Network

People

The full Nova Roma roster spans our core team, partners, speakers, and contributors.

Core Team

Founding members, initiative contributors, and members of the Nova Roma team.

Founder, Nova Roma Horizon

Francis Wang

Entrepreneur, Futurist, and AI engineer actualizing a sustainable future by innovating toward a more resilient society.

Toronto, Canada

strategic foresight

artificial intelligence

sustainability

futures studies

entrepreneurship

Founder, Nova Roma Horizon

James Cheng

Software consultant, entrepreneur, and ecosystem builder supporting AI-first entrepreneurship.

Waterloo, Canada

artificial intelligence

entrepreneurship

venture development

ecosystem building

work-integrated learning

Portrait coming soon

Founder, Nova Roma Horizon

William Yao

Chartered Accountant and innovation strategist with over 40 years of experience spanning financial services, corporate innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Toronto, Canada

financial services

innovation strategy

chartered accountancy

entrepreneurship

Community Members

Innovation challenge contributors, collaborators, and members of the extended Nova Roma network.

RBC

Alex Li

Director of Product Design at RBC leading AI-powered advisor experiences, with a decade of design leadership across financial services and fintech.

Toronto, Canada

product design design leadership AI products

Community Member

Amanda Wu

Product leader with 10 years of experience in highly regulated sectors, responsible AI policy advisor, and multidisciplinary design thinker.

Toronto, Canada

product leadership responsible AI policy advisory

Cruise (General Motors)

Arwin Tio

Senior Software Engineer at Cruise (General Motors) specialising in data processing and distributed systems, with a decade of experience in large-scale software architecture.

San Francisco, United States

software engineering data processing distributed systems

TaskMapper

Maria Smirnova

Founder and CEO of TaskMapper, interdisciplinary technologist and designer specialising in systems thinking, productivity research, and sustainable work practices.

Toronto, Canada

systems design architecture productivity research

University of Waterloo

Parth Sharma

Computer Science student at the University of Waterloo with research interests in data privacy, AI ethics, and entrepreneurship.

Waterloo, Canada

computer science data privacy AI ethics

Advisors

Academic supervisors, mentors, and strategic advisors guiding our innovation challenges.

University of Calgary

Barry Wylant

DDes supervisor at the University of Calgary. Visual storytelling for complex systems, ecosystem simulation, and design research methodology for public-sector impact.

Calgary, Canada

design research visual storytelling complex systems

University of Waterloo

Larry Smith

Professor of Economics at the University of Waterloo. Expertise in entrepreneurship, innovation ecosystems, and the economics of technology adoption.

Waterloo, Canada

economics entrepreneurship innovation ecosystems

Join the network

Interested in contributing or speaking? Email hello@novaromahorizon.org with your topic and relevant links.

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