Bios

Dr. Barbara Orser
M.B.A., Ph.D., Deloitte Professorship in the
Management of Growth Enterprises

Barbara Orser is the Deloitte Professorship in the Management of Growth Enterprises and an Associate Professor at the School Of Management, University Of Ottawa. She has published over 70 journal, scholarly and industry reports and has co-authored two books on small business. This work has been recognized through national and international awards from organizations such as the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, Canadian Council for Small Business, Journal of Administrative Sciences, and the Institute of Small Business Affairs. Current research activities include a number of studies examining gender differences in business ownership, small firm exporting, business owners' perceptions of success, financing for women entrepreneurs, and development of a management competencies diagnostic. She is also the co-editor of a pending special journal on women entrepreneurs and public policy.

Dr. Orser brings to the position previous work experience at Carleton University, Ryerson University and the Conference Board of Canada. She maintains an active consulting practice to federal and national service agencies and is involved in the development of national and international research and policy projects to support small businesses.

Robin McIntyre
Regional President, Ottawa
Rogers Communications Inc.

Robin McIntyre has held the position of Regional President, Rogers Communications Inc, since December 2004. In this role, she is responsible for profit and loss of the video, internet & residential phone service for the Ottawa area. As Regional President, Robin oversees 360 employees accountable for Technical Operations, Network Planning and Construction, Regional Sales and the Technical Call Center, representing annual budgets of $ 36M. The Ottawa Region represents a significant division of Canada's largest cable communications company with annual revenues of $ 250M.

Under Robin's direction, Rogers expanded the local calling area within the City of Ottawa. This enhancement gave Rogers Home Phone a critical competitive advantage, increasing the number of phone customers by more than 13 per cent in the first year of operation. Ottawa continues to have the lowest number of service calls per capita, which means Ottawa customers receive the best service in the country. Over the past two years, the Ottawa area achieved the highest profitability of the Rogers regions.

Prior to her current role, Robin was the Director of Network Engineering for the Ottawa and Atlantic Rogers systems. She oversaw the completion of a $157M network upgrade program to support new service offerings, such as High Definition TV, Video on Demand and positioned Rogers as a provider of telephone services. Robin previously worked at Nortel Networks designing equipment for Fibre to the Home applications.

In April 2008, Robin was recognized as Corporate - Businesswoman of the Year. She has also received the "Rogers Engineering Management Award" and the "Canadian Women & Communication / Astral Media Award". She graduated from the University of Waterloo and holds a US/European patent. Robin's most satisfying professional accomplishment has been building high performance teams, focused on achieving business results through goal setting and collaboration.

In 2007, with her husband and three children cheering her on, Robin realized one of her lifetime goals by completing the Boston Marathon.

Barbara Callaghan

Barbara Callaghan is an experienced executive coach and leader, who works with senior business leaders to accelerate their business agendas while helping them achieve balance and fulfillment on a personal level. Barbara is a certified coach, receiving her certification from the California based Coaches Training Institute. She is also a member of the International Coach Federation - the globally recognized association of professional, personal and business coaches. Barbara holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce from Queen's University.

Barbara has developed strong management and creative leadership skills at a senior management level. She was President of Nortel Networks' Optical Components business unit - a global business with more than 10,000 employees. Leading this $2.4B business, Barbara demonstrated a strong customer focus in a fast-paced rapidly growing market. During her tenure, her steady focus and strong management style led the organization through periods of hyper growth and change, including the acquisition of global businesses and the streamlining of operations. Barbara has over twenty years of experience in the telecommunications industry.

Barbara is a committed volunteer with Menttium Corporation, a global mentoring company focused on high potential women. She has also been an active member of the Board of Directors of the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI), the Strategic Microelectronics Consortium (SMC), and the Queensway-Carleton Hospital Foundation.

Passion and energy for executive coaching have helped her guide and mentor many successful executive leadership candidates. She shares her experiences, her integrity and strong management values, giving different perspectives to help executives accelerate their effectiveness and productivity in achieving their personal, work and life goals.

Ella Mar

Ella has over 25 years in senior positions in the high technology sector with companies such as Nortel, Entrust, CrossKeys and Espial. Ella's experience has ranged from managing a 500+ Engineering organization to managing Engineering, Marketing, Product Management, Professional Services, Finance and HR as the Senior Vice President of Operations.

Ella has long been committed to the development of women in Technology. She has been a frequent speaker at women's career development workshops and has given numerous presentations to high school girls on the virtues of the High Tech Industry and the value of their ongoing commitment to Sciences and Mathematics. She continues to mentor both women and men on developing their careers.

Ella holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computing Science from the University of Alberta in Edmonton and has completed the University of Boston School of Management Leadership Development program, as well as the University of Ottawa Executive MBA Leadership program.