Our meshwest: Edmonton’s line-up includes:

 

Edmonton’s Keynote:
Ali Asaria | Founder/CEO, Well.ca

Ali Asaria is the CEO and founder of Well.ca, Canada’s largest online health and beauty store. Ali grew up in Guelph and Toronto, Ontario. He studied Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo.

In 2008, he was a recipient of the Top 40 Under 40 Award in Guelph. In the same year, Well.ca also won the National Angel Organization award for being the best Angel-funded startup in Canada. Ali has been interviewed in the Globe and Mail, National Post, and the Toronto Star. Projects he has worked on have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Business Week, and GQ UK.

Preliminary Panelists include:
Duleepa “Dups” Wijayawardhana |  Empire Avenue
Duleepa (better known as “Dups”) is CEO of Empire Avenue, the world’s first social media exchange. Dups has been working with Internet-related stuff since 1993, and has experienced the joy and frustrations of leading and developing large-scale databases and applications accessed by millions of users, including game-related properties at BioWare Corp. (now a division of Electronic Arts). Before founding Empire Avenue, he was the Community Relations Manager in North America for Sun Microsystems/MySQL. He has been seen travelling coast-to-coast talking at universities, technical groups and conferences, trying to socially network the old-fashioned way.

Maura Rodgers |  Strutta
Maura has been starting, advising and investing in Internet startups for more than 14 years. Presently, she is an associate with Initio Group, an early stage investment fund focused on solving real problems in the consumer Internet and mobile space. Recently, Maura co-founded Urbandig, the source for off-the-beaten path guides delivered to your iPhone. Prior to Urbandig, Maura founded Bootup Entrepreneurial Society, a community and mentor driven non-profit organization to inspire entrepreneurship in Canada and help Internet startups take their idea from conception to commercialization. Previously, Maura co-founded Strutta, a platform that enables anyone to create and manage branded online contests and sweepstakes. Strutta is a preferred Facebook Developer and has launched promotions for big brands such as Crate & Barrel, Land Rover,Johnson & Johnson and P&G.

Prior to co-founding Strutta, Maura was VP of Marketing and co-founder at Spinway, where she was largely responsible for making it become the fastest growing ISP in history with more than eight million users in 11 months. She was in charge of the overall communications and marketing strategy at Spinway and worked closely with all partners including Yahoo!, Costco, Barnes & Noble, Capital One and Kmart to streamline communications and ensure the success of their ISP product launches.

Jevon MacDonald | Innovacorp and StartupNorth.ca
Jevon MacDonald is a husband, entrepreneur, investor and advisor. He’s a tireless promoter of Canadian startups, amateur beach bum, and 30-second surfer. Jevon is currently the Entrepreneur in Residence at Innovacorp, a Nova Scotia-based venture capital fund and the High Performance Incubation organization.

Most recently, he was a partner at Dachis Group, a social business software and services firm backed by a $50million commitment from Austin Ventures. At Dachis, he participated in growing the company from four to 150 employees, four acquisitions and significant revenue growth in North America and internationally.

Jevon is also the co-founder of Startupnorth.ca, a community of Canadian technology startups, where he comments regularly on the Canadian venture landscape.

Ashley Casovan |  City of Edmonton
Ashley Casovan is the Strategic Coordinator for the Chief Information Officer at the City of Edmonton. Passionate about creating open government and enhancing community engagement, she is currently working on several innovative projects within the Information Technology Branch, the City of Edmonton and beyond. Prior to working with the City of Edmonton, Ashley was a political organizer in Canada and the United States. Outside work, Ashley is an active board member with Next Gen, Equal Voice Alberta North, and the Institute of Public Administration, Canada’s New Public Servant Committee.

Allyson Simpson | Osum Oil Sands
Allyson works for Osum Oil Sands, a Calgary junior oil company, where she engages with stakeholders using a variety of platforms, including social media. Previous to Osum Oil Sands, Allyson was the Assistant Marketing Manager at Melrose Cafe and Bar, a local eatery that has seen great success engaging the community with social media. She managed Melrose’s internal and external promotional team, developed brand awareness and sales strategies, and increased community involvement by various means including social media. In both her current and previous capacities, she utilized tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Foursquare to connect with customers.

Christina Rontynen | Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP)
Christina currently works as the Web and Social Media Analyst at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). She strives to engage multiple audiences online through several social media platforms. CAPP’s goals are not only to educate the public on oil and gas issues but also converse with them and become the trust online source for industry information.

Christina has completed an MA in Communications Studies from the University of Calgary where she focused her research on social media engagement. Her thesis, “Social Media’s Influence on Political Engagement”, looked at Alberta politics and how legislation is discussed through Facebook and Twitter. Her conclusion – that social media can be used to transform private individuals into publically engaged citizens.

She has experience in providing and executing strategic social media plans for a number of companies, politicians and not for profit organizations. She is passionate about in engagement and ensuring everyone has a say – hence her love of social media.

Mack D. Male | Questionmark Computing

Mack is a software developer, entrepreneur, and social media practitioner who tries to keep up-to-date on the latest trends and technologies.  In 2010, he was named one of Alberta’s Next 10 Most Influential People by Alberta Venture. In 2009, he was named one of Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40 by Avenue Edmonton for his role in helping to build Edmonton’s online communities.

 

 

Doug van Spronsen | DDB Canada

Doug van Spronsen is the strategy lead responsible for creating digital, mobile and social strategies that let DDB Canada clients create and maintain engaging user experiences. Doug is well versed in developing integrated campaigns that span digital, traditional print and media. He has delivered digital marketing strategies in consumer and busines-to-business markets, developing programs across a range of categories including, telecommunications, travel, finance, aviation, entertainment and technology. Doug is an active participant in the advertising community, currently serving on the Board of the Advertising Club of Edmonton.

Owen  Brierley | Guru Digital Arts College

Owen is the Executive Director of Guru Digital Arts College. Building on the previous six years of the school’s growth, Owen has introduced five new full-time diploma programs and expanded the student population in the past four years. Owen brings 15 years of experience in the digital media industry, including co-creating Keys2Drive for the AMA as part of GystWorks, co-creating a game for the tween audience called the Central Institute for Exploration (seekyourownproof.com) with Hotrocket Studios; game design and project leadership of a serious game for service rig workers called Simulynx for Terris-Hill Productions; and serving as the Multimedia Development Coordinator for Alberta Learning’s LearnAlberta.ca project, a repository of digital learning objects for the K-12 sector. Owen’s roles typically have involved leadership, creative facilitation, strategy, forecasting, analysis and design, and user experience design. Owen is an active speaker and champion of the digital media industry in Alberta.

Jason Suriano | Rocketfuel Games

Jason Suriano is president and executive producer with Rocketfuel Games, a studio that produces interactive online, mobile and real world educational games. Established in 2006, Rocketfuel has won many awards, including the CNMA’s Most Promising New Company of the Year and the 2010 Children’s Technology Review Editor’s Choice award for their game Seek Your Own Proof. Rocketfuel works internationally with brands such as Discovery Kids and locally with organizations such as ATCO, the Alberta Motor Association and the University of Alberta. Before co-founding Rocketfuel, Jason spent nine years producing hundreds of interactive projects for RED The Agency and his previous company, Hotrocket Studios.

Victor Rubba | Fluik Entertainment

Victor Rubba holds a Commerce degree from the University of Alberta. He founded Fluik Entertainment in 2009 to develop and publish mobile games, targeting primarily Apple devices.  In December 2009, Fluik released its first game, and consistently been releasing new titles across a wide range of genres.  Their first major hit was Will it Fly, which garnered more than half a million downloads.  Airport Madness Challenge, released in the Fall of 2010, boasts more than two million downloads since launch.  In April 2011, Victor tried his hand at building an entertainment app, called Office Jerk. On Android and iOS, Office Jerk has seen more than 11 million downloads, and has become the number one free app worldwide.  Victor has been the primary game designer and producer on all titles, as well as handling general operations and business development.  You can check out the website at www.fluik.com or search iTtunes for Fluik to see the full range of titles published to date.

Patrick Weekes | Bioware

Patrick Weekes is a senior writer with BioWare, an award-winning Electronic Arts label that is responsible for critically acclaimed series such as Mass Effect and Dragon Age, as well as the upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. He is currently finishing narrative writing and systems design on Mass Effect 3, and actively talks with BioWare fans on Twitter as @PatrickWeekes. Before joining BioWare in 2005, Patrick worked as a technical writer and sold short fiction to magazines such as Strange Horizons, Realms of  Fantasy, and Amazing Stories. He holds a BA and an MA in English (Creative Writing) from Stanford University.

Boyd Neil | Hill & Knowlton

At Hill & Knowlton, Boyd Neil uses more than 25 years of experience in the public and private sectors as a communication strategist to provide senior level counsel to a variety of clients. He is especially skilled in reputation management around sensitive issues and the integration of digital solutions into communications strategies. As national practice leader, social media and digital communications, Boyd is responsible for guiding Hill & Knowlton’s team of social media consultants who provide clients with creative solutions to their reputation challenges.

 

Andrew Czarnietzki is the technical director and a founding partner of 3D Interactive Inc. Andrew has a game design background and has helped build 3DI’s approach to simulation using cutting edge gaming technology.  This approach has let 3DI develop simulations with a very high level of visual and physical realism, while being able to deploy such simulations with a quick turnaround and low cost.  3DI makes high quality computer based training pervasive across the mining, energy, and construction sectors. Andrew has a Bachelor’s of Industrial Design from the University of Alberta, and over 10 years’ experience working with game design technology including the Unreal 3 game engine.  Andrew’s professional background is that of a “technical artist”, working in both an art role and a programming role.  This combination has let Andrew bridge the two disciplines of the game design industry and help develop a team of world class programmers and artists.  Currently 3DI employs 20 full time people.