CCI announces new federal affairs lead and member success director to reflect continued growth in 2022

Today, the Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) announced changes to its team to better serve its growing membership and expand its advocacy efforts at the national level.

Starting this month, Nick Schiavo joins CCI as Director of Federal Affairs to lead our government relations efforts in Ottawa with the Government of Canada.

Previously, Nick worked as a Director of Policy and Government Relations with Impact Public Affairs, as a Policy Analyst with Fisheries and Oceans Canada on the G7 Task Force, as an Ontario Global Edge Fellow in Nairobi, Kenya, and with the Green Party of Canada during the 2015 federal election. Nick is also the Executive Director of No Conversion Canada, a national, grassroots, non-profit coalition he founded to ban conversion “therapy” in Canada. In December 2021, No Conversion Canada and partners successfully passed Bill C-4, officially outlawing conversion “therapy” in Canada.

“Nick is no stranger to the halls of government and has a proven track record of relentless hard work across party lines to achieve positive results,” said CCI President Benjamin Bergen. “We are excited to have Nick on our team and we look forward to the work he will do in concert with our members to advance CCI’s priorities in Ottawa.”

We are also pleased to announce Sara Psenicka has been promoted to Director of Member Success, where she will continue to build and deliver new programs and experiences for CCI’s membership of Canadian innovation leaders. Sara joined CCI in 2020 from the Toronto Region Board of Trade, and quickly got to work as Community Success Manager creating resources and programs to help our members navigate the pandemic. At CCI, Sara is instrumental in the organization’s member development efforts, and works with talent and people executives across Canada on immigration and skills files. In her new role, Sara will work closely with our partners to create more value for CCI’s members and continue to support the expansive growth of the organization.

“Sara joined our team in 2020 at exactly the right time and was instrumental in helping Canadian scale-ups navigate the pandemic and stay afloat,” said Bergen. “Sara’s work ethic and laser focus on delivering sustained and meaningful value and support to CCI’s members is a driving force behind the organization’s explosive growth over the past two years.”

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To learn more about the Council of Canadian Innovators, contact CCI President Benjamin Bergen directly at benjamin@canadianinnovators.org , or visit us at www.CanadianInnovators.org .

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