Our people make the difference.

As Chief Executive Officer of Calian, Kevin Ford focuses on enabling the management team to execute the company’s four-pillar growth framework of customer retention, diversification, innovation and continuous improvement. This unrelenting focus has taken the company to the next level, with revenues exceeding the half-billion-dollar mark in 2021. It’s one milestone on the journey to becoming a billion-dollar, proudly Canadian company.

Named CEO of the Year by the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and Ottawa Business Journal in 2017 and EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2019, Kevin attributes his success to teamwork, integrity and commitment. These values, combined with Kevin’s enthusiasm for Calian technology and talent and his passion for diversity and inclusion, help him to future-proof the business.

Kevin is fully invested in the growth of the company, playing a key role in the 18 successful acquisitions Calian has made since 2012.

“Through a combination of strategic acquisitions, innovative solutions and diversification, we continue to increase our customer base in Canada and expand into new international markets.”

Kevin was promoted to Chief Executive Officer in April 2015. Prior to becoming the CEO of Calian, Kevin served as the Calian Business and Technology Services Division President for more than four years. Kevin worked in professional services for more than 30 years, including 11 years at IBM as a Partner in Global Business Services. He also contributes to numerous charitable organizations, sits on the board of the Ottawa Hospital Foundation and a member of CADSI’s Board of Directors since 2016 and served as Chair of the Board from October 2019 to 2023. Kevin has coached hockey and most recently led the charge to save a legacy live music venue in Ottawa.

Patrick Houston is a Chartered Professional Accountant with more than 15 years of experience and an extensive background in corporate finance, international operations, mergers and acquisitions and public markets.

As CFO, he oversees the accounting, business support, financial planning and analysis, treasury and tax functions at Calian. Patrick places an emphasis on the continuous development of a finance function that enables the company to achieve its profitable growth ambitions and maintain a high level of integrity and transparency.

Prior to joining Calian in January 2019, Patrick began his career in public accounting with Deloitte, before moving on to DragonWave, a Canadian-based high-tech company listed on the Nasdaq and TSX.

At the heart of the Calian long-term growth is its people. Under Sue’s leadership, the Calian HR team is focused on developing and executing a talent management strategy in support of the company’s overall business plan and strategic direction.

Sue joined Calian in 1999, gaining progressive management experience and a deep understanding of the company's diverse business by working within its service lines. She joined the Human Resources team in 2014 and drove key HR initiatives, such as leadership development, business unit partnership and compensation strategies. Sue has distinguished herself as a trusted thought partner, change champion and devoted employee engagement advocate. She accomplishes this through a fierce desire to bring out the best in people. Having played key roles in integrating acquisitions, she seeks to unlock employee potential and strengthen the Calian brand as an employer of choice.

A University of Waterloo alumnus, Sue advocates for performance excellence, collaborative work environments, and people development through strong leadership and succession planning. Sue was appointed CHRO in 2019.

Michael is a dynamic leader with over two decades of experience leading global technology organizations in both large multinational public companies as well as high growth start-ups. In the dual role of CTO and CIO, Michael is accountable for all aspects of technology—including strategy, operational excellence, innovation and cybersecurity—across Calian.

Prior to joining Calian, Michael held a variety of senior leadership roles at Kandy (NASDAQ: RBBN purchased by NASDAQ: AVCT) where he led global cloud services and cybersecurity and at Nortel/Genband where he led global technical support, R&D, new product introduction and business operations, including leading multiple company integrations and business transformations. In addition to his experience in large public companies, Michael has enabled significant scaling at multiple technology start-up companies, including growing the managed services and consulting divisions at Pythian, and building the global services organization at Rockport Networks from the ground up.

Beyond his day-to-day role, he is active in the local Ottawa community where he has been a business mentor for Invest Ottawa and volunteered for the local food bank and community housing projects. He is trained in Lean Six Sigma and Kepner-Tregoe Resolve methodologies and holds a Bachelor of Computer Science from Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Derek Clark has an exceptional track record of performance in operational and commercial leadership, growth and change management. He has held many senior positions in health-related organizations, most recently as Chief Operating Officer for Neurolign Technologies, a medical device and pharma start-up focused on the diagnosis and treatment of concussions. He was a co-founder of the company, a board director, and oversaw all aspects of operations, including sales and marketing, finance, HR, manufacturing, regulatory and quality.

Prior to Neurolign, Derek founded Resolve Consulting, a boutique consulting firm where he was an executive commercialization consultant helping early stage and growth companies redefine and accelerate their commercialization efforts.

Derek was also the Chief Commercial Officer for GE Canada, where he was responsible for driving growth across Canada. He led cross-business selling and collaboration across GE business units with a focus on the healthcare, energy, transportation and mining sectors.

Throughout his career, Derek has commercialized new technologies, software and services, successfully leading cross-business teams to win large, complex infrastructure projects.

Patrick joined SED (now Advanced Technologies) in 1985 after completing an honours degree in Computer Science at the University of Saskatchewan. SED became a part of Calian in 1990. Throughout his extensive career within the organization, it was the variety of technical challenges, the commitment to our customers, and the opportunity for worldwide travel that spurred him to grow in his career. Starting as a software developer on Canada’s Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking program, he quickly realized the importance of the work we do in this organization and its potential for growth. After serving in various progressive roles, Patrick became president of Advanced Technologies in 2012.

“We make a difference for our customers every day,” he says. “This drives our commitment to excellence, our innovation and the support that we demonstrate as a team.”

Headquartered in Saskatoon, SK, Patrick has grown an amazing multi-discipline team of engineers, technologists and production staff, in offices across Canada and Europe, capable of taking on the most difficult technical challenges.

Don is a Certified Training and Development Professional (CTDP) with a passion for learning, technology and innovation. He brings learning industry expertise from national and international markets and has extensive business experience helping clients innovate learning, close competency gaps and achieve and maintain compliance.

Don joined Calian with an understanding of the learning and development landscape beyond the company’s current markets. He has run programs for pharma, publishing, telecom and oil and gas, and has large private enterprise experience having worked on the learning programs of many global clients.

Throughout his career, Don has undertaken visiting faculty engagements at universities in Canada, the United States and Ireland, and has conducted research on next-generation learning, including gamification, augmented reality and knowledge engineering. Don was CEO of Mosaic Technologies before serving as Director of Information and Knowledge Management for Suncor Energy from 2009 to 2015, and then Chief Learning Strategist for Tata Interactive Systems until the end of 2017.