Waterloo Region – November 22, 2012 – Communitech announced today that Doug Cooper, newly named Managing Director of Communitech’s $30+ million HYPERDRIVE program and formerly an Executive-In-Residence (EIR) with Communitech’s Venture Services program, will receive a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal at a ceremony in Ottawa tonight. The Jubilee medal is in recognition of Cooper’s contribution to the business community as past Chair and member of the Executive Committee of the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC).
“We would like to congratulate Doug on being publicly recognized for outstanding service to Canada,” said Iain Klugman, CEO of Communitech. “This is the kind of leadership that sets a high standard for all of us to aspire to as part of the broader business community.”
Cooper is slated to receive the medal at a private ceremony on Parliament Hill from the Honorable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.
“This is indeed a great honor and came as quite a surprise,” said Cooper. “It has been a pleasure to support the goals of ITAC and a personal passion of mine to advance Canada’s position in the information and communications technologies industry.”
ITAC is the voice of the Canadian information and communications technologies (ICT) industry, representing a diverse ICT community which spans telecommunications and internet services, ICT consulting services, hardware, microelectronics, software and electronic content. ITAC's community of companies accounts for more than 70 per cent of the 572,000 jobs, $140.5 billion in revenue, $6.0 billion in R&D investment, $31.4 billion in exports and $11.4 billion in capital expenditures that the ICT industry contributes annually to the Canadian economy.
In addition to his service at ITAC, Cooper is a past board member of Communitech, and is currently active as an advisor to the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN) and chair of the Ontario High Performance Research Computing Strategic Advisory Committee for the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation (MEDI).
Cooper is a seasoned business leader and entrepreneur. Prior to serving as a Communitech EIR for the past 18 months, he had an executive role at Intel, where he led all aspects of Intel's business in Canada and directed North American PR and enterprise marketing teams. As an entrepreneur, Cooper founded his own company that automates the process of getting feedback & testimonials for renovation companies while building a structured photo portfolio (www.testimonialassistant.com).
Cooper is a graduate of the University of Waterloo’s department of Electrical Engineering. He started his career designing a family of process control computers for IBM's East Fishkill semi-conductor manufacturing facility.
About Communitech
Founded by a group of dedicated entrepreneurs in 1997, Communitech is the regional hub for the commercialization of innovative technologies supporting and building a Southwestern Ontario tech cluster of almost 1000 companies that now generates more than $30B in revenue. A member of the Ontario Network of Excellence, Communitech supports tech companies at all stages of their growth and development – from startup companies, to rapidly growing SMEs, to large global players - to create greater numbers of successful global businesses for Ontario and for Canada.
Media Contact
Shelley Grandy, Sr. PR Advisor, Communitech, 905-866-2656 or segrandy@communitech.ca
