Collisions YYC

Join me as I chat with Tim Cruz, Co-Founder and Director of AI & ML at Calgary AI Club. Tim brings his wealth of knowledge for artificial intelligence to the conversation around change, explaining its potential to transform our city and help us navigate the COVID-19 crisis. As a co-founder of the Calgary AI Club, Tim brings curious thinkers in our city together to discover how AI can solve hum...

In this episode, I discuss the importance of connectivity in the time of Covid-19 with Guillermo Salazar, Co-Creator of ICwhatUC, a customer self-service support application that uses smartphones and augmented reality to simplify customer-driven experiences. Up until two weeks ago, Guillermo and his partners had a product that represented a solid idea with huge potential to shift how we work. Now,...

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 am joined by Jay Palter, Chief Engagement Officer at Jay Palter Social Advisory, as we discuss the idea of social networking during the COVID-19 crisis. Since 2010, Jay has successfully guided many busine...

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 Teck’s decision to abandon the Frontier Project, a $20 billion-dollar mining construction project in Northern Alberta, with Iggy Domalgaski. As CEO of Tundra Process Solutions, an Alberta based di...

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...

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 Executiv...

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, whil...

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 hi...

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...

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 kn...

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 f...

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...

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 ac...

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, incub...

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 o...

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 2...

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 educat...

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 se...

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 to...

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 t...

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...

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 rea...

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...

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 exchan...

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...