MaRS appoints new board member Catherine Luelo, Canada’s Chief Information Officer
Ms. Luelo is also Deputy Minister at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
TORONTO, June 20, 2022 – MaRS Discovery District is pleased to announce the board of directors appointment of Catherine Luelo, Deputy Minister at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the Chief Information Officer of Canada.
Luelo will join MaRS to support high-growth startups and scale-ups that will drive breakthrough discoveries, grow the economy and deliver meaningful social impact. The board is pleased to add Luelo’s deep experience in the fields of information technology and artificial intelligence, and her extensive insights as the recent Chair for Health Canada’s Industry Advisory Roundtable on COVID-19 Testing, Screening, Tracing and Data Management.
“I am thrilled to welcome Catherine Luelo to the MaRS board of directors,” said Yung Wu, CEO of MaRS Discovery District. “Catherine is one of Canada’s top IT and AI minds and her many years of corporate leadership experience at companies like Air Canada, Enbridge and Telus will provide invaluable insights as we adapt our strategy for the post-pandemic world. Her unique and expert point of view will help propel MaRS in its mission to drive positive global impact as the partner of choice for entrepreneurs and the innovation community.”
“Catherine’s fundamental understanding of the role of technology in both the corporate and government environment make her singularly qualified to help MaRS navigate the particular challenges facing Canadian startups and entrepreneurs in this time of economic uncertainty,” said Annette Verschuren, MaRS board chair.
“I’m inspired and humbled to join the board of MaRS,” said Luelo. “It is an honour to be part of an organization that supports Canada’s most promising startups scale, solve society’s fundamental challenges and drive economic growth. I’m keen to contribute to MaRS’s mission to help innovators change the world.”
Catherine Luelo
As a Deputy Minister at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the Chief Information Officer of Canada, Catherine Luelo is at the centre of the conversation about how technology and data contributes to serving Canadians.
Prior to her appointment as CIO in July 2021, Catherine was the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Air Canada, where she was responsible for the Information Technology systems that support and enable Air Canada’s global business. In this role, she additionally led innovation in the artificial intelligence space while managing the security and reliability of Air Canada’s worldwide systems in an operational landscape that substantially shifted during the global pandemic.
From 2001-2017, Catherine held senior management and executive roles at major Canadian companies, including Enbridge Inc., WestJet Airlines Ltd., and TELUS Communications.
Catherine holds an MBA from Athabasca University in Alberta and a BSc from the University of Alberta.
From 2018-2021, she served on the Board of Directors for scale ai, the Montreal-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) supercluster that aspires to increase competitive advantage for Canada globally in AI . She has also served as a Board Member for the Rapid Screening Consortium (RSC) -Creative Destruction Labs, as well as serving as Chair for Health Canada’s Industry Advisory Roundtable on COVID-19 Testing, Screening, Tracing and Data Management.
MaRS board of directors
The board of directors provides MaRS with governance and strategic advice to steer the organization’s operations and ensure fiscal responsibility.
The MaRS board includes:
Annette Verschuren (chair), Chair and CEO at NRStor Inc.
Richard W. Ivey (vice chair), Chairman at Ivest Properties Limited
Allen Lau, CEO and Co-founder at Wattpad
Andrew Chisholm, Corporate Director at Royal Bank of Canada
Elyse Allan, former CEO at GE Canada and Vice President at GE
Elaine Campbell, Corporate Director
Claudette McGowan, Global Executive Officer for Cybersecurity at TD Canada
Derek Evans, President, CEO and Director at MEG Energy
Meric Gertler, President of the University of Toronto
Stefan Larson, Partner at Sectoral Asset Management
Catherine Luelo, Deputy Minister, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and Canada’s Chief Information Officer
Geoffrey Matus, President of Mandukwe Inc.
Prashant Pathak, CEO at Ekagrata Inc.; Principal of In Colour Capital Inc.
Molly Shoichet, Professor at the University of Toronto
Martha Tory, retired Partner at Ernst & Young LLP
Yung Wu, CEO at MaRS
About MaRS
MaRS is North America’s largest urban innovation hub. A registered non-profit, MaRS supports high-growth startups and scale-ups tackling key issues in health, cleantech, fintech and other sectors. In addition, MaRS convenes all members of the tech ecosystem to drive breakthrough discoveries, grow the economy and make an impact by solving real problems for real people — in Canada and around the world.
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