One of our country’s highest civilian honours, the Order of Canada recognizes outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. As co-founder of Mariner, Gerry has over 45 years of in-depth experience in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. As the CEO of NBTel and the president of its successor, Aliant Telecom, Gerry was at the helm during a period of significant deregulation in the Canadian industry. Under his leadership, NBTel embarked on a decade of innovation, and in the process transformed NBTel into an international ICT leader.
Gerry was the driving force behind the formation of Mariner Partners Inc. and has co-founded a number of successful ICT start-ups in Atlantic Canada including iMagicTV, Q1 Labs, Brovada Technologies, Radian6, Shift Energy and Cirrus9. As a proven innovator in ICT, Gerry is the co-founder of Propel ICT, a start-up accelerator, and the Pond-Deshpande Centre which encourages emerging entrepreneurs and innovators in the region to accelerate the creation of sustainable, scalable enterprises. He is also co-founder of East Valley Ventures, an advanced accelerator for Atlantic Canadian start-up companies with a mission of helping passionate Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurs launch meaningful and enduring technology companies. There are currently over 30 companies connected to East Valley Ventures.
In addition to his latest honour, Gerry was awarded at the Canadian Startup Awards with the 2011 Canadian Angel of the Year by Techvibes & KPMG. In 2012, he was recognized with the Canadian Red Cross Humanitarian award for New Brunswick. In 2013, The Learning Partnership honoured Gerry as a Champion of Public Education; that same year he received the Order of New Brunswick for his innovative spirit and for being the driving force behind so many of New Brunswick’s information technology and telecommunications success stories such as Radian6 and Q1 Labs. Both companies were recognized by the Canada Venture Capital & Private Equity Association’s (CVCA) as Deal of the Year in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Most recently, Gerry’s passion for supporting innovation and entrepreneurship was recognized at the 2014 Canadian Startup Awards where he was presented with the prestigious Wolf Blass Lifetime Achievement Award.