Leadership
A company is only as good as the people behind it. iWatchLife is successfully transforming video monitoring under the leadership of a visionary management team.
Charles Black – President and CEO
Charles brings 14 years of start-up experience to iWatchLife. Before joining the company, Charles was actively involved in funding, managing and advising early-stage start-up companies both on his own and as a member of Barkley Capital, a Venture Capital firm. Prior to this, he launched, operated, and subsequently sold a telecommunications company that was based in Moscow, Russia. Continuing his work in Moscow, Charles also performed successful turnarounds for a Dutch Publishing Company, Independent Media. He successfully restructured a business publishing company and a financial information and software company. Charles graduated from the University of Chicago with an MBA specialization in Corporate Finance.
Tom Leger – Vice-President, Business Development
Tom has an extensive 24 years experience in sales and business development within a broad range of products and markets. While working for companies in both local and foreign markets, Tom has effectively proven his ability to successfully grow businesses with Valspar Incorporated, Fiberglass Canada, Hilti Canada, and Lucent Technologies, where he was responsible for promotional activities and product launches within the Asia Pacific region. Tom graduated from York University’s Schulich School of Business with an MBA and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Western Ontario.
Jason Phillips – Vice-President, Research and Development
Jason Phillips started his career as a Software Developer in the late 90′s. Since then he has gained experience in a multitude of technologies and operational methodologies, which landed him a leading role as Vice President of Research and Development at iWatchlife. For over a decade, Jason has launched security-related products and brought several innovative solutions to market in both Enterprise and General Consumer space.
Dr. Robert Laganiere – Chief Scientist
Robert has 20 years experience in the computer vision and image/video analytics field. Working as an Associate Professor with the School of Information Technology and Engineering at the University of Ottawa, Robert has had the opportunity to co-author books and articles on subjects such as: “Face Image Log Creation”, “Concealed Weapon Detection and Visualization in a Synthesized Image”, “Detecting and Matching Interest Points”, and many more. His in-depth knowledge of video and image analytics proved to be an asset when Robert co-founded Visual Cortek, an Ottawa-based video analytics startup. Robert has a Ph.D. and M.Sc. from the University of Quebec.
Dr. Pascal Blais – Director of Research and Design
Pascal is a specialist in computer vision and artificial intelligence. Prior to joining iWatchLife he was the VP of Engineering at Visual Cortek, a Canadian high-tech startup. While there, he was responsible for the development team and project management. Pascal used his experience in the field of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Image Processing, Pattern Recognition, Design and Analysis of Algorithms, and Software Engineering to develop Visual Cortek’s technology. Prior to joining Visual Cortek, Pascal taught within his field of programming while working toward his Doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Ottawa. Pascal’s Phd thesis developed a reinforcement learning method that builds a solution space while optimizing its size.
Danny Starr – Director of e-Commerce
For over 10 years, Danny has helped some of the world’s best-known brands find and connect with customers. Prior to iWatchlife, he has worked with global leaders Microsoft, Barnes and Noble.com, WeightWatchers.com at DoubleClick Inc. and at Wunderman as part of the global Y & R Brands team. More recently, he served as Marketing Manager at Laplink Software and as the Vice-President of East Coast Sales and Marketing for a mobile startup. He volunteers his time as the partnership coordinator and member of the Board of Directors for Computers for Communities, an Ottawa-based non-profit that refurbishes computers and donates them to lower-income families. Educated on both of Canada’s coasts, he has a Bachelor of Commerce from Mount Allison University and an MBA from UBC with a focus on Marketing.
Mark Houghting, CMA CFP – Chief Financial Officer
Mark serves as iWatchLife’s CFO and is responsible for financial strategy and planning, and implementing financial reporting and controls. Past positions include Director of Finance at Alarmbridge Security Network and Controller at the Via Group of Companies.