Garrett is a Memorial University Alumni, graduating with aBA in History and Political Science. He is now a business leader and technologist with experience in software development, information technology, and broadcast/video production. Garrett's management skills combined with his understanding and management of risk helped him build a solid reputation and establish a career in the UK.
This gave him an introduction to the software industry and allowed him to discover his sales skills. Garret has since gone on to grow and sell another computer software company, and is now Director at Dreamtek, Co-CEO at The Virtual Forge, and a Chairman of CleanCar.io.
Recently, Garrett undertook a role as Non Executive Director at the Harlow Campus of Memorial, where he is exploring options to make Harlow a support hub for NL companies coming to Europe. This initiative aligns with Garrett's belief that NL companies need to expand their target markets outside of NL
Expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic with Students on Ice sparked Donovan’s efforts to shape public policy through storytelling. Subsequently, Donovan helped found a community radio station, was a delegate at the United Nations Earth Summit, and ran for office in their hometown of Bell Island, becoming one of the youngest and first openly queer elected municipal officials in the province.
By the time Donovan was 23, they had served a four-year term on town council, delivered a TEDx talk, advised a Premier and a Prime Minister as an appointee to two advisory councils and negotiated on behalf of Canadian youth at the Y7 Summit, official counterpart to the 42nd Annual G7 Summit.
In 2018, Donovan was appointed Vice-Chair of the technical committee responsible for developing the National Standard of Canada for the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Post-Secondary Students. Concurrently, Donovan works as the health communications lead for the Health & Wellness Centre at the University of Toronto and was a spokesperson for the annual Faces of Mental Illness Campaign.
Chrissy holds a B.Com (2018) and a MTechMgt (2020) from Memorial University, where she volunteered as an inaugural Ambassador for the Memorial Centre for Entrepreneurship, helping build their vision, purpose, and values. During her time with the Centre, Chrissy traveled to Silicon Valley with the ambassador team, it was on this trip where her interest in tech was formed.
Currently, Chrissy works as an account executive at Cambridge Brain Sciences. She is very passionate about the healthtech industry, working directly with healthcare providers to help improve patient outcomes with the addition of technology.
An active GlobalNL member, Chrissy has helped create GlobalNL’s Toronto network by assisting in organizing events in the area.
Connor is a student in the Memorial University of Newfoundland BComm Class of 2024 and currently interning at Mackenzie Investments in Toronto.
“Networking is what brings us out of our desks and helps bring the business world together, as people rather than parts. It's hard to imagine how impersonal things would become without the connections that networking brings. It was in fact through networking that I was able to find my current internship”.
Shannon is our current Digital Platform Intern for this Summer semester. Shannon is a Process Engineering Student at Memorial University of Newfoundland and will be entering her 2nd year of her Bachelor of Engineering degree this Fall. Shannon is from and currently lives in the St. John’s area and graduated from St. Kevin’s High School in 2020.
Shannon’s anticipated graduation at Memorial University of Newfoundland is in 2025. She has taken on the role of being the lead designer in creating our new website. We are very pleased to be able to provide Shannon with the opportunity to help create and develop our new website - which we are anticipating to launch very soon!
"Meeting and working with the GlobalNL team has been a wonderful learning experience. I have been able to further my knowledge in website design while also making new connections with wonderful people. This experience will definitely help me towards my future career."
Zack is a former national team cyclist who completed his bachelor’s degree in engineering at Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2011. He also holds a Masters of Business Analytics from UBC Sauder School of Business.
Zack has a strong technical background, grounded in practical applications. This most recently came to life with his key involvement in launching Stoko’s first product the K1. Stoko is first-to-market in creating a new category of supportive apparel, which is changing how athletes prevent and recover from joint injuries, starting with the knee. Stoko is disrupting an outdated, 50-year-old knee-brace industry. It’s supportive apparel is beautifully designed and offers the same joint support as a traditional brace with unparalleled comfort.
Prior to Stoko, Zack worked within the Nike Innovation Team. He developed a novel new shoe concept winning the 2018 London marathon. He also worked within Nike to decrease commercialization time while incorporating performance by leveraging athlete data and seamless design to manufacture solutions. Zack has since successfully partnered with Asian manufacturing facilities in both shipbuilding, footwear, and now the new category of supportive apparel.
Bolu Ogunyemi is a Medical Dermatologist & Assistant Dean of Social Accountability at Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Faculty of Medicine. As Assistant Dean, he provides oversight on the development and implementation of initiatives in Health Equity, Indigenous Health, Global Health & Community Engagement.
He earned a BSc in Sociology & Medical Science from Western University before attending medical school at Memorial followed by Dermatology training at The University of British Columbia. After returning to his hometown to practice, he was excited to contribute to his alma mater and has recently served on the 2021 – 2026 Memorial University Strategic Plan Facilitation team. As well, Dr Ogunyemi serves on the Board of Directors for Canadian Doctors for Medicare, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association.
Bolu speaks, researches & advocates at the intersection of health & diversity and has authored publications for The New York Times, Huffington Post, Globe & Mail, CBC, Vancouver Sun, & the National Post. He is involved in his community as a diversity and anti-racism educator and has given presentations to Rotary St John’s NW, the Association of New Canadians, a TEDxStJohns talk and the 2019 Atlantic Immigration Summit.
Ben is our new Digital Strategist Intern for this Summer. Ben is a Faculty of Business Administration at Memorial University of Newfoundland student and will be entering his 5th year of his Bachelor of Commerce degree this Fall. Ben is from and currently resides in St. John’s, and graduated from O’Donel High School in 2017.
For Ben’s first and second work terms, he worked at Service Canada in the Program Delivery Branch. With the experience and skills he acquired from working within the Federal Government, Ben will be a great addition to our team. We are very pleased to provide Ben with the opportunity to help further grow our brand.
“GlobalNL is a great platform for students, young professionals, and entrepreneurs to make connections and to build a network. It also provides other members the opportunity to give back. I highly recommend becoming a member!”
Adam is a mechanical engineer from Mount Pearl, NL. During his undergrad at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Adam was involved in a ton of activities — high performance youth basketball coaching, organizing Terry Fox Run teams, managing an annual basketball tournament fundraiser in honour of his father, and more recently supporting the. Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Care Foundation (where he now sits on the Board of Directors).
Adam also led Memorial University's Paradigm Hyperloop team to their second-place finish at the 2017 SpaceX competition. His experience developing Hyperloop technology caused Adam to notice that mechanical engineering teams needed better communication tools. Adam viewed this as an opportunity.
Adam and Jeremy Andrews decided to create a solution to this problem. In 2017 they co-founded CoLab Software and began building a modern design review tool to make it easy for teams to share and collaborate. Since then, CoLab has grown to a team of more than 40 people with manufacturing and design companies around the world using CoLab to build better products, faster. In addition to his role as CEO of CoLab, Adam is a co-founder and strategic advisor for Duxion Motors.
Harry is a business student at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Along with completing his Bachelor of Commerce degree, he is also a member of the Seahawks Men’s Soccer Team. His leadership role on the team recently earned him the Erin Bursey Memorial Leadership Award (2020-21), which was established to recognize student-athletes who exhibit exceptional leadership skills, academic excellence and passion for their sport.
For his first work term, Harry joined the GlobalNL team as a digital strategist intern to help establish GlobalNL’s online presence. His experience in social media marketing helped him create content that aligned with GlobalNL’s mission and further grow the organization's brand.
“My work term with GlobalNL was an amazing learning experience. I got to meet some great people and learned the importance of professional networking, a skill that will undoubtedly help me later in my career”.