[Ottawa, ON | September 25, 2025]
CANARIE welcomes Iris Almeida-Côté, Kanisha Lala, Srini Sampalli, and Paula Wood-Adams to its Board of Directors and thanks retiring Directors: Charmaine Dean, Tatiana Kozbenko, former Board Chair Sylvie LaPerrière, and Deb Verhoeven for their significant contributions to the Board. CANARIE is grateful for the tremendous engagement, insight, and commitment of Charmaine, Tatiana, Sylvie, and Deb during their tenure and wishes them the best in future endeavours.
The new Directors were elected at the CANARIE Annual General Meeting held on September 18, 2025.
Iris Almeida-Côté is Chief Executive Officer of INNOVACONNECT Inc., where she provides strategic management services in digital modernization, governance, cybersecurity, risk management, ESG investing, finance, and audit to corporations, academic institutions, and Indigenous organizations. A certified corporate director and a jurist by training, Iris completed executive education in Cybersecurity and Risk Management at Harvard University.
Previously, Iris held senior leadership roles including CEO of Trigone International and the Royal Society of Canada, President of the Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute, and President of Canada World Youth. She has established private public partnerships in over 80 countries and has been twice recognized as one of WXN’s Top 100: Canada’s Most Powerful Women.
Kanisha Lala is an emerging leader in global governance and research, with a focus on innovation, equity, and sustainable development. She has represented Canada at major multilateral forums, including the 2025 UN High-Level Political Forum and the World Bank Youth Summit.
Kanisha has served as a Generation Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Ambassador with the United Nations Association in Canada and as an Ambassador with UNITE 2030. She is completing a Bachelor of Science at the University of Alberta and is joining the CANARIE Board as a Young Director from the Fora Network for Change “Rise on Boards” program. This program places trained, mentored, and community-minded leaders from diverse backgrounds on non-profit governance boards across Canada.
Dr. Srini Sampalli is a Professor in the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University and Principal Investigator of the NSERC CREATE program focused on multidisciplinary research, education, and training for cybersecurity in emerging technologies. With over 30 years of experience, his work spans IoT, next-generation wireless technologies, and post-quantum cryptography.
A nationally recognized educator, Dr. Sampalli has earned several honours, including the Dalhousie Alumni Award for Teaching Excellence, the Association of Atlantic Universities Distinguished Teacher Award, the IEEE Outstanding Educator Award, and the 3M National Teaching Fellowship – Canada’s most prestigious teaching acknowledgement. Most recently, he received Digital Nova Scotia’s Thinking Forward Award for mentoring and inspiring the future talent pipeline.
Paula Wood-Adams is Vice-President, Research at the University of Northern British Columbia, where she provides strategic leadership to advance research, innovation, graduate education, and community engagement. With extensive experience in governance, Paula has served in leadership roles on numerous local, provincial, and national boards.
As the founding Chair of the Board of the National Cybersecurity Consortium, she played a pivotal role in the creation and launch of a $76.4M initiative to advance cybersecurity research and talent development across Canada. As a Professor of Engineering, Paula is also a well-known researcher in applied materials science.
“The CANARIE Board benefits greatly from the depth of expertise brought by leaders from both the public and private sectors — a balance that has long been a cornerstone of our governance model,” said Dr. Sherry Shannon-Vanstone, Chair of the Board of Directors. “This diversity of perspective helps ensure that CANARIE’s work remains relevant and impactful for the communities we serve. I’m pleased to welcome Iris, Kanisha, Srini, and Paula to the Board and express heartfelt gratitude, on behalf of CANARIE and my Board colleagues, to Charmaine, Tatiana, Sylvie, and Deb for their significant contributions during their tenure.”
CANARIE’s Board of Directors is comprised of an equal number of individuals from industry and academia. Directors bring a variety of skills and experience to the Board, and their backgrounds in the academic, institutional, private, and public sectors ensure CANARIE’s programs and services anticipate and effectively address the evolving needs of the research, education, and innovation communities. Directors are elected for one-year renewable terms, and all Directors serve on at least one standing committee of the Board.
More information on CANARIE’s Board of Directors is available at: https://canarie.ca/about/board
For more information, please contact:
Lesley McElroy
Director, Communications
CANARIE
[email protected]