Greg O'Brien

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Mike Marcolongo is a policy-maker with the Province of Ontario. He is currently with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in Guelph but previously worked for the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture. 

Mike facilitated the delivery of a number of broadband projects including leading the Duty-to-Consult obligations for the North Western Ontario Broadband Expansion Initiative (NWOBEI) project.

Alfred Loon is a member of the Cree Nation of Mistissini. He graduated from Concordia University (Economics) and Sir Sandford Fleming College (Economic Development and Business Development). He is President and a founding member of the Eeyou Communications Network where he directs day-to-day operations of the inter-community fibre-optic broadband facility.

He began his career in economic development with the Cree Nation of Mistissini, Mistco Ventures and CreeCo. In 1995, he was responsible for the Economic Development at the Cree Nation Government and remained as a Director, until 2015.

Mr. Loon was the founding member and President of the first Youth Council of Mistissini, a position he held until 1988.  During his University studies, Mr. Loon participated actively in the First Nations Student Association, Montreal Native Friendship Centre, and Concordia First Nation Education organization. 

As Economic Development Director for the Cree Nation Government, Mr. Loon assisted countless Cree start-ups and businesses through their planning and development phases, in tourism, arts and crafts, training development, program administration, advising and organizing various types of conferences and symposiums.

He served as national President of the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers (CANDO) and was Quebec Director. He is a founding board member of Cree Outfitting & Tourism Association (COTA), Cree Native Arts & Crafts Association as well as founding member of the Quebec Labrador Economic Development Commission. He is also an Executive Board Member of the Secretariat to the Cree Nation Abitibi-Témiscamingue Economic Alliance.

Brian is the Director of Business Development at Vianet Inc. an Ontario telecommunications company that offers Internet, Television and Telephone services to both Residential and Business customers in Northern and Southern Ontario. He is responsible for the business solutions team at Vianet as well handles the company’s community/public/political relationships.

Vianet builds both fibre optic to the home/business and point to point wireless services in both urban and rural areas of Ontario with many active rural fibre to the home projects in both southern and northern Ontario.

Brian is a seasoned professional in the field of Business Development and Client Relationship Management. He joined Vianet in June of 2012 where he brought to the position his 32 years of television/telecommunications experience. 

Brian has held positions of Director of Business Development and Customer Care at Ontera. He was the Business Development Manager at Agilis Networks/@home Energy the competitive services arm of Greater Sudbury Utilities as well had a 22 year career at Eastlink/Persona, all Northern Ontario Companies.

Although being born and raised in Toronto, Brian has lived in Sudbury since 1977 and calls Sudbury home with his wife Annita. He is the father to a daughter and son. Brian believes in the vibrancy of the small downtowns of northern Ontario and sits as co-chair on the board of Sudbury’s Downtown BIA.

Geoffrey Gillon, Executive Director for the Rainy River Future Development Corporation (RRFDC), has been involved in community and economic development since 1989. Geoff holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Winnipeg and gained his Economic Development Fellowship from the University of Waterloo.

During his tenure at the RRFDC, he has been involved with and supported numerous economic development projects, such as the regional broadband initiatives, tile drainage and land clearing projects, numerous broadband development projects and many others.

In addition to pursuing development projects, Geoffrey has served two terms as President of the Northwestern Ontario Development Network (NODN), as well as serving as a Director and President of the Economic Developer’s Council of Ontario (EDCO). He was the Sponsorship Chair of the 908 “Rainy Lake” Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron from 2003 to 2016 and is currently a Director on the Rainy Lake Fisheries Charity Trust.

Prior to his career in economic development, he was the owner/operator of Bear Pass Trading Post Ltd., a resort/marina located on Rainy Lake, for sixteen years. 

Geoffrey has a musical side which sees him playing bass guitar in  three area bands. He has a deep attachment to the Rainy River District and Northwestern Ontario, its people and its resources, and has spent many years working to make the district a more progressive and vibrant place to live.

Lisa Severson has worked in the municipal sector for 17 years in a variety positions with the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, including the economic development department.  In 2007 she began working with the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus in a support position and worked closely with the Caucus in the development of the Eastern Ontario Regional Broadband Network proposal.  

In 2009 Ms. Severson was seconded from her position at the Counties to become the Communications and Stakeholder Relations Officer for the EOWC Eastern Ontario Regional Network Project, a $175 million high-speed, high-capacity broadband network and is now a full time employee of EORN.  She is a key liaison with MPs, MPPs, Boards of Educations, First Nations and the 100+ municipalities in Eastern Ontario.  

She is a sitting member of the Eastern Ontario Leadership Council and of her local municipal economic development and tourism committee.  Lisa is a mother of three and she and her husband live outside of Prescott Ontario.  

Gianni currently holds the position of President and CEO of ENVI Network.  ENVI Is a municipally owned entity in the Town of Newmarket whose goal is to build a fibre network to help service the local community.  This fibre network will be leveraged to help attract businesses to the town in driving economic development and will be used as a foundation for future Smart City initiatives.

Gianni previously acted as the Chief Operating Officer for Accelerated Connections (ACI) holding the responsibility for sales and operations across the companies and brands owned by ACI.  Prior to his role at ACI, Gianni was responsible for all operating activities of OneConnect, which was acquired by ACI in September of 2016.  OneConnect was originally founded under the Globalive Communications umbrella and as one of the original employees of Globalive, Gianni helped launch OneConnect in 2003. 

Over the years, Gianni has helped develop strategy, expand product offerings, build partnerships, and increase sales – all leading to positioning OneConnect as one of the largest independent providers of telecommunications services to the small and medium enterprise space in Canada.  Prior to leading OneConnect, Gianni acted as Chief Technology Officer for both Globalive and OneConnect.

Gianni graduated from the University of Toronto Computer Engineering program and holds a Bachelor of Applied Science and Engineering.

Jesse Fiddler has been involved with building Community Networks and ICT applications through K-Net for the last 20 years.  Originally from Sandy Lake First Nation, Jesse understands the various challenges Indigenous communities face when building their own networks. 

As a jack of all trades, his experiences range from local development within the community to regional deployment of ICT projects across Northern Ontario in Canada.  With his close relationship to the land, Jesse believes that community owned networks and use of ICTs in our indigenous communities lets us keep our connection to our traditional areas while participating in a global community.