Meet the Team
The SOSCIP operations team is dedicated to the ongoing maintenance and success of the SOSCIP consortium programs and goals.
Jillian Dempsey
Business Manager | SOSCIP
Jillian comes from a diverse employment background, having worked in the not-for-profit sector, career management, events planning, marketing, and various project management roles, as well as teaching English abroad. Jillian manages all financial aspects of the SOSCIP operations.
Fei Mao
Technical Lead | SOSCIP
Fei brings experience in High Performance Computing, Scalable Machine Learning and Deep Learning from his previous roles at supercomputer centres SciNet and SHARCNET. At SOSCIP, Fei works with platform technical specialists and system admins to maintain compute systems, train users and advise on technical aspects of projects.
Matthew Collins
Contracts Officer | SOSCIP
Matthew’s experience spans intellectual property filing and prosecution, complex legal and contracts management, and professional services experience. At SOSCIP, Matthew provides information on the context of negotiated agreements and ensures compliance with member institutions and university policies.
Laura Yu
Business Development Director | SOSCIP & Mitacs
Laura holds a PhD degree from University of Toronto in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering. She has previously worked as Business Development Manager at Ontario Centres of Excellence Inc., where she developed an extensive network in the innovation ecosystem, working with technology companies and startups to help advance their growth. She is a Professional Engineer and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE). She is responsible for developing industry-academic collaborative research projects and promoting SOSCIP to the innovation ecosystem.
Rebecca Tran
Partnerships Officer | SOSCIP
Rebecca has been advising technology companies for over a decade. She is deeply passionate about helping businesses leverage technology, making strategic connections to help them grow and stay competitive in the marketplace. Under SOSCIP, Rebecca will continue to build partnerships, promote relevant resources to industry and academic partners to help drive innovation, commercialization, and economic growth.
Fareeda Lakhani
Programs Officer
Fareeda brings 10 years of not-for-profit experience including 5 years in the innovation ecosystem supporting industry-academic collaboration at Ontario Centres of Excellence. She is passionate about breaking down barriers for the next generation of innovators from equity-seeking groups. At SOSCIP she will use both her finance and project management experience to support the success of collaborative research projects.
Derrik Leach
Partnerships Officer | SOSCIP
Derrik holds a PhD from McMaster University in Molecular and Cellular Biology. He has developed an extensive network in the innovation ecosystem that includes large multinationals, SMEs, startups, academic researchers, incubators, and accelerators. He is passionate about leveraging promising research and technologies to develop next generation solutions to challenges of all sizes. With SOSCIP, Derrik will continue to work with companies and academic researchers to uncover opportunities, build partnerships and identify relevant resources to drive innovation, commercialization, and economic growth.
Matthew SkogstadStubbs
Marketing & Communications Officer | SOSCIP
Matthew has worked previously in marketing communications promoting IoT devices and government events. He has an MA from uOttawa and a BA from Queen's. Matthew is responsible for the SOSCIP website, social media accounts and content creation for the Consortium.
