Alyson Gaffney
Executive Director & CEO at Canadian Network of Agencies for Regulation (CNAR)- Claim this Profile
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Bio
Helen Hirsh Spence
Alyson has a keen strategic sense that is invaluable to starting up and getting the message out. She is trustworthy, reliable and understands marketing essentials. She has been a great asset to the advisory team of the Top Sixty Over Sixty.
Daniel (Dan) Willis
At Leonovus, we first gained the benefit of Alyson's skills and expertise when she joined us in Sept 2016. Since that time the organization as a whole has made significant and notable traction and growth largely due to Alyson's contributions. In that time I have personally observed the following: --- Alyson is a seasoned business professional, passionate about making a difference to our business. --- Alyson quickly understood Leonovus’ offer, SaaS/IaaS business model and target market/customers and translated that into multiple impactful go-to-market activities involving messaging, partner enablement and engagement, media outreach. --- Trustworthy and dependable - in short order she became a trusted safe pair of hands – I was comfortable handing over all partnering activities enabling our senior executive to focus our efforts on other areas of growing our business --- From a partnering and market engagement perspective, Alyson has become our go-to person – Alyson is open to taking and running with whatever issues Leonovus needs addressed, in the areas of partnerships/marketing/communication/business models – I could draw upon her extensive experience and partner engagement/management expertise, knowing that the issues were in good hands and would have an outcome benefiting to our organization.
Helen Hirsh Spence
Alyson has a keen strategic sense that is invaluable to starting up and getting the message out. She is trustworthy, reliable and understands marketing essentials. She has been a great asset to the advisory team of the Top Sixty Over Sixty.
Daniel (Dan) Willis
At Leonovus, we first gained the benefit of Alyson's skills and expertise when she joined us in Sept 2016. Since that time the organization as a whole has made significant and notable traction and growth largely due to Alyson's contributions. In that time I have personally observed the following: --- Alyson is a seasoned business professional, passionate about making a difference to our business. --- Alyson quickly understood Leonovus’ offer, SaaS/IaaS business model and target market/customers and translated that into multiple impactful go-to-market activities involving messaging, partner enablement and engagement, media outreach. --- Trustworthy and dependable - in short order she became a trusted safe pair of hands – I was comfortable handing over all partnering activities enabling our senior executive to focus our efforts on other areas of growing our business --- From a partnering and market engagement perspective, Alyson has become our go-to person – Alyson is open to taking and running with whatever issues Leonovus needs addressed, in the areas of partnerships/marketing/communication/business models – I could draw upon her extensive experience and partner engagement/management expertise, knowing that the issues were in good hands and would have an outcome benefiting to our organization.
Helen Hirsh Spence
Alyson has a keen strategic sense that is invaluable to starting up and getting the message out. She is trustworthy, reliable and understands marketing essentials. She has been a great asset to the advisory team of the Top Sixty Over Sixty.
Daniel (Dan) Willis
At Leonovus, we first gained the benefit of Alyson's skills and expertise when she joined us in Sept 2016. Since that time the organization as a whole has made significant and notable traction and growth largely due to Alyson's contributions. In that time I have personally observed the following: --- Alyson is a seasoned business professional, passionate about making a difference to our business. --- Alyson quickly understood Leonovus’ offer, SaaS/IaaS business model and target market/customers and translated that into multiple impactful go-to-market activities involving messaging, partner enablement and engagement, media outreach. --- Trustworthy and dependable - in short order she became a trusted safe pair of hands – I was comfortable handing over all partnering activities enabling our senior executive to focus our efforts on other areas of growing our business --- From a partnering and market engagement perspective, Alyson has become our go-to person – Alyson is open to taking and running with whatever issues Leonovus needs addressed, in the areas of partnerships/marketing/communication/business models – I could draw upon her extensive experience and partner engagement/management expertise, knowing that the issues were in good hands and would have an outcome benefiting to our organization.
Helen Hirsh Spence
Alyson has a keen strategic sense that is invaluable to starting up and getting the message out. She is trustworthy, reliable and understands marketing essentials. She has been a great asset to the advisory team of the Top Sixty Over Sixty.
Daniel (Dan) Willis
At Leonovus, we first gained the benefit of Alyson's skills and expertise when she joined us in Sept 2016. Since that time the organization as a whole has made significant and notable traction and growth largely due to Alyson's contributions. In that time I have personally observed the following: --- Alyson is a seasoned business professional, passionate about making a difference to our business. --- Alyson quickly understood Leonovus’ offer, SaaS/IaaS business model and target market/customers and translated that into multiple impactful go-to-market activities involving messaging, partner enablement and engagement, media outreach. --- Trustworthy and dependable - in short order she became a trusted safe pair of hands – I was comfortable handing over all partnering activities enabling our senior executive to focus our efforts on other areas of growing our business --- From a partnering and market engagement perspective, Alyson has become our go-to person – Alyson is open to taking and running with whatever issues Leonovus needs addressed, in the areas of partnerships/marketing/communication/business models – I could draw upon her extensive experience and partner engagement/management expertise, knowing that the issues were in good hands and would have an outcome benefiting to our organization.
Credentials
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Innovation Governance Program - Level 1
Innovation Governance ProgramDec, 2021- Nov, 2024 -
Executive Leadership & Management Development Program
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise -
Leadership Pipeline Program (1 of 300 high potential employees chosen worldwide)
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
Experience
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Canadian Network of Agencies for Regulation (CNAR)
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Canada
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Non-profit Organizations
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1 - 100 Employee
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Executive Director & CEO
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Feb 2020 - Present
- Accountable for the development and monitoring of the organization’s strategic plan. Maintain financial oversight of all activities, leading budgeting, financial reporting, and compliance monitoring. Manage the organization’s asset portfolio, coordinating insurance, risk management, and capital planning outcomes. - Support and collaborate with the Board of Directors, developing new by-laws, Articles of Incorporation, and policies for governance, risk management and financial management. - Manage and improve all member services and touch points as the main driver of organizational growth and improvement, engagement, and development. Prepare funding proposals and business cases to support the approval of key changes/ initiatives through to benefits realization. - Provide leadership in the oversight of staff and volunteers with direct accountability for human resources management and performance management. - Establish and grow a network of productive, positive relationships with stakeholders, including members, corporate partners, vendors, volunteers, and external agencies. Key Achievements - Developed and presented a new 3-year strategic plan that provided a new mission and vision for CNAR and achieved operational excellence, exponential membership growth and satisfaction, resulting in strong annual financial performance. - Successfully identified and implemented new and forward-thinking practices for stakeholder engagement, compliance monitoring, corporate governance, and creative programming. Delivered multiple IT implementations to improve the organization’s communications with members and stakeholders, allowing for improved 2-way relationships with a focus on ‘listening, communicating, and collaborating to support the community.’ - Successfully implemented initiatives to advance positive DEI and Truth and Reconciliation outcomes across the CNAR community through the structuring of professional development programs. Show less
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Principal Consultant
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Jan 2015 - Jan 2023
- Provided strategic guidance and assessment to SaaS enterprise startups, social entrepreneurs and non-profit organizations in business planning and strategy development to define/ meet growth objectives. - Analyzed requirements, business processes, stakeholders (meeting with operational leaders/ SMEs) and emerging trends to identify gaps in organizational structures. - Provided guidance to SaaS enterprise and new product entrepreneurs in developing crowdsource funding program plans and strategic business development plans. - Conducted end-to-end project management activities for enterprise-wide integrations and transformative initiatives, aligning client teams and stakeholder audiences to new concepts in IT, process modelling, and service management. - Directed post-implementation assessments and performance monitoring, integrating feedback and change requests in an environment of continuous improvement. - Key Achievement: Recognized as a top consultant with the BDC. Developed a customer service oriented consulting methodology that was used as an example during internal training. Show less
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Leonovus Inc.
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Canada
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Software Development
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1 - 100 Employee
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VP, Marketing & Partnerships
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Sep 2016 - May 2019
- Provided strategic and tactical leadership to the corporate development team of a SAAS firm, growing direct sales, channel sales, pricing/ product/ marketing, and strategic partnership functions. - Reported directly to the COO as a member of the executive team. Drove interactive partner enablement, knowledge transfer, and relationship enhancement on a global level. - Provided strategic and tactical leadership to the corporate development team of a SAAS firm, growing direct sales, channel sales, pricing/ product/ marketing, and strategic partnership functions. - Reported directly to the COO as a member of the executive team. Drove interactive partner enablement, knowledge transfer, and relationship enhancement on a global level.
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Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
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France
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Telecommunications
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700 & Above Employee
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VP, Marketing & Partner Enablement Executive
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Apr 2003 - Dec 2015
- Balanced broader thought leadership with daily execution to create new sales channels and strategies through digital marketing. Provided leadership to the partner sales/ support network in new partner onboarding (over 100 partners and 2000+ end users) and channel seller relations to achieve over 145M in new sales. - Created methods, practices, policies, and tools to support marketing and manage external creative resources as the main driver of standardization and quality. Prepared and presented materials, training workshops, SOPs, briefings/ memos, and other documentation/ resources. - Provided coaching/ mentorship in the analysis of opportunities, lead quality, pipelines, and KPIs. Managed an ongoing, long-term recruitment strategy that directly addressed succession planning, leadership development, and incentive programs. - Supported data management and insights management activities with systems for information management, including the development and implementation of a Sales/ CRM software, Partner Portal, and marketing analytics dashboard. - Advanced outcomes in efficiency, capacity, and responsiveness with an Agile project management approach. Successfully introduced a new partner onboarding process that accelerated time to revenue by 80% (3 months). - Key Achievement: Identified as a High Potential Employee and invited to complete an executive leadership development program. Show less
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Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
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France
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Telecommunications
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700 & Above Employee
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Various Marketing & Production Management Roles
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1994 - 2003
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Education
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Ivey Business School at Western University
Certificate -
Carleton University
Bachelor of Engineering - BE
Community
