Leadership Awards

2019 ORION Leadership Award Winners – Bios and Photos

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Category: Innovation

Bob Campbell

Bob Campbell has a wide variety of experience having worked for many different industries in the past including tech, automotive, healthcare and manufacturing. Currently, Bob serves as the CEO of Connecting Windsor-Essex (CW-E) and has done so since 2015. CW-E is a consortium of public sector stakeholders representing municipalities, school boards, Higher education, libraries and healthcare. CW-E partners with ORION to provide these organizations with the data services they need. CW-E is currently entering its 25th year of service in 2019 and is proud of its accomplishments.

In the past year alone, CW-E has provided support to member school boards through the Broadband Modernization Program (BMP) as governed by the Ontario Ministry of Education. The BMP was designed to provide 1Mbps per student. CW-E and ORION also collaborate with other partners in the community and industry to make Windsor-Essex the chosen place to live, learn, work and play.

Click to download: ORION Leadership Award winner Bob Campbell with presenter Kathryn Athonisen, CANARIE

Category: Kindergarten to Grade 12

Peter Singh

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Peter Singh is a proud father of three children who has actively engaged with the education services provided in the GTA and realises the importance of a good education. Having over 25 years of experience in the kindergarten to grade 12 sector, Peter has been described as both a practical and visionary leader and currently is the Executive Office of IT Services for the Toronto District School Board. While taking a grounded approach to more pressing current issues, Peter is often thinking towards the future and always keeping the bigger picture in mind.

Peter’s visions for the future includes adopting modern IT technologies to make their system adaptable, flexible and efficient to support the many needs of the TDSB, while keeping their current systems running smoothly. He is currently spearheading his team, leading them towards this vison. Peter is aware of the needs of the students and teachers in the TDSB and is wholly committed to providing them with the resources they need to have a successful and impactful education.

Click to download: ORION Leadership Award winner Peter Singh with award presenter, Rachel Simeon, Assistant Deputy Minister, Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Category: Higher Education

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ORION’s higher education community approached ORION with an idea – to share a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) to establish a security roadmap to address information privacy and cybersecurity challenges. The founding cohort includes David Cullum (Brock University), Scott Briggs (Humber College), Luc Roy (Laurentian University), John Levay (Niagara College), Alastair MacLeod (OCAD University), Jennifer Doyle and Denise Ernst (Queen’s University), Lisa Grothier (St. Lawrence College), and Nela Petkovic (Wilfrid Laurier University).

With the active participation and leadership from these eight higher education institutes, the Shared-CISO pilot has been a great success. The program is now expanding into the Ontario Cybersecurity Higher Education Consortium (ON-CHEC), which is open to all Universities and Colleges in Ontario and raises the bar for cybersecurity readiness.

ORION 2019 Leadership Award winners, Higher Education, Shared Chief Information Security Officer founding cohort

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Click to download: ORION Leadership Award winners, left to right: Michelle Moore – Humber College (accepting on behalf of Scott Briggs), Lisa Grothier – St. Lawrence College, Alastair MacLeod – OCADU, Nela Petkovic – Laurier, John Levay – Niagara College

Founding Cohort Group members:

John Levay is currently the CIO/CTO at Niagara College. He has over 35 years of experience in IT with 29+ of those years involved in Higher Education supporting teaching and learning, research projects, teaching into Business and Computer Science and building collaborative networks. John continues to be his wife’s only child.

Click to download: ORION Leadership Award winner John Levay

Nela Petkovic joined Laurier in 1995 as a Senior Systems Analyst and has since served in a number of progressively responsible roles, culminating in her 2014 appointment as CIO. In her capacity as CIO she has helped shape ICT at Laurier through the creation and implementation of a 5-year strategic plan for the department, as well as the establishment of a formal ICT governance structure, and the realization and adoption of a university-wide cloud policy. Nela holds a Master of Science in electronic engineering, is a designated Project Management Professional (PMP ®), and has participated in numerous professional development training programs, recently earning the Advanced Executive Certificate in General Management from the Queen’s School of Business Executive Education. She is also a member of the OUAC Advisory Board.

Click to download: ORION Leadership Award winner Nela Petkovic

Denise Ernst is an expert leader and educator on Information and Technology Management practices with extensive Information Security and Risk Management experience in the Financial and Education sectors. Throughout her career, Denise has focused on equipping people and organizations with strategies and skills to maximize technology and enhance digital experiences.

Click to download: ORION Leadership Award winner Denise Ernst

Alastair MacLeod is the CIO at OCAD University, Canada’s oldest and largest independent art and design university. He has led the IT department at OCAD University since 1998. He also serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for GTAnet, Toronto’s municipal high-speed research and education network and also serves on the CANARIE CIO Advisory Committee.

Click to download: ORION Leadership Award winner Alastair MacLeod

Luc Roy is the Chief Information Officer for Laurentian University and co-owner of Old Rock Roastery. As CIO, Luc is responsible for IT, Media and Web services for the university. In 1987, Luc graduated from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor of Science, Computer Science. Luc worked as the Director of Product Marketing for Bay Networks (acquired by Nortel Networks) and many of its subsidiaries for 13 years. He continued to work in the computer networking industry as Vice President – Product Planning for Chantry Networks Inc. (acquired by Siemens), Vice President – Wireless Strategy for Siemens Enterprise Communications, Vice President – Market Management for Siemens Canada, Vice President – Wireless Strategy for Enterasys Networks, Director of Marketing for Greenfield Networks (acquired by Cisco) and Vice President – Product Management and Marketing for BlueCat Networks.

Click to download: ORION Leadership Award winner Luc Roy

David Cullum is the Associate Vice-President of Information Technology Services at Brock University. David has been in this position for 5 years and leads an exceptional IT team. With over 20 years of experience in information technology, David has been able to lead and participate in many successful initiatives within the digital field in multiple sectors such as health care, federal and private.

Click to download: ORION Leadership Award winner David Cullum

Scott Briggs is Chief Information Officer at Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. Scott joined Humber in 2008 and is responsible for the development of institutional IT strategy and providing technology services to the college community. Scott is a member of the executive for the Ontario College Council of Chief Information Officers (OCCCIO). Prior to joining Humber, Scott held several senior roles in the Ontario healthcare sector including Chief Information Officer at Markham Stouffville Hospital. Scott is a graduate of the University of Waterloo holding a master’s degree in Management Science and an undergraduate degree in mathematics & computer science.

Click to download: ORION Leadership Award winner Scott Briggs

Lisa Grothier Chair, Ontario College Council of Chief Information Officers (OCCCIO) and CIO, St. Lawrence College

Lisa Grothier.

As the Chief Information Officer for St. Lawrence College, Lisa provides oversight for technology strategy and operations. Lisa is keenly focused on “students first” and believes that a strategic, responsive, and customer-focused Information  Technology department can be a significant contributor to the success of students and staff. With technology at the heart of transformational change in higher education, it is imperative that IT Services is strategically integrated with organizational teaching, learning and corporate business functions. Lisa holds a B.Sc. degree in Computer and Information Science from Queen’s University and in brings over 32 years of experience in the business of IT and education, focusing the last eight years in higher education. Between 2013 and 2018, Lisa chaired the Ontario College Council of Chief Information Officers (OCCCIO), which provides advocacy, collaboration and support for Ontario’s 24 College IT departments and their important role in our provincial higher education digital transformation and sustainability strategies. She continues to support the OCCCIO as Past-Chair.

Click to download: ORION Leadership Award winner Lisa Grothier

Jennifer joined Queen’s University in November 2017. She brought over 20 years of leadership experience with the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence where she last held the role of Chief Cybersecurity Engineer. She deployed on two international operations, notably as a unit operations officer in Afghanistan. Jennifer holds a Master of Public Administration from the Royal Military College (RMC), a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Université Laval, a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from RMC, and is a graduate of the Joint Command and Staff Programme, Canadian Forces College, Toronto. She achieved CISSP, GIAC CPPAP, SABSA certifications and is bilingual.

Click to download: ORION Leadership Award winner Jennifer