As acknowledgements go, it doesn’t get much bigger or more significant:
When Jad Saliba is presented with a Governor General’s Innovation Award today in Ottawa by Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Julie Payette, it will serve as a remarkable milestone for a remarkable man and journey.
Saliba is a former Waterloo Regional Police Service constable who, as technology grew more pervasive and sophisticated, began applying his coding skills to fight crime – developing software that could help police agencies forensically gather evidence.
Magnet Forensics, now a company of 200-plus employees in Waterloo, was the result and today there are countless examples of its products helping police extract evidence from computers and devices, evidence that has put criminals behind bars, rescued victims from their clutches and proven the wrongly accused innocent.
Saliba took a few minutes last week to answer some questions from Communitech News in the wake of learning, on May 13, that he had won the Governor General’s award:
Q – What was your reaction when you were told you had won the Governor General’s award? Where were you when you learned?
A – It was an honour to receive the Governor General’s Innovation Award. Though it was my name on the award, it was definitely on behalf of the whole team at Magnet Forensics, who are passionate about supporting our customers in policing and national security get to critical evidence in investigations such as human trafficking, child sexual exploitation online and terrorism.
While it’s great to be recognized, we’re aware that what makes us innovative is not just our tech. Our mission and partners in policing are core to who we are and why we work so hard to build those technologies. We believe police need tools to keep up with criminals who are utilizing technology to enable horrendous activities. If we fall behind, it’s possible that police agencies won’t have what they need to lay charges on a suspect or exonerate an innocent one.
As for where I was when I learned about the award, I was actually in Ottawa preparing for some meetings with customers – it was a great reminder of how our innovation is making a real impact here at home.
Q – Looking back at the founding of Magnet in 2011, what’s it like to be in your position as a CTO today? Did you ever envision, back when you were a police officer, that something like this – running a growing tech company – would become your career?
A – It’s surreal when I reflect on how far Magnet Forensics has come in the last 10 years. When I was a police officer, I was focused on trying to keep the community safe. Creating software was something I did on the side.
With each step forward, the vision became clearer on what Magnet Forensics could become. There were definitely some nervous moments along the way, but thanks to the feedback from our customers, I had the confidence in what we were doing to keep expanding our scope.
Today, I’m an extremely lucky CTO that has some brilliant minds on our team to build products that can literally save lives, protect innocent citizens, and help make law enforcement’s lives and jobs easier.
Q – Where and how did you learn to code?
A – I learned to code as a teenager and in college and had plans to get into the tech sector before a life of police work beckoned. Coding is something that I’ve always loved and would do when I had spare time. To have those skills intersect with my passion for police work has been a fortunate turn of events.
Q – Update us on the company. Where does Magnet go from here? What does the future hold?
A – Magnet Forensics has experienced significant growth over the last few years. We have been able to invest heavily to fuel that growth without taking external investment. This is a testament to the work our CEO, Adam Belsher, and our executive team, have done to stay focused on our mission with a sustainable business model.
We have over 200 employees at our headquarters in Waterloo, development offices in Ottawa and The Hague, Netherlands and sales offices in Europe and the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. We continue to grow our team and presence and are always looking for talented, mission-oriented developers, salespeople, marketers and other business functions.
