Our People
We are committed to discovery, connection and excellence. We work at the speed of business, pursuing our mission with a spirit of fun and creativity. Every day, we purposefully cultivate a culture of respect for our stakeholders and for each other.
From its founding in 2018, the Catalyst has grown into a team of more than 60 professionals with experience in cybersecurity, AI, public policy, law, finance, national security, education and more. Cybersecurity is not just a technical imperative—it’s a social, political, and economic challenge with immense opportunities. Our interdisciplinary expertise drives every program and service we deliver.
Charles Finlay
Founding Executive Director
Our People
Our Team
Our Board
Our Advisors & Mentors
The Catalyst Team
These are the people that make it all possible.
Heather Adam
Director, Strategic Operations
Maria Grazzia Alvarez Alzamora
Manager, Fintech Programs
Rishita Barua
Analyst, Talent Management
Avleen Bassi
Coordinator, Small Business Programs
Nathan Battersby
Senior Manager, Innovation Programs
Luke Benner
Technical Support Specialist, Cyber Range
Judith Borts
Senior Director, Planning & Implementation
Aurn Chima
Specialist, Industry Engagement
Lester Chng
Senior Trainer & Content Developer, Cybersecurity
Anna Colagrossi
Director, Brand & Recruitment
Jasmine Cossey
Coordinator, Public Sector Programs
Julia Cottrelle
Content Marketing Specialist & Writer
Jennifer Dublin-Green
Specialist, Recruitment & Admissions
Trish Dyl
Director, Skills Development & International Programs
Safaa El Malhouf
Specialist, Recruitment & Admissions
Milena Ferrari
Lead, HR Operations
Charles Finlay
Founding Executive Director
Katie Gibson
Director, Cyber Clinic & Policy Insights
Elaine Gomes
Intern, Cyber Challenge
Harman Grewal
Lead, Innovation Programs
Mike Gropp
Senior Trainer & Content Developer, Cybersecurity
Danielle Hammond
Project & Administration Coordinator, Executive Office
Rushmi Hasham
Director, Strategic Partnerships
Alex Higgins
Coordinator, Operations
Ahmed Hussein
Lead, Project & Reporting
Khozam Imane
Project Lead, CTI
Ahmed Jadoon
Director, Finance
Janany Jayanthan
Analyst, Industry Engagement & Recruitment
Serena Jerkovic
Lead, Training Programs
Sukkar Kal
Senior Manager, International Programs
Tiffany Kelly
Lead, Innovation Programs
Evelyn Low
Manager, Planning & Implementation
Kathryn McCabe
Lead, Strategic Partnerships
Ian McWilliam
Trainer & Senior Security Advisor
Natalie Mendes
Lead, Innovation Programs
Rea Pizzuto
Lead, OCEI Project
Amanda Offor
Coordinator, FinTech Programs
Ayobami Ogunlana
Lead, Training Programs
Christine Park
Specialist, Brand
Adelina Petit-Vouriot
Lead, International Programs
Randy Purse
Senior Trainer & Content Developer, Cybersecurity
Daniela Recio-Greenwell
Specialist, Marketing & Communications
Roxana Rozembaigher
Acting Director, Workforce Training
Marcus Santos
Executive Academic Director
Juliana Scharrer
Manager, Planning & Implementation
Anita Schretlen
Manager, Small Business Programs
Dave Sousa
Specialist, Web & Digital
Philip Tapang
Technician, Cyber Range
Glazer Topaz
Senior Manager, Skills Development
Claire van Nierop
Manager, Marketing & Communications
Chris Visser
Lead, Operations
Mallory Warren
Coordinator, Events
Bettina Wong
Specialist, Recruitment & Partnerships
Jennifer Yang
Manager, Finance
Yuan Yin Yu
Coordinator, Program Operations
Yilu Yue
Specialist, Budget & Reporting
Jon Zeng
Technician, Cyber Range
Meet the Catalyst Team
These are the people that make it all possible.
Heather Adam
Director, Strategic Operations
Maria Grazzia Alvarez Alzamora
Manager, Fintech Programs
Rishita Barua
Analyst, Talent Management
Avleen Bassi
Coordinator, Small Business Programs
Nathan Battersby
Senior Manager, Innovation Programs
Luke Benner
Technical Support Specialist, Cyber Range
Judith Borts
Senior Director, Planning & Implementation
Aurn Chima
Specialist, Industry Engagement
Lester Chng
Senior Trainer & Content Developer, Cybersecurity
Anna Colagrossi
Director, Brand & Recruitment
Jasmine Cossey
Coordinator, Public Sector Programs
Julia Cottrelle
Content Marketing Specialist & Writer
Jennifer Dublin-Green
Specialist, Recruitment & Admissions
Trish Dyl
Director, Skills Development & International Programs
Safaa El Malhouf
Specialist, Recruitment & Admissions
Milena Ferrari
Lead, HR Operations
Charles Finlay
Founding Executive Director
Katie Gibson
Director, Cyber Clinic & Policy Insights
Elaine Gomes
Intern, Cyber Challenge
Harman Grewal
Lead, Innovation Programs
Mike Gropp
Senior Trainer & Content Developer, Cybersecurity
Danielle Hammond
Project & Administration Coordinator, Executive Office
Rushmi Hasham
Director, Strategic Partnerships
Alex Higgins
Coordinator, Operations
Ahmed Hussein
Lead, Project & Reporting
Khozam Imane
Project Lead, CTI
Ahmed Jadoon
Director, Finance
Janany Jayanthan
Analyst, Industry Engagement & Recruitment
Serena Jerkovic
Lead, Training Programs
Sukkar Kal
Senior Manager, International Programs
Tiffany Kelly
Lead, Innovation Programs
Evelyn Low
Manager, Planning & Implementation
Kathryn McCabe
Lead, Strategic Partnerships
Ian McWilliam
Trainer & Senior Security Advisor
Natalie Mendes
Lead, Innovation Programs
Rea Pizzuto
Lead, OCEI Project
Amanda Offor
Coordinator, FinTech Programs
Ayobami Ogunlana
Lead, Training Programs
Christine Park
Specialist, Brand
Adelina Petit-Vouriot
Lead, International Programs
Randy Purse
Senior Trainer & Content Developer, Cybersecurity
Daniela Recio-Greenwell
Specialist, Marketing & Communications
Roxana Rozembaigher
Acting Director, Workforce Training
Marcus Santos
Executive Academic Director
Juliana Scharrer
Manager, Planning & Implementation
Anita Schretlen
Manager, Small Business Programs
Dave Sousa
Specialist, Web & Digital
Philip Tapang
Technician, Cyber Range
Glazer Topaz
Senior Manager, Skills Development
Claire van Nierop
Manager, Marketing & Communications
Chris Visser
Lead, Operations
Mallory Warren
Coordinator, Events
Bettina Wong
Specialist, Recruitment & Partnerships
Jennifer Yang
Manager, Finance
Yuan Yin Yu
Coordinator, Program Operations
Yilu Yue
Specialist, Budget & Reporting
Jon Zeng
Technician, Cyber Range
Meet the Catalyst Board
The Catalyst Board of Directors oversees our activities and charts our strategic direction.
Dr. Steven Liss
TMU
Chair of the Board; VP, Research & Innovation
Laurie Pezzente
RBC
Vice-Chair of the Board; SVP & Chief Security Officer, Global Cyber Security
Dinah Davis
Code Like A Girl
Founder & Editor-in-Chief; Leadership Coach
Ira Goldstein
Kernel Advisory
Principal
Brian Lesser
TMU
Chief Information Officer
Dr. Atefeh Mashatan
TMU Cybersecurity Research Lab
Founding Director; Associate Professor, ITM; Canada Research Chair
Joanne Mckee
TMU
Chief Financial Officer
Dr. Ali Miri
TMU
Professor, Computer Science
Samuel Schwartz
The Strategy Law Group
President
Dr. Bala Venkatesh
TMU
Academic Director, Centre for Urban Energy; Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Charles Finlay
Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst
Ex-Officio; Founding Executive Director
Heather Adam
Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst
Director, Strategic Operations & Secretary of the Board
Advisors & Mentors
These leaders guide our initiatives, and collaborate with us in delivering our programs and services.
Aaron Cleary
Lyrical Security
Senior Director - Security Services
Abdul Sattar
Arctic Wolf
Distinguished Scientist Security Analytics
Adam Evans
RBC
Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer
Alex Muggah
Innovation Factory
VP Life Sciences; Director, Synapse Life Science Consortium
Ali Sharifi
NuBinary
Co-Founder
Andrea Bartlett
Humi
Director of People Operations
Andrew Amaro
Klavan Security
Co-Founder
Anne-Marie Kelly
Paays
Head of Fraud
Anthony Costa
PwC
Senior Manager, Cyber Incident Response
Arani Adhikari
Armour Cybersecurity
Chief Strategy Officer
Augusto Rosa
Infostrux Solutions
VP Engineering
Bob Gordon
Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange (CCTX)
Strategic Advisor
Bob Seeman
CyberCurb
Managing Partner
Brad Duguid
Brad Duguid Consulting
Principal
Bram Warshafsky
Shelfgram
Founder
Bridget Walshe
Canadian Centre for Cyber Security
Associate Head
Carlos Luque
OPP
Detective Sergeant
Caroline Tutakiewicz
RBC
Senior Director, Fraud & Security Risk
Christian Breede
Royal Military College of Canada
Associate Professor, Political Science
Christopher Lee
Glass House Systems
Cybersecurity Lead
Colin Singh
ImagineQ Inc
President
Curtis Tse
KOHO
Senior Manager, Product Security
Dan Mathieson
Former Mayor of Stratford
Special Advisor, Municipal Cybersecurity
Darren Gallop
Carbide
CEO & Co-Founder
David MacFarlane
Miovision
Head of Cybersecurity & Senior Director, Security
David Shipley
Beauceron
Chief Executive Officer
David Sutton
Ontario Institute for Cancer Research
Senior Information Security Officer
Denrich Sananda
Arista Technologies Limited
Managing Partner & Senior Consultant
Dinah Davis
Code Like A Girl
Founder & Editor-in-Chief; Leadership Coach
Dmitry Raidman
Cybeats; Security Architecture Podcast
CTO; Founding Partner
Dr. Atefeh Mashatan
TMU Cybersecurity Research Lab
Founding Director; Associate Professor, ITM
Dr. Stefan Schwerdtner
Cratos
CEO
Elana Graham
CYDEF
COO (Alumni-in-Residence)
Eldon Sprickerhoff
eSentire
Founder & Advisor
Erik Harrison
CRA
IT Senior Specialist
Erin McLean
eSentire
Chief Marketing Officer
Evgeniy Kharam
EK Cyber & Media Consulting
Cybersecurity Architect & Evangelist
Faezeh Khabbaz
RBC
Director, Data Science
Greg Moshonas
Ontario Health
Director, Cyber Security Defense
Heather Black
Palo Alto Networks
Regional VP, Canadian Public Sector
Iain Paterson
WELL Health Technologies
Chief Information Security Officer
Ian L. Paterson
Plurilock
CEO
Imran Ahmad
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada
Partner, Canadian Head of Technology; Co-Head, Information Governance, Privacy & Cybersecurity
Ira Goldstein
Kernel Advisory
Founder & CEO
Jasvinder Singh
Equifax
Head of Product Management
Jeff Schwartzentruber
eSentire
Snr Machine Learning Scientist; Catalyst Specialist Advisor, AI
Jeff Taylor
OTH Security
Managing Director
Jennifer Quaid
Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange (CCTX)
Executive Director
Jesse Hirsh
Independent
Technology Futurist
Joe Graci
JOVA Ventures
B2B Business Builder
Joe Graci
JOVA Ventures & Advisory
CEO
Joe LoBianco
CIBC
SVP & CISO
John George
OVIN
Sector Manager, Automotive & Mobility Innovation
Jonathan Parri
Communications Security Establishment Canada
Director, Cryptographic Systems Development & Operations
Jordan Kendall
Starman Consulting
President and Founder
Julie Champagne
Bank of Canada
Managing Director, Corporate Services
Kate Kearn
Mastercard
Director, Public Policy
Keenan Anthony
Holaday
Co-Founder
Ken Schultz
ETAS Canada
General Manager & People Lead
Kevin Sahota
Wawanesa
Manager, Security Operations & Analytics
Kevin Sivadas
RBC
VP Fintech, Banking, RBCx
Leigh Honeywell
Tall Poppy
CEO & Co-Founder
Lina Dabit
RCMP
Unit Commander, Cybercrime Investigation Toronto
Lloyd Komori
Various
Board Directo, Risk Management Expert & Teacher
Mandy Bachus
Flare Creative Group
Founder
Manoj Tiwary
Subaru Canada Inc
Chief Information Officer
Mark Bastin
BioCache Lab Solutions
Chief Administrative & Privacy/Security Officer
Mark Hausen
HR Technologies Inc.
Senior Director
Mark Radha
Strata Insights Inc
CEO & Chief Brand Economist
Maryam Haghighi
Bank of Canada
Director, Enterprise Data Science & Insights
Mathieu Lavoie
Flare Systems
Co-Founder (Alumni-in-Residence)
Matthew D’Ascanio
Clinical Trials Ontario
Director, Research Ethics Review Program
Melanie Power
Ontario Provincial Police
Manager, Cyber Operations Section
Melanie Somiah
Accenture
Managing Director
Melissa Carvalho
RBC
Vice President, Global Cyber Security Strategic Services
Michael O'Neil
Uptime Institute
Consulting Analyst - Cybersecurity
Michele Mullen
Department of National Defence
Director, Project Delivery Satellite Communications
Mike Ho
Independent
Venture Capitalist
Milos Stojadinovic
RBC
Senior Director, Adversary Emulation, Threat Hunting, Digital Development
Muhammad Imran
Azeemi Technologies
Management Executive
Nabil Zoldjalali
Darktrace
VP Technology Innovation
Neil Desai
Independent
Tech Commercialization Expert, CIGI Senior Fellow
Nik Alleyne
Sirius/CDW
Director of Business Development
Nish Bhalla
Independent
Angel Investor & Advisor
Noemi Chanda
Deloitte Canada
Partner
Patrick Clow
Canadian Centre for Cyber Security
Director General, CSIRT
Patrick Lo
Privacy Horizon Inc
CEO
Phillip Gales
inate.ai
CEO & Founder
Rafal Rohozinski
Zeropoint Security
CEO
Rahul Raghavan
Kroll
Senior VP (AppSec Advisory)
Ranjika Manamperi
Ontario Power Generation
CISO and VP, Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Digital Technology
Rick Ouellette
Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange (CCTX)
Chief Operating Officer
Rinku Garg
Arctic Wolf
Senior Information Security Engineer
Robert Gordon
Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange (CCTX)
Strategic Advisor
Roy Pereira
Unified API Inc
CEO
Ruth Promislow
Bennett Jones LLP
Partner
Sam Saad
MesoMat
Chief Operating Officer
Sean Blenkhorn
Revity Labs
Founder & Advisor
Seema Verma
Rogers Communications
Director, Cyber Security Programs CISSP
Snita Balsara
BDC
Principal, Sustainability Venture Fund
Sriram Raman
LifeLabs
SVP, Public Markets & Global Integration
Stephanie Hazlewood
RBC Borealis
Distinguished Engineer, Trusted Data & AI
Steve Porter
Secured Net Solutions
CEO/Founder
Steven Cohen
Centrilogic
VP CyberSecurity Practice
Steven Cohen
Infostream Solutions Inc
Senior Vice-President
Sumit Bhatia
Cybereco
Executive Vice-President
Toufic Adlouni
Renno & Co
Emerging Tech Lawyer; Co-Founder & Managing Director
Tracy Chong
Strata Insights Inc
President & Brand Economist
Vern Crowley
Independent
Consultant
Vicky Laurens
Scotiabank
VP Security Engineering & Deployment
Victoria Distrito
ORION
Security Analyst
Victoria Ghandour
William Osler Health Systems
Director, Cybersecurity, Privacy & Health Information Management
Will Greenblatt
OutLoud Speakers School
CEO
Zaki Abbas
Brookfield Asset Management
Senior VP, Chief Information Security Officer
