Governance

Meet the Board

Learn about our Board Members.

Cheryll Watson

Chair

Cheryll is an internationally experienced business executive. She is a former Edmonton Mayoral candidate and founded Innovate Edmonton (now Edmonton Unlimited), Edmonton’s economic development agency focused on fostering Alberta’s prosperity in technology and innovation. Prior to her work in the public sector, Cheryll spent fifteen years working globally with Silicon Valley-headquartered, Intuit, playing a major role in Intuit’s international business expansion setting up new offices and leading teams in six countries.

She is an active and engaged community leader committed to serving her city. Most recently she was named the Chair of the Building Stronger Futures Capital Campaign for the Terra Centre for Teen Parents and is a founding member of the Downtown Recovery Coalition. Throughout her career, Cheryll has served on a variety of boards, including Co-Chairing the Startup Genome Global Senior Advisory Policy Forum and as a mentor in the University of Alberta Venture Mentoring Service.

Dean Linquist

Director

Dean brings extensive leadership and teaching experience in public, separate and charter schools. In addition to his current position as Superintendent for Thrive Elementary Charter School, he served in Superintendent roles for New Horizons Charter School, SD 71 (Comox Valley) and Grande Yellowhead Public Schools, as well as Associate/Deputy Superintendent for the Aspen View Regional School Division. Earlier in his career, Dean also held positions as a Principal and as a classroom teacher in schools across central Alberta. Rounding out his experience, Dean has taught graduate-level courses at the University of Calgary and served as Assistant Deputy Minister (Program and System Support) for Alberta Education.

Dean is an avid sports fan and spends time cheering on his favourite teams. He also enjoys immersing himself in professional and academic literature to stay up to date on the latest developments in education and related areas.

Randy Heaps

Director

Born and raised in Edmonton, Randy’s 25+ year career in this City has evolved from landscape architectural project and client management, to business and people management, to corporate operations and governance. Randy is currently Director and Chief Operating Officer for ISL Engineering and Land Services (ISL), an Edmonton based multidisciplinary consulting firm specializing in the design of civil infrastructure for public and private sector clients across western Canada. In his role as COO, Randy is responsible for the management and operations of ISL’s 14 offices, with leadership support for ISL’s 30 business units and 475 staff. As a Director, Randy is responsible for leading or supporting strategic planning and implementation, company and business unit performance, corporate policy development, human resources, safety, IT and innovation. Randy also provides leadership support for ISL Adapt, a subsidiary company partnering with the University of Alberta, Alberta Innovates and Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), on a research pilot project focused on optimizing water treatment through artificial intelligence and machine learning.

During his career, Randy has been proud Rotarian, including serving as the President of the Rotary Club of Edmonton for its 100th anniversary. Randy also has served as President of the Alberta Association of Landscape Architects. As an experienced Director, Randy brings to the Board table an exceptional range of strategic and tactical skills, leadership and governance expertise, community engagement and networking, passion and common sense.