Home » The Data Challenge judges

Meet the champions, advocates and judges

The champions

Senior leaders who lend the program their public support – helping to attract ideas and team members, assisting with the development of selected ideas, and putting their weight behind the winning idea.

Anil Arora

Anil Arora

Chief Statistician of Canada

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Catherine Luelo

Catherine Luelo

Chief Information Officer of Canada

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Taki Sarantakis

Taki Sarantakis

President, Canada School of Public Service

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Frank Des Rosiers

Frank Des Rosiers

Assistant Deputy Minister,
Strategic Policy And Innovation,
Natural Resources Canada

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The advocates

Organizational and digital leaders who support the Challenge by encouraging their workforces to participate, testing submitted ideas, assisting program organisers to build suitable teams around the selected ideas, and helping teams to make useful connections or overcome obstacles.

Chris Allison

Chris Allison

Director General & CDO,
Centre for Data Management, Innovation and Analytics, Public Health Agency of Canada

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James Van Loon

James Van Loon

Chief Data Officer & Chief Scientific Data Officer, Health Canada

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Vidya ShankarNarayan

Vidya ShankarNarayan

CIO & Assistant Deputy Minister, Information Systems Branch, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada

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Kara Beckles

Kara Beckles

Director General of Data Integration,
Privy Council Office

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Elizabeth Hardy

Elizabeth Hardy

Senior Director of Research and Experimentation,
Office of Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat

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Raj Thuppal

Raj Thuppal

Chief Digital Officer, Transport Canada

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Joann Shields

Joann Shields

Director General of IMIT, Chief Information Officer and Chief Security Officer,
Infrastructure Canada

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Melanie Robert

Mélanie Robert

Executive Director of Open Government,
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS)

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André Loranger

André Loranger

Assistant Chief Statistician, Statistics Canada

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Daniel Dufour

Director General, Innovation Branch, Strategic Policy and Innovation Sector, Department of Natural Resources Canada

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Captain(Navy) G.L.G. Lafrance

Capt(N) Guillaume Lafrance

Chief Data Officer and Director General, Data Analytics, Strategy and Innovation, Department of National Defence

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The judges

Public service leaders with skills in fields such as digital, data and program management, who select the eight ideas to be taken forwards, hear the teams’ pitches at the Semi-Final and Final, and choose the best. In the Challenge’s later stages, they may be joined by the champions.

Wesley Yung

Wesley Yung

Director, International Cooperation and Methodology Innovation Center,
Statistics Canada

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Derek Dobson

Defence and Federal Public Safety Leader, Microsoft Canada

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Jason Reid

Chief Information and Security Officer, Director General, Natural Resources Canada

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Lucie Loignon

Lucie Loignon

Chief Information Officer,
Corporate Services and Finance Branch,
Environment and Climate Change Canada

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Elise Legendre

Elise Legendre

Director General, Data Policy and Transformation & Chief Data Officer, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

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