the basis of meeting the competencies, skills, and attributes as described above.
Cannon, M. Elizabeth
Dr. Elizabeth Cannon is president emerita of the University of Calgary, after serving as president and vice chancellor from 2010 to 2018. Prior to her term as president, Dr. Cannon was dean of the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary. An expert in geomatics engineering and a Professional Engineer, Dr. Cannon’s research has been on the forefront of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) since 1984 in both industrial and academic environments, and she has commercialized technology to over 200 agencies worldwide. Dr. Cannon’s work has been recognized with many national and international honours including the Johannes Kepler Award from the U.S. Institute of Navigation, an NSERC Steacie Award and the Gold Medal Award from Engineers Canada.
Dr. Cannon is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Engineering, as well as an elected foreign associate of the National Academy of Engineering. She served as co-chair of the Business-Higher Education Roundtable, was a past chair of Universities Canada, and was a member of the federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development’s Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC), in addition to many other boards and advisory councils. Currently, she is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Aga Khan University, a Fellow of the Creative Destruction Lab – Rockies, and a Director of the Gairdner Foundation and the Rideau Hall Foundation. She is a corporate director and seed-stage investor, particularly in female-founded companies.
In June, 2019, Dr. Cannon was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Competencies required for members of the Alberta Enterprise Corporation Board include private sector governance, entrepreneurship, and senior leadership experience. Elizabeth Cannon was directly recruited and appointed on the basis of meeting the competencies, skills and attributes as described above.
Hunter, Derrick
Derrick is President and CEO of Bluesky Equities Ltd., an investment management company with interests in real estate, energy, distilling, technology and alternative strategies. Previously, he co-founded Wild Rose Properties Inc., a real estate investment company with assets in the United States.
Bluesky is one of the most active angel investors in Southern Alberta, having invested in over eighty-three start-up businesses since 2012.
Derrick is a Fellow of Creative Destruction Lab – Rockies. He is an Advisor to the UCEED venture capital fund, NACO West and Platform Calgary. He was a member of the Innovation Capital Working Group, which reported to the Government of Alberta in April 2020. He is Chairman of the Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University of Calgary and sits on the External Advisory Committee of the Hunter Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Haskayne School of Business.
In the not-for-profit sector, he serves on the boards of Futurpreneur Canada and the Beakerhead Creative Society. He was a co-founder of EvolveU, which supports unemployed workers in their efforts to develop new career opportunities in technology.
Derrick is a graduate of Queen’s University and the University of Calgary. He is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta.
Competencies required for members of the Alberta Enterprise Corporation Board include private sector governance, entrepreneurship, and senior leadership experience. Derrick Hunter was directly recruited and appointed on the basis of meeting the competencies, skills and attributes as described above.