Board of Directors

		Andrew Bjerring (member-at-large) Andrew Bjerring was a founding member of the Board of CANARIE Inc. and was President and CEO for 15 years prior to his retirement in October 2008. Over the past 25 years, Mr. Bjerring has participated on numerous boards and councils dealing with networking and related applications. He is currently Chair of the Board of Directors of Ocean Networks Canada, and is a member of the Board of Cybera Inc. as well as of the Multidisciplinary Review Panel for the Alberta Government’s Research Capacity Program. Prior to his appointment at CANARIE, Bjerring spent 18 years as a faculty member and then senior administrator in academic planning and information technology services at the University of Western Ontario. He obtained his BSc and MSc degrees from the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto, and his PhD from the University of Western Ontario. He has been awarded honorary Doctor of Science degrees by the University of Manitoba and the University of Victoria.
		Trevor Davis, Mount Royal University Trevor Davis is the Associate Vice President of Research at Mount Royal University. Davis’ research area is in the Geographic Information Science field — specifically in managing uncertainty in large spatial databases. At Mount Royal, Davis focuses on advancing the cause of MRU-based research, ensuring that the research role is central to all decision making processes. He also has a strong interest in studying spatial data as a driver for societal change. Davis’ background is in research administration, as a faculty member, and previously, in film and television production.
		Frank Maurer, University of Calgary Frank Maurer is a professor at the University of Calgary as well as the Associate Vice President (Research). In this role, he is focusing on enhancing technology transfer and community engagement. Maurer’s research interests include evolutionary software engineering, cloud computing and digital surfaces. He is the principal investigator of the NSERC SurfNet Strategic Research Network, a Canadian research alliance of academic researchers, industry partners and government collaborators. The goal of SurfNet is to improve the development, performance and usability of software applications for surface computing environments: non-traditional digital display surfaces including multi-touch screens, tabletops, and wall-sized displays.
		Jonathan Schaeffer (Vice Chair), University of Alberta Jonathan Schaeffer is the Dean of the Faculty of Science and a computing science professor at the University of Alberta, and is currently the Vice Provost and Associate Vice President for Information Technology. Schaeffer is also the iCORE Chair in High Performance Artificial Intelligence Systems. His research in artificial intelligence is best known for his work on computer games. He is the creator of the checkers program Chinook, the first program to win against a human in the World Checkers Championship.
		Peter Singendonk (Chair), Cisco Systems Canada Peter Singendonk is the Director, Strategic & Technical Operations at Cisco Systems Canada. With over 30 years of industry experience, Singendonk has worked for multinational energy companies, systems integrators and service providers in various Architect and Management roles. Joining Cisco in 1997, he has been actively involved as a field advisor and member to numerous projects and committees such as Web 2.0, Specialist Virtualization and Corporate Citizenship. Outside of Cisco, Singendonk has been on Cybera’s Board of Directors since 2007, and is an active supporter of ICT skills development in post-secondary education.
		Justin Webb Justin Webb is the former Vice President of Bell Business Markets, responsible for the Western Region. Prior to this, he served as Vice President, Client Programs and was also Bell’s Vice President of Olympic Services, where he led a team of over 700 Bell specialists from across the country with a mandate to Vancouver 2010 deliver a flawless Olympics to the world. Webb received a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering in 1988 from the University of Alberta. He is active in his community as a director of the North Shore Credit Union board in Vancouver, an on-going mentor at the UBC Sauder School of Business, and a member of the North Vancouver Outdoor School Advisory Committee.
		Leslie Warren Leslie Warren was formerly the Economic Development Officer for Vulcan Business Development Society (VBDS), which encompasses 7 municipalities in Southern Alberta, within Vulcan County borders. Leslie worked with the Vulcan Business Development Society, an organization which has been cultivating technology skills and use in a rural community, through a project called Vulcan Innovation Project, funded through Rural Alberta Development Fund. Technology access and developing partnerships has resulted in numerous projects involving digital media and the generation of more technology knowledge within business and organizations in the region. Warren and her family farm and ranch in both Alberta and Saskatchewan.
		Rob Tasker, TRTech Rob Tasker is the President and CEO of TRTech (formerly TRLabs) a not-for-profit research and development company accelerating industry growth through information and communications technology (ICT) innovation. Rob is a passionate and visionary senior leader with a strong track record of building successful businesses and transforming organizations. Prior to TRLabs Rob worked in several Vice President roles at TELUS Communications Inc. As Senior Vice President, Tasker led a National Service and IT Operations team of 1500 people and transformed the processes for complex data network services. Rob has a BSc. In Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from York University.
		Clark Ferguson, University of Lethbridge Clark Ferguson joined the University of Lethbridge in August 2010 to lead the IT Services program. Prior to joining the university, Ferguson worked with an electric power utility (BC Hydro) and telecommunications firms (Bell ExpressVu, Bell, Nortel and Bell Northern Research) leading IT infrastructure, telecommunications and security programs. Through his career, Ferguson has worked on a variety of IT and business service improvement programs, drawing on the broad systems knowledge gained through his early security work and experience establishing business focused IT teams. Ferguson completed Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo, and has an MBA from the University of Ottawa.