Alumni Profiles | Tech Impact

Cathy Simpson (’90) with her daughter Sophie Leonard (’20)

Business leader Cathy Simpson promotes female empowerment and private sector growth in Atlantic Canada

By Fred Sgambati (’83)

After nearly 30 years as a leader in the telecom and IT sector, two questions continue to inform Cathy Simpson’s (’90) work and excite her passion: how can she help others realize the power of technology to grow jobs and enhance the economy in Atlantic Canada? What can she do to get more young women interested in the tech sector?

The questions are not mutually exclusive. Although one speaks directly to her mandate as CEO of the not-for-profit TechImpact and the other to her side hustle, Up+Go, both govern where she is personally and professionally at this point in her life and career and occupy much of her time and attention.

TechImpact is a private sector-led organization focused on growing the technology industry in Atlantic Canada. Founded in 2009, its membership is comprised of the CEOs, CTOs, and CIOs of the larger technology companies and the largest IT consumers of technology in the region. For the past five years, Simpson has also been the Board Chair of the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF), an independent non-profit corporation that specializes in venture capital and research investments in NB.

Up+GO is a social enterprise that she launched in 2015. As her career path as an executive trended upward – from product manager at NBTel to VP Marketing and VP People and Culture at T4G Ltd. (Technology for Growth) before joining TechImpact – Simpson noticed fewer and fewer women at the table. She wondered why there weren’t more senior women in the tech sector and realized that the problem lay in how young girls interpret their roles in traditionally maledominated industries.

“I can do that!”

As a result, she developed a program for high school girls, introducing them to female mentors from the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) sector. She brought in CEOs, developers, doctors, data scientists, business analysts and project managers. The young women engaged in the discussions soon realized a curious and empowering thing that changed their perspective about tech opportunities: “I can do that!”

Simpson has invested a lot of time and intellectual capital into Up+Go’s launch and success. “I’ve focused my career on how to use technology for good and looked at it from a user perspective. Technology is very much about people; how they interact and use technology to make their jobs and lives better.

“As I grew my career, I discovered that there were not enough senior women in the tech sector and I wanted to give back: the question was, how do I get more girls and leaders interested in STEM, entrepreneurship and innovation?

“A lot of the work I do with these girls,” Simpson adds, “goes back to Marketing 101, with four points on the curriculum curve: awareness; education; inspiration; and action.”

The goal is to keep young women in the game when they don’t even know there’s a game at all. Tech talks and public events ensure that topics are front and centre. Simpson also hustles to get funding from federal, provincial and private sector resources to develop programs, matching young women with mentors, visiting businesses and acquainting them with technology.

“We do it in a way that makes them see the possibilities,” Simpson says. “That’s what the next 10 years are all about: grow the industry, mentor girls, and keep women engaged and thriving.”

A bigger small town

Born in Corner Brook, NL, Simpson grew up in Sheet Harbour, Nova Scotia. Her brother Ian (’86) and sister Christie (’90) are Acadia grads and she says the University has played a huge role in her personal and professional evolution.

“Coming from a small town, Wolfville felt like a bigger small town,” she says. “The campus is very beautiful, with the Acadia sign out front and University Hall behind it. You just can’t beat it – it’s a remarkable place.”

Mentors such as professors Dr . Scott Follows and Dr . Richard Sparkman “showed us in a really cool and interesting way that (communications and marketing) could be exciting and the different pathways we could take. Without them, I wouldn’t have known that there were product managers or communication specialists jobs out there.” Simpson earned a Bachelor of Business Administration and later began working at NBTel. The rest, as they say, is history.

Even now , the tradition continues. Simpson’s daughter Sophie Leonard (’20) is a Community Development grad who joined Up+Go in January and has been accepted into the Venture for Canada Fellowship program that started in May.

Sophie says that her professors made all the difference as well. She felt initially overwhelmed coming to Acadia, but people and professors in the Community Development program were welcoming and genuine. “Professors invited me to their homes to have dinner and make apple cider,” she says. “The program is extremely hands-on and I could text my professors if I had a question. I told other kids about that and they’re like, ‘That’s insane!’”

Her Acadia experience, like her Mom’s, was amazing and the connective tissue from one generation to another is strong. Cathy’s and Sophie’s experiences were foundational, multidisciplinary and collaborative, provoking a deep passion to do good work and make a difference at a fundamental, community level.

“The first two-thirds of my career was very focused on growing and developing private sector organizations,” Simpson says. “The last third will be about what I can do to contribute to an industry that has been so good to me and to help others realize the power of technology to grow jobs and help our economy in Atlantic Canada.”