Adam Cole, the vice-president of IT for startup Canadian Clinical Trial Network in Ontario, has always been an entrepreneur at heart, having also started his own company straight out of school. “I like the entrepreneurial mode of building a company from ground up,” said Cole.
While Cole’s past roles have dealt directly with IT, his current position at Canadian Clinical Trial Network, an organization funded by the federal government and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, is more about vendor management. The job that is “corralling, engaging and guiding partners” like the University of Waterloo and Research in Motion Ltd. is a bit of a transition for Cole. “It’s an evolution,” he said.
Being an alumni of the University of Waterloo, Cole finds it gratifying to be able to build partnerships in his current role at the Canadian Clinical Trial Network. “I get to go back there and work with many of the professors that were there when I was there,” said Cole.
But Cole does also recognize a couple of great leaders in Sam Schwartz, a lawyer who mentored him on business, and Stephen Ibaracki of the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) who is “somebody you want to follow.”
Winners for ComputerWorld Canada’s IT Leadership Awards will be announced at an awards gala on Oct. 26.
Follow Kathleen Lau on Twitter: @KathleenLau
