Board Members
Naseem Bashir, Board Chair
President and CEO of Williams Engineering Canada and Chairman of the Board for the Williams Group of Companies
Naseem Bashir is the President and CEO of Williams Engineering Canada and Chairman of the Board for the Williams Group of Companies. In his role as President, Naseem develops strategy and executes on a well-developed business plan. Naseem oversees the Senior Leadership team which is made up of the Vice President Finance as well as the Regional Directors from Alberta, and British Columbia, and Managers from Human Resources, Marketing, and IT. Naseem is an active member of WPO Alberta as well as a Director of the Edmonton International Airport and a Director of the Waste RE Solutions Edmonton.
Aaryn Flynn
CEO of Inflexion Games
Aaryn Flynn is a games industry veteran associated with many of the most successful games and franchises produced by Bioware, which he joined after leaving university and where he worked of 17 years. While at Bioware, he oversaw Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Anthem, and more. Flynn then took his considerable talents to Improbable, leading the development of tools and showcasing demonstrative content for SpatialOS with some world-class developers. Aaryn has an MBA from Cornell University.
What does innovation mean to you?
“The solving of problems in a new way. It doesn't need to be costly, or long-term, or "big". Just a fitting solution to a vexing challenge! The best innovations just seem to make so much sense once they arrive, we think, "Well of course!"
Farzad (Haider) Alvi
Assistant Professor of Innovation Finance at Athabasca University
Dr. Haider Alvi is a former corporate financier turned academic and company director. Having grown up in North America, he has worked in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America. Dr. Alvi’s research investigates Innovation Finance, examining the individual agency and entrepreneurial orientations exhibited in high-growth firms, and the adaptation of strategy to volatile contexts.
At Athabasca University, Dr. Alvi has been involved in pilot projects with IBM Watson in applying artificial intelligence to teaching materials and testing that improves learning outcomes for students. Additionally, he teaches Innovation Finance in Athabasca’s online MBA program – the online MBA is an innovation pioneered in Edmonton over 25 years ago. Dr. Alvi holds degrees from the University of Cambridge (PhD), University of Toronto (MBA), Indiana University – Bloomington (JD), and University of Chicago (AB).
What does innovation mean to you?
"Processes of learning and discovery about new ways of doing things and organizing around them. In other words, doing cool stuff in a cool way."
Shaheel Hooda
Managing Partner at Sprout.VC
Shaheel is one of the founding partners of Sprout.VC, a leading Western Canadian Seed-stage venture fund. He is a serial entrepreneur that has been involved in starting or growing more than 15 businesses in the U.S. and Canada. He has advised close to a thousand startup entrepreneurs and helped companies raise more than $100M in capital. His previous experience includes providing strategic advice to Fortune 500 companies while at McKinsey & Co., launching one of Canada’s first online banks, serving as CEO of two Alberta startups, and serving as the Head of Business Development for a high-growth U.S. enterprise software company. Shaheel was recognized by Startup Canada for his contributions in helping to support Alberta tech companies in their efforts to scale. He holds an MBA from Harvard and BCom from the University of Alberta. Shaheel’s volunteer activities include serving as Chairman of the A100 Tech Entrepreneurs’ organization and mentoring through both the Harvard Innovation Lab the University of Alberta’s VMS program.
What does innovation mean to you?
“Looking at the world and seeing the future, then figuring out how to get there against all the odds.”
Nicole Janssen
Co-Founder and Co-CEO at AltaML
Nicole Janssen is Co-Founder & Co-CEO at AltaML Inc. and Co-Founder & CEO of Janalta Interactive, both based out of Edmonton, Alberta. In two and a half years AltaML has grown rapidly from a handful of people to nearly 100 employees in three cities, prompting an expansion of its headquarters that reflects and support its evolution from startup to scaleup. Nicole considers herself to be a serial entrepreneur and is recognized for her plethora of ideas, seemingly at a moment’s notice. She is a valued mentor who also believes in giving back to the community, serving as the Chair on the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement of Northern Alberta & NWT. Nicole holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Alberta.
What does innovation mean to you?
“Innovation is hard. Full stop. The biggest risk though comes from not innovating.”
Sheetal Mehta Walsh
Chief Strategy Officer, Ministry Jobs, Economy and Innovation Alberta
Sheetal has 20 years of global experience in venture capital and technology. She currently serves as the first Chief Strategy Officer to the Government of Alberta to expand and diversify the innovation strategy with a mission to promote Alberta competitiveness nationally and globally. Sheetal is Founder of Soho VC the UK’s first all female led fund, focussed on investing in sustainable and socially responsible global solutions. For 14 years, Sheetal served (by appointment) as Deal Maker to the UK Government’s Global Entrepreneur Programme where she facilitated fundraising of 1 billion GBP and attracted 900 companies into the UK. In 2000 Sheetal created and implemented under Bill Gates, the first VC relations strategy which evolved into one of the world’s first corporate innovation arms. She scaled this globally with a UK base in 2003-2006. In 2009 she founded Shanti Life, a microfinance organization that helps the poor in India build sustainable businesses and access sanitation through microfinance. She serves on various boards including MetaCert a cybersecurity startup and UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School Ireland. In addition, Sheetal provides advisory services to socially conscious technology companies so that they can access smart venture capital, corporate partnering, global expansion and PR. She has a Master’s Degree in International Relations (Economics) at the London School of Economics and a BA (Honours) in International Politics at the University of Alberta, Canada.
What does innovation mean to you?
"Innovation presents solutions to problems but it also catapults users into the future to innovate further and think differently. Innovation is about impacting communities positively."
Innovate Edmonton would like to thank and recognize the contributions and governance from our inaugural board. These business leaders set the foundation of our organization, approved our strategic and business plans and determined, Edmonton's newest innovation destination opening in fall 2022. Naseem Bashir, Ashlyn Bernier, Joanne Fedeyko, Aaryn Flynn, Farzad (Haider) Alvi, Shaheel Hooda, Nicole Janssen, Sheetal Mehta Walsh.