Chris Lerohl, M.Eng, MBA
Director
Chris is the business development and strategic lead for Honest Dumplings, previously he was the Business Development (BD) Manager at TEC Edmonton where he managed the BD team and developed an R&D program (UA Solve) to $500k revenue within 2 years. His role supported entrepreneurs in both business development and technology development. His strengths include; developing strategic partnerships, people management, identifying market opportunities, analyzing the strength of new technologies and helping to determine the best commercialization strategy. He has technical and research experience in food, agriculture, energy systems, clean technologies, and communications.
Jurate Motiejunaite, PhD
Director
Jurate serves as a Director and Project Manager at CICG, bringing over a decade of experience supporting clients and leading complex projects across funding, strategy, and planning engagements. She oversees project coordination and delivery, ensuring work is well-scoped, aligned with funder requirements, and executed efficiently. Jurate has deep expertise in grant writing and business planning, including successful applications to programs such as Alberta Innovates and IRAP, and has worked across a wide range of industries including software and technology, oil and gas, early-stage startups, and non-governmental organizations in Europe.
Deanna Douglas
Director
Deanna leverages networks to achieve strategic objectives. She approaches challenges from the perspective of increasing innovation. A project manager, networker, workshop presenter, and reviewer, Deanna works across and between organizations to seek and deliver projects that present a “win-win” for partner organizations. She holds a BA, and her role on science and engineering, small business, and funding teams serves to round out her ability to support businesses and non-profits alike.
Ana Clementin, MPH, PhD
Project Manager
Ana is a scientist trained in business development, management, and the basics of accounting, finances and patent law. Ana has held senior management roles and has been responsible for the operational aspects of most of the public health, healthcare and biotech non-for-profit and private organizations she has worked at. She also has experience in managing manufacturing projects.
Jane Halford, FCA, ICD.D
Project Manager
Jane is driven to help organizations and leaders achieve their goals. By leveraging her experience as a board director, chartered accountant, regulator, entrepreneur, and her passion for leadership development, Jane brings a breadth of experience to the individuals and teams she works with. Jane is an active board member with experience in non-profit, private company, and public sector organizations of all sizes.
Ahmad Yehya, MBA
Senior Manager
Ahmad Yehya is a seasoned, versatile, and accomplished executive leader with a wealth of experience in the Consumer-Packaged Goods and Logistics industries. With a proven track record of founding, building, and scaling successful companies, Ahmad combines strategic insight with operational expertise to drive sustainable growth.As the co-founder of Nabati Foods Inc. in 2014, Ahmad was instrumental in the company's rapid growth and eventual public listing on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE). His exit from Nabati Foods in 2021 marked a significant milestone in his career, further establishing him as a visionary leader.In addition to his entrepreneurial success, Ahmad is the CEO of Green Union Capital, a family investment firm specializing in CPCs, IPOs, and real estate investments. He has also consulted for small cap firms, providing strategic guidance in the go-public process, making him a sought-after advisor for companies looking to scale and succeed in competitive markets.
James Yip, MSc MBa
Business Analyst
Drawing from professional experience with public, private, and non-profit sectors, James is a results-driven facilitator of business intelligence and analysis for strategic planning. He is passionate about helping people and organizations develop business and capital planning strategies that are grounded in research and data.
Paul Sparrow-Clarke
Writing Professional
Paul has considerable experience in developing complex documentation, including academic program proposals, business plans, technical writing documents, business processes, strategic plans, annual reports, funding proposals, and government reporting requirements. He is skilled in gathering information from multiple sources, writing and editing material in plain language for maximum impact, and managing documentation projects for prompt submission. In the post-secondary realm, Paul has developed and managed academic quality assurance processes, and has created and run workshops on how to do quality assurance in postsecondary education.
Kessler Douglas, MA
Writing Professional
Kessler is a writer with a background in arts and research, with experience in non-profit, innovation, and small-business grants. He takes care to balance detail-oriented precision with strategic thinking while undertaking primary and secondary research, building market and business plans, and writing grant applications that accurately represent the vision of clients while meeting program requirements.
Zane Baker
Writing Professional
since joining CICG, Zane has contributed to a wide range of projects including business plans, grant applications, and primary research for small and medium-sized enterprises and non-profit organizations. His background in music gives him a grounded understanding of the arts sector and the unique operational and financial challenges faced by arts organizations.
Brian Stewart
Director
Brian has worked in the Commercial and Post-Secondary sectors, and has gained over 30 years of executive level experience.His focus has been on improving operational effectiveness, reducing and eliminating costs, strategic technology management including process innovation and the application of technology to product and service innovation. He is a leading proponent of the ability of digital technologies to transform organizations, co-authoring a book Phantoms Ex-machina, authoring a MOOC, and speaking internationally on Digital Transformation. Brian is a serial collaborator and is on the board of national and provincial organizations. He has been a leading participant in a number of collaborative Higher Education sector initiatives, including Alberta ShareIT and the ARUCC Student Mobility Initiative.
Dietmar Kennepohl
Director
A Professor of Chemistry and former Associate Vice President Academic at Athabasca University who has also worked at major institutions abroad and served in administrative positions on a wide range of national and provincial disciplinary associations, accreditation boards, and government organizations. He is a well-published and sought-after presenter at local, national and international conferences, on topics including learning design, learning outcomes, assessment, PLAR, transfer credit, quality assurance, institutional development and change, distance and online education, and emerging educational technologies.
