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November 18, 2021

Meet the Open Smart Cities Advisors

Evergreen and OpenNorth

The Open Smart Cities Advisors for the Community Solutions Advisory Service

Advisory Service headshots

Andrew Salzberg

Andrew Salzberg leads public policy at Transit. From 2019-2020, he was a Loeb fellow at Harvard, where he created the Decarbonizing Transportation newsletter. Before the Loeb fellowship, Salzberg created and held a unique global role at Uber, where he created the first teams focused on partnerships with public transportation agencies and environmental sustainability and led the development of Uber’s first data-sharing tool for government agencies. Prior to joining Uber, Salzberg worked at the World Bank on urban and transport development in China. He holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from McGill University and a Master’s in Urban Planning from Harvard.

Bianca Wylie

Bianca is an open government advocate with a dual background in technology and public engagement. She is the co-founder of Tech Reset Canada, the co-founder of Digital Public, and a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. She worked for several years in the tech sector in operations, infrastructure, corporate training, and product management. Then, as a professional facilitator, she spent several years designing, delivering and supporting public consultation processes for various governments and government agencies. She founded the Open Data Institute Toronto in 2014 and co-founded Civic Tech Toronto in 2015.

Jacqueline Lu

Jacqueline helps organizations build new nervous systems that use tech and data. As Data Lead at Mozilla Foundation, she is leading the development and implementation of a data strategy to support program delivery and further impact, and glean insights on global progress towards trustworthy AI. Previously, she was Director of Digital Integration at Sidewalk Labs, where she led incorporating innovation objectives, technology policy and data ethics into the company’s approach to urban development projects. She served as the inaugural Director of Data Analytics at NYC Parks, where she founded the agency’s data science team and open data program, sparking the agency’s shift to data-informed operations.

Jean-Marc LaFlamme

Jean-Marc is a senior technology professional who has worked for Smart Cities organizations and is now building regenerative communities with affordable housing at its core. A career of disrupting industries, scaling startups, supporting non-profits, working with government and rural communities. Founder of mass manufactured micro and modular housing with off-grid living infrastructure, leading innovation centres using digital engagement platforms allowing all residents to co-create communities and new social enterprise. He is the Managing Director of ReGen Villages building resilient smart communities, with integrated life support systems of food, water, energy, education, economic, transportation and waste-to-resource management. Communities are connected to each other with a secure but open smart cities platform for real time innovation inside bioregions. 

Lex Gill

Lex Gill is a Montreal-based lawyer and associate at Trudel Johnston & Lespérance, a groundbreaking law firm known for class actions and public interest litigation in areas like human rights, environmental law, and corporate accountability. She has published extensively on issues related to technology and human rights, and is an affiliate researcher at the Citizen Lab (University of Toronto). Lex is also a course instructor at McGill University’s Faculty of Law and is a fully licensed member of the Law Society of Ontario and the Barreau du Québec.

Matthew Claudel

Matthew Claudel is a designer, researcher and writer. He is currently the Strategic Design Lead for Curative Wellness. Prior to Curative, Matthew co-founded MIT’s designX program, where he was the Head of Civic Innovation and an instructor for four years. He served on the jury for the Canadian federal government’s $50M Smart City Challenge in 2018. Matthew holds a doctorate in Advanced Urbanism from MIT, where his work focused on the emerging practices of urban experimentation as they relate to civic value, a Masters in urban Science from MIT, and a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Yale.

Pierre-Antoine Ferron

Pierre-Antoine Ferron has had a 30-year career as a civil servant at the City of Montréal where, for the past five years, he coordinated the adoption of all major IT policies, public and internal, such as their Smart City strategy, IT Procurement policy, and Open Data and Open Source policy.

Pierre-Antoine Ferron a travaillé pendant 30 ans à la Ville de Montréal où il a coordonné l’adoption de toutes les grandes politiques informatiques, publiques et internes, telles que la stratégie Montréal, ville intelligente et numérique, la stratégie d’approvisionnement et la Politique de données ouvertes de la Ville de Montréal.

Roosevelt Cap

Enseignant et chercheur universitaire en gestion de projet et en management, Roosevelt possède une solide expertise professionnelle dans l’accompagnement des municipalités pour le démarrage de projets de transformation en communautés intelligentes. Roosevelt a accompagné la Direction des technologies de l’information de Sherbrooke dans toutes les étapes d’élaboration de la vision stratégique du projet Sherbrooke intelligente inclusive et innovante. Roosevelt a aussi dirigé l’équipe de projet responsable de la candidature de Sherbrooke, dans le cadre du défi des villes intelligentes organisé par infrastructure Canada (2019). En plus d’enseigner à l’ESG-UQAM et l’école de gestion de l’Université de Sherbrooke, Roosevelt a travaillé plus de 20 ans comme manger et gestionnaire de projet pour Loto-Québec.

Ryan Garnett

Ryan Garnett is currently leading development activities within an AI start-up, where he is responsible for heading up three areas: productization, product development, and production and data engineering.

Ryan previously worked at the City of Toronto’s Information & Technology Division, where he led the City’s Open Data program and led a team responsible for the creation and maintenance of the City’s foundation for mapping information, while leading the transition from a maintenance focused mandate, to one which focuses on data analytics and data driven decision making. Ryan graduated from Lakehead University with a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies and pursued a PhD in Geography from McMaster University.

Soumya Ghosh

Soumya has professional experience and expertise in the areas of digital transformation and program delivery, innovation and product management, strategic planning, facilitation, stakeholder consultation, and improving customer experience and economic development. Soumya has led the development of City of Edmonton’s Smart Fare Program, Digital Action Plan, Smart City initiatives, Smart Fare Procurement, Digital Citizen Experience, and Innovation Programs including data, analytics, and IoT projects. In addition, he has expertise in developing innovation ecosystems and innovation capabilities at the City of Edmonton, Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, Atlantic Lotto Corporation and Deutsche Bank.

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