innovate@unb.caFounders
Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande
Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande is the President and Chairman of Sparta Group LLC, a family investment office and is also the Chairman of Tejas Networks.
Gururaj Desh Deshpande
Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande is the President and Chairman of Sparta Group LLC, a family investment office and is also the Chairman of Tejas Networks. Dr. Deshpande has pursued an entrepreneurial career for the last three decades. He is involved either as the founder, a founding investor or chairman of several companies including Cascade Communications, Sycamore Networks, Coral Networks, Tejas Networks, Cimaron, Webdialogs, Airvana, Sandstone Capital, A123 Systems and Curata. Dr. Deshpande lives in Boston and serves as a life member of the MIT Corporation, and his support has made possible MIT’s Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. Leveraging the experience gained at the MIT Center, the Deshpande Foundation has facilitated the set up of three other centers; Deshpande Center for Social Entrepreneurship in India, Merrimack Valley Sandbox in Lowell/Lawrence Massachusetts and Pond-Deshpande Center at the University of New Brunswick in Canada.
Dr. Deshpande holds a B. Tech. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology – Madras, an M.E. from the University of New Brunswick in Canada, and Ph.D. from Queens University in Canada.
Deshpande co-chaired a National Council to support President Obama’s innovation and entrepreneurship strategy.
Dr. Deshpande’s videos about entrepreneurship and social enterprise. Connecting thinkers to do-ers
Jaishree Deshpande
Jaishree Deshpande is the Treasurer of Sparta Group LLC, and a founder of the Deshpande Foundation.
Jaishree Deshpande
Gerry Pond
Gerry Pond has over 45 years of in-depth experience in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector.
Gerry Pond
Pond is the Chairman and Co-Founder of Mariner Partners Inc., and has co-founded a number of successful ICT start-ups in Atlantic Canada, including iMagicTV, Q1 Labs, Brovada Technologies, Radian6, Shift Energy and Cirrus9. He is also the Co-Founder of Propel ICT, a start-up accelerator, the Co-Founder of the Pond-Deshpande Centre at the University of New Brunswick, and the Co-Founder and Chairman of East Valley Ventures, an incubator for Atlantic Canadian start-up companies with a mission of helping passionate entrepreneurs launch meaningful and enduring technology companies.
Gerry Pond has received many honours, both regionally and nationally, including the prestigious1997 Canadian Information Productivity Association (CIPA) Innovator of the Year and Hall of Fame, the NB Knowledge Industry Recognition and Achievement (KIRA) Awards Person of the Year in 2002, the 2003 Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, Atlantic Business Magazine’s Top 50 CEO Award in Atlantic Canada in 2003 and 2005, an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of New Brunswick, and an Honorary Doctor of Commerce from Saint Mary’s University. For his tireless contribution to regional economic development, he was inducted into the New Brunswick Business Hall of Fame in October 2007.
An inspiring innovator and social entrepreneur, Gerry Pond also earned recognition as 2011 Canadian Angel of the Year from Techvibes & KPMG. In 2012, he received the 2012 Red Cross Humanitarian Award for New Brunswick. He was twice honoured in 2013, first by The Learning Partnership as a Champion of Public Education, and then as the recipient of the Order of New Brunswick for his innovative spirit and critical contribution to many of New Brunswick’s IT and telecommunications success stories. At the 2014 Canadian Startup Awards, Gerry Pond’s passion for supporting innovation and entrepreneurship was recognized with the prestigious WolfBlass Lifetime Achievement Award.
He was awarded the first-ever Business Development Bank of Canada Entrepreneurship Champion – a national award that recognizes the achievement of a Canadian entrepreneur and community leader who has created and grown one or many successful small or medium-sized businesses while significantly contributing to the prosperity of the Canadian entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Most recently, Gerry was appointed to the Order of Canada.
Executive Advisory Board
Raj Melville
Raj Melville
Paul Mazerolle
Paul Mazzerolle
Dr. Paul Mazerolle is the 19th president and vice-chancellor of the University of New Brunswick.
Prior to his appointment in July 2019, Dr. Mazerolle was previously the pro vice chancellor (arts, education and law, 2009-2019), campus provost for Mount Gravatt campus (2009-2019), director of the Violence Research and Prevention program (2006-2019), and director of the Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance (2007-2009) at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. He was also director of Research and Prevention at the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission (2002-2005) and head of the criminology program at the University of Queensland (2000-2006).
Dr. Mazerolle received his bachelor of arts degree in sociology from the University of New Brunswick (1989), his master of science in criminal justice from Northeastern University (1990), and his PhD in criminology from the University of Maryland at College Park (1995).
Dr. Mazerolle has led and participated in several major initiatives. While at Griffith, he chaired the university-wide Safe Campus Taskforce and chaired the sub-committee on Changing Attitudes and Behaviour regarding Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault. Since 2014, Dr. Mazerolle led and chaired the Griffith Integrity 20 program.
Dr. Mazerolle was a member of the Premier’s Youth Violence Taskforce and the Seniors Taskforce in Queensland, Australia. He was also Board Chair and Director at Open Minds, a leading non-government organization addressing mental illness and disability.
Dr. Mazerolle is a past editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology and is the founding co-editor (with Tara McGee) of the Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology.
An active scholar in criminology, Dr. Mazerolle has led several funded research projects. His research examines processes that shape offending behaviour across the life-course. His primary focus is in building knowledge on violence to inform theories, advance understanding, and improve policy and practices to reduce or prevent violence.
Paul is a proud native of New Brunswick, having grown up in Fredericton. He returns with his wife Amanda, and their two border collies, Maya and Gaby, to enjoy the four seasons.
Meet the Team
Katie Davey
Executive Director
Katie Davey
Katie Davey joined the Pond-Deshpande Centre as Executive Director in November 2022.
She is a public policy entrepreneur working at the intersection of our biggest social and economic challenges. She uses creative and innovative solutions to improve or solve existing policy, program, and system challenges, specifically those challenges that create inequalities and impact the most vulnerable people in our world. Her goal is to redesign our systems to create a more inclusive future for all.
In her most recent role, Katie served as Director of Policy and PPF Media at the Public Policy Forum, a leading independent Canadian think tank. In this role, she built PPF Media and the Atlantic Initiative from the ground up. Recently Katie has co-authored reports on redefining the child care workforce in Canada, and creating a more sustainable future for journalism in Canada.
Katie holds a degree in political science from the University of New Brunswick and a Master of Applied Politics from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Reach Katie by email: Katie.davey@unb.ca
Sarah Cormier
Funding & Financial Assistant
Sarah Cormier
As a Financial and Funding Assistant, Sarah has been a key team member with the Pond-Deshpande Centre since 2016 and is responsible for managing the operations of the organization. In this position, Sarah works closely with all members of the team and is the primary contact for UNB related duties. Sarah is also responsible for managing contracts & payments, financial databases, assisting with projects, coordinating various meetings and workshops, and providing administrative support.
In 2006, Sarah immigrated to Canada from Great Britain leaving behind a full-time position with Abbott Laboratories, which she feels was a very rewarding decision.
Prior to joining the PDC team, Sarah gained most of her Interpersonal and Customer service skills from working at a dental clinic as a Continuing Care Coordinator/Senior Dental Receptionist for 7 years. Her strong sense of empathy creates bonds with people and helps her identify their needs quickly.
Sarah is a passionate advocate for mental health awareness and quiet introverts. Quietly working on unlearning thousands of years of conditioning. She also enjoys disappearing into a good book or living vicariously through explorers on worldly, historical or legendary myth expeditions. Proud wife & mama to a wonderfully compassionate daughter.
Reach Sarah by email: pdcadmin@unb.ca
Vanessa Paesani
NouVENTURE Director
Vanessa Paesani
Vanessa’s specialties are helping you get clear on your mandate, defining projects within your overall mission/organization, bolstering social enterprise practices, and finding ways to monitor and measure impact. She is a certified executive coach, certified teacher, completed certification in non-profit financial stewardship at the Harvard Kennedy School, certification in sales through MDBi.
Vanessa’s focus in NouVentures is facilitating social purpose organizations to take their impact to the next level – either through strategy, governance, or finance.
Reach Vanessa by email: vanessa@b4c.ventures
Rebecca McSheffery
NouLAB Director
Dan Ritchie
In her role as Innovation and Talent Consultant at the Government of New Brunswick, Rebecca spearheaded large scale transformation initiatives that fundamentally reshaped talent acquisition across the organization. At the heart of these transformations was a steadfast commitment to honoring individual experiences, breaking down barriers, and creating opportunities that genuinely opened doors for people, recognizing and celebrating the diverse paths that brought them there.
Rebecca brings not just her rich experience but also her innovative spirit and creative energy into every venture. Her knack for unraveling complex problems and strategizing from a fresh, human-centric viewpoint, along with her proven track record of not just setting strategies but also steering them to successful implementation while adapting as necessary, makes her a dynamic force in any team. Ready to build, learn, and pivot along the way, Rebecca is eager to continue crafting solutions that resonate on a deep, humane level, and can’t wait to embark on this new journey, carrying the drive to create meaningful, lasting change.
Reach Rebecca by email: innovate@noulab.org
Associates
Vincent-Luc Brouillard
Vincent-Luc Brouillard Consulting
Vincent-Luc Brouillard
A proud Acadian, Vincent-Luc Brouillard is an entrepreneur and social innovator who is known for his problem-solving skills, engagement and his resourcefulness.
In 2020, he started his company, VLB Consultation where his mission is to Create and Disrupt. He offers a variety of professional and bilingual services such as facilitation, workshops, and various business advice.
Through his work, Vincent-Luc hopes to help various organizations to find meaningful solutions in a holistic way. Businesses, governments, nonprofits, and various community organizations have worked and benefited from the help and support of Vincent-Luc’s expertise and approach.
Nick Scott
Principal Consultant, Shift & Flow
Nick Scott
Nick Scott has been practicing social innovation since the early 2000’s and has been leading transformational change in the public sector since 2012.
Most recently, he worked for the Government of Canada as the Director of Innovation Services at the Canada School for Public Service’s Digital Academy. In this role, Nick led the Digital Accelerator Programme, Experimentation, Digital Products, and Events and Engagement.
Formerly, Nick worked at the Government of New Brunswick as Executive Director of Open Government and Innovation. In this role, he led Innovation and Design Services, established an Innovation Team, a collaborative workspace and a public innovation framework, facilitating initiatives addressing mobility, literacy, second language acquisition, natural resource development, municipal reform, and child protection.
Previously in his role as Executive Director of the NB Social Policy Research Network, Nick launched the GovMaker Conference to explore the theory and practice of public innovation and co-founded NouLAB; a public and social innovation lab facilitating collaborative problem-solving across sectors.
Nick is part-time lecturer at the University of New Brunswick where he teaches Technology and Social Change, and Leadership for Social Innovation.
In the Middle East Nick has served as jury member in Dubai for the Dubai Model Centre and Hamdan Hub service innovation awards programme since 2017 and most recently as a Government CX assessor for the Abu Dhabi Executive Office.