Co-founder of Validere; Board member at Validere, Cquesta, NEXT Canada; VP at Pioneer Fund; Y Combinator Alumni (S16); Harvard PhD (Applied Physics)
An alum of the University of Waterloo’s co-op program, Ian experienced firsthand the impact of apprenticeship-based learning and strong mentors early in his career. As both an academic and a business leader, he has seen very-early-career students achieve extraordinary outcomes when given impactful work, high expectations, and strong mentorship.
Andrew is a Solutions Architect who designs at the intersection of product, engineering, and business strategy. A “Swiss Army knife” professional, he owns the product lifecycle from scope to ship. While mentoring engineers by developing efficient and effective AI engineering practices, he is setting the standard for a new era of forward deployed engineering.
PROGRAMS & OUTREACH
Ethan Chan
Intergovernmental Affairs at the Government of Nunavut; Office of MP Bardish Chagger; Queen’s University, History (Hons)
Ethan has worked in federal politics and at the Government of Nunavut with a background in government policy, intergovernmental relations, and program management. He is driven by the connections between people, institutions, and communities, and is excited to help AF’s Fellows turn those connections into real impact.
Stephen has spent his career in consulting, helping clients to advance their infrastructure profiles both in the cloud and on-premises. He has worked on all stages of project delivery, from design through to production deployments.
SOLUTIONS LEAD
Jonathan Mirecki
Co-founder of Searchless (Top 100 AI Startup in Canada); Head of Business Development at Carpages; University of Toronto, Business Administration (Hons)
With over a decade of experience in tech, Jonathan has led projects for clients ranging from small businesses to companies like Ford and Toyota. These span areas including accounting systems, applicant tracking systems, inventory management software, and marketing technology. Jonathan aims to consistently deliver solutions that exceed his client’s expectations.
The Expert Network
Our Fellows and clients are supported by a network of experts in AI-native development, data science, and business leadership who teach, mentor, and directly elevate client projects.
Weekly Workshops
A member of the Expert Network teaches valuable insights from their domain of expertise.
Office Hours
Regular office hours support Fellows in their projects, learning, and career growth.
Direct Project Support
Their expertise is applied directly to client projects, significantly enhancing the outcome.
Meet some of our Experts
Pierre Magnan
Seasoned executive and investor. Former President at Parkland International & Sol Petroleum; Partner at Gowling WLG.
Dr. Misha Askerka
Lead data scientist at Alpaca. Built the analytics teams at Validere and ClearCo. Yale PhD, Computational Physical Chemistry.
Mark Le Dain
Senior finance and corporate-development leader. Chief Revenue Officer at Fuelled; Former VP Corp Dev at Neo Financial.
