New Directors Appointed to OCI Board of Directors

June 07, 2021

The Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) welcomes two new appointees to its Board of Directors as it
works together with the Government of Ontario to support the province’s economic recovery priorities.

TORONTO, ON – June 7, 2021 – The Ontario Centre of Innovation, formerly the Ontario Centre of Excellence, is pleased to welcome Andrea Mandel-Campbell and David Cunningham as new Government of Ontario appointees to its Board of Directors.

Andrea Mandel-Campbell is a senior business executive, public affairs strategist and best-selling author of “Why Mexicans don’t drink Molson: Rescuing Canadian Business From the Suds of Global Obscurity.” She is currently Senior Vice President and Practice Lead of Capital Markets at NATIONAL Public Relations and has previously held senior roles in corporate and political communications, and as a journalist for media outlets including the National Post, the Financial Times and BNN Bloomberg. Ms. Mandel-Campbell also serves as a Board Director of the Canadian Club of Toronto and is a past Board Member of Startup Canada.

David Cunningham is a parallel entrepreneur with more than 25 years of leadership experience in CEO, Chairman, Board advisory and Investor roles. Mr. Cunningham’s most recent work has been concentrated in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science & Analytics, with other work in EdTech, MarTech, Healthcare and as current CEO of DeveloperMedia, where he advises leading technology platform companies on Developer Marketing and Platform evangelism. Mr. Cunningham is known in having led numerous startups, acquisitions and exits, including providing a Data Visualization platform to Microsoft for inclusion in Microsoft SQL Server.

The appointments fill existing vacancies on the Board and are part of the recently passed Innovation Centre Governance Act, which permits the Government of Ontario to appoint up to six of OCI’s thirteen-member Board of Directors. The legislation is intended enhance the scope of expertise of its Board members and better position OCI to support the province’s economic recovery priorities.

“On behalf of the Government of Ontario, we are excited to welcome Andrea Mandel-Campbell and David Cunningham to The Ontario Centre of Innovation’s Board of Directors,” said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. “Their contributions will directly support OCI’s mandate of ‘prosperity through innovation’ and ensure that the people of Ontario are able to reap the economic and social benefits of made-in-Ontario technologies.

“We welcome today’s announcement of the new directors to our Board,” said Dr. Dan Patterson, Board Chair of OCI. “As we work closely with the Government of Ontario to support the province’s economic recovery priorities, we welcome the unique skills and experiences that these individuals offer not only to OCI, but to Ontario’s broader community of innovators and researchers.

The OCI Board appointments were made effective June 1.

About the Ontario Centre of Innovation

The Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI), formerly the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), maximizes the commercial impact of research developed in Ontario’s colleges, universities, and research hospitals, and accelerates the commercialization of made-in-Ontario intellectual property and technologies. A panprovincial collaboration platform, with a broad and deep network across industry, academia and government, OCI initiates unparalleled partnership opportunities, develops and manages successful
industry-academic collaborations, supports high-potential SMEs in commercializing ground-breaking research, and provides hands-on training and skills development opportunities for the next generation of highly-skilled talent. For more information: https://www.oc-innovation.ca/

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Media Contact:
Braden Root-McCaig
Director, Communications & Strategy, OCI
broot-mccaig@oc-innovation.ca
647-523-4300