Past Speakers

Orin Laney

Orin Laney became interested in electronics when he built his first crystal radio at age twelve. He was raised in the Washington DC area and received his BSEE from the University of Maryland under its Co-op Engineering Program. After working as a design engineer for four years, he paused for two years to obtain an MBA from Brigham Young University. Since graduation, Mr. Laney has founded several small businesses in the electronics field. He is busier than ever, designing, researching, and making deals.

Mr. Laney does most of his design in video and high speed analog, digital signal processing, ultrasonics, and real-world computer interfacing. He is active in the IEEE as a senior member and is a former Chair of the Intellectual Property Committee.

Topic: Tales of an Experienced Engineer

Before leaving the womb of your alma mater, there are certain facts of life that you should know. FACT: grades are poor predictors of career success. FACT: not all jobs are worth having. FACT: calculus causes warts. Would you like to know what to ask a recruiter, what employers actually look for, and what it is that engineers really do?

Mr. Laney will serve up a potpourri of anecdotes drawn from a long and varied career, including: the time he had to stick his arm in a vat of liquid hydrogen, the Boss from Hell, and the Project That Would Not Die. He will cover the warning signs of a bad job, the best ways (and reasons) to leave a position, and the crucial differences of excellent engineers. Mr. Laney will also provide an assessment of the current state of the profession, an opinionated look at various career paths, and an explanation of why shuttles blow up and telescopes don’t focus. Finally, he will explain how the graduating engineering student can have some fun while making a living, and the promises and challenges that await those who care to go looking for them.

 

Steven J.R. Seiferling

Steve obtained an Honours Degree in English in 2001 and his law degree in 2004 from the University of Saskatchewan. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 2005 after clerking with the Federal Court in Ottawa. He obtained his Master of Laws degree in Law and Technology from the University of Ottawa in 2006 and returned to his home province of Saskatchewan in 2008.

Steve practices in intellectual property law including trade-marks, copyright, and patents, as well as commercial law, licensing, franchising, trade secrets, competition law, privacy law, and labour and employment law.

He is a sessional lecturer in Labour Law at the University of Saskatchewan’s Edwards School of Business and is a registered Canadian Trade-mark Agent. He is active in the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada as well as the Canadian Bar Association, Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan, CLASSIC Legal Clinic and the Saskatchewan Rugby community. Steve is also bilingual and can offer services in French.

Topic: ”Intellectual Property and the Commercialization of Intangible Assets”

 

Michael Siourounis

Michael graduated in 2009 with Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan. During his undergraduate years he was strongly involved in extra-curricular events such as the Cameco Spectrum 2007 planning committee and IEEE student branch.

Michael was well recognized for his work on his fourth year design project, the CDMA Vehicle Theft Device, which allows you to simply text your car from any cell phone and safely shut it down in the event it is stolen. The car then transmits its location back to you so you can retrieve it. His team won first prize in the Innovative Design Competition, and was featured in various articles as well as on Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet, which was also chosen as the best segment of 2009.

Michael is currently working on a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan. His research is focused on non-destructive testing techniques for concrete, and he has already been awarded a Natural Science and Engineering Research Council Post-graduate Scholarship for Masters (NSERC PGS-M).

Topic: “Furthering Your Education”

Janea Bellay-Dieno

Janea Bellay-Dieno is an independent Financial Advisor with Performance Financial Services in Saskatoon, SK. She completed her Bachelor of Commerce degree in Marketing and Finance from the University of Saskatchewan in 2001. She is life insurance licensed, mutual funds licensed and is currently working on completion of her Certified Financial Planning designation. Prior to becoming a Financial Advisor she had a successful career in sales and marketing in many international industries. She worked in sales for a software company in Paris, France, and following that she was recruited to a web networking company in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She has travelled extensively through Europe, Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Asia. In 2004 she accepted a position as Regional Sales Manager for a large Canadian hotel company called Silver Birch Hotels. The end goal was to always start her own financial planning practice as she enjoys meeting with people and helping them find solutions to meet their life goals. Janea spends her free time volunteering with various committees including President for the Saskatchewan Young Professionals & Entrepreneurs Saskatoon chapter, a member of the Financial Advisors Association of Canada, Advocis, a member of BNI Saskatchewan, and an active member of Business Professional Women’s Club of Saskatoon. Janea enjoys the role as an independent Financial Advisor as she is able to provide her expert advice on multiple options and a choice of investment and insurance vehicles to meet her client’s financial planning objectives.

Topic: “Protecting Your Business”

Shawn Abbott (iNovia Capital)

As a technologist, entrepreneur, executive, venture capitalist and educator, Shawn Abbott has over twenty years experience in technology-based businesses.

As President of Rainbow Technologies (NASDAQ: RNBO) commercial operations, he consolidated three divisions, built a management team to return the US$70 million business to profitable growth, and positioned it for a successful sale in 2004 at nearly one-half billion USD. As corporate Chief Technology Officer, he was responsible for strategy and instrumental in the creation and leadership of a new business that quickly grew to US$10 million revenue per quarter.

Prior to joining Rainbow, Shawn established and built the AND group, which pioneered the encryption-based CD-ROM software distribution system used on several million discs. Under his leadership, AND was consistently profitable and grew to twenty staff before sale.

Shawn has served as a board member to numerous private and public companies internationally and is an experienced angel investor. As a general partner with SpringBank TechVentures, he has helped numerous technology companies develop. He is an accomplished public speaker, having presented at more than one hundred conferences on Internet security and business topics, and taught software design courses in several countries. He is past chair of the Banff Venture Forum.

Shawn is a primary inventor of “USB Keys”, holding a key patent in the area. He has written numerous articles and feature pieces for industry publications, and contributed the chapter on hardware cryptography to McGraw Hill’s “ICSA Guide to Cryptography”. He holds a B.Sc. in physics from the University of Alberta and has done post graduate study at the University of Calgary, Stanford, and UC Irvine.

Topic: “Entrepreneurship: Why and Where Do I Start?”

Mark Wolff

Advance-Tek Consulting Inc is a boutique SR&ED firm based out of Saskatoon and is located at Innovation Place, adjacent to the University of Saskatchewan. The Scientific Research and Experimental Development program is a tax incentive program designed to encourage Canadian companies to conduct research and development. Currently across Canada the federal government provides approximately $4 Billion dollars to 15,000 applicants annually. Mark has been working exclusively in the area of SRED preparation for the past 8 years primarily in the Prairie Provinces working with 100 plus companies in varying industries from the energy sector to software development. As a principal in Advance-Tek Consulting Inc, Mark is responsible for managing the firm’s preparation of client’s SR&ED claims from the initial project qualification, technical document preparation, project costing and interactions with the CRA.

 

Gordon Sparks

Dr. Gordon Sparks is a Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and the Director of the Engineering Entrepreneurship Program in the College of Engineering, U of S. He holds a B.Sc. (University of Alberta) 1967, M.Sc. (University of California, Berkeley) 1969, and a Ph.D. (University of California, Berkeley) 1971. Dr. Sparks has over 35 years experience in teaching at both the udergraduate and graduate levels, and contract research and consulting in the area of transportation engineering, engineering economics and decision analysis. Most recently Dr. Sparks lead a multi – year research program funded by ISIS Canada, one of the Networks of Centres of Excellance funded by the Federal Government, on Life Cycle Engineering & Costing. In addition to his teaching and research at the University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Sparks is a Managing Partner, Vemax Management Inc., a Canadian – based company with offices in Edmonton and Saskatoon in Canada as well as Sydney and Melbourne in Australia. VEMAX specializes is providing asset management systems to public sector agencies and has, for the past decade, provided the asset management systems used by two Highway Departments plus a number of Cities in Western Canada as well as a numerous Councils and Shires in Australia. In addition to being a Registered Professional Engineer, Dr. Sparks is a Certified Management Consultant, Registered Community Planner, and Member of the Boards of Canadian Environmental Technology Advancement Corporation – West and CAA Saskatchewan. Dr. Sparks is a member of the Saskatchewan Angel Investment Network.

 

Aman Abid

Aman Abid is an Industrial Technology Advisor (ITA) with the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program or IRAP. The program works with industry directly delivering technical, business advisory and financial services.

Aman joined IRAP from private industry and brings with him over 14 years of industry experience having served in numerous operational roles. His professional experience has been accumulated from several industry sectors including automotive, aviation, heavy industrial machinery, consumer as well as commercial products.

Aman’s primary area of focus as an ITA is serving the manufacturing client base within Saskatchewan.

 

Daniel Biank

Daniel Biank lives and works in Waukesha, Wisconsin with his wife, Erin, two-year-old daughter, Abigail, and new son, Benjamin. Dan attends law school part time while working full time as the Risk Manager for GE Healthcare’s imaging businesses. He directs and implements processes to ensure patient and user safety for MRI, CT, X-Ray, PET, and related technologies. Dan started on GE’s Edison technical leadership program, working throughout GE’s medical device division in engineering development and program leadership. He led computer platform integration for MRI and the global response to implement new European regulations before progressing into Regulatory Affairs. While in Regulatory Affairs, he defined and executed regulatory strategies for MRI products and clinical research, securing global registrations and supporting external audits. Dan has a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Valparaiso University and a Masters of Engineering from University of Illinois at Chicago, he is also a licensed Professional Engineer and Regulatory Affairs Certified.

Balancing Work with Life

Balancing Work with Life discusses how to align purpose and day-to-day living to achieve both personal and professional goals. The message is based on timeless principles highlighted with practical insights from personal experiences including successes and shortcomings.

 

Dr. Hugh Wood (Vecima Networks)

Dr. Hugh Wood is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan with degrees in Engineering and in Applied Physics. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Saskatchewan. After post-doctoral studies in Stockholm, Sweden, Dr. Wood joined SED Systems in Saskatoon as an R&D engineer. He became manager of R&D for the company, directing the development of a full line of industrial monitors and controllers. While with SED Systems, Dr. Wood also assisted with marketing activities for new products, especially the development of European markets in Scandinavia, Germany, Denmark and England for the industrial monitors. After a change of priorities at SED, Dr. Wood became a faculty member of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan in 1980 and was the Department Head from 1993 until 2000. He taught electronics and control systems and published a number of original papers in the area of automation and control. Some of his research work, in conjunction with others, was adopted by the Government of Alberta and used as the basis for marketing agricultural products to Japan and other Pacific Rim countries.

Dr. Wood has been a director of Vecima Networks Inc. since 1990, and has served on the boards of several other companies. He is currently Chief Operating Officer of Vecima Networks in Saskatoon. Dr. Wood also serves on the Minister’s Council on Information Technology where he advises the Provincial Government on policy issues surrounding the growth and expansion of the IT industry in Saskatchewan.

Dr. Wood serves on the Board of Directors of TRLabs, an international industry-university-government communications research consortium. He is also a volunteer Director of the Saskatchewan Orchestral Association.

 

Dennis Akins

Dennis Akins is the Director of Engineering and Project Manager at SED Systems in Saskatoon, SK. He received his B.Sc. Electrical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan in 1970 and his M.Sc. Electrical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan in 1972. He is also a professional engineer registered with APEGS.

While at SED Systems he has been involved with various satellite projects such as: European Space Agency Deep Space Antennas in Perth, Australia and Cebreros, Spain and a Supra-thermal Mass Spectrometer Instrument on the Japanese Akebono Satellite.

 

Andrew Pratt

A graduate of the University of Saskatchewan with a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, Andrew Pratt has worked at International Road Dynamics Inc. in Saskatoon for the last 20 years. Throughout his career there, he has worn many different hats from software developer to operations manager. He currently manages IRD’s Level 1 and 2 Customer Support, Data Services, and Transponder Administration teams.

 

Denard Lynch

Denard Lynch started his career in the telecommunications industry with SaskTel in 1972 after graduating from the University of Saskatchewan with a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering. After his return from an assignment with the Trans Canada Telephone System (Ottawa) in 1978, Denard helped architect SaskTel’s Broadband Fibre Optic Transmission System (FOTS), the longest, and one of the first, fibre transmission systems in existence at the time. After relocating to Saskatoon in 1988, Denard was involved as an Operations Manager in the City’s conversion to 100% digital switching technology. In 1992 Denard was again “loaned” from SaskTel to Telecommunications Research Laboratories (TRLabs) new Saskatoon location where he established the first TRLabs full-time internet connectivity via an ISDN link to the U of S. After obtaining an M.Sc. in 1998, he returned to SaskTel to help with the Company’s Year 2000 Readiness project. After a successful transition to the new millennium, Denard was again seconded to TRLabs and lectured part-time at the U of S. In 2001 he accepted a full-time position and is currently an Assistant Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Denard is a registered Professional Engineer and member of APEGS. He has been an IEEE member for over 35 years, and is currently a Senior member. He has held various Executive positions with the North Saskatchewan Section and is currently Past Chair. He has also just been appointed Chair of the Student Activities Committee for IEEE Canada

 

Amit Gupta (Solido Designs)

Amit Gupta is co-founder, President & CEO of Solido Design Automation Inc. In 1999, he co-founded Analog Design Automation Inc. (ADA), a startup for semiconductor design software. Over the next five years, as President & CEO and VP Marketing and Business Development, he helped the company grow through periods of target market identification, initial prototype development, field trial successes, product commercialization and launch, sales generation with quarterly revenue growth and acquisition by Synopsys Inc. To fund this growth, he raised investment from venture capital and government sources.

Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, he was product manager for the wireless group at Nortel Networks and a hardware engineer for the RF Communications group at Harris Corporation. He graduated with degrees in both Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with great Distinction from the University of Saskatchewan. He was awarded the 2005 outstanding alumni award for significant accomplishments since graduation.

 

Carl Selinger

Carl is a frequent guest speaker, and facilitates strategic planning sessions, focus groups and “Synectics” brainstorming sessions. His seminar, “Stuff You Don’t Learn in Engineering School,” has helped several thousand engineers and other professionals over the past decade learn non-technical soft skills — like decision-making, setting priorities and managing time, negotiating, teamwork, running meetings, and writing and speaking better — to be more effective and happier persons. Articles on these themes appear regularly in IEEE Spectrum magazine, where he is a Contributing Editor. His book Stuff you Don’t Learn in Engineering School: Skills for Success in the Real World has been published by Wiley-IEEE Press. Stuff has been translated into Chinese and has been published in China.

He has taught aviation, transportation and marketing courses at Pace University, New Jersey Institute of Technology and City University of New York (York College and City College). He is a faculty advisor to Cooper Union’s chapter of Tau Beta Pi (the national engineering honorary society), which elected him “Eminent Engineer”.