General Motor’s Head Of ‘Open Innovation’ One Of New Board Members At Propel
MONCTON – One of Atlantic Canada’s notable startup accelerators announced its new board on Wednesday.
Propel’s newly appointed members grow the volunteer board to a total of 14 and expand its scope beyond Atlantic Canada. The board is made up of business leaders who are experts in their field with strong involvement in entrepreneurship and the startup community.
“Over the past year, Propel has been undergoing a transformation to be stronger and to add even more value to the startup world in Atlantic Canada,” said Jeff White, chair of the Propel board, in a release. “The addition of these accomplished individuals with global experience to our board is a further demonstration of this positive momentum.
The new board members are:
April Dunford (Toronto): Dunford is the founder and CEO of Ambient Strategy. As an executive consultant, speaker, and author, April helps technology companies make complicated products easy for customers to understand and love. She is a globally recognized expert in positioning and market strategy and has launched 16 products into market across her 25-year career as VP Marketing at a series of successful high-growth startups. April is also an angel investor and entrepreneur-in-residence at the DMZ, Ryerson University.
Ted Graham (Toronto): Graham is the head of Open Innovation at General Motors where he helps identify partnerships that will help build new forms of mobility including autonomous and connected vehicles. He also serves on the Canadian government’s AI advisory council, is an active angel investor and the author of “The Uber of Everything”.
Craig Haney (Waterloo): Haney is the vice president of Europro, a large real estate developer in Ontario. With more than 10 years of experience in corporate innovation, his previous work with Canadian Tire Innovations helped launch the corporate innovation program at Communitech. He has also worked with organizations like RCAF, Manulife and Thomson Reuters.
Joe Teo (St. John’s): Teo is the CEO of HeyOrca, a social media approval and publishing platform built for marketing agencies. Since raising a combined total of $2.65 Million from BDC Capital, Killick Capital and Pelorus Venture, HeyOrca has gained rapid traction and powers the social media production of over 400 agencies in the world. Joe is also an alumnus of Propel in 2015.
Tara Wickwire (Halifax): Wickwire is the Senior Director of Marketing and Brand Strategy at National where she leads strategy for profile and reputation building for people and organizations across the region. With more than 20 years of global branding experience, Tara has led Canadian PR strategy for some of the world’s most recognized brands including Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy.
Özge Yeloğlu (Toronto): Yeloğluis is the Data & AI lead at Microsoft Canada. Previously, she was the co-founder and CEO of topLog, a startup focused on predictive data analysis based on unstructured log data. She started topLog in 2013 while she was working towards her PhD degree in Computer Science at Dalhousie University. Ozge is a Propel alumnae 2013.
“April, Craig, Joe, Ozge, Tara and Ted bring new leadership, perspective, extensive networks and a wealth of experience to Propel’s board and the startups Propel works with,” said Barry Bisson, CEO of Propel. “They will be of great value as we continue to foster successful global tech companies right here in Atlantic Canada.
“This move is yet another step in our commitment to strengthening Propel’s contribution to the regional ecosystem. The skillset, experience and networks of these individuals will enhance Propel’s corporate governance and expand our access to world-class mentorship for our founders.”