100 Notable alumni of
University of Waterloo
Updated:
The University of Waterloo is 549th in the world, 203rd in North America, and 17th in Canada by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the University of Waterloo sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 1 individual affiliated with the University of Waterloo won Nobel Prizes in Physics.
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Kevin O'Leary
- Occupations
- photographertelevision personalityfinancierjournalistwinegrower
- Biography
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Terrence Thomas Kevin O'Leary, also known as Mr. Wonderful, is a Canadian businessman, television personality, and actor. From 2004 to 2014, he appeared on various Canadian television shows, including the business news program The Lang and O'Leary Exchange as well as reality show Dragons' Den. O'Leary hosted Discovery Channel's Project Earth in 2008 and has appeared on Shark Tank, the American version of Dragons' Den, since 2009. He made his feature film debut as Milton Rockwell in Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme (2025).
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Vitalik Buterin
- Occupations
- computer scientistprogrammerphilanthropist
- Biography
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Vitaly Dmitrievich Buterin, better known as Vitalik Buterin (Russian: Вита́лик Буте́рин), is a Russian-Canadian computer programmer best known for co-founding Ethereum. Buterin became involved with cryptocurrency early in its inception, co-founding Bitcoin Magazine in 2011. In 2015, Buterin deployed the Ethereum blockchain with Gavin Wood, Charles Hoskinson, Anthony Di Iorio, and Joseph Lubin.
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Chamath Palihapitiya
- Occupations
- podcasterengineerventure capitalistbusinessperson
- Biography
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Chamath Palihapitiya is a Canadian-American venture capitalist and entrepreneur. He founded and leads Social Capital, which he launched in 2011 after serving as a senior executive at Facebook from 2007 to 2011. Palihapitiya has used Social Capital to invest in technology and healthcare companies, championed high-profile special-purpose acquisition company deals, held a minority stake in the Golden State Warriors, and co-hosts All-In, a weekly business and technology podcast launched in 2021 with co-hosts Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg, which focuses on startup investing and technology policy.
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Rupi Kaur
- Occupations
- writerpoetillustratorscrivener
- Biography
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Rupi Kaur is an Indian-Canadian poet, illustrator, photographer, and author. Born in Punjab, India, Kaur immigrated to Canada at a young age with her family. She began performing poetry in 2009 and rose to fame on Instagram, eventually becoming a popular poet through her three collections of poetry.
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Chris Hadfield
- Enrolled in the University of Waterloo
- 1982-1983 graduated with Master of Engineering in mechanical engineering
- Occupations
- guitaristexecutive producercamera operatorsongwritersinger
- Biography
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Chris Austin Hadfield is a Canadian retired astronaut, engineer, fighter pilot, musician, and writer. As the first Canadian to perform extravehicular activity in outer space, he has flown two Space Shuttle missions and also served as commander of the International Space Station (ISS). Prior to his career as an astronaut, he served in the Canadian Armed Forces for 25 years as an Air Command fighter pilot.
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Mike Lazaridis
- Occupations
- businesspersonelectrical engineer
- Biography
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Mike Lazaridis, OC, FRS is a Canadian businessman that co-founded Research In Motion (now BlackBerry Limited), the company that created and manufactured the BlackBerry wireless handheld device. He has gone on to become a major supporter of Canadian academic physics, and an investor in quantum computing technologies.
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David Visentin
- Occupations
- real-estate agent
- Biography
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David Visentin is a Canadian actor, reality television personality, realtor and commentator. He is best known for his role as a co-host of the reality television series Love It or List It, with co-host Page Turner, which airs on HGTV. As of 2025, Visentin remains as the original host of the show, his former co-host Hilary Farr left the show in 2023.
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Disguised Toast
- Occupations
- vloggergamerYouTuberonline streamertelevision producer
- Biography
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Jeremy Wang, better known as Disguised Toast, is a Taiwanese-Canadian streamer, YouTuber, and Internet personality. He got his start on YouTube, creating videos about the digital card game Hearthstone. Wang later began streaming on Twitch, before signing an exclusive streaming contract with Facebook Gaming in November 2019. In November 2021, Wang announced his return to streaming on Twitch.
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Donna Strickland
- Occupations
- physicistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Donna Theo Strickland is a Canadian optical physicist and pioneer in the field of pulsed lasers. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, together with Gérard Mourou, for the practical implementation of chirped pulse amplification. She is a professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.
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Karl Ting
- Occupations
- television presenter
- Biography
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Karl Ting Tze Long is a Hong Kong actor and television presenter. Ting joined TVB after winning first-runner up, Mr. Photogenic, and Most Liked by Audience awards at the Mr. Hong Kong 2016 contest. He was the first Mr. Photogenic, and the youngest contestant to win the most awards in the contest's history.
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Rasmus Lerdorf
- Years
- 1968-.. (age 58)
- Occupations
- computer scientist
- Biography
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Rasmus Lerdorf is a Danish-Canadian programmer. He co-authored and inspired the PHP scripting language, authoring the first two versions of the language and participating in the development of later versions led by a group of developers including Jim Winstead (who later created blo.gs), Stig Bakken, Shane Caraveo, Andi Gutmans, and Zeev Suraski. He continues to contribute to the project.
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Christine Kuo
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Christine Kuo is a Taiwanese-Canadian actress based in Hong Kong. She was the winner of the Miss Chinese Toronto Pageant 2008 and Miss Chinese International Pageant 2009.
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Steve Smith
- Occupations
- screenwritertelevision actorfilm directoractor
- Biography
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Steven Smith Jr. CM is a Canadian actor, writer, and comedian. He is best known as the co-creator and star of the sketch comedy show The Red Green Show (1991–2006), for which he portrayed the titular character.
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Rob Stewart
- Occupations
- television actorfilm directoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Robert Thomas Stewart is a Canadian actor, known for the lead role of Nick Slaughter in the action-comedy television series Tropical Heat, and his recurring roles as Roan in Nikita and Khlyen in Killjoys.
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David Eby
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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David Robert Patrick Eby is a Canadian politician and lawyer who has served as the 37th premier of British Columbia since November 18, 2022. Eby is a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (NDP) and has served as party leader since October 21, 2022. He has represented Vancouver-Point Grey in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia since 2013.
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Erik Demaine
- Occupations
- computer scientistmathematicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Erik D. Demaine is a Canadian-American professor of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a former child prodigy.
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Chris Williams
- Occupations
- film producerscreenwriterdirectorvoice actoranimator
- Biography
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Chris Williams is an American and Canadian animation film director, screenwriter and voice actor who is best known for directing the films Bolt and Big Hero 6 (2014) and co-directing the film Moana (2016) for Walt Disney Animation Studios, and for directing the film The Sea Beast (2022) for Netflix Animation.
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Bardish Chagger
- Occupations
- management assistantcommunity organizerproject managerpolitician
- Biography
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Bardish Chagger is a Canadian politician who has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Waterloo since 2015. A member of the Liberal Party, Chagger was the minister of small business and tourism from 2015 to 2018, Government House Leader from 2016 to 2019, and the minister of diversity, inclusion and youth from 2019 to 2021. Chagger is the first woman to serve as Government House Leader. Chagger is known for her role in the WE Charity scandal, which ultimately led to her removal from cabinet.
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Veronica Ivy
- Occupations
- track cyclisttelevision producerphilosopherLGBTQ rights activist
- Biography
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Veronica Ivy, formerly Rachel McKinnon, is a Canadian competitive cyclist and transgender rights activist. In 2018, she became the first transgender world track cycling champion by placing first at the UCI Women's Masters Track World Championship for the women's 35–44 age bracket.
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Naomi Snieckus
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Naomi Snieckus is a Canadian actress, best known for her regular television role as Bobbi in Mr. D and her appearance as Nina in Saw 3D. She is also a podcast host.
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
- Enrolled in the University of Waterloo
- Graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- astrophysicistastronomercosmologist
- Biography
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an American theoretical cosmologist and particle physicist at the University of New Hampshire. She is also an advocate of increasing diversity in science.
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Evi Nemeth
- Years
- 1940-2013 (aged 73)
- Enrolled in the University of Waterloo
- In 1969 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- computer scientistengineerprofessorwriter
- Biography
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Evi Nemeth was an engineer, author, and teacher known for her expertise in computer system administration and networks. She was the lead author of the "bibles" of system administration: UNIX System Administration Handbook (1989, 1995, 2000), Linux Administration Handbook (2002, 2006), and UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (2010, 2017). Evi Nemeth was known in technology circles as the matriarch of system administration.
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Peter McLaren
- Occupations
- sociologist
- Biography
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Peter McLaren is a Canadian-American scholar and is known as one of the leading architects of critical pedagogy. He is known for his writings on critical literacy, sociology of education, cultural studies, critical ethnography, and Marxist theory.
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Rick Green
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directorcomedianmodel railroaderactor
- Biography
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Richard Green is a Canadian comedy writer, producer, director and performer. He is most well known as co-creator of The Red Green Show, creator of ADD & Loving It?!, creator of History Bites, founder of Rick Wants to Know, and co-founder of comedy troupe The Frantics. Green also hosted Prisoners of Gravity on TVOntario.
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Robert Tibshirani
- Occupations
- university teacheracademicstatistician
- Biography
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Robert Tibshirani FRS FRSC is a professor in the Departments of Statistics and Biomedical Data Science at Stanford University. He was a professor at the University of Toronto from 1985 to 1998. In his work, he develops statistical tools for the analysis of complex datasets, most recently in genomics and proteomics.
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Ingrid Mattson
- Occupations
- university teachermotivational speakerulema
- Biography
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Ingrid Mattson is a Canadian activist and scholar. A professor of Islamic studies, she is currently the London and Windsor Community Chair in Islamic Studies at Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. Mattson is a former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and was described as "Perhaps the most noticed figure among American Muslim women" in a 2010 New York Times article.
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Roberto Ierusalimschy
- Occupations
- computer scientistdocentnon-fiction writervisiting professor
- Biography
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Roberto Ierusalimschy is a Brazilian computer scientist, known for creating the Lua programming language. He holds a PhD in computer science from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro where he has an appointment as a full professor of informatics. He did a post-doc at University of Waterloo in 1992 and was visiting professor at Stanford University in 2012. He is the leading architect and the author of Programming in Lua. He also created LPeg, a Lua library for implementing parsing expression grammars.
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Iyinoluwa Aboyeji
- Occupations
- entrepreneurbusinessperson
- Biography
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Iyinoluwa Samuel Aboyeji ListenOON is a Nigerian entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Andela, and the former managing director of Flutterwave. Aboyeji was cited as one of the Top 100 most influential Africans by New African magazine in 2019. He is currently the CEO and General Partner of Future Africa, a venture platform valued at over six billion dollars.
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Cyd Ho
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Cyd Ho Sau-lan is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Legco) for the Hong Kong Island constituency.
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Dave Dryden
- Occupations
- ice hockey player
- Biography
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David Murray Dryden was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender, who created and first used the modern goaltending mask, consisting of fibreglass and a cage. From 1962 to 1980, he played nine seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Rangers, Chicago Black Hawks, Buffalo Sabres, and Edmonton Oilers, and in the World Hockey Association between 1974 and 1979 with the Chicago Cougars and Edmonton Oilers.
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James K. A. Smith
- Occupations
- theologian
- Biography
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James Kenneth Alexander Smith is a Canadian-American philosopher who is currently Professor of Philosophy at Calvin University, holding the Gary & Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology & Worldview. He is the current editor-in-chief of the literary journal Image.
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M Jagadesh Kumar
- Born in
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India - Occupations
- academic administratoruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar is an Indian academic, electrical engineer and education administrator. He is the former Chairman of University Grants Commission, serving from February 2022 to April 2025. He served as a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Delhi. Kumar was the Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University from January 2016 till 2022.
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Ian Goldberg
- Years
- 1973-.. (age 53)
- Occupations
- computer scientistcryptographer
- Biography
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Ian Avrum Goldberg is a cryptographer and cypherpunk. He is best known for breaking Netscape's implementation of SSL (with David Wagner), and for his role as chief scientist of Radialpoint (formerly Zero Knowledge Systems), a Canadian software company. Goldberg is currently a professor at the Faculty of Mathematics of the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science within the University of Waterloo, and the Canada Research Chair in Privacy Enhancing Technologies. He was formerly Tor Project board of directors chairman, and is one of the designers of off the record messaging.
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Heather Moyse
- Occupations
- track cyclisttriple jumperbobsleddersprintermotivational speaker
- Biography
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Heather Moyse OPEI is a Canadian athlete and two-time Olympic gold medalist, representing Canada in international competition as a bobsledder, rugby union player, and track cyclist and competing at the Canadian intercollegiate level in rugby, soccer and track and field.
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George Elliott Clarke
- Occupations
- librettistnovelistwriterliterary criticpoet
- Biography
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George Elliott Clarke OC ONS is a Canadian poet, playwright and literary critic who served as the Poet Laureate of Toronto from 2012 to 2015 and as the Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate in 2016-2017. Clarke's work addresses the experiences and history of the Black Canadian communities of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, creating a cultural geography coined "Africadia."
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Fred Li
- Occupations
- social workerjustice of the peacepolitician
- Biography
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Fred Li Wah-ming SBS JP is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong representing the constituency of Kowloon East. He was a member of the Kwun Tong District Council for Tsui Ping.
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Anne Innis Dagg
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teacherwomen's rights activistzoologist
- Biography
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Anne Christine Innis Dagg CM was a Canadian zoologist, feminist, and author of numerous books. A pioneer in the study of animal behaviour in the wild, Dagg is credited with being the first person to study wild giraffes. Her impact on current understandings of giraffe biology and behaviour were the focus of the 2011 CBC radio documentary Wild Journey: The Anne Innis Story, the 2018 documentary film The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, and the 2021 children's book The Girl Who Loved Giraffes and Became the World's First Giraffologist.
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Arda Öcal
- Occupations
- wrestler
- Biography
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Arda Ocal is a Canadian television personality, broadcaster, announcer, and writer. He previously worked in WWE under the stage name Kyle Edwards, as well as the host of Aftermath TV on Sportsnet 360 and The MSG Hockey Show on MSG Network, as well as various current sports coverage on ESPN and TRT World.
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Thomas Christopher Collins
- Occupations
- Catholic deaconCatholic bishopCatholic priest
- Biography
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Thomas Christopher Collins is a Canadian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto from 2007 to 2023, the Bishop of Saint Paul in Alberta from 1997 to 1999, and Archbishop of Edmonton from 1999 to 2006. He was elevated to the rank of Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI on 18 February 2012.
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Filomena Tassi
- Occupations
- chaplainlawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Filomena Tassi PC is a Canadian politician who served as the Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario from 2022 to 2024. A member of the Liberal Party, Tassi represented the riding of Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas in the House of Commons, taking office following the 2015 federal election. She served as the Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Receiver General for Canada from 2021 to 2022, as the Minister of Labour from 2019 to 2021, and as the Minister of Seniors from 2018 to 2019. She did not seek re-election in 2025.
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James Lau
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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James Henry Lau Jr. or Lau Yee Cheung is a Hong Kong government official. He was Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury from 2017 to 2020.
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Brad Bradford
- Enrolled in the University of Waterloo
- In 2012 graduated with urban planning
- Biography
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Brad Macdonald Bradford is a Canadian politician and urban planner who has represented Ward 19 Beaches—East York on Toronto City Council since 2018. Bradford has declared his intention to run in the 2026 Toronto mayoral election, previously contesting the 2023 mayoral by-election, placing eighth.
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Lionel Leong
- Years
- 1962-.. (age 64)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Lionel Leong or Leong Vai Tac is a political figure of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.
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Jesse Thistle
- Occupations
- historianteacheruniversity teacherwriter
- Biography
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Jesse Thistle is a Métis-Cree author. He is a registered citizen of the Métis Nation Saskatchewan and an assistant professor in the department of humanities at York University in Toronto. He is the author of the 2019 memoir, From the Ashes, and 2022 poetry book Scars and Stars. From the Ashes is considered one of the "most notable" 100 books Simon and Schuster U.S and all its 31 international imprints has published between 1924-2024, and is the only Canadian book included. Former CEO of Simon and Schuster US, Jonathan Karp, has singled out Thistle's memoir calling it perhaps “the greatest accomplishment during Kevin (Hanson's) tenure,” since the inception of Simon and Schuster Canada in 2013; Hanson was the inaugural publisher until 2024. Thistle is also is a PhD candidate in the history program at York University, where he is working on theories of intergenerational, historic trauma, and survivance of road allowance Métis people. This work involves reflections on his own previous struggles with addiction and homelessness.
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Reza Roosta Azad
- Occupations
- chemical engineer
- Biography
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Reza Roosta Azad was an Iranian academic who was the chancellor of Sharif University of Technology, serving from 2010 until 2014.
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Cole Pearn
- Occupations
- racing driver
- Biography
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Cole R. Pearn is a Canadian NASCAR crew chief and former stock car racing driver. He competed in CASCAR (now NASCAR Canada Series) for three seasons from 2001 to 2003. He also was a three-time Canadian Go-Kart Champion, Delaware Speedway Track Champion and winner of the Great Canadian 300 in 2006. He is currently serving as the crew chief for Martin Truex Jr.'s No. 56 Tricon Garage team in the NASCAR Cup Series. Pearn led Truex to the Cup championship in 2017.
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Joëlle Pineau
- Occupations
- artificial intelligence researcheruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Joëlle Pineau is a Canadian computer scientist and Professor at McGill University. She is the chief A.I. Officer of Cohere. She was the global vice president of Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR), now known as AI at Meta, until May 2025. She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2023.
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Jonathan Schaeffer
- Occupations
- computer scientistpoker playeruniversity teacherartificial intelligence researcher
- Biography
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Jonathan Herbert Schaeffer FRSC is a Canadian researcher and professor at the University of Alberta and the former Canada Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence.
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Celeste Anderson
- Occupations
- reality television participant
- Biography
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Celeste Anderson is a Canadian competitive gamer and reality television personality, known for being the winner of the first season of the TBS reality show King of the Nerds for which she was awarded $100,000.
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Brad Templeton
- Occupations
- entrepreneurengineer
- Biography
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Brad Templeton is a Canadian software developer, internet entrepreneur, online community pioneer, publisher of news, comedy, science fiction and e-books, writer, photographer, civil rights advocate, futurist, public speaker, educator and self-driving car consultant. He graduated from the University of Waterloo.
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Václav Chvátal
- Occupations
- computer scientistmathematicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Václav Chvátal ( Czech: [ˈvaːtslaf ˈxvaːtal]) is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and a visiting professor at Charles University in Prague. He has published extensively on topics in graph theory, combinatorics, and combinatorial optimization.
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Tom Duff
- Occupations
- computer scientistengineer
- Biography
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Thomas Douglas Selkirk Duff is a Canadian computer programmer.
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Lisa Bentley
- Occupations
- teachertriathlete
- Biography
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Lisa Bentley is a Canadian triathlete. She has been competing on the Ironman race series since late in the 1990s. In 1988, Bentley was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. She has won 11 Ironman competitions. In 2006, Bentley placed third at the Ironman World Championship, her best showing and finished second at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, Florida three weeks later.
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Mohammad Hajiaghayi
- Occupations
- computer scientist
- Biography
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Mohammad Taghi Hajiaghayi is a computer scientist known for his work in algorithms, game theory, social networks, network design, graph theory, and big data. He has over 200 publications with over 185 collaborators and 10 issued patents.
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Deb Roy
- Born in
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Canada - Occupations
- computer scientistengineer
- Biography
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Deb Roy is a Canadian scientist, tenured professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the director of the MIT Center for Constructive Communication.
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Alison Brooks
- Occupations
- architect
- Biography
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Alison Brooks, FRSA, RIBA, RDI, is a Canadian-British architect. She is the founder and creative director of Alison Brooks Architects, based in London. Her awards include the RIBA Stirling Prize, Manser Medal, Stephen Lawrence Prize, and RIBA House of the Year.
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G. D. Yadav
- Years
- 1952-.. (age 74)
- Occupations
- chemical engineer
- Biography
-
Ganapati Dadasaheb Yadav, better known as G. D. Yadav, is an Indian chemist, educator and academic. He is currently president of the Indian Chemical Society. He did contributions to green chemistry, catalysis, and nanotechnology. He served as the Vice Chancellor of the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai, from 2009 to 2019, where he is currently an emeritus professor.
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Heather Dale
- Born in
- Canada
- Occupations
- singersongwriter
- Biography
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Heather Dale is a Canadian Celtic folk musician, author, entrepreneur, and filker who was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association's Hall of Fame in 2020. Much of her music draws on Celtic and Arthurian legend, but she also incorporates influences and instruments from other genres, including world music. She runs her own independent record label, Amphis Music, from its office in Toronto, Ontario.
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Mark Tilden
- Years
- 1961-.. (age 65)
- Occupations
- scientist
- Biography
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Mark W. Tilden is a robotics physicist who produces complex robotic movements from simple analog logic circuits, often with discrete electronic components, and usually without a microprocessor. He is controversial because of his libertarian Tilden's Laws of Robotics, and is known for his invention of BEAM robotics and the WowWee Robosapien humanoid robot.
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William Reeves
- Enrolled in the University of Waterloo
- In 1974 graduated with bachelor's degree in mathematics
- Occupations
- film producertechnical supervisorfilm screenwriterfilm directoreffects animator
- Biography
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William "Bill" Reeves is a Canadian animator and technical director known for working with John Lasseter on the animated shorts Luxo Jr. and The Adventures of André and Wally B.
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Reza Farajidana
- Occupations
- engineerpolitician
- Biography
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Reza Farajidana is an Iranian electrical engineer and reformist politician, who was the minister of Science, Research and Technology under President Hassan Rouhani. He served as president of University of Tehran, and as the former president of the Iranian branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
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Wendy Hui Kyong Chun
- Years
- 1969-.. (age 57)
- Occupations
- media scholarcultural critic
- Biography
-
Wendy Hui Kyong Chun is the Canada 150 Research Chair in New Media in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. She is the founding Director of the Digital Democracies Institute at Simon Fraser University, established in 2020. Previously, she was Professor and Chair of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University. Her theoretical and critical approach to digital media draws from her training in both Systems Design Engineering and English Literature.
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Steve Joordens
- Occupations
- psychologist
- Biography
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Steve Joordens is a Canadian psychologist who is professor of psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough. He teaches introductory psychology and a seminar course on the scientific study of conscious and unconscious influences. Joordens research areas include conscious and unconscious influences, memory, and the effective use of technology for education.
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Colin Carrie
- Occupations
- politicianchiropractor
- Biography
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Colin Carrie is a Canadian politician. He is a former member of the House of Commons of Canada and represented the riding of Oshawa in the province of Ontario for the Conservative Party of Canada from 2004 until 2025.
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Jim Estill
- Years
- 1957-.. (age 69)
- Occupations
- businesspersonphilanthropist
- Biography
-
James Andrew Estill is a Canadian technology entrepreneur, executive, and philanthropist who has been serving as CEO of appliance manufacturer Danby Appliances Ltd since 2015. During the course of his career, Estill has invested in 150 start-up companies and received international attention for sponsoring the resettling of Syrian refugee families in Canada. In recognition of his philanthropic efforts, Estill received the Order of Ontario in June 2017 and was named to the Order of Canada in July 2018, and received a King Charles III Coronation Medal in 2024.
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Lori Saint-Martin
- Occupations
- translatornovelistuniversity teacherliterary theorist
- Biography
-
Lori Saint-Martin was a Canadian author and literary translator. Her first novel, Les Portes closes, came out in 2013. Working with her husband Paul Gagné, she translated over seventy English language books into French, including the works of such authors as Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood, and Naomi Klein.
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Raja Choudhury
- Occupations
- film director
- Biography
-
Raja Choudhury is a National Film Award (India) winning documentary film maker, architect, public speaker, spiritual teacher on The Shift Network, and designer of multimedia installations and events and Web sites, some of which have received Webby Awards. He produces international documentary films on Indian wisdom, history and consciousness. Films he has made include Spirituality in the Modern World, I Believe: Universal Values for a Global Society, The Modern Mystic, The Quantum Indians, Yoga: Aligning to the Source, and most recently India's official global film celebrating the International Day of Yoga entitled Yoga Harmony with Nature which was released on 21 June 2015. His most recent film with WTTW Chicago PBS, called America's First Guru on Swami Vivekananda and the arrival of Yoga and Hinduism into the popular American conversation in 1893, aired on Public Television and PBS from May 2024 and was watched by over 200,000 people. Raja is on the faculty of The Shift Network online, teaching subjects on Indian Wisdom. Raja is also a teacher at A Thousand Suns Academy teaching advanced programs and workshops in Indian wisdom and meditation.
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Bryan May
- Occupations
- politiciandirector
- Biography
-
Bryan J. May is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2015 and 2019 Canadian federal elections to represent the electoral district of Cambridge as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada. He is a part of the Liberal Party.
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Gaston Gonnet
- Occupations
- computer scientistbusinessperson
- Biography
-
Gaston H. Gonnet is a Uruguayan Canadian and Swiss computer scientist and entrepreneur. He is best known for his contributions to the Maple computer algebra system and the creation of a digital version of the Oxford English Dictionary.
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Ricardo Baeza-Yates
- Enrolled in the University of Waterloo
- 1986-1989 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- computer scientistresearcherengineerchief technology officer
- Biography
-
Ricardo A. Baeza-Yates is a Chilean computer scientist specializing in algorithms, data structures, information retrieval, web search and responsible AI. Since 2025 he is a part-time Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program professor at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology of Sweden in Stockholm. He is also part-time professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and Universidad de Chile in Santiago. He is an expert member of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, a member of the Association for Computing Machinery's US Technology Policy Committee as well as IEEE's AI Committee.
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Mike Watson
- Occupations
- poker player
- Biography
-
Michael Watson is a Canadian professional online poker player from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador who won a World Poker Tour title in July 2008. He also finished 2nd in the $1,500 No Limit Hold'em – Mixed Max (Event #58) of the 2014 World Series of Poker.
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Liz Sandals
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Liz Sandals is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2018 who represented the ridings of Guelph—Wellington and Guelph. She served in cabinet as the President of the Treasury Board until January 17, 2018 and previously served for three years as Minister of Education in the government of Kathleen Wynne.
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Douglas N. Walton
- Occupations
- philosopher
- Biography
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Douglas Neil Walton was a Canadian academic and author, known for his books and papers on argumentation, logical fallacies and informal logic. He was a Distinguished Research Fellow of the Centre for Research in Reasoning, Argumentation, and Rhetoric (CRRAR) at the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and before that (2008–2014), he held the Assumption Chair of Argumentation Studies at the University of Windsor. Walton's work has been used to better prepare legal arguments and to help develop artificial intelligence.
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David Tse
- Enrolled in the University of Waterloo
- In 1989 graduated with Bachelor of Science in systems engineering
- Occupations
- electronic engineeruniversity teacher
- Biography
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David Tse is the Thomas Kailath and Guanghan Xu Professor of Engineering at Stanford University.
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Elizabeth Witmer
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Elizabeth Witmer OOnt ECO is a former Deputy Premier of Ontario, Canada. She was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 until 2012, representing Waterloo North and later Kitchener—Waterloo as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party.
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Imre Simon
- Occupations
- computer scientistmathematicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
-
Imre Simon was a Hungarian-born Brazilian mathematician and computer scientist.
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Don Boudria
- Occupations
- civil servantpurchasing managerpolitician
- Biography
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Don Boudria PC is a former Canadian politician and current senior associate at Sandstone Group, an Ottawa-based executive advisory firm. He served in the House of Commons of Canada from 1984 to 2006 as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Jean Chrétien.
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Barbara A. Paldus
- Enrolled in the University of Waterloo
- In 1993 graduated with Bachelor of Science in mathematics and electrical engineering
- Occupations
- researcherbiotechnologistentrepreneur
- Biography
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Barbara Alice Paldus is an American-Canadian-Czech entrepreneur and scientist. In 2001, she received Adolph Lomb Medal.
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William J. Cook
- Occupations
- mathematicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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William John Cook is an American operations researcher and mathematician, and Professor of Combinatorics and Optimization at the University of Waterloo.
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Andrew Telegdi
- Occupations
- consultantpoliticianexecutive director
- Biography
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Andrew Peter Telegdi, PC was a Canadian politician. He was a Liberal Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada from 1993 to 2008, representing Waterloo and the successor riding of Kitchener—Waterloo.
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Nancy Reid
- Occupations
- university teachermathematicianstatistician
- Biography
-
Nancy Margaret Reid OC FRS FRSC is a Canadian theoretical statistician. She is a professor at the University of Toronto where she holds a Canada Research Chair in Statistical Theory. In 2015 Reid became Director of the Canadian Institute for Statistical Sciences.
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Claire J. Tomlin
- Occupations
- engineer
- Biography
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Claire Jennifer Tomlin is a British researcher in hybrid systems, distributed and decentralized optimization and control theory and holds the Charles A. Desoer Chair at the University of California, at Berkeley.
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Mustafa Akgül
- Years
- 1948-2017 (aged 69)
- Occupations
- engineer
- Biography
-
Mustafa Akgül was a Turkish computer scientist who was the key figure of the acceptance of the Internet in Turkey. In 1987, he moved to Bilkent University, where he remained until his death. He died on 13 December 2017 in the hospital where he had been receiving treatment for a long time.
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Stephen W. Scherer
- Occupations
- university teacherscientistgeneticist
- Biography
-
Stephen Wayne "Steve" Scherer is a Canadian scientist who currently serves as the Chief of Research at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and distinguished University Professor at the University of Toronto. He obtained his PhD at the University of Toronto under Professor Lap-chee Tsui. Together they founded the Centre for Applied Genomics (TCAG). He is a Senior Fellow of Massey College at the University of Toronto. In 2014, he was named an esteemed Clarivate (previously Thomson Reuters) Citation laureate in Physiology or Medicine for the “Discovery of large-scale gene copy number variation and its association with specific diseases.”
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Gary Goodyear
- Occupations
- chiropractoradministratorcolumnistpolitician
- Biography
-
Gary T. Goodyear PC is a Canadian politician. He was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to 2015, having been elected to represent the riding of Cambridge as a Conservative in 2004. On October 30, 2008, he was named Minister of State for Science & Technology within Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Cabinet. Goodyear was re-elected in the May 2nd elections in 2011 and returned to Stephen Harper's cabinet as Minister of State for Science & Technology. He was replaced in this capacity by Greg Rickford on July 15, 2013.
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Roger Valhammer
- Years
- 1984-.. (age 42)
- Enrolled in the University of Waterloo
- 2006-2007 studied religious studies
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Roger Valhammer is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. He served as chief commissioner of Bergen from 2019 to 2022, and previously served as city commissioner for schools, kindergartens and sports between 2018 and 2019.
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Robert Kitchen
- Occupations
- politicianchiropractor
- Biography
-
Robert Gordon Kitchen is a Canadian politician and chiropractor. A member of the Conservative Party, he was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons representing Souris—Moose Mountain from 2015 to 2025.
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Garfield Dunlop
- Years
- 1939-.. (age 87)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Garfield Dunlop is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2015 who represented the riding of Simcoe North. He resigned from the legislature in 2015 in order to provide a vacancy so that former PC leader Patrick Brown could seek a seat in the legislature.
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Gabe Zichermann
- Years
- 1974-.. (age 52)
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
-
Gabe Zichermann is a Canadian-American author, public speaker, and businessman. He has worked as a proponent of leveraging game mechanics in business, education, and other non-entertainment platforms to increase user engagement in a process called gamification.
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Karen Redman
- Occupations
- writerpolitician
- Biography
-
Karen Redman PC is a Canadian politician who currently serves as the chair of the Region of Waterloo. Previously, she was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2008, representing the riding of Kitchener Centre for the Liberal Party. She served as Chief Government Whip in the 2004 to 2005 Parliament, and was the Chief Official Opposition Whip in the 2006 to 2008 parliament. She was defeated in the 2008 federal election. She was elected to Waterloo Regional Council in the 2014 municipal election and has been the Waterloo Regional Chair since 2018.
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Ron Dembo
- Years
- 20th Century
- Occupations
- businesspersoneconomist
- Biography
-
Ron Samuel Dembo is an academic and entrepreneur. He served as a professor at Yale University. During this time, he held joint appointments in both the Department of Computer Science and the School of Management. He co-authored three Technical Reports at Yale's Dept. of Computer Science in 1984.
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Peter Braid
- Occupations
- communications adviseraccount managerpolitician
- Biography
-
Peter Braid is a Canadian businessman and former politician, who served as the Member of Parliament for Kitchener—Waterloo from 2008 to 2015. While in office he served as Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Communities. He is a member of the Conservative Party of Canada.
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Garth Gibson
- Born in
- Canada
- Occupations
- computer scientistengineer
- Biography
-
Garth Alan Gibson is a computer scientist from Carnegie Mellon University. Gibson developed the RAID taxonomy of redundant data storage systems, along with David A. Patterson and Randy Katz.
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Simon Raab
- Occupations
- painterinventorscientistbusinessperson
- Biography
-
Simon Raab is an American contemporary artist, entrepreneur, inventor and scientist.
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Chris Best
- Occupations
- Canadian football player
- Biography
-
Chris Best is a Canadian former professional football guard who played 10 seasons for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. He played CIS Football at Waterloo, as well as playing four seasons in the United States at Duke University. He graduated from Duke University in 2005 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
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Ravi Sood
- Years
- 1976-.. (age 50)
- Occupations
- financier
- Biography
-
Ravi Sood is a Canadian financier and venture capitalist. He was raised in Waterloo, Ontario, and resides in Hong Kong. He received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Waterloo. He is the co-founder and former CEO of Navina Asset Management and its predecessor company Lawrence Asset Management, which at its peak controlled over $800 million in assets globally.
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Daria Gaiazova
- Occupations
- cross-country skier
- Biography
-
Daria Gaiazova is a Canadian cross-country skier.
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Chris Friel
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Chris Friel is a politician in the Canadian province of Ontario. He was the mayor of Brantford from 1994 to 2003 and was re-elected to the same position in the 2010 municipal election. He was defeated in the 2018 municipal election by Kevin Davis.
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Suresh Sriskandarajah
- Biography
-
Suresh Sriskandarajah is a Canadian citizen who pleaded guilty to U.S. charges of conspiring to provide material support to the Tamil Tigers, a Sri Lankan civil rights and freedom liberation movement. He was sentenced to two years in U.S. prison.
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Wayne Cao
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Wayne Cao is a Canadian politician and former member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, where he represented the district of Calgary-Fort as a Progressive Conservative. He was first elected in the 1997 provincial election and was re-elected four times. He is perhaps best known as the sponsor of the legislation that led to the enshrining of "Alberta". In April 2008, he elected as the Legislature's Deputy Speaker and Chair of Committees and served in that position for the 27th Legislature. Mr. Cao also served as a member of the Standing Committee on Resource Stewardship.
