Caelis International Associates
Mr. Julien was Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of COL International, an affiliate of The Commonwealth of Learning (COL), an international organisation dedicated to the application of appropriate technologies, human resources, skills and development of learning instruments to promote full access to knowledge in developing countries. He has ICT project management experience in several countries, including Sri Lanka, India, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Pakistan, Niger, Togo, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Fasso, France, and Switzerland.
Mr Julien previously held the position of Director, International Development, for Communications and Information Technologies, with the Canadian Department of Industry. In this capacity, he was responsible for Canada’s sectoral relationships with foreign countries, with ITU and UN development operations, and with International Financial Institutions (IFIs). His group was also accountable for bilateral Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) negotiated with several foreign governments, and it administered significant telecommunications co-operation budgets funded by international donor organisations and financial agencies. He was also President of Rideau Lakes Vacations, one of North America’s largest marine vacation enterprises.
In previous positions, Mr. Julien was the Director of International Marketing Operations for the Department of Communications (DOC), and Head of Corporate and Financial Policy in the Telecommunications Policy Branch of DOC. He has also held a number of private sector positions, including corporate directorships and senior management situations in finance and banking in Canada. He has participated as a speaker at a number of international events, such as the Telecom quadrennial series in Geneva, World Broadcasting in Amsterdam, the CTO Annual Conference, Telkom in Pretoria, and the Pacific Telecommunications Council in Honolulu and in Whistler. He has also written a number of articles on economic issues in telecommunications and broadcasting.
He holds an MBA (Corporate Finance and International Marketing) from Université de Sherbrooke, and has completed specialised studies at INSEAD, and in various centres of higher learning in France, Canada, the USA, and Switzerland. He also holds degrees from the University of Ottawa and the Université de Moncton. Mr. Julien has also held the position of adjunct Professor of International Marketing in the MBA Programme at the University of Ottawa. Mr. Julien was born in Coulsdon, Surrey, UK, and retains Canadian and European citizenship; he is fluent in French and English.
Dr. Neufeld enjoys a stellar international reputation as a distinguished educator. He has acted as senior advisor and expert for numerous organizations in such areas as distance education, special education, organizational development, effectiveness and structures, needs assessment, education and social resource policy development, advocacy, community services for persons with developmental challenges and individualized planning and personal goal setting in special education. He has presented many papers as guest or keynote speaker at major international conferences, and has edited or written a number of books, and is author of more than 40 chapters in books and articles in professional journals. He has proven a rich source of reports, position papers and planning documents for government agencies, boards of directors, and lobbying groups in education and human services. He has have also served as Project Director or course author for more than 50 TV productions on professional development of practicing teachers. He has served as Principal Investigator for grants and contracts, including a major national initiative in the United States that involved the establishment of an organization to provide training and technical assistance to Governor-appointed agencies in every US state and territory with the objective of implementing uniform national services to persons with developmental disabilities.
He was the founding Principal of two internationally acclaimed schools for emotionally disturbed children and youth that stand as models and best practices for the delivery of services to their students.
During his appointments at the University of North Carolina and the University of British Columbia (UBC), he worked extensively throughout Canada and the United States with national, provincial, state, local and university-based organizations to develop strategic plans to implement comprehensive community services for developmentally challenged citizens.
At UBC he pioneered the development and delivery of distance education for practicing teachers throughout British Columbia using television and teleconferencing. As Director of Distance Education at UBC, he was involved in many distance education initiatives, including joint ventures and collaboration between distance education organizations in BC, throughout Canada and internationally. He was the instigator of early planning in the 1970s toward the establishment of a distance education system that brought together conventional universities and the BC Open Learning Agency (OLA). He has helped foreign governments establish distance learning facilities in Norway, Sri Lanka, India, and China. Dr Neufeld holds a PhD from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MA from George Peabody College for Teachers, a BD from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a number of related degrees and awards.
Mr. Cowan has more than 35 years' experience in all aspects of information technology, the majority of which was with IBM Canada Ltd. contributing in executive, sales and strategic management roles. He managed the IBM banking industry centre in Toronto. During that time, he spearheaded the introduction of the technology to drive the Interac system that has ultimately made cash from any bank available at any banking machine and almost every retailer in North America. Under his leadership, the group evolved from a cost centre of 28 people to an international profit centre of 129. Solutions were developed to automate many aspects of retail banking as well as foreign exchange trading.
After IBM, Mr. Cowan held a number of executive level positions with CDSL Canada Ltd. (an $80 million per year company with over 600 employees, now part of CGI), leaving in early 1996 after serving as the Interim President and CEO prior to its takeover. With his partner, Don Newman, he also operates his own private information-technology consulting firm. He consulted on retail POS and banking opportunities for Telus Enterprise Solutions, and assisted an independent mortgage origination company on an EDI implementation with Canadian banks. Mr. Cowan is a founder of eXcape, Inc. and served as its CEO during its start-up period. He is a Professional Engineer with a Masters degree in Process Engineering.
He was founder of eXcape Business Transactions Inc., a developer of point-of-sale solutions for the retail industry, specializing in mobile payment solutions for the fleet market. He served as the CEO for five years until his return to consulting in 2002. He remains on their board.
Mr. Cowan is an active member of the Professional Engineers Association, The Vancouver Board of Trade and Mensa Canada. He was an active member of The Executive Committee (TEC) until his departure from eXcape in 2002. He also serves on the Boards of Directors of eXcape, of Yorktown Technologies Inc. and of Burrard Technology Corp.
Gerry Morgan is a well-known consultant is distance education and technology. He has served as a grade school teacher, a senior administrator, an author, a software developer, an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Education at UBC and an international consultant for a variety of aid and development organizations. Gerry currently holds the position of International Director of Education, Health and Technology for HRO, (Human Relief Organization). Gerry is providing the technology they require and is also serving to coordinate the grant writing required by the organization. Gerry also maintains a Senior Associate position with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL).
Gerry has worked in over 20 countries throughout Europe, Asia, South America and North America. He has held corporate positions of CEO, CIO, CTO and CIA and has received the Award of Merit as Business Person of the Year.
Gerry has taken to market more than 40 products, three of which won the Software Association Award of Excellence. Gerry has been awarded the National Northern Telecom Award, the Marshall McLuhan Distinguished Teacher Award, and the National Heritage Day Award for his work. Gerry is also a well-known speaker in education circles, and has been invited to over 100 conferences on education and technology in 16 countries.
Mr. Morgan has spent the last few years supporting technology companies through the complex start up process. He is currently either advising or is on the board of directors for several start-up technology companies.
Gerry has served on the National Education Advisory Board for Bell Northern Research (BNR) and as an advisor to Royal Roads University’s MBA program. He has participated on the editorial board, and is a regular contributor to Think Magazine. Gerry’s Web engine technology has been used by organizations such as Schoolnet India, The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) at their Geneva headquarters, the University of North Carolina, British Telecom (BT PLC), the British Columbia Ministry of Education, and a host of other organizations. The Web engine is one of the key technologies that allows institutions to create full on-line learning communities without the requirement of having in-house technology experts.
Gerry holds an MA in Education from Antioch University (USA) and a B. Ed from the University of Calgary (Canada). In academic pursuits, Gerry has been involved in the publication of 27 text books and as a sessional lecturer at the University of British Columbia (Canada), Simon Fraser University (Canada) and The University of Victoria (Canada).
Peter Donkers has more than 20 years of practical experience at all levels in K-16 p
rograms in Canada and the United States. Currently a senior executive in educational technology, distance education and open learning with the British Columbia Ministry of Education and the Open Learning Agency, he has also served as a consultant to IBM, Industry Canada and to governments and institutions in Mexico, Argentina, India and the Caribbean.
Peter's background includes research and analysis of comprehensive options for the implementation of educational technologies in the K-16 system; preparation of policy recommendations, briefing notes and reports for Ministers, consulting regularly with educational stakeholders, elected and non-elected officials, industry experts and content providers on the development and deployment of an education technology infrastructure, hardware and software standards, content and curriculum development and in-service teacher training programs.
His related experience includes: Leading the development of a comprehensive K-16 strategy for the Open Learning Agency; Development of the business plan for the Canadian Virtual High School (CVHS); Project Manager, Mexico-Canada Distance Education Project; Co-author, Technology Blueprint for British Columbia Education;
Lead Consultant, Distance, Distributed and Open Learning, Republic of Argentina (Ministry of Culture and Education), Government of Chile (Ministry of Economic Development - INTEC), Commonwealth of Learning (Caricom, India), University of Veracruz (Mexico), UNITEC (Mexico), Anuhauc University (Mexico), Grupo Pulsar (Mexico), National Open School (India), Past Co-chair, IBM K-12 Educational Advisory Council, USA; Chair, TelEd-98 International Conference; Contributor, Technology & Learning journal; Past Executive Member, Canada's SchoolNet Advisory Council;
Advisor, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, HRDC; Executive Advisor, Instituto Latinamericano de la Communicacion Educativa, Mexico City; Chair, Technology Planning Institute; Board Member, Technology Source Journal; Consultant, Commonwealth of Learning (India-National Open School, 1999 & 2000); Former Board member, Technology Infrastructure Board (Tata Institute for Fundamental Research-Mumbai, India); Former Board member, SchoolTone Alliance, San Francisco, CA; Founding Director, eLearningBC; and Former Board Member, Community Access Program, Industry Canada.
As a professional educator Dr. Rubidge has been involved in most of the major educational developments in the Province of British Columbia over the last 20 years. Initially as a researcher, consultant and practitioner, and latterly, as the most senior professional in the Post Secondary Division of the Provincial Ministry of Advanced Education, Training and Technology, where as Director of colleges and institutional planning, he had direct responsibility for 14 of the province's colleges and institutes, and system wide responsibility for planning across the entire province. In this capacity, he was responsible for formulating provincial policy, establishing funding mechanisms, conducting program and project audits and evaluations, approving initiatives, negotiating solutions and encouraging institutional innovation. He managed, approved and allocate the ministry grant contributions, provided management advice to institutional presidents, and program and educational advice and leadership, to meet the needs within the some 70 communities served by the BC institutions. He is well familiar with the issues of regional or community competition, the difficulties of delivering quality education across distances and all aspects of institutional governance.
In his previous capacity, Nicholas was Founding Vice President, Royal Roads University, and as founding vice president, he had responsibility for all aspects of administration: finance, personnel, facilities, student services, information technology, library, housing, union contract negotiations etc. In addition I have been involved in the academic planning and program development. As was a relatively small institution in its start-up phase, he had the opportunity to become reacquainted with all aspects of institutional management, including negotiation of collective agreements with unionized staff and employment contracts for non-unionized faculty and staff. Dr. Rubidge worked with the union to develop and model an alternative approach to labour management relations
In addition, as a member of the senior management team in the Ministry with responsibility for post-secondary education in the Province of British Columbia, he has held all Directorships, and at various times, has had had full responsibility for:
Designing and developing the mandate for a new type of post secondary institution - the university college. Co-management of three university colleges during their first two years of start-up and responsibility for the five major urban institutions. He has had responsibility for troubleshooting and solving such issues as labour disputes and strikes, addressing issues such as institutional mismanagement, major capital projects and institutional evolution, providing advice to the Minister, ministry executive and management team, senior college institutional executives and governing boards.
Research and curriculum development, establishing procedures for graduate student follow-up studies, and established the model for provincial curriculum materials which have received national acclaim.
Managing the institutional and ministry budget development process (both operating and capital) and the allocation of operating grants to the colleges and institutes (approx. $400M).
Provincial International Education initiatives which contribute to the province's economic development by permitting B.C. students to acquire the social, Iinguistic and cultural skills necessary to compete in the increasingly complex international world, while at the same time generating revenues for the province, B.C.'s approach has also received national attention.Dr. Rubidge holds a Doctorate in Adult Education, with research interests in learning and instructional style congruence from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics, specializing in Extension from the University of British Columbia, and Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Wye College, London University, England
Mr. Carney has an extensive international background in the design, production and application of mass media programming in support of socio-economic development. Over a forty-year career he has worked as a print journalist, a television producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a documentary film writer/director for the National Film Board of Canada, and with the United Nations in the field of development support communications and public information. Much of his work has been associated with projects in or related to developing countries.
Before coming to Vancouver in 1986 as Commissioner-General of the United Nations Pavilion at Expo ’86, Mr. Carney headed up the Division of Audio-visual, Information and Documentation for the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. The Division was responsible for the translation, physical production and world-wide dissemination of the reports, studies and publications created by UNCHS’s Divisions of Research and Development and Technical Co-operation as well as for the regional distribution of the films and other audio-visual materials produced by governments for the 1976 UN Conference on Human Settlements. Previously, Mr. Carney had been Deputy Director of "Vision Habitat", a UN unit established in 1976 to ensure the world-wide distribution of the Habitat films through UNCHS Information Offices in Amman, Bangkok, Budapest, Dakar, Geneva, Mexico City, Nairobi, and Vancouver.
Prior to the 1976 Habitat Conference Mr. Carney, on behalf of the National Film Board of Canada and the Government of Canada, worked with the UN Habitat Secretariat in New York in the design and implementation of a program of financial and technical assistance for developing countries enabling them to produce for the Habitat Conference short documentary films on human settlement problems, issues and solutions in their respective countries. The program resulted in the production of 240 films and slide presentations by 120 national governments within a period of approximately 10 months.
Mr. Carney had previously written and co-directed a 12-part television film series called "Children of the World", a co-production between the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the United Nations Children’s Fun. The series focused on individual children in Asia, Africa and Latin America, including Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, Chile, Somalia, Benin, Thailand and Nepal, and a film on educational technology in developing countries for the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Mr. Carney's films have won a number of Canadian and international awards at festivals in San Francisco, Tokyo, Monte Carlo, Rome, Columbus, Buenos Aires, Brisbane, Krakow, Prague, Venice and Montreal. In 1987, he received a World Environment Festival Award for his work in the field of human settlements. In 1995 he received the United Nations Association/Canada Medal of Honour, for having made "an exceptional contribution by a Canadian at the international level and related to the United Nations System". In 2001 he received the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for his work in public affairs for The Royal Canadian Legion, BC/Yukon Command.
Mr. Carney holds a B.A. in Political Science and History from the University of British Columbia, followed by graduate courses in international development at UBC, and studies in film and television at Stanford University, California.
Trevor has 38 years practical classroom experience in the UK and in the British Columbia educational K-12 systems as a Science specialist, with the last 8 years as a Teacher-librarian. Since 1988, he has been involved in educational technology, especially in the use of the Internet for Education; he has given workshops at the School, School District and Provincial Level In October 2000 he became involved with a cacheing project at his school which was funded by the Canadian Department of Industry and other local partners including the Open Learning Agency and the British Columbia Ministry of Education. The project was implemented by Advanced Interactive, a Vancouver company specializing in delivery of the Internet by cable and satellite. The project was set up to investigate the possibility of cacheing whole websites onto a special cacheing server located in the school; the websites would then be delivered at LAN speeds from the cache to the students. This involvement led to an extension of the project through which the management of content in the cache, and the application of metadata to the process were further refined.
Trevor has also worked with the First Nations People of British Columbia since 1973, and he will be working with the Squamish Nation Education Centre in North Vancouver where his duties will include introducing ICT into the Curriculum and acting as a resource person for their Telecentres.
He obtained a BSc Hon Applied Science from Durham University, England in 1962, a Post Graduate Teaching Certificate from Loughborough Training College in 1963, an MA in Curriculum and Educational Administration from Gonzaga University in 1978, and in 1993, a Librarian certification from UBC.
Ms. Santa Maria has been with our Asia Regional Office since 2001, and looks after our business development activities in member countries of the ADB in addition to Internet and documentary research to support our Information and Communications Technology in Development projects. She has recently completed an advanced Internet Web Design Program with the Informatics Institute and is a BSc graduate of Centro Escolar University in Manila.
She was previously Manager of Operations with one of the Philippines largest passenger travel organisations, responsible for business development, security, customer relations, reservations, and logistics of passenger and cargo operations. She was Sales Agent with a major international flag airline where she handled customer relations, special requests, daily reporting systems, reservations, and telemarketing to develop clientele for cargo operations.
Ms. Santa Maria has also completed several advanced technical and professional training programs with MIASCOR, Korean Airlines and Continental Airlines, and she is proficient in English, Filipino, and Japanese.
Kevin is our techie, with extensive practical experience in Network Management, trouble shooting of LAN/VAN, MS Windows, Novell Netware, Citrix, TCP/IP, routers, telecommunication systems and email, fiber, wireless and traditional networking, etc.
Among his peers, Kevin is recognized as a gifted Information and Communications Technology magician, and has amply demonstrated his extensive skills in a complex 7/24 high pressure international network environment that requires instant solutions to software and hardware issues, continuous technical support for desktops, including configuration, installation, patches, printers, databases, upgrading, etc.
Kevin graduated from the prestigious British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) with the Telecommunications Technician Diploma in 1990 and the Electronics Technician Certificate in 2000. He was given the Who’s Who in America Top 5% Academic Award 1997, and received the North Carolina Algebra award in 1996. In 1996, Kevin was Webmaster for the Vancouver School Board, before starting his career with Nintendo of Canada in 1998. In 2002, he was recruited by a major global beverage distribution firm as Network Administrator.