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Meet our
Mentors and Advisors
Elena Istomina
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Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things. - Peter Drucker
I am eager to contribute to the ICE Incubator as a business advisor. An advisor's job is not to provide answers, but to trigger the right questions; to help the teams define their desired outcomes, without prescribing the means for getting there. Most of all, I believe that it truly takes a village to raise a start-up, that's why building relationships within Alberta's ecosystem will be crucial to the teams' success. I offer my consulting experience in restructuring provincial healthcare supply chain operations; developing business plans for family owned-businesses, and working at the intersection of industry need and technological innovation in my current role as a Business Development Officer at the Technology Access Centre for Oil Sand Innovation at NAIT.
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Chris Dambrowitz
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When life closes a door, just open it again. It's a door - that's how they work.
A strategic advisor to the Dean of Engineering, and CEO of a boutique strategic consulting firm, Chris has driven industry-focused collaborative initiatives across Alberta's post-secondary, innovation-system and major economic sectors. He also brings technology development expertise from the bioanalytical and biotechnology industries, including roles with MDS Sciex, Blue Heron Biotechnology, Visible Genetics and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. Chris has a PhD in Molecular Biology & Genetics from the University of Alberta.
Teams:
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Shauna Rae
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I am committed to bridging people and technology. I thrive at finding order in chaos. I excel at understanding customer needs and articulating them to developers and designers. I manage the backlogs of multiple products and teams to ensure that we maximize user and corporate value.
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Steven Knudsen
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Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. - Soren Kierkegaard
Specializing at providing students with hands-on experiences and mentoring, based on 35+ years of R&D experience, I have worked at all levels in technical and management capacities in large and small companies, and am currently involved with my sixth start-up. I've been involved in raising capital, developing strategic and business plans, R&D, execution, mentoring, and team management.
I maintain technical relevance through practical R&D work.
Teams:
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Michael Lipsett
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Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. - Theodore Roosevelt
I am a Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Alberta, with research interests in the reliability of energy systems and the development of new equipment and processes, with a focus on robotic systems for remote and hazardous environments, and making industrial processes more sustainable. I teach engineering design and entrepreneurship.
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