Angela Mondou

President and CEO

Angela joins TECHNATION with over 25+ years of exceptional global and Canadian experience driving transformational programs in the tech sector. A visionary executive with a passion for leadership, Angela’s unique career path includes 10 years as a military officer and 18 years in senior-level leadership roles in the tech and defence sectors, including as a strategic marketing director with BlackBerry, and a global solutions leader with Nortel Networks, where her team was responsible for delivering technology to over 127 countries. Angela’s career has taken her through leading and launching teams and technology in a number of continents, and dozens of countries.

Angela brings collaboration, energy and innovation to all of her roles. As program creator of the public-private sector leadership forums “Strategic Knowledge Exchange” aimed at driving change on a national scale, Angela’s experience in developing strategic partnerships across national organizations and around the world, will support driving TECHNATION’s vision to influence Canada’s position as a global tech leader into the future.

Author of the leadership best-seller Hit the Ground Leading!, and award-winning founder of her own strategic leadership company, Angela has delivered programs and keynotes to companies and teams around the world. She has held positions as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Ivey School of Business, as EVP of Leadership with the International Women’s Forum, and as an Honorary Colonel of the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace, Technology and Engineering

Michele Lajeunesse

Senior Vice President, Government Relations and Policy

Michele is responsible for leading our Government Relations, Policy Development and Advocacy initiatives, as well as ICT Procurement Modernization efforts with Canada’s Public Sector, with a focus on the Federal Government. She is no stranger to the IT and business community, having worked both in the public and private sectors, and has held vice president-level positions at a number of organizations, including the Institute on Governance, as well as leading GTEC for three years. Most recently, Michele led Cloud Solutions for the federal government at IBM Canada, helping clients leverage the power of Cloud and AI to transform their business and improve service delivery to Canadians. She has also provided her expertise in business process transformation, organizational change strategies, effective business cases, and alternative service delivery channels to numerous federal public sector ADM and DM level initiatives. A true ‘serial connector,’ Michele is committed to working with government and industry to drive Canada’s digital adoption, and advocates for women in technology through her participation in various ICT associations, including Women in Communications & Technology (WCT) – an organization that partners with TECHNATION on a Female Leaders Speakers Series.

Denise Shortt

Senior Vice President, Industry Development and Diversity & Inclusion

Denise Shortt is an internationally respected writer, researcher and speaker specializing in information technology, gender issues, entrepreneurship and innovation. Denise co-authored Technology with Curves: Women Reshaping the Digital Landscape (HarperCollins, 2000) and Innovation Nation: Canadian Leadership from Java to Jurassic Park (Wiley & Sons, 2002). Denise is also a former faculty member of Ryerson University’s School of Information Technology Management and helped to found Ryerson’s Diversity Institute which specializes in gender research. She also founded SwingThink, a marketing and communications company focused on online community building, social media and gender research. Denise was co-founder and President of Wired Woman Toronto (launched in 1996) and currently sits on the Board of Directors for Women in Communications and Technology (WCT). She has a Masters in Technology from Harvard University and studied gender and technology at MIT. Denise was recently awarded a CWC Leadership Award for her life-time of work as a champion for the advancement of women.

Randy Purse

Vice President, Future Workforce Development

Randy Purse is a cyber security training and education specialist, workforce development advisor, senior learning advisor, researcher and author. After 26+ years in the Canadian military and almost 10 years with the Communications Security Establishment/Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Randy moved to the non-profit sector to the role of Director of Cybersecurity Standards with TECHNATION. He is also a consultant and facilitator at the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst at Ryerson University where he helps address private and public sector cybersecurity training needs. His Master of Education is in Information Technology, and his PhD in Education focused on workplace, collective and transformative learning within a technological work context. In his spare time, he likes to spend time with his family, reads voraciously and continues to research and write on topics related to the human dimensions of technology and cybersecurity.

Elaine Huesing

Executive Director, Health

As the lead for Health (formerly ITAC Health), Elaine helps members navigate the ICT challenges and opportunities of the health sector both nationally and globally. Having been a part of the founding team for CHITTA, now known as TECHNATION’s Health Division, the Alberta Network for Health Information exchange (ANHIX) and the Canadian Health Informatics Awards (CHIA) Gala which celebrate the innovations in the Canadian healthcare sector, she brings over 30 years of experience to the health Members. Elaine is the Editor and Publisher of HIM&CC, the official journal of TECHNATION’S Health programming and Digital Health Canada and the CEO for IMIA, The International Medical Informatics Association.

Nevin French

Vice President, Policy

Nevin French joins TECHNATION with over a decade of government experience working on substantial files at the federal and provincial levels. This includes key files such as the Canada-EU Free Trade Agreement (CETA), the Pan-Canadian Agreement on Climate Change, the Council of the Federation’s Canadian Energy Strategy and the Beyond the Border Agreement. As TECHNATION’s Vice-President of Policy, Nevin leads on trade policy, cyber security, Smart Cities, and the Internet of Things. Nevin has an undergraduate degree from the University of King’s College at Dalhousie and a Masters from Carleton University.