Join me as I chat with returning-guest Rohit Joshi, CEO and Co-Founder of Brightsquid. For this episode, Rohit and I discuss another area in need of transformation in Alberta – health care. Rohit shares his insights in the health care communications industry and on the opportunity to use innovative secure communications to narrow the gap between health care providers and their patients. During our conversation, Rohit shares the challenges smaller organizations face against the big players that r...
Mar 06, 2020•54 min•Ep. 29
Join me as I chat with Brenda Beckedorf, Executive Director of the Alberta IoT Association. Brenda takes us into the world of the Internet of Things, stressing the need for Alberta businesses to learn and adapt to this rapidly growing industry. The Alberta IoT Association was founded by businesses rooted in this industry with the mission to make Alberta a global Internet of Things hub. As Executive Director, Brenda's focus is to increase their awareness, both on a government and local level, thr...
Mar 06, 2020•53 min•Ep. 28
Join me as I chat with Todd Hirsch, VP and Senior Economist at ATB Financial. Todd brings his vast experience as an economist to the conversation of change and the fact that although transformation can be a slow and long process, it needs to start happening quickly. As VP and Senior Economist at ATB Financial, Todd’s travels through Alberta, delivering presentations that focus on our economy, while also overseeing quarterly forecasts that give him a better understanding of where we are heading. ...
Mar 05, 2020•48 min•Ep. 27
Join me as I chat with Barry Davidson, Managing Director at Davidson Global Advisory Group. As a strategy, risk and security consultant, Barry’s provides his extensive experience within the regulated cannabis sector in Canada and abroad, partnering with many of the top professionals in the industry. But as a third-generation Calgarian, Barry has lived through many versions of our city, from the highs to the lows, and he brings that insight to the conversation on change. During our conversation, ...
Feb 28, 2020•56 min•Ep. 26
Join me as I chat with Megan Zimmerman, Director of Business Development at Calgary Economic Development. Megan brings her vast experience in economic development to the table, stressing the need to build our strengths that led to success in the past and use it to move forward in new industries. As Director of Business Development at Calgary Economic Development, Megan works to bring innovative companies from multiple industries to Calgary, making her a key player in the effort to change our glo...
Feb 13, 2020•46 min•Ep. 25
Join me for another edition of Collisions YYC Current & Critical, a high-intensity series where I sit down with local leaders to discuss current topics affecting Albertans. In this episode, I discuss mesh 2020, a digital transformation conference coming to Calgary, with Chris Hogg, President and Partner of Digital Journal Group (DJG). At DJG, Chris combines his journalistic roots and vast knowledge of marketing to transform brands’ relationships with their audiences through storytelling and ...
Feb 04, 2020•25 min•Ep. 24
Join me for another edition of Collisions YYC Current & Critical, a high-intensity series where I sit down with local leaders to discuss current topics affecting Albertans. In this episode, I discuss the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund (OCIF) with Rohit Joshi, CEO of Brightsquid. A direct response to our current economic environment, The OCIF is a $100-million fund offering opportunities for transformative investments that will be the catalysts for Calgary's economic growth. Brightsquid ...
Jan 27, 2020•24 min•Ep. 23
Join me as I chat with Lisa Eyamine, Senior Manager of End User Experience with WestJet. Lisa brings her extensive background in project management and process improvement to the conversation on change, stressing the importance of setting goals for Calgary and acting on them. As Senior Manager of End User Experience with WestJet, Lisa’s focus is to find innovative ways for her teams to improve in both collaboration and productivity. A strong advocate for technological innovation in Calgary, Lisa...
Jan 23, 2020•53 min•Ep. 22
Join me as I chat with Laura Jo Gunter, President & CEO of Bow Valley College (BVC). Laura brings the notion of education to the conversation on change, specifically on Pivot-Ed, a new program from BVC that will have a direct impact on the transformation taking place in Calgary. As a lifelong learner and a champion for strong community connections, Laura’s goal with Pivot-Ed is to create an accessible platform for employees and employers to receive meaningful education in order to adapt to t...
Jan 10, 2020•54 min•Ep. 21
Join me as I chat with Dan Giurescu, President, CEO & Founder of TerraHub. Dan walks us through the world of blockchain, a new technology that is very much underestimated and not understood enough as to what its value can be for the economic transformation of Calgary. Having immediately recognized its untapped potential, Dan created TerraHub, the first Calgary-based blockchain education, incubator and consulting institute that is now internationally recognized. Dan holds nothing back as a ch...
Jan 10, 2020•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 20
Join me as I chat with Jeff LaFrenz, President & CEO of VizworX. Jeff brings the value of resilience to the conversation on change, taking us through the trials and tribulations VizworX faced during Calgary’s economic downturn. Having close ties to the oil and gas industry in 2015, VizworX had to make tough decisions to survive, which included exploring new industries, which led to a period of rapid growth. With over 25 years’ experience in technology commercialization and a passion for inno...
Jan 10, 2020•54 min•Ep. 19
Join me for another edition of Collisions YCC Current & Critical, a high-intensity series where I sit down with local leaders to discuss current topics affecting Albertans. In this episode, I discuss Brexit and the recent victory for the Conservatives in the UK with Jake Surrey of Fountain Partnership and UK-born digital media specialist who’s been traveling back and forth from Calgary since 2011. Being well-versed in all things digital and political, Jake sheds light on the strategies used ...
Dec 27, 2019•35 min•Ep. 18
Join me for another edition of Collisions YYC Current & Critical, a high-intensity series where I sit down with local leaders to discuss current topics affecting Albertans. In this episode, I discuss David Bissett’s $30M donation to the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) with returning-guest Terry Rock and how it presents a great opportunity to provide the latest in digital education and to advocate for change. Not to be overshadowed, however, Terry sheds light on other organiza...
Dec 18, 2019•30 min•Ep. 17
Join me as I chat with Evan Hu, Founding Partner and G7 Associate at Creative Destruction Lab. Evan brings his entrepreneurial attitude to the conversation of economic transformation and explores what we need to do to push Calgary forward. With several successful startups under his belt, including OmniLogic, MapleMusic, and Ideaca, Evan offers up a fresh perspective outside of the Oil & Gas sector when it comes to how we can innovate our current landscape. The way Evan sees it, our ship hasn...
Dec 05, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 16
Join me as I chat with Damarys Zampini, President & CEO of Sustrategy. Damarys brings a worldly perspective to the conversation of economic transformation, specifically on the need for us to look past our city limits and find insights on a global scale that we can adopt here in Calgary. As a champion of constantly learning and always being curious, Damarys guides the disrupters in our city towards sustainable growth, both locally and globally, through innovative and personalized strategy - s...
Dec 05, 2019•49 min•Ep. 15
Join me as I chat with Terry Rock, President and CEO of Platform Calgary Terry shares his notion of establishing the right ecosystem to fuel economic change in Calgary, specifically on how a digital transformation can lay the groundwork. Knowing the responsibility that comes with being both a leader and, as he likes to call himself, a truth-teller, Terry’s mission is to empower entrepreneurs and thinkers into building the next economy by bringing everyone together to find a common purpose, get o...
Dec 05, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 14
Join me for a special edition of Collisions YYC Current & Critical, a new high-intensity series where I sit down with local leaders to discuss current topics affecting Albertans. In this episode, I discuss Car2go with former YYC General Manager Jon Wycoco and the hard reality we face as Calgarians of no longer having the car sharing service in our city. We share our perspective on how quickly Calgary embraced the service and the trials and tribulations that ultimately led to Car2go ceasing o...
Dec 03, 2019•25 min•Ep. 13
Join me for a special edition of Collisions YYC Current & Critical; a high-intensity episode where I sit down with local leaders to discuss current topics affecting Albertans. On this episode I discuss WeWork and the rise and fall of the co-working unicorn. I am joined by Alex Putici, founder of Alberta’s largest co-working organization, Work Nicer. We share our perspective on how WeWork reached a peak evaluation of over $47 billion to its recent value of less the $5 billion. What happened, ...
Nov 22, 2019•30 min•Ep. 12
Join me as I chat with Shannon Pestun, Director of Women’s Entrepreneurship at ATB Financial, Business and Agriculture. Shannon brings the notion of gender intelligence to the conversation of economic transformation, specifically on the entrepreneurial potential of women in Calgary. Having noticed the imbalance in opportunities given to male and female entrepreneurs, Shannon became a champion for women to reach their full economic potential, never shying away from asking tough questions in the c...
Nov 20, 2019•49 min•Ep. 11
Join me as I chat with Danielle Torrie of Startup Calgary. Danielle sheds light on Startup Calgary, an organization that holds regular events that bring like-minded entrepreneurs together to guide, support and point them in the right direction in reshaping Calgary’s economy. Seeing this as a great time for different industries to collide, Danielle stresses the need for more entrepreneurs to exchange and validate each other's ideas, no matter how big and small, while also looking outside of Calga...
Nov 06, 2019•1 hr•Ep. 10
Join me as I chat with Colin Szopa, Co-Founder and CEO of Plankk, the world’s largest fitness influencer company. Colin takes us into Plankk, an international fitness influencer company that has thrived right here in Calgary, while also discussing the trials and tribulations of running a tech start-up and the importance of building upon the right skill sets to fuel business growth. Seeing Alberta as an entrepreneurial province, Colin stresses the importance for investors to re-invest into new id...
Oct 24, 2019•46 min•Ep. 9
Join me as I chat with Judy Fairburn, Co-Founder of The 51 Ventures and Board Director for MEG Energy, Tundra Oil & Gas, VEERUM, PureWeb and the Business Council of Alberta. You may recognize Judy from this month’s cover of Business in Calgary magazine, and now she’s bringing her trailblazing attitude for innovation to the conversation on economic transformation, emphasizing the importance for business leaders to constantly be curious about emerging opportunities in both the energy and techn...
Oct 09, 2019•55 min•Ep. 8
Join me as I chat with Kirstie Boyle, Director of Market Development at Interface Fluidics, a Calgary-based oil and gas technology start-up. Kirstie brings perspective to our economic transformation from the consultant angle, highlighting a well of groups and resources for entrepreneurs in Calgary and their innovative business ideas, while also stressing the importance of customer discovery and market validation. With more technologies being used in one industry that have potential to benefit mu...
Sep 27, 2019•46 min•Ep. 7
Join me as I chat with Graeme Edge, co-founder of McLaren Dion Edge & Energy Disruptors. Graeme shares the inspiration behind ‘Energy Disruptors’, an event where the very best of the oil and gas industry come together to find pragmatic and profitable solutions for major energy challenges, both in Alberta and on a global scale. By looking at our current state as an opportunity to thrive and build resiliency, Graeme identifies what he feels is the next bold step needed in Calgary as we get thr...
Sep 11, 2019•52 min•Ep. 6
Join me as I chat with Erik Allan, ACE Program Director at Tundra Process Solutions. Erik takes us inside ACE, a program that fosters and supports the innovation ecosystem in the oil and gas sector and shares his thoughts on how we can transform Calgary’s economy by overcoming the challenge of disconnectedness. In what he likes to call “pockets of awesomeness”, Erik shares his insight on the opportunities that currently exist in our city and where there’s potential for cross-industry collaborati...
Sep 04, 2019•56 min•Ep. 5
Ray shares his insights into what we can learn from other cities who have been through similar transitions and that our ability to adapt to frequent and rapid changes is our new reality.
Jul 29, 2019•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 4
In our first episode, Jim sets the tone for Collisions YYC, delving into where the transformation in Calgary needs to start, the key performance indicators that we can begin measuring and how we’ll know that we’re moving in the right direction.
Jul 29, 2019•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 2
Alex takes us inside Brightside, an innovative start-up that is developing inside of ATB Financial, and shares her views on what is needed to push change forward and what other companies in Calgary can learn from it.
Jul 29, 2019•51 min•Ep. 3
Welcome to Collisions YYC, a podcast dedicated to the current economic transformation that’s happening in Calgary, and speaking with the leaders, innovators, and thinkers that are at the heart of it. Now is the time to stop wondering where our city is headed. Join the conversation and take action.
Jul 25, 2019•9 min•Ep. 1
