The Alberta Enterprise Board of Directors

Ted Redmond

Chairman

Ted Redmond has more than 25 years of operating, transactional and business advisory experience for Energy, Technology and Industrial businesses. He has worked with many venture capital and private equity backed companies and their owners to raise funds and profitably growth their businesses.

Mr. Redmond’s senior roles in publicly traded and private companies include President & CEO of ZCL Composites (a Toronto Stock Exchange company), President and CEO of NCSG Crane & Heavy Haul the largest private equity backed crane & heavy haul company in Canada, EVP of Energy Products & Services running the largest business segment of McCoy Corporation (a Toronto Stock Exchange company), CEO of Clean Air Power a San Diego based clean tech startup, and CEO of Lacent Technologies an Edmonton based venture capital backed start-up.

As both a CEO and M&A advisor Mr. Redmond has led numerous venture capital and private equity backed companies through successful turnarounds as well as buy-side and sell-side M&A transactions.

As a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group for 7 years he provided senior level strategy and operations advice to Global 1000 companies.

Mr. Redmond has lived and worked in numerous parts of the world including the U.S., Europe, Malaysia, Mexico, and Canada. He is Alberta born and currently lives in Edmonton.

Mr. Redmond has an MBA from the Stanford Business School, an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Computer Software/Hardware from the University of Toronto, and a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Alberta.

Elizabeth Cannon

Vice-Chair

Dr. Elizabeth Cannon is president emerita of the University of Calgary after serving as president and vice chancellor from July, 2010 until December, 2018. Prior to her term as president, Dr. Cannon was dean of the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary. An expert in geomatics engineering and a Professional Engineer, Dr. Cannon’s research has been on the forefront of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) since 1984 in both industrial and academic environments, and she has commercialized technology to over 200 agencies worldwide. Dr. Cannon’s work has been recognized with many national and international honours including the Johannes Kepler Award from the U.S. Institute of Navigation, an NSERC Steacie Award and the Gold Medal Award from Engineers Canada.

Dr. Cannon is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Canadian Academy of Engineering as well as an elected foreign associate of the National Academy of Engineering. She served as co-chair of the Business-Higher Education Roundtable, was a past chair of Universities Canada, and was a member of the federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development’s Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC) in addition to many other boards and advisory councils. Currently, she is a member of the Board of Trustees the Aga Khan University, a Fellow of the Creative Destruction Lab – Rockies and a Director of the Gairdner Foundation and the Rideau Hall Foundation. She is a corporate director and seed-stage investor, particularly in female-founded companies.

In 1998, Dr. Cannon was selected as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 and in 2006 was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network. She has received five honorary degrees. In June, 2019, she was named an Officer of the Order of Canada and in 2021, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Axis Connects Calgary Influential Business Awards.

Sharilee Fossum

Director

Sharilee Fossum is an organization builder, change leader, and passionate life-long learner. Currently Sharilee is the Chief Operating Officer at DIALOG, a multi studio design firm.

Prior to joining DIALOG, she was the Chief Financial Officer at MacEwan University. Sharilee has experience in the capital markets, manufacturing, post-secondary education, Crown corporations and non-profit organizations. She also has experience with family business enterprises and is married to a farmer, now retired, operating a third-generation mixed farming operation.  She is drawn to building new organizations, organizations in transition, and leading teams through change to create a performance culture.

Sharilee is an active board director and currently serves on the boards of Alberta Enterprise Corporation and Farm Credit Canada.

Sharilee has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta, Masters of Business Administration from the University of Regina, is a Chartered Professional Accountant, and is a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D).  She is also a Distinguished Alumni from Red Deer College.

Neil Sadaranganey

Director

Mr. Sadaranganey has extensive industry experience in board governance, start-ups, technology, and industry including Silicon Valley. 

He is currently the Managing Director of NTT Docomo Ventures where he leads the team responsible for all fund and direct investments in the US and Canada.  Some of his notable investments include Coinbase(COIN), Mist Systems(JNPR), Couchbase and Centrify. 

Previously he was General Partner at Bay Partners where he drove the investment in Eloqua which was founded in Canada and was acquired by Oracle for over $1B Cdn. Mr. Sadaranganey has served on the board of many public and private companies including Cornerstone on Demand (CSOD), Like.com (GOOG), Eventful(CBS) , Hiplogic, LiveMedia, and Applied Identity.

Before becoming a venture capitalist, Neil was a software product executive at Good Technology and RealNetworks. Mr. Sadaranganey was a founding team member of Afara Websystems, a company acquired by Sun Microsystems whose technology is still core for a multi-billion dollar server line for Oracle. Neil started his career as a consultant with IBM and Accenture Canada.

Neil is a charter member of the C100, a global non-profit association of technology thought leaders committed to helping advance Canadian innovation.

Mr. Sadaranganey holds a Bachelor of Systems Engineering degree from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from the Stanford Business School.

Tracey Scarlett

Director

Tracey Scarlett is an experienced Board Director and Chair, currently serving on the boards of Business Development Bank of Canada, Alberta Enterprise Corporation, Sawridge First Nation Trusts, and Sawridge First Nation Group of Companies. She has held numerous other Crown corporation, non-profit and advisory board roles, including NSERC, Travel Alberta, Edmonton Economic Development Corporation and Edmonton Global.

As a prior CEO and Executive, she is a strategic business leader who has started and scaled innovative and technology-based ventures and has been recognized for her leadership in developing ecosystems to support entrepreneurs and communities. Tracey has built a reputation as an entrepreneurial thinker, grounded in strong governance practice and collaborative, inclusive community building. She is well respected in political, business and community networks for her strong personal integrity, exceptional communication skills and commitment to purpose.

Tracey is a mentor with Threshold Impact Venture Mentoring Service at the University of Alberta, is an active speaker and presenter on topics related to entrepreneurship and women in leadership and is an active mentor of students and entrepreneurs.

Ms. Scarlett holds a diploma in Medical Laboratory Technology from NAIT, a Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Science from the University of Alberta and an MBA with a specialization in Technology Commercialization from the Alberta School of Business at the University of Alberta. Tracey has completed the Institute of Corporate Directors – Director Education Program at University of Toronto Rotman School of Management and holds an ICD.D designation.

Derrick Hunter

Director

Derrick is the President and CEO of Bluesky Equities Ltd., an investment management company with interests in real estate, energy, distilling, technology and alternative strategies.  Previously, he co-founded Wild Rose Properties Inc. – a real estate investment company with assets in ten states.

Bluesky is one of the most active angel investors in Southern Alberta having invested in over eighty-three start-up businesses since 2012.  In 2019, Derrick was named Canadian Angel Investor of the Year for 2019 by the National Angel Capital Organization as well as Technology Investor of the year by Start Alberta.

Derrick is a Fellow of Creative Destruction Lab – Rockies.  He is an Advisor to the UCEED venture capital fund, NACO West and Platform Calgary.  He was a member of the Innovation Capital Working Group which reported to the Government of Alberta in April 2020.  He is Chairman of the Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Leadership” at the University of Calgary and sits on the External Advisory Committee of the  “Hunter Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation” at the Haskayne School of Business.

In the not-for-profit sector, he serves on the boards of Futurpreneur Canada and the Beakerhead Creative Society.  He was a co-founder of EvolveU, which supports unemployed workers in their efforts to develop new career opportunities in technology.

Derrick is a graduate of Queen’s University and the University of Calgary. He is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA). He was the 2018 recipient of the Management Alumni Excellence (MAX) award from the Haskayne School of Business.

Justin Ferrara

Director

Justin Ferrara’s main practice is in securities law, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. Mr. Ferrara has represented a number of both publicly traded and privately held clients in a broad range of matters, including mergers and acquisitions, public and private equity financings, corporate reorganizations and corporate governance issues. Mr. Ferrara has also advised special committees regarding numerous types of strategic and related-party transactions.