WiTec Alberta's Board is represented by a strong mix of senior leaders in the technology space. A brief bio on each Board member follows:
Drew McNaughton (Chairman of the Board), CTO of Axia SuperNet Ltd. offers 23 years experience in building, managing and operating large information technology programs and networks and has held senior roles at both Axia and Nortel Networks.
Brent Allison, Vice President, Marketing TELUS Partner Solutions. Since joining TELUS in 2001 Brent has lead Customer Engineering, Product Marketing, Business Development and Strategic Planning functions. Partner Solutions is now the trusted partner of choice for service providers who depend on TELUS for industry expertise, innovative technology and a seamless experience for their own customers.
Gregory Brennan (Treasurer), Tax Partner with more than 25 years of experience with KPMG Calgary is currently the Industry Tax Leader in the Information, Communications and Entertainment Group, which he co-founded in 1990. He has also provided consultation to the Alberta and Federal Governments on issues germane to taxation in the technology industries.
Bill Hews, President of Fideliter Inc. has been involved in the wireless telecom industry for 25 years. He worked for Nortel Networks in a variety of operations roles with global scope before moving to Wi-LAN Inc. as President and COO. Mr. Hews is chairman of the board of directors for WiTec Alberta.
Tim Hodge, CEO of GEOTrac International Inc. and formerly Bell Mobility’s General Manager of Enterprise Sales for Alberta brings an in depth understanding of the Canadian wireless industry gained through his senior roles in Marketing, Strategy, Merger and Acquisitions, Distribution Management, and Sales.
Terry Hughes, President, Widality (formerly Redwood Technologies Inc.).
Don Kjosness, Co-founder of illumiCell corporation Don has over 30 years experience in the development and management of diversified, advanced technology organizations in information, communications and space systems technologies. Don is currently also Chair of NEWT's advisory board.
Olaf Krahmer, Vice President, Service Provider Operations, Cisco. Krahmer joined Cisco in 2005 with extensive knowledge of the service provider and enterprise markets and more than 16 years experience in the technology industry in Canada and elsewhere. Previously, he led the Carrier Networks organization for Siemens Canada where he oversaw the design, development, and implementation of strategies and products for the Carrier Networks (serving as Vice President) and Carrier Services divisions. Previously, based in Munich, Germany, he was responsible for developing Siemens' global IP strategy and solutions, which resulted in the launch of Unisphere Networks and the foundation of Siemens' Next Generation Networks solutions.
Martin P.J. Kratz, Partner with Bennett Jones LLP (Secretary) has 22 years legal experience in the information technology and communications industry combined with substantial experience in the protection, enforcement and financing of wireless and telecommunications companies.
John Masters, President and CEO, Calgary Technologies Inc. leads the economic development agency focused on building Calgary’s hi-tech community. Active on a wide variety of boards and committees John was a driving force behind Calgary’s selection as the co-recipient of the World’s Top Intelligent Community award in 2002.
Volker Mendritzki has over 25 years marketing and business development management experience within large Canadian organizations and two technology startups. Over the past five years he has focused on IP telephony and hosted voice solutions through his consulting practice and a business partnership with Ivrnet Inc.
Cliff Nywening, OEM & Developer Partnerships Director, Interalia. Cliff has worked within the communications industry for over 17 years in a variety of senior roles including Product Management, Sales and Business Development.
Robert Tasker, CEO, TRLabs. Robert has 23 years of information and communications technology experience in progressively more senior management positions spanning Marketing, Operations and Sales Engineering functions within Nortel, Bell Canada, Stentor Resource Centre, and TELUS. Leadership includes 10 years managing complex teams from 20 up to 1500 people, and leading organizational transformation, revenue creation and/or operational cost reduction in areas including process re-engineering, workflow process transformation, company acquisition and integration, new service introduction, and building and managing of internal business units. For the last decade, Robert has held Vice-President positions at TELUS in International & Carrier Services, Partner Solutions Marketing, Business Networks Product Marketing, and most recently Senior Vice President – National Service and IT Operations.
