Oct 16, 2018

Canada’s Ocean Supercluster (OSC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Kendra MacDonald as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).  MacDonald will be responsible for leading the OSC to build Canada’s ocean economy into one of the country’s most significant and sustainable value-creating economic segments. MacDonald brings extensive experience as an innovative leader and strategic thinker with a long history of capacity building in various roles that have spanned the globe.  

The OSC is an industry-led collaboration that is created around a critical mass of ocean-based companies in Atlantic Canada to tackle the shared challenges of multiple ocean sectors through a collaborative program of innovation activities. The OSC is a national undertaking, with investment from companies in eight provinces and one territory, and linkages initiated with indigenous groups and international partners.

The Ocean Supercluster is one of five superclusters receiving federal support as a part of the Innovation Superclusters Initiative.  The Initiative has allocated a small number of high-value, strategic investments in the form of non-repayable contributions to industry-led consortia.  Selected superclusters will benefit from contributions totaling up to $950 million in funding that will be matched with private sector investment for maximum impact. 

The core strategic priorities for the OSC are to formulate a shared innovation map to guide technology leadership projects, and to undertake a program of cluster building to enhance the quality of collaboration, while also extending their benefits widely.  As the inaugural CEO, MacDonald will lead the forging of lasting relationships amongst the diverse stakeholders.  She will also steward the necessary change and innovation to advance the OSC’s common agenda and lead the management and commercialization of new related R&D, science and technology activities in Canada’s Atlantic region. “It is an honour to be the inaugural CEO of the Ocean Supercluster and to have the opportunity to lead an organization that will have such a dramatic impact on Canada’s ocean economy,” says MacDonald. “Together, with the support of our diverse partners, I look forward to building on the current momentum to realize the untapped potential of our oceans.”

With a long track record of community and volunteer leadership, MacDonald is currently the Chair and Acting CEO for the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Technology Industries (NATI) and the Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee, BioCanRX.

For further information please visit: https://oceansupercluster.ca/.