2026 Research Showcase

Jason Hale has experience in the oil and gas sector, has been a cattle rancher in southern Alberta for over 30 years, was a professional bull fighter, and was an elected Member for the Eastern Irrigation District and Alberta Beef Producers. As a former Member of Legislative Assembly (April 2012 – May 2015), Jason served on 3 legislative committees and was the opposition critic for Energy; where he provided critical assessment of government policy and programs. He sat on multiple community boards such as the Advisory Committee for the Medicine Hat College and Crawling Valley Recreations Society. Jason has a Chemical Technology diploma from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT).

Shaun Haney is the founder of RealAgriculture, a leading North American ag media platform delivering news and insights on policy, agronomy, and farm management. He hosts RealAg Radio on SiriusXM’s Rural Radio Channel 147 and RealAg on the Weekend across Saskatchewan and Alberta. Shaun is also a regular contributor to RFD-TV, Agritalk, and US Farm Report, and co-leads RealAgristudies, a farmer-focused market research initiative launched in 2019.

Terry Sydoryk is a Calgary-based technology executive, entrepreneur, and Tech Community supporter with more than 25 years of senior leadership experience building and scaling companies in Canada’s innovation ecosystem. He is currently CEO and Co‑Founder of Cellar Insights, an AgTech company using advanced sensing and cloud analytics to help potato growers protect crop quality and maximize marketable yield in long‑term storage.

Terry began his career at Nortel and went on to co‑found AudeSi Technologies, later acquired by Wind River Systems, and to serve as COO of Plazmic, which was acquired by Research In Motion (BlackBerry). He has since held multiple C‑suite roles, including COO of Evoco acquired by Accruent, and CEO of Chaordix, a crowdsourced innovation and community platform acquired by Calgary based Benevity in 2021.

Beyond operating roles, Terry has been an active builder and supporter of the Calgary tech community as an advisor, coach , and board member. He was a founding member of the A100, contributing his experience to support founders through mentoring, governance, and strategic guidance.

Terry holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA in Finance from the University of Alberta, as well as a graduate certificate in Executive Coaching from Royal Roads University. Outside of work he is an avid sailor, a long‑time competitive hockey coach, and a small‑batch coffee roaster—pursuits that reflect his bias toward hands‑on learning, high performance, and continuous experimentation.