Our Team

Executive Leadership

Ted Cross, Chair and CEO

Andrew Maxwell, Chief Innovation Officer and Director, Partner Relations

Josie Graham, COO and Director, Projects and Studies

John Foreman, Director, Business Development and Marketing

Gordon Varney, Director, Technology

-

Biographies:

E.B. (Ted) Cross, Chair and CEO

Ted joined the CIC in 1989 as the representative of the University of Waterloo when he was Director of the Technology Transfer and Licensing Office of the University of Waterloo. Ted was involved with technology transfer activities at Waterloo for over fourteen years from 1982 through 1996.  Prior to joining the University of Waterloo, Ted spent 25 years in the Canadian chemical industry, completing his industrial career as President and General Manager of Chinook Chemicals Company which  he co-founded in 1966, and built the first Canadian methylamines plant at a “green field” site based on licensed-in technology.  Ted has a degree in Chemical Engineering  from the University of Toronto.

He has served on the Board of Trustees of the Licensing Executive Society – LES (USA and Canada) and was the Regional Vice President for Canada from 1999 – 2003.  He is a past-Chair of the Industry-University Transactions Working Group of the International LES or LESI and currently an International Delegate for LES USA and Canada.

At the community level, Ted was the Chair of the City of Waterloo’s Economic Development Committee (WEDC) and was a Founding Member and Director of Canada’s Technology Triangle Accelerator Network (CTTAN), now merged with Communitech, CTT’s Community Technology Association in Waterloo.

Andrew Maxwell, M.B.A., P.Eng., CIO and Director, Partner Relations

Andrew joined the Canadian Innovation Centre in 2004. Over the past 25 years, Andrew has played a strategic role in the creation of new technology based businesses, from government, academic and industry perspectives. His extensive business experience includes the creation and growth of early stage technology companies. This experience has allowed him to understand the realities of the commercialization of new technology. After working for two major multinational technology companies, Andrew was involved in founding companies in environmental technologies, medical devices, internet and wireless.

Within the University of Toronto’s Technology transfer office (Innovations Foundation), he established a number of new ventures and simultaneously developed and taught a course in the commercialization of technology at the Rotman School. Today, Andrew teaches Innovation Management at UofT’s School of Continuing Studies and Technology Entrepreneurship at the University of Waterloo. He has also taught at McMaster University.  In 2001, on behalf of the UofT, he undertook a broad outreach to the innovation community, and was successful in raising over $1.5 million, from a mixture of industry and government sources, to create the Exceler@tor, an information technology incubator , co-located with Innovations Foundation.   Between 2001 and 2003 he assisted over 30 companies located in the Exceler@tor to drive revenues, raise capital, address technology development and understand market entry issues.Andrew serves on the board or the advisory board of three privately held technologies companies and is currently pursuing his PhD at UW in the Department of Management Science.

Josie Graham, COO and Director, Projects and Studies

Josie joined the Canadian Innovation Centre in 2003 and since that time Josie has provided Business Planning and Market Entry strategies, along with Validation Assessments and Alignment studies. Prior to the above, since founding her niche consulting business 1999 which she still operates, Josie led the market analysis for a major Canadian Medical office management software provider allowing them to retain their position as the largest medical office management provider in Ontario, to help the company gain that edge for a strategic advantage.

Josie has managed operations and acted as the information gatekeeper for the CIC projects, and in the past for Business Development Consortium, being instrumental in taking a concept and then creating the plan and the tools needed to bring that concept successfully to market.  In the Business Development Department at Sparton Electronics, Josie played a key role as the company moved from a defense contractor to contract manufacturing.  As co-founder of a record company that produced 4 albums, all were nominated for national music awards. Her experiences include building image and corporate identity, developing winning sales teams and, establishing  the sales channels for a Waterloo based mathematical software company in Europe, Latin America and the Asia Pacific regions.

Multi-lingual and a graduate from Glendon College, York University, Josie has also completed Economic Development Certificate studies from University of Waterloo and Marketing studies from University of Western Ontario’s Ivey School of Business.

John Foreman, P.Eng., M.B.A., Director, Business Development & Marketing