The NCC Board of Directors is composed of experts and leaders from Canadian academic, not-for-profit, and private sector organizations, including the NCC’s five founding institutions.
The Board is focused on building governance, developing strategic priorities, and establishing the NCC’s role as a leader, and catalyst for cybersecurity and privacy resilience in Canada.
Dr. Charmaine Dean (Ph.D., University of Waterloo) is Vice-President, Research and International at the University of Waterloo. In this role, she provides strategic leadership across research and innovation, commercialization, and internationalization. ...
She is also responsible for building strategic alliances and partnerships with other academic institutions, governments, businesses, and industries at the regional, national, federal, and international levels. Several key collaboration portfolios are managed by her office, including the university-level Centres and Institutes and several major industrial partnerships spanning various units in the university.
She has drawn a focus to ethics and social impact related to technology developments through various initiatives and is a key driver for equity and diversity in the context of research and internationalization.
Before joining the University of Waterloo, Dr. Dean served as the Dean of Science at Western University from 2011 to 2017. She also played a major role in establishing the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, serving as Associate Dean of the Faculty and as the founding Chair of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science.
Dr. Dean has received numerous awards for her work, including Fellowships from the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the Fields Institute, the American Statistical Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has held several editorships and served in numerous leadership roles, both nationally and internationally, in equity and inclusion, statistics and data science, research, and computing infrastructure.
In Canada, she served as President of the Statistical Society of Canada and serves on several Boards of Directors.
She is currently the Chair of the Council of NSERC (the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada).
Amir Belkhelladi leads our Canadian Cyber Risk Practice and has nearly 20 years of cybersecurity experience, focusing on strategic advice and the leadership of significant global cybersecurity transformation programs. ...
Prior to joining Deloitte, Amir served as Accenture France’s security practice leader, following roles as group chief security architect and group operations chief technology officer at Lloyds Bank.
Tim Evans is Vice-President, Research, Innovation and Impact at Concordia University. He earned a medical degree from McMaster University and a DPhil in agricultural economics from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. ...
Before joining Concordia, Evans was the inaugural director and associate dean of the School of Population and Global Health at McGill University.
He also served as the associate vice president of global policy and innovation.
He was executive director of Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force and held senior leadership roles at the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and BRAC University.
Throughout his career, Evans has played a key role in advancing global health initiatives. He co-founded Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, led the World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants of Health, and worked to expand access to HIV treatment and midwifery training in Bangladesh.
Dr. William Ghali was appointed Vice-President (Research) effective March 1, 2020. Dr. Ghali is a world-class researcher and Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. ...
Dr. Ghali is also a physician, specializing in General Internal Medicine (MD (1990) – University of Calgary, FRCP(C) (1994)) – Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario), and completed methodological training in health services research and epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health (MPH, 1995).
Dr. Ghali was the scientific director of the O’Brien Institute for Public Health at the University of Calgary. Dr. Ghali has held millions of dollars of peer-reviewed research funding from a number of agencies through his research program, focused on evaluating and improving health system performance for better patient outcomes and improved system efficiency. He has held a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Health Services Research for two five-year periods and has published more than 420 papers in peer reviewed journals.
He is a Fellow of both the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada. The Globe and Mail featured him in April 2012 as the Canadian public health researcher with the highest publication H-index. Dr. Ghali has also been named in Thomson Reuters' list of the top 1% most highly cited researchers by discipline. He is co-director of the University of Calgary World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre in Disease Classifications and Health Information.
He represents clients in judicial and administrative courts, including the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec and the Federal Court of Canada. Antoine also supports clients in security incident investigations by regulatory authorities. Previously, he served as Associate General Counsel at a leading US technology company. Antoine is ranked among Canada’s top privacy and data protection lawyers by prestigious legal directories.
Elaine Hum is Director, Cybersecurity Partnerships at Scotiabank, where she develops partnerships with academic and non-academic institutions for talent and innovation.
She is also a coach for the Scotiabank Ignition program, a STEM recent...
graduate rotation program for Technology.
Elaine also serves as a member of the Program Advisory Committee for the Cybersecurity Graduate Certificate Program at Centennial College and as an Advisory Board Member for the Fields Cybersecurity Accelerated Program.
Elaine has worked in the financial industry for over 25 years and spent most of her career at the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA), where she provided analysis and advice on the financial industry's operational resilience, cybersecurity, and business continuity issues.
She was also a federal lobbyist advocating for cybersecurity-related issues.
Furthermore, Elaine managed the annual Canadian Financial Institutions – Computer Incident Response Team (CFI-CIRT) conference for 13 years, hosting over 600 IT security professionals from the banking industry.
During her career, Elaine coordinated fundraising campaigns for organizations including the Canadian Red Cross and UNICEF.
In 2013, she was appointed Chairperson of the Canadian Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) for a three-year term, serving as an ambassador for the Canadian User Group Committee.
She also served as Secretary for the SWIFT Canadian User and Member Group for more than a decade.
Marc Kneppers is the owner of Goldenrod Consulting. He holds a Master of Science in Astronomy and a Master of Data Science & Analytics. Despite his academic background, his professional career has focused on Internet,
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IT, and security since 1997. The bulk of his career was spent at TELUS, where he served for 23 years, concluding his tenure as Chief Security Architect responsible for overall strategy across the company.
Marc has held Top Secret clearances with the federal government due to his contributions to national cybersecurity strategy and standards. He was the editor and contributor of the current security best practices for the Canadian ICT industry and has contributed to international cybersecurity standards in telecommunications, participating in multilateral international security teams.
In a unique role, he was accountable for the cybersecurity review and mitigation of Huawei equipment in Canada throughout its entire lifecycle. This experience provided him with deep insights into supply chain security and global security assurance. Currently, he runs a private consultancy focusing on improving cybersecurity for small businesses and developing satellite cybersecurity solutions for the Canadian and European space markets.
Emily Laidlaw is a Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity Law and Associate Professor at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law. She has taught a variety of courses in Internet From 2006 to
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2014, Dr. Laidlaw earned her LLM and PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science and served as an Assistant Professor (lecturer) at the University of East Anglia Law School. She is currently a member of the Institute for Security, Privacy, and Information Assurance.
Her research focuses on information and technology regulation, human rights, content regulation, platform liability, and freedom of expression. She is the author of the book, Regulating Speech in Cyberspace: Gatekeepers, Human Rights and Corporate Responsibility (Cambridge University Press, 2015).
Steven N. Liss is Toronto Metropolitan University’s Vice-President, Research and Innovation, and a professor of Chemistry and Biology in the Faculty of Science. He returned to TMU in April 2017, following a decade of distinguished service at the ...
He is an internationally recognized researcher in environmental biotechnology and engineering, wastewater and water management. For his contributions to Canada’s research and innovation ecosystem, Steven was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. He continues to play an important leadership role in building national digital infrastructure.
Steven has been instrumental in the creation of the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst and the Future Skills Centre. He has harnessed the University’s strengths in city building through City Building TMU and led the planning process for the establishment of TMU's new medical school in Brampton, advancing the university as a leader in health and well-being.
Greg Murray is an energetic business leader with a track record of driving value through innovative technology solutions. With over 20 years of international experience across various industries,
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he has successfully delivered transformational and risk-reducing technological solutions. Greg also leads the Rogers Technology Organization’s Inclusion and Diversity Program as the Committee Chair.
Furthermore, Greg is the Cyber Security and IT Risk Oversight Director-in-Residence for the National Rotman-ICD Directors Education Program (DEP) and co-chair of the Canadian Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. As a former member of the Big 4, he has advised many Senior Executive teams and Boards. He is frequently invited to speak at conferences on topics such as 5G, IoT, MEC, and digital transformation.
Greg is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Athabasca University, and holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. He has lived and worked in both the United States and Canada and is fluent in English and French.
Lee Morris is a Mi’kmaq who grew up on the Sipekne’katik First Nations in Nova Scotia. He graduated from Dalhousie University and has over 30 years of experience in the Information
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Technology Industry, with 20 of those years dedicated to teaching across universities and community organizations. He currently serves as the IT Projects Manager for the Joint Economic Development Initiative (JEDI).
Mr. Morris is the Lead Instructor of the Advanced Indigenous Information Communications Technical Program for Collège Communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick (CCNB). He also serves as a part-time Information Technology facilitator and instructor at New Brunswick Community College, bridging technical expertise with community-focused education.
In addition, he is a Senior Field Engineer for a Cisco Gold Partner company, providing advanced services to global governments and businesses. As a Certified Cybersecurity Specialist, he provides analysis, auditing, breach investigation, and ethical hacking services through his company, Ki’tpu Cyber & Technical Services (KCTS).
Olivera Zatezalo is the CISO & VP, Cyber and IT Security at Ontario Power Generation (OPG). She holds a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Belgrade and is a cybersecurity and critical infrastructure leader with over 25 years of
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experience in the Canadian telecommunications and energy sectors. In her current role, she provides guidance to senior leadership on managing information security risk, cyber crisis management, and compliance.
Before joining OPG in 2024, she served as GM, Cybersecurity & Privacy at Suncor, where she established the organization's information security strategy. Prior to her time in the energy sector, she spent over 20 years in the Canadian telecommunications industry, building and securing networks for the government and major businesses. She has worked closely with the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) on significant threats to Canadian critical infrastructure.
Olivera is a frequent speaker on IoT and AI cybersecurity and has been active in multiple cybersecurity communities. She served as an Advisory Board member of the Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity and was a Co-Chair of Evanta. In 2020, she was recognized as one of the Top 20 Women in Cyber Security in Canada by ITWC and WISECRA.