Meet our BOARD
Driven visionaries whose valued expertise and industry knowledge drive our mission, govern our strategic goals, and create opportunities for entrepreneurs in Peterborough and the Kawarthas to flourish locally and abroad.
Nicole Stephenson
Chair
Nicole Stephenson is the founder of Stephenson Law Group™ with over 15 years of Canadian capital markets experience. Nicole practices corporate and securities law with a specific focus on corporate finance and capital raising initiatives for public and private companies, compliance and registration matters, and will and estate planning for entrepreneurs and business owners. She also advises senior management, boards of directors and shareholders on corporate governance, regulatory matters and business strategy.
Prior to founding Stephenson Law Group™, Nicole spent over twelve years at the Ontario Securities Commission, a Canadian stock exchange and in private practice at a corporate and securities law boutique.
Nicole holds a Juris Doctor from Queen’s University Faculty of Law and a Masters of Laws (Securities law) from Osgoode Hall Law School. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from York University.
Christine Crandell
Vice Chair of the Board
Christine Crandell boasts 30 years of experience in business, strategy, and marketing, having collaborated with over 100 companies across North America, Europe, and Australia. She frequently speaks on experience-led growth and has garnered multiple industry awards. Christine has penned over 300 articles on topics like strategy, customer experience, sales, and marketing.
Christine is dedicated to guiding the upcoming generation of SaaS and B2B founders toward market success by capitalizing on her extensive experience. She perceives the region as being on the brink of a significant transformation and aspires to see it evolve into a nexus for entrepreneurship, particularly in clean tech, climate tech, and med tech.
To further the success of the Innovation Cluster, Christine is resolved to ensure that Peterborough and the Kawarthas persist in their innovative pursuits, act with immediacy, and consistently think outside the box.
Sally Harding
Treasurer
Sally Harding is the President & CEO of Nightingale Nursing Registry Ltd. Established in 1985, Nightingale Nursing is a Home-Health Care service provider, helping seniors and those recovering from illness or injury, remain independent at Home. Nightingale employs approximately 175 healthcare professionals including Registered Nurses, Personal Support Workers, Travel Immunization, and Foot Care Specialists. Under Sally’s leadership, the company has seen much innovation and growth with the introduction of two new services: Nightingale Home Maintenance providing lawn care, snow removal, & renovations (2012), and Nightingale Global VAX, providing immunizations to travelers (2015). In 2014, Nightingale opened a second office location in Cobourg.
In addition to 20 years of experience in Home Health Care, Sally is also a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA-CMA), (1998), a graduate of Brock University, Business Administration & Finance, and completed a Masters’s Certificate in Health Care Management from York University & Schulich School of Business. Sally also has much Board experience holding offices of Treasurer and subsequent Chair of the Kawartha Chamber of Commerce, Chair of the PRHC Hospital Foundation, and Vice Chair of the Ontario Home Care Association.
Sally has expertise in Finance, Accounting, Governance, Human Resources, Marketing, Quality Improvement, and Strategic Planning.
Sally is an active Rotarian for 14 years, hosted 10 Foreign Youth Exchange Students from around the World, and has helped to mentor the Habitat for Humanity Youth Council. In 2012, Sally was awarded “Business Women of the Year” for Peterborough, by The Examiner. Sally is married to Wayne Harding (CFO McCloskey International) and has two children ages 17 & 18.
Diane Richard
Secretary
Diane Richard is the Founder and President of Diatom Consulting and Professional Training Inc. and is an operations executive with more than 25 years of experience working with a diverse range of technologies and industries.
Diane became a volunteer Board Member to help build a better community for her children and future generations. Through her own experience, Diane understands how hard it can be to start and sustain a business venture and knows it takes a village to make this a reality. She feels entrepreneurship is a feeling and passion that is infectious when shared, and everyone benefits when they can participate and recharge their batteries.
As a Director, Diane’s number one goal is to look to the future and try to ensure that the Innovation Cluster has all the tools it needs to be successful.
Cathy Bruce
Director
Cathy Bruce is a Professor and the Dean of Education, Teaching, and Learning at the School of Education and Professional Learning at Trent University.
Prof. Cathy Bruce is an administrator who not only excels in research and innovation but also takes mentorship seriously. For the past 20 years, Professor Bruce has demonstrated her dedication to collaborative research and established herself as a leader in the field.
Prof. Bruce is responsible for creating a set of goals for the University’s academic research programs to establish stronger relationships between academic programming and research, increase current research efforts, and recognize new opportunities for interdisciplinary research.
At Trent University, she is responsible for managing all research as well as developing partnerships with the government, industry, and the surrounding community. Some of her priorities include supporting long-term care research, Cleantech Commons developments, and the EaRTH District projects.
Prof. Bruce holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto; an M.A. from OISE of the University of Toronto; and a B.A. and B.Ed. from York University.
Maureen Adamson
Director
Maureen Adamson is the President of Fleming College.
She has more than 25 years of leadership experience in the postsecondary, healthcare, government, and not-for-profit sectors.
Maureen was most recently the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture, and Sport and the Deputy Minister of the Status of Women for the province of Ontario. She has also served as President and CEO of the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences, as CEO of Cystic Fibrosis Canada, and as Vice-President of Corporate Services at Mohawk College.
Her volunteer work has included being the Chair of the Board of Directors of Research Canada, Vice-Chair and Commissioner for the Toronto Transit Commission, Director for the Toronto Central Community Care Access Centre, and Board Chair of the Scarborough Health Network.
Maureen holds a diploma in Business Administration from Fleming College, a Bachelor of Business Administration from Lakehead University, and an MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. She completed the Director’s Education Program at the Rotman School of Management and the Institute of Corporate Directors and is a certified Director with the Institute of Corporate Directors of Canada
Maureen is a current Ph.D. candidate in Higher Education.
Jason Wight
Director
Jason Wight is the Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of Digital Innovation at Ontario Power Generation (“OPG”) as well as the Founder of ‘X-LAB.’, an innovation accelerator that fosters creative thinking across OPG, develops new revenue streams, and drives efficiency improvements. He began his career at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station in 2000, after graduating from McMaster University with a degree in Engineering Physics.
Jason is a staunch supporter of entrepreneurship in the Peterborough and Kawarthas region. He believes that fostering a culture of innovation is absolutely essential for driving economic growth and creating opportunities for individuals and businesses to thrive. He is excited about the possibility of making a positive impact in his community and is eager to work with dedicated entrepreneurs who share his passion for innovation.
Jason is an accomplished private pilot, who enjoys hockey, guitar, and relaxing at the cottage with his wife and daughter.
Charlie Atkinson
Director
Charlie Atkinson is the founder of The Winning Practice, a consultancy that provides results-inspired strategic excellence focusing on four key areas: people, partnerships, productivity, and profitability. Charlie established The Winning Practice in February of 2018 having retired from his position as President of the Canadian Division of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in September 2017.
Charlie has over 40 years of experience in building teams, growing businesses, merging companies, executing divestiture plans, optimizing P&Ls, restructuring, building culture and engagement plans, and balancing channel management strategy. He is always keen to share his knowledge and expertise.
Kelly Hagen
Director
Kelly Hagen brings over 25 years of leadership experience in startup finance and operations to our Board. Most recently, she served as the CEO of Entomo Farms, an innovative Agtech company driven to make cricket-based foods individuals’ first choice for high-quality, sustainable protein.
Starting her career on Wall Street nearly 30 years ago, she has since been the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at several startup and emerging growth companies, leading teams with specialization in corporate and product strategy, operations and process improvement, strategic finance, customer service, white-label service delivery, and acquisition integration.
Kelly is passionate about implementing creative process to help companies thrive by finding practical answers to complex problems. Examples include leading consulting and software delivery for the Asset Sustainability division at Ameresco Inc., and leading Inquent Technologies through the dot-com downturn to a successful sale.
Her focus on real results and process-oriented mindset makes Kelly extremely effective at scaling operations, while naturally building workplace cultures built on trust and accountability.
Kelly holds an MBA from Stanford University and a Bachelors of Science from Tufts University.
Jan d’Ailly
Director
Jan d’Ailly is a Senior Revenue Consultant at SalesEvolve Solutions Inc., helping clients achieve consistent revenue growth through comprehensive sales training and mentoring programs, sales consultancy, and change management.
Jan brings many years of business leadership experience to our Board, with expertise in sales and marketing, strategic planning, and business management in the corporate and startup sectors. His ability to lead sales and business development by developing dynamic revenue generation strategies and foster collaborative environments has brought large success to both large and small technology-based companies, ranging from AI vision recognition to document/information management software in the energy sector.
In addition to his business leadership, Jan has led in municipal politics serving as a City of Waterloo Councilor for 7 years. He has also been an active volunteer and board member in many community-based organizations including the Waterloo Economic Development Committee, Waterloo North Hydro Board, the Clay and Glass Gallery and the Conestoga Sailing Club.
Jan holds an MBA from the Ivey Business School, Western University and a BA Economics from McGill University.
Waun Broderick
Director
Waun Broderick is a software engineer and entrepreneur who is committed to innovation, currently serving as the technical lead at Forum Ventures Private Equity Studio.
Waun’s career has spanned public service, software engineering, and entrepreneurship roles, and he has successfully launched products across North America raising over $3M in funding and negotiating a successful exit. He serves as an officer reservist with the Canadian Armed Forces, and has worked for organizations such as Communitech® Hub, the Toronto Dominion Bank, and Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE), the national cryptologic agency providing the Government of Canada with information technology security and foreign signals intelligence.
With his core values aligning with the Innovation Cluster’s and being a champion of economic and educational empowerment to improve the standards of living for current and future generations, Waun is a fantastic addition to our Board. We are elated to have him join us in supporting growth-stage companies and boosting job creation and economic prosperity across Peterborough and the Kawarthas.
Waun holds Undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Computer Science from Trent University, specializing in software engineering and intelligent systems.