[Ottawa, ON | October 31, 2022]
CANARIE welcomes Gitta Kulczycki and Niek Van Dierdonck to its Board of Directors and thanks retiring Directors David Castle and Moodie Cheikh for their significant contributions to the Board. CANARIE is grateful for the tremendous engagement, insight, and commitment of David and Moodie 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 20, 2022.
Gitta has served in several senior leadership roles in Canada’s post-secondary education, healthcare, and high-tech sectors. Before joining Dalhousie University in 2020, Gitta was Vice President, Finance and Administration at the University of Alberta. Prior to that, she spent 12 years as Vice President, Resources and Operations at Western University, and has served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for the Grand River Hospital in Kitchener, the South East Health Care Corporation in Moncton, and the Calgary General Hospital. Gitta also serves on the boards of CURIE and Interuniversity Services Inc.
Gitta earned a Commerce Degree from Laurentian University and an MBA from the University of Ottawa. She also holds the Chartered Professional Accountant designation.
Niek is a business leader with decades of experience in the logistics, manufacturing, and technology sectors, including as founder and CEO of two technology start-ups, including Ubiwave, an early IoT leader that was successfully acquired by a semiconductor manufacturer. He is currently CEO of RedLore, a company focussed on helping manufacturers, distributors, logistics providers, and healthcare organizations improve efficiencies in their supply chains and distribution networks through real-time asset-tracking. Before founding RedLore, Niek was the Director of Innovation at Fremach, an automotive manufacturing multinational, and also served on the boards of several Belgium-based tech startups.
Niek holds an MBA from the Vlerick Management School and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ghent.
“The CANARIE Board, with extensive expertise from both the public and private sectors, strengthens CANARIE’s ability to deliver on its mandate priorities by ensuring a diversity of perspectives that challenge management to maximize the value CANARIE delivers to its stakeholders,” said Sylvie LaPerrière, Chair of the Board of Directors. “I welcome Gitta and Niek and extend the deepest appreciation of CANARIE and my colleagues to David and Moodie for their significant contributions to the Board.
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 its research, education, and innovation stakeholder communities. Directors are elected for one-year renewable terms, and all Directors serve on at least one standing committee of the Board.
View more information about CANARIE’s Board of Directors.
For more information, please contact:
Ela Yazdani
Senior Director, Communications
CANARIE
(613) 943-5432
ela.yazdani@canarie.ca