CEO Message

Message from the CEO

Welcome to June, a month to celebrate a new season and warm weather. As we look forward to what this month has to offer, it is imperative to recognize June’s significance as National Indigenous History Month and the #215children. In light of recent events, the Profound Impact™ team wishes to emphasize its support for the Indigenous community and its efforts to continue to positively support and share resources through our various platforms. ⁣

Thank you to those who attended our most recent Profound Insights webinar titled, “The Future of Work: Lifelong Learning & Networking with Digital Communities.” The webinar, moderated by Rob Darling, was a great success and facilitated engaging conversations with our esteemed panelists from the Waterloo Region including Simon Chan, Vice President of Talent, Academy & Future of Work at Communitech, Dr. Judene Pretti, Director of the Work-Learn Institute at the University of Waterloo, and Caitlin MacGregor, CEO and Co-Founder of Plum to discuss lifelong learning, professional development and talent resilience. 

This month’s Impact Profile will shine light on Don Cowan, Distinguished Professor Emeritus from University of Waterloo. Don’s rich and expansive career history in mathematics is attributed to his emphasis on mentorship and connections in academic ancestry, especially his connection to Sir Isaac Newton. We hope you enjoy the unique academic ancestry and entrepreneurism visualizations we have included in this newsletter. In each of our newsletter, we look forward to highlighting exceptional impactful individuals and welcome your suggestions on who to feature.

As the province-wide lock-down comes to an end, we encourage you to continue to learn more about how online virtual events and platforms like Profound Impact can elevate your organization’s engagement and the strong relationships it can build now and continue when we are able once again to engage in person.

Learn more about Profound Impact’s digital engagement communities and how the Profound Impact platform can ensure a safe and secure platform for your entire organization and attendees and align with your organization’s  strategic objectives by completing our free self-assessment tool.

Thank you for your continuous engagement and support. 

Donald Cowan

Dr. Donald Douglas Cowan

Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Waterloo 

With a rich and expansive career in mathematics and computer science, Dr. Don Cowan can be regarded as one of the earliest pioneers of computer science at the University of Waterloo. From experiencing the formative years of the University of Waterloo to participating in one of the earliest iterations of Silicon Valley, he has always had direct involvement in exciting advances in mathematics and computing. He was also an early entrepreneur and active participant in WATCOM and LivePage, two successful University of Waterloo spinoff companies that developed out of the exciting advances occurring in the field. 

After starting his career teaching in the 1960s, Don began working on computers in a significant way and saw both the University of Waterloo campus and his field grow. Appointed as Founding Chair of the computer science department at a relatively young age, he faced the challenge of finding the people to work in a field that was still in its own youth. At the time, so few people worked in computer science in industry and academia, it was difficult to attract them to the University of Waterloo campus. However, with his passion and expertise and much help from his colleagues, the department grew from 3 to 35 members in five years and soon ranked as one of the top in the world. 

As part of the team that developed and distributed software and hardware that supported computer science education, Don helped put the University of Waterloo on the map. These early projects contributed to many of the ideas behind the software systems that support  computer-based learning for the students of today. In the 1960s, he ran computer science days, an event that annually brought thousands of high school students to the University of Waterloo and exposed them to computers and programming with a view that these young minds might embrace this exciting technology of the future. Continuing his work at the University of Waterloo, Don was principal investigator on major research projects and supervisor of graduate students. He also presided as chair of the board of five different corporations, including startups and not-for-profit organizations. 

Mentorship played a major role in the trajectory of Don’s career, and Don is a vocal advocate for sharing knowledge and experience in these relationships. He recognizes his life has been significantly influenced by his many mentors, including his parents, his uncle Donald, Ralph Stanton and Wes Graham. Over his own tenure, Don has also supervised over 120 graduate students. Don feels privileged to have mentored these young people and see them continue to push boundaries and make the impossible possible.

Despite retiring 26 years ago, Don is still quite active in research and is excited to see what the future holds for the next generation. Programming may no longer be part of his day-to-day life, but he continues to work with several companies developing new and emerging  technologies that push the boundaries of what’s possible. Don collaborates with exceptional minds that work together to provide software that augments community efforts by using artificial intelligence and mobile devices to learn about and present data at the municipal level. He remains an active researcher in computer science — staying right in the middle of progress. 

Looking back at his career, there isn’t much that Don would change. Exciting things happened because people worked together, and Don will continue to look for these connections in his ongoing research and partnerships. 

Click on the image below to go to the Profound Impact academic ancestry graph connecting Don Cowan all the way back to Issac Newton!

Dr. Cowan has a long history of entrepreneurial success. You can see some of the companies he has founded or been associated with listed in the image below. A Profound Impact indeed!

Do you have an impact story to share? Let us know at connections@profoundimpact.com for a chance to be featured in an upcoming newsletter! 

CEO Message

Message from the CEO

Welcome to May. As we look forward to what May has to offer, it is important to acknowledge it is the official month of Mental Health Awareness. This month, along with every other, we should take time for ourselves and pay attention to both our physical and mental well-being. 

It’s time to #GetReal about the struggles that many academics and faculty face on a daily basis in silence, as nearly 20% of full-time academic physical and basic science faculty had significant levels of depression. ⁣Let’s continue to open up the dialogue and create a safe space for those suffering in our industry to feel supported. ⁣⁣

This month we will be hosting a new episode of our Profound Insights webinar series titled, “The Future of Work: Lifelong Learning & Networking with Digital Communities.” The webinar, moderated by Rob Darling, will take place on Wednesday, May 26th at 12:00pm EST. Rob will be connecting on the Profound Impact platform with esteemed panelists from the Waterloo Region including Simon Chan, Vice President of Talent, Academy & Future of Work at Communitech, Dr. Judene Pretti, Director of the Work-Learn Institute at the University of Waterloo, and Caitlin MacGregor, CEO and Co-Founder of Plum to discuss lifelong learning, professional development and talent resilience. 

On May 4th, I was honoured to be the recipient of the “K-W Oktoberfest Rogers Women of the Year – STEAM Award”. With a lifelong passion for STEAM, it is a privilege to be recognized by members of the Waterloo Region community for my efforts for women of all ages. 

Award programs such as this one recognize incredible women in our community. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!

As the province-wide lock-down continues, we encourage you to learn more about how online virtual events and platforms like Profound Impact can help elevate your organization’s engagement during these times. Learn more about Profound Impact’s digital engagement communities and how the Profound Impact platform can ensure a safe and secure platform for your entire organization and attendees with our free self-assessment tool.

Thank you for your continuous engagement and support!

Judene Pretti

Dr. Judene Pretti

Director, Work-Learn Institute, University of Waterloo

Dr. Judene Pretti began her career at the University of Waterloo 25 years ago as a co-op student in the Faculty of Mathematics and has worked there ever since. During this time, she spent nine years working in Computer Science within the Math faculty, in addition to five years establishing the WatPD program — a program of online professional development courses for co-op students. In the last 10 years, she has served as the Director of the Work-Learn Institute, formerly known as the Waterloo Centre for the Advancement of Co-operative Education.

Her career aspiration from a young age was to become a teacher. Judene originally attended the University of Waterloo for the Math Teaching option program because it offered the opportunity to complete co-op work terms in an educational setting during the completion of a degree. During her final work term, Judene supported associate professor Arnie Dyck in teaching a new first year computer science course, which resparked her desire to teach and eventually pursue a role teaching in Computer Science at the university after graduation, rather than going into the secondary system.

While her current role as the director of the Work-Learn Institute is not directly related to her initial plans to become a mathematics or computer science teacher, Judene explains that she’s been given opportunities to learn and grow and identify her strengths and weaknesses. Her two main motivations are her desire to help people develop and her passion for identifying and solving interesting and important problems. Judene’s long-term goal is to keep learning and growing and hopefully inspiring others to do the same. 

With an impressive repertoire of accomplishments, Judene’s experiences have ranged from a number of exciting projects over her career to focusing on the Future of Work to examine predictive trends and to consider the implications for preparation of students. That work led Judene to the development of the Future Ready Talent Framework, a competency tool that is used at the University of Waterloo within the Co-op and Experiential Education portfolio at Waterloo to help students think about how they are developing the skills and competencies that will be important in their careers.

Additional accomplishments include, but are not limited to, Judene’s work with Communitech as part of their Future of Work consortium, her contributions to the growth of the WxL institute, receiving the CEIA Tyler award for a research collaboration with WIL researchers in Australia and New Zealand, winning the CEWIL Canada Branton award to recognize co-op/WIL researcher,    and undertaking both her Master’s degree and PhD while working full-time. While simultaneously juggling her career, education, and three children, Judene’s perseverance is commendable and represents the tremendous impact and capabilities she has brought to the Waterloo Region community. 

While always finding a challenge and purpose in the work that she does, Judene continues to build connections with others and seizes every opportunity to make significant and meaningful contributions to the Waterloo Region community every day. The cumulative impact throughout Judene’s career includes more than 100 co-op students she’s personally supervised, and for years to come she will continue to mentor and share her knowledge with the next generation.

Do you have an impact story to share? Let us know at connections@profoundimpact.com for a chance to be featured in an upcoming newsletter! 

CEO Message

Message from the CEO

Spring is in full bloom and the team at Profound Impact is looking forward to everything this season has to offer. 

In honour of Earth Day on April 22nd, a movement in the making since 1970, the Profound Impact team has accepted the challenge to spend at least one hour doing something to help the planet. This includes activities such as taking a walk (alone or with your family) to pick up litter in your neighbourhood, planting your garden using pollinator-friendly plants, taking care of your indoor plants by giving them some extra water or sunshine, or finding a recipe to make your own cleaning products with non-toxic, natural materials. Please join us in accepting this challenge!

With the success of our International Women’s Day event in March, we are taking the time to integrate all attendees’ positive feedback and sentiments into the Women Empowering Women Digital Community, which is hosted on the Profound Impact platform.

On that note, we are moving forward with our next Profound Insights webinar in the month of May. The webinar titled “The Future of Work: Lifelong Learning & Networking with Digital Communities,” will explore how employees and employers are evolving in their expectations of longevity of employment and talent resilience. In addition, there will be discussions on how some corporations are launching alumni digital communities to keep connected with ex-employees.

We are thrilled to announce that Sherryl Petricevic, our Account Executive, has been chosen as a finalist for the Fresh Innovators Award presented by Leadership Waterloo Region. After a call to the community for nominations, a panel of community members evaluated and carefully selected the three finalists who on May 6th will vie for a cash prize and the honour of being the Top Fresh Innovator in Waterloo Region.  Congratulations Sherryl!

As we step up and continue to accept the challenges presented by COVID-19, we encourage you to learn more about how online virtual events will continue to play an important role in your future stakeholder engagement. If you haven’t already, check our free self-assessment tool to learn how Profound Impact’s platform for digital engagement communities align with your organization’s strategic goals.

We look forward to the month ahead and would like to thank you for your continuous engagement as we transition into a season that celebrates growth and change. 

Sherryl Petricevic

Sherryl Petricevic

Leader, Innovator and Mentor in the Waterloo Region Community

Sherryl Petricevic is an exceptional leader in the Waterloo Region who continues to achieve excellence and provide opportunities for all members of the community. Sherryl’s career experiences have unleashed her innovative capabilities both personally and professionally, aiding in the advancement of the Women in Communications & Technology (WCT-WR) community. 

When the need for a Co-Chair was established in the Waterloo Region Chapter of WCT, Sherryl was naturally the ideal candidate. As someone who knows the Waterloo Region community ecosystem very well, in addition to lived-experience watching Waterloo Region transform into an innovative, entrepreneurial space with talented, motivated people to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, Sherryl’s expertise is exactly what the role required.

As Co-Chair of WCT-WR, Sherryl has played an active role in spearheading several of the organization’s initiatives and programs. Sherryl spent several months consulting with employers, academic and research institutes and community organizations to identify a gap in the availability of mentorship programs for women within the Waterloo Region. 

Through Sherryl’s leadership, WCT-WR developed a highly-collaborative program called Mentoring Circles to address the gap. Mentoring Circles are designed to provide like-minded professionals in any industry the opportunity to form strategic partnerships with members of the group. The partnerships are intended to help members deal with current career challenges, as well as find the support and tools they need to grow and develop in their careers. Since the inception of WCT Waterloo Region Mentoring Circles in 2019, over 200 participants of all career stages have participated in the program. 

Sherryl’s experience in building partnerships and programs with Communitech and the Waterloo Region Economic Development Corporation has enabled her to support big dreamers as they endeavoured to scale-up their businesses and identify niche needs that demanded solutions. Through a tremendous amount of leg-work in meeting community partners to identify the mentorship gap, Sherryl was able to do the same for WCT. Sherryl played a major role in forming the WCT Executive Committee and ensuring the Waterloo Region Chapter was very active, dynamic and inclusive reaching into far corners of the community and removing any barriers to entry. With a clear vision from the start, Sherryl has been able to execute her plans with laser-precision. The success of the WCT Mentoring Circles program is directly attributed to Sherryl’s dedication and resilience.

We commend Sherryl for her continuous efforts and look forward to her future successes and endeavors in the Waterloo Region community and beyond.

Do you have an impact story to share? Let us know at connections@profoundimpact.com for a chance to be featured in an upcoming newsletter! 

CEO Message

Happy Women’s History Month to all of our Profound Impact ambassadors! March is a time to celebrate nationwide the historical achievements of women around the world.

On March 8, 2021 Profound Impact was honoured to host the first virtual #ChooseToChallenge International Women’s Day event for Waterloo Region in collaboration with Women in Communications and Technology — Waterloo Region and other participating organizations and female leaders. The day was filled with inspiring conversations and meaningful connections  celebrating the trailblazing women that enrich our Waterloo Region community every single day.

Thank you to my team and the group of corporate, academic, non-profit and community leaders from across Waterloo Region who came together virtually and safely this year to recognize and celebrate the profound impact women have made and continue to make within our community. 

This month we are pleased to highlight the impactful journey of Adele Newton. Not only is she an inspiration and mentor to young women, she has also been a valuable contributor as a business development professional at Profound Impact. We wish her continued success in her retirement.

As we step up and accept the challenges presented by COVID-19, the success of the Waterloo Region International Women’s Day virtual event showcased how online virtual events continue to be on the rise and will play an important role in our future due to the uncertainty that lies ahead. Hosting your next virtual event exclusively on the Profound Impact platform ensures a safe and secure platform for not only your organization, but all of your attendees as well! If you’re interested in learning more about the Profound Impact’s digital engagement communities, check out our free self-assessment tool here. 

Warmest regards, 

Sherry Shannon-Vanstone 

IWD 2021

IWD 2021 Waterloo Region virtual event powered by Profound Impact

Represented in the image above, nearly 400 attendees from four countries participated in the International Women’s Day event hosted on the Profound Impact platform.

Instead of our monthly Profound Connections webinar, this month we hosted the International Women’s Day Waterloo Region virtual event, put on by Women in Communication Technology — Waterloo Region Chapter, exclusively on the Profound Impact platform. Bringing together Waterloo Region community members from all over the tri-cities and townships on our platform allowed for important conversations to happen seamlessly. We hosted nearly 400 registrants and together celebrated the women of our community and the amazing work that they are doing towards ending gender bias and inequality.  

Throughout the all-day event, conversations, affirmations thanking our community through a series of video vignettes, entertainment and musical interludes took place that specifically highlighted women and organizations who have chosen to challenge gender bias and inequity and have helped to create an inclusive world that empowers women and celebrates their achievements.

Speaking remarks were made by incredible women across Waterloo Region involved in various areas of work including science, technology, mentorship, and youth engagement. A few standout remarks include: 

“Everyone can be a mentor to someone else and I think it’s really easy to get caught up in this sort of imposter syndrome of ‘I’m not far enough along in my career to be a mentor or I haven’t got the expertise in this particular area,’ but you do.” 

— Renata Rusiniak, Principal and Founder, Green Horseshoe Solutions

“Take action whether you want to be part of WCT-WR or some other form of mentorship program. Reach out to someone for coffee and push your confidence.” 

— Mansi Baxi, Software Engineer, Manulife

“Some of the best things that make me a strong leader are pieces of my life that I left at home at first.”

— Caitlin Macgregor, Co-Founder & CEO, Plum

“Don’t underestimate yourself. Probe and explore opportunities more before you say no.”

— Dr. Deborah MacLatchey, President and Vice-Chancellor, Wilfrid Laurier University

“Take encouragement and run with it.”

— Jacqueline Hewson, Vice President and Market Leader, BMO Private Wealth at BMO Wealth Management – Canada

With over six live panel conversations, participants were able to engage in important conversations that revolve around women in our local community. We are grateful for all those who participated and encourage women of all ages to get involved in this empowering and welcoming community. Events like this remind women everywhere how strong we are and the power our voices withhold in unison. 

Adele Newton

Adele Newton

Strategic Partnerships Pioneer and Mentor

The Impact of Making Connections and Fostering Mentorship

As the oldest of five children, including three younger sisters, being a mentor to young women and a leader is something that has always come naturally to Adele Newton. Over the course of her career, she has wanted to provide others with the guidance and support she didn’t always have.

“I had very few female mentors – but those I did have made a big difference to how I looked at progress in my career,” says Adele. “I know I would have been more confident and taken more risks if there had been more women role models for me. So if I can make the road a little easier and more visible to a young woman, that means a lot to me and to her.”

Creating her own way

When Adele started her BMath at the University of Waterloo, she expected to have a fairly straightforward career path as a teacher. She realized teaching was not what she had hoped for. Instead she created her own way, and after working in a series of positions at the university, she found her calling. 

“When I managed the President’s Club program for the University of Waterloo, I learned a lot about the importance of giving back to the university and the difference it makes to the institution. It was when I first understood the potential for connecting industry to the research part of the university and how that could benefit both parties.”

Over the years, Adele has facilitated relationships between industry and academia, which has led to countless research collaborations as well as valuable opportunities for students. Canadian companies, such as Alias Research, Side Effects Software, Bell Canada, and BlackBerry all benefited from connections Adele helped them make with universities around the world.

The value of mentorship

Her talent for creating connections has allowed Adele to pursue her passion for outreach and mentoring others. While working in the computer graphics industry, she became involved with SIGGRAPH, the world’s largest conference in computer graphics. Adele saw an opportunity to create programs to introduce children and teenagers to the field. She recognized the important role women play in mentoring others.

“I have almost always been the only or one of the few women in the room during my career. That’s just the nature of tech – though it is changing. When I suggested we have an outreach program for SIGGRAPH, I knew that most of the mentors would be male – but we had some wonderful women participate. I saw the kids’ eyes light up. These were kids where 10-14 years old from inner city schools in New Orleans. I knew we had sparked ideas and possibilities in them. It was very powerful, and I knew I wanted to keep doing this.”  

In more recent years, Adele co-founded LAUNCH Waterloo – an organization that aims to introduce children to science, technology, engineering, arts, and math through fun recreational programs. She is also a mentor in the Women in Communication and Technology (WCT) Waterloo Region Mentorship Circles, a program that connects women with mentors.

“Mentoring younger women is a joy! I love sharing my experience and being there for them to run their ideas by me and to provide insight that they may not have had otherwise.”  

A career filled with accomplishments

As Adele begins to consider retirement and focus on travel, writing and her love (and exceptional talent) for creating mouthwatering culinary creations, she can look back with pride on her accomplishments. She has influenced countless individuals – men and women alike – through her mentorship and guidance. Many of the research partnerships she facilitated continue thanks to the connections she originally created.

“I look back on my schooling and my career and am proud of the work I did with industry and universities and the lasting effect those programs have had. There are still research collaborations in place that started as a result of some of those programs. I know my work provided motivation and funds for students of all ages (from grade school to grad school) to go to school when they might not otherwise have thought to or been able to.”

Adele has been a valuable contributor to Profound Impact and will continue to work on special projects on occasion. While we are sorry to see her go, we are happy she will be able to indulge in her love of cooking and travel, and wish her all the best in retirement.

Mentoring Relationship Graph from the Profound Impact Platform

CEO Message

This month, I’d like to acknowledge all of the hard work that went into the Profound Impact activities in January 2021. During what always feels to be the longest month of the year, our team at Profound Impact kept ourselves extremely busy planning for an exciting year ahead. 

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the original registrants for our January 23rd webinar and for their understanding and patience with the rescheduling of that webinar.  We were thrilled to host this webinar titled “Realtime Pivot and Connecting the Dots for Multifaceted, Engaging Virtual Events at Scale: A University of Waterloo Faculty of Mathematics Case Study” on February 16th with the largest number of registrants to date. We hope you enjoyed Candace Harrington’s sentiments on how the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo is using their Waterloo Digital Math Community (hosted on the Profound Impact platform) to further engage their stakeholders by strategically pivoting from hosting in-person events to offering meaningful online experiences.

If you have people in your network interested in Profound Insights, please invite them to our March 23rd webinar titled “The Non-Linear Future of Work: Making Connections with Digital Communities”. Registrants will be invited to complete a free self-assessment tool on stakeholder engagement strategy.  Each organization that registers for the March webinar and/or submits the assessment will also be entered into a draw to receive up to four hours of consulting, at no charge, with Barney Ellis-Perry, Profound Impact’s engagement strategist. 

Thank you for your ongoing support. We look forward to seeing you on March 23rd.  Additionally, our team is collaborating with WCT Waterloo Region chapter and  other Waterloo Region organizations including Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Waterloo, Rotary Clubs , BMO, RBC, Durrell Communications, Vidyard, Perimeter Institute and OpenText for a full day program on March 8th to celebrate International Women’s Day 2021. This year’s theme is Choose to challenge. We hope you will join us for this free event.

Warmest regards, 

Sherry Shannon-Vanstone