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.
CEO OF LOCAL TECH STARTUP NAMED RECIPIENT OF PRESTIGIOUS ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR AWARD TO BE RECOGNIZED THIS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
As recipient of a Women in Communications and Technology (WCT) 2020 Annual Leadership Award, Sherry Shannon-Vanstone to participate in WCT Celebrates: Sparks of Change 2021 event series
WATERLOO, ON | MARCH 2, 2021 — Profound Impact™ Corporation, a Canadian company providing a next-generation social engagement and interaction platform, is thrilled to announce its President and CEO, Sherry Shannon-Vanstone, will be recognized as the recipient of the WCT 2020 Annual Leadership Excellence Award in Entrepreneurship on March 11, 2021.
The prestigious awards program recognizes women, men and organizations committed to gender diversity in Canada’s digital industries. In an effort to recognize recipients of the 2020 Annual Leadership Excellence Awards Gala after the cancellation of the Annual Awards Gala, WCT Celebrates: Sparks of Change 2021 will be hosted throughout the month of March to applaud honourees.
For nearly 30 years, WCT has been a leader in advocating the benefits of gender equality in the workplace. WCT is Canada’s only national organization with chapters coast-to-coast dedicated to keeping a persistent focus on the under-representation of women in digital industries. The organization’s Leadership Excellence Awards are focused on celebrating the contributions and achievements of women and diversity champions that are helping to close the gender gap in the tech industry.
As the recipient of the WCT 2020 Annual Leadership Excellence — Entrepreneur award, Sherry has been recognized for the significant contributions she has made to the spectrum of digital industries while also dedicating her work towards the advancement of women in STEM.
Sherry has been involved in three successful start up ventures, including Cylink Corporation, Blackberry Certicom and TrustPoint Innovation. Most recently and in honour of her late husband, Scott A. Vanstone, Sherry founded Profound Impact Corporation in 2018. Profound Impact is a next-generation social engagement and interaction platform providing digital communities for universities and their alumni to engage, discover, and measure the impact that the institution and its stakeholders have on technology and the world. It also aims to build a sense of community for a global audience of affinity groups such as women in STEM and entrepreneurs.
“I am honoured to be recognized alongside other industry trailblazers that continue to make material differences in the roles women possess and their influence in the digital economy,” said Sherry Shannon-Vanstone. “When embarking on every new venture, it has always been my goal to help women discover and advance in innovative industries.”
WCT Celebrates: Sparks of Change is a leadership excellence event series presented by Microsoft. Seven webinars throughout the month of March will provide a chance to meet and engage with the recipients of the WCT 2020 Annual Leadership Excellence Awards.
On March 11, Sherry Shannon-Vanstone will be featured on a panel titled, “Boldly Go Where Few Women Have Gone Before,” alongside Françoise Gagnon, CEO of ADGA Group Consultants Inc., and Sonia Brar, VP of Customer Operations Strategy and Design & Delivery at Bell. The discussion, moderated by Carole Santerre, VP of Network Reliability and Service Assurance at Shaw Communications, will be centered around paving the way for women to ascend in male-dominated industries within ICT/STEM.
For more information about Profound Impact™ Corporation, please visit www.profoundimpact.com.
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ABOUT PROFOUND IMPACT CORPORATION
Profound Impact™ connects great people to do great things by providing a unique and transformational digital community to measure the worldwide impact of an organization and by facilitating and accelerating connectivity to inspire collaborative solutions to difficult global problems.
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.
NEW LOCAL VENTURE AND LEGACY PROJECT PROFOUND IMPACT™ PROVIDES NEXT-GENERATION, SECURE DIGITAL COMMUNITY FOR FACULTY, ALUMNI AND STUDENTS
Profound Impact Day will be recognized and celebrated on September 14, 2020 in honour of the late Professor Scott A. Vanstone of the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo
WATERLOO, ON | SEPTEMBER 9, 2020 — With university populations returning in new capacities for the 2020-21 academic year, Profound Impact Corporation is introducing a new and secure way for faculty, alumni and students to engage through its innovative digital platform.
Inspired by the late Professor Scott A. Vanstone and the impact that his mentorship and guidance continue to have in the world of mathematics and across various fields, Profound Impact helps to engage the untapped capacity of scholar and alumni networks in hopes of inspiring collaborative solutions to global problems.
The Profound Impact digital community has been designed for use by universities and other research institutions and their stakeholders to engage, discover, and measure the impact that the institution and its community have had and continues to have on the world. Different from existing alumni engagement platforms, Profound Impact is a powerful tool that involves all stakeholders associated with the institutional user — tracking the impact year over year of scholars and alumni while also enabling its users to visualize and explore hidden connections for collaborative purposes.
Founded in honour of her late husband by Sherry Shannon-Vanstone, a local renowned serial entrepreneur, trailblazer in the fields of STEM, business and philanthropy, and expert in information security, the Profound Impact platform has been developed on a foundation of privacy and security. Another one of the platform’s key differentiators is its capacity for visualization and use of data analytics.
“With incredible research and innovation happening at our universities, it’s crucial to have a system that will facilitate connections and push the boundaries of discovery,” said Shannon-Vanstone. “Being able to share stories of both individual and collective impact on our platform will help the community realize the lasting legacy of these relationships.”
The inaugural Profound Impact Day will be recognized on September 14, 2020 in Waterloo to acknowledge and celebrate the global impact of Scott A. Vanstone, the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo and its role as an international centre of research and development in cybersecurity.
On that day, at 12 noon, university alumni, faculty and students across Canada and the U.S. will join in a celebration of the power of alumni and faculty engagement and connection with a demonstration of the Profound Impact platform. A second event at 4 p.m., hosted in conjunction with the University of Waterloo Math Faculty, will focus on the Math Faculty’s vision for research, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship and profound impact of early discovery, experimentation, and disruption through research and invention.
“As a math alumnus of the University of Waterloo, I reflect on many intersections of student co-op experiences, professors, and industry researchers over the decades that have proven so fruitful to each side of the equation,” stated Dave Jaworsky, Mayor, City of Waterloo and BMath ‘88. “Most of these have been through chance relationships. I had the chance to work with Professor Vanstone in the wireless security industry, and this new digital community will honour and cultivate his spirit of collaboration.”
Inspired by the late Professor Scott A. Vanstone of the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo and the impact that his mentorship and guidance continue to have in the world of mathematics and across various fields, Profound Impact™ provides a unique digital community that connects people to help them become aware of undiscovered relationships and to demonstrate their individual and collective profound impact stories.
