Who We Are

CILAR (Coalition of Innovation Leaders Advancing Respect) is a Canadian non-profit organization and national platform headquartered in Toronto that unites business, educators, community, and government leaders to build an inclusive innovation economy.

Learn More Our Members

Our Identity

Our Mission

CILAR is the catalyst that connects industry, government, educators, and communities to build inclusive pathways into Canada’s innovation economy. We close the gap between where technology is going and where Canada’s workforce is today by ensuring the diversity of our people becomes the competitive advantage that drives our prosperity.

Our Role

CILAR delivers on this mandate as Canada's national inclusive innovation platform aligning industry demand with credentialed learning and community access to produce measurable workforce outcomes at scale.

Our Vision

A Canada where every person and every workplace has the fluency, confidence, and access to lead in a technology-driven economy, not just participate in it.

Our CILAR Members

Interested in learning more about the innovative leaders championing CILAR's initiatives and vision? Take a look below at our CILAR team and CILAR community members, featuring some of Canada's brightest minds in the tech and innovation sector!

Abdullah Snobar

Executive Director, DMZ

Adrian Thomas

CEO, Hammond Power Solutions

Aliya Ramji

Co-Founder & Head at MT>Ventures Partner at McCarthy Tetrault

Andrew Chunilall

CEO, Community Foundations of Canada

Danielle Graham

Co-Founder, The Firehood & General Partner of Phoenix Fire, Archangel Network of Funds

David Rawlings

CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co Canada

Dr. Kamran Khan

Founder & CEO, BlueDot Inc

Dr. Mary Wells

Dean, Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo

Dr. Mohamed Lachemi

President & Vice Chancellor, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)

Dubie Cunningham

Partner, KPMG

Faisal Kazi

President & CEO, Siemens Canada

Garrick Tiplady

Global Head of SMB Group , Meta

Humera Malik

Founder & CEO, Canvass AI

Humza Teherany

Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, MLSE

Jarret Leaman

Founder, The Centre for Indigenous Innovation and Technology

Jay-Ann Gilfoy

CEO, Meridian Credit Union

Jeanne Lam

VP Growth & Global Marketing, Propel Holdings

Karen Myers

President & CEO, Blueprint-ADE

Khaled Hassanein

Dean, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University

Kirstine Stewart

Board Chair, Blink49 Studios

Laura Pearce

Head of Marketing, Google Canada

Margaret Stuart

Board Member | Advisor

Mary Ann Yule

Former President & CEO, HP Canada

Mike Serbinis

Founder & CEO, League

Monique Allen

Board Director, Sun Life Global Solutions

Nabeela Elsayed

Interim Chief Executive Officer, Miracle Foundation

Pedro Barata

President & CEO, Habitat for Humanity Canada

Rajesh Uttamchandani

Former Chief People Officer, ApplyBoard

Rick Huijbregts

Chief Growth & Operations Officer, Protexxa

Rizwan Khalfan

EVP and Vice Chair, Strategic Growth, Innovation & Partnerships TD Bank Group

Rola Dagher

Former Global Channel Chief, Dell Technologies| Former President, Cisco Canada | Board Member

Sam Sebastian

SVP, Databricks

Sarah Paquet

Former Director & CEO, FINTRAC

Sonya Shorey

President & CEO, Invest Ottawa

Stacey Madge

Non Executive Director, Barclays UK

Taki Sarantakis

Senior Fellow, University of Toronto

Van Zorbas

Partner, Deloitte Canada

Vickery Bowles

Retired City Librarian, Toronto Public Library

Agapi Gessesse

Chief Executive Officer

Keneisha Williams

Director of Operations & Programs

Ismail Mohamud

Lead IT & Platform Engineer

Rayah Ali

Resource Development and Communications Coordinator

Claudette McGowan

Co-Founder & Chair

Yung Wu

Co-Founder

Armughan Ahmad

Co-Founder

Serena Nguyen

Founding Executive Director

Interested?

We're always welcoming new participants, sponsors and partners into our CILAR Innovation Ecosystem.
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