PANEL

Ashley Casovan is the Strategic Coordinator for the Chief Information Officer at the City of Edmonton. Passionate about creating open government and enhancing community engagement, she is currently working on several innovative projects within the Information Technology Branch, the City of Edmonton and beyond. Prior to working with the City of Edmonton, Ashley worked as a political organizer in Canada and the United States. Outside work, Ashley is an active board member with NextGen, Equal Voice Alberta North, and the Institute of Public Administration Canada. 

Jason Birch is the senior member of a small but passionate team at the City of Nanaimo responsible for delivering innovative and effective software solutions to citizens and staff.  He has been a geek from an early age, starting programming on an Apple ][+ when he was eight, and has never looked back.  Jason's current interests include making open government information more accessible through search engine optimization, new opportunities in effective use of social media by local government, and citizen-centric online services.  He is also the current Communications Chair for MISA BC.



You can find Jason online at:
Blog: http://www.jasonbirch.com/nodes/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jasonbirch
Google+: http://plus.jasonbirch.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonbirch

Jason MacGregor, Originally from Nova Scotia, Jason moved to Calgary in 1991 after graduating from university. After spending his early twenties looking for himself he was found by his wife and it has been interesting ever since. After adding to his education by first attending the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) and then completing a Master of Science degree in information systems Jason found his way to The City of Calgary and has been there for just over 5 years. His current role is as the Team Lead for eGovernment within Information Technology and as such has played a key role in defining and maturing eGovernment at The City. Jason also has a keen interest in the possibilities of open data and has played a major role in the City of Calgary’s open data initiative.When not at work, Jason can be found at home with his wife and their 2 dogs and 1 cat. He spends most of his spare time practicing or playing guitar as part of his blues band.

Craig Fruin, as a Senior Systems Analyst with the City of Medicine Hat, Craig is involved with the development and support of computer applications. Some aspects of his job includes: Assists Analysts at the database and application design stages. Develops application software by writing programs that are efficient, functional, and state of the art. Provides ongoing, technical, application and database support. Develops and supports integrations between applications built "in house" and purchased 3rd party software. Craig possesses skills in numerous application development products including Microsoft's C#, Visual Basic.Net, VB6, Crystal, and Oracle.

PERSONAL INTERESTS: On the personal side, Craig likes being awesome and likes to play hockey, slo-pitch, and the occasional round of golf.

Panel Facilitator: 

Jess McMullin,  Jess is the founder and President of the Centre for Citizen Experience, a startup “do tank” dedicated to advancing design innovation in the public sector. Jess works with public sector clients to design services, systems and policies that make a difference in the daily lives of citizens. He also pursues design advocacy opportunities to improve design competency, change organizational culture and promote design as a key for reinventing service delivery and public policy. Jess also works with private sector clients in order to bring new learning, ideas and experiences from industry to public service.
He has worked in design and user experience since 1996, and is active in the user experience, design and innovation communities having co-founded the IA Institute, the Overlap innovation retreat, Canux, the Canadian User Experience Workshop and serving as co-chair for the IA Summit. The Financial Times and BusinessWeek have both covered his work, and he has recently contributed a chapter on design for policymaking to the upcoming book Usability in Government Systems: UX Design for Citizens and Public Servants, to be published in 2012. You can find out more about Jess and his work at citizenexperience.com or twitter.com/jessmcmullin.


Opening Remarks: 

Chris Moore is the Chief Information Officer at the City of Edmonton. Recognized by Venture Magazine as one of Alberta’s 50 most influential people in 2010, Chris provides vision and leadership over the City’s information and technology direction. Chris has fulfillment and freedom in his work and as a leader desires to see those around him attain fulfillment and freedom as well. Chris’ office has no “desk” but does have comfortable chairs, creating a welcoming space where conversation is key. Chris has been described as transformational, innovative, disruptive and refreshing. He is an advocate of an Open Ecosystem, Open Gov and Open Data, and desires to see his team embrace innovation, pursuing the possible and building the future together.

Closing Remarks by MISA Prairies President:

Corey Halford, BSc., has been with the City of Airdrie for nearly 5 year as the Information  Technology Team Leader of Data Services.  In addition to his role with the City of Airdrie he is the currently the President of MISA Prairies, the Chair of the Calgary Regional Partnership’s GIS Technical Committee and the Chair of the URISA Exemplary Systems in Government (ESIG) Award Selection Committee.  Oh yeah, and he is AWESOME!