David Billson

Irene Mathyssen is current an MP for London-Fanshawe and has served in that capacity since 2006.She previously served London in the Ontario provincial government as a cabinet minister from 1990-1995.Irene Mathyssen brings passion and enthusiasm for our city from a politician’s lens. She is able to speak to several decades of innovation from her perspective as a long standing member of parliament.

Sue Wilson is one of the Sisters of St. Joseph in London, Ontario. The Sisters of St. Joseph are an organization that has a deep history of positive impact in our city.Sue’s passion for system reform, social reform and helping the world heal through better connections comes through in this interview.

At the Grand Theatre Deb Harvey is the Executive Director and Dennis Garnhum is the Artistic Director. Together, they form a dynamic duo that has the mission to transform the Grand Theatre into a leading cultural hub that brings the world to London, and also brings London to the world. World Curious, London Proud.The Grand Theatre is a case study in innovation over the past few seasons, breaking ground with first run Canadian content, re-inventing what a theatre stage should look like, and clever twists on classics to tell different narratives.

Bonnie Schmidt is President & Founder of Let’s Talk Science, an organization that seeks to engage children, youth and educations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).Let’s Talk Science has been operating since 1991 when Bonnie founded it while completing her PhD in Physiology at Western. Her success with the Let’s Talk Science has lead to several awards, such as being named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2015, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2018, and winning the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award.

Jodi Simpson is the Founder of CityMatch, an organization focused on helping London companies settle newcomers to the region.She is an entrepreneur, community activist, and one of the best social connectors in our city.

Peggy Sattler is an MPP for London-West.She brings a wealth of perspectives from her time in the private, non profit and public sectors. Previous to joining provincial parliament, she spent a significant amount of time on workforce development in our region.

Mo Salih is a ward councillor for Ward 3 in London, Ontario.He brings a fresh energy and passion for what make’s London great. We acknowledge the work that has been done to improve our city, and also the work that needs to be done going forward.Any discussion with Mo is sure to leave you feeling positive about our city.

Lissa Foster is the Executive Director of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. David served with her on the board of Pillar Nonprofit Network, which is where they first met. Lissa has had the experience in the private sector, non profit sector, and now the medical sector to have a unique perspective on what drives London’s innovation.A common theme that has emerged through the interviews (and was not a real surprise) is London’s strength in medical innovation. Lissa does a great job explaining why that occurs in this region.

Amanda is a co-founder of Hacker Studios, a startup community hub and shared space.At the time of this recording, Amanda was in the running for the riding of Elgin-Middlesex-London.Amanda brings a rich perspective on the start up community and what it takes to grow innovation from the ground up in London.

Adam and Shobita have their own podcast that explores London, called Towards London. It was listening to this podcast that first sparked the idea for this one. What does make London a hub of innovation? Are we unique? What drives us to tell our stories (or, in some cases, not?)We explore the intersection of all of these narratives in our conversation. I’d also recommend listening to Towards London for some other perspectives on the city of London, Ontario.

Kate is presently MP of London-West in London, Ontario. Previous to pursuing public office, Kate had a distinguished career in local news broadcasting and public relations. She was able to speak to a wide variety of issues and London's relationship to innovation.

Titus has co-founded a number of initiatives to help make London better connected, most recently Springboard (formerly unLondon).As someone who thrives on innovation, Titus shares his perspectives on innovation in our home town.

Peter Fragiskatos is an MP for London North Centre. We covered a large variety of topics, including what it's like to work in government as an MP, how London is represented on the national stage, and the broader economic region of Southwestern Ontario.

Kate and I served together on the board of Pillar Nonprofit Network. She's a passionate Londoner and I enjoyed exploring the areas of the city where we are doing well, and where we still have our challenges.I particularly enjoyed her stories of "Knocking on Doors" and what she's learned from talking to Londoners about the city.

I find the tension that exists in London palpable. It flows through every aspect of our city. Economic. Political. Social.I think this tension is what makes us great. I also think it’s what holds us back. The first three interviews encapsulate the excitement, opportunity and tension that exists in our community. We get a unique opportunity to look forwards, but also backwards, and review some of the trends that made our city what it is today.Rachel Berdan, the cohost of Branding #LdnOnt, and I review and recap what we learned from the first three interviews. We will do one of these recap episodes after every three interviews. I have the benefit of having conducted the interviews, whereas Rachel is hearing them in the same order as you, the listener.We hope that this episode pulls together some of the pieces of the narrative. We don’t have the answers, but we think we have pretty good questions!

The London Economic Development Corporation is one of those organizations that we hear a lot about, but don't often have the opportunity to fully appreciate what they do for the city. I enjoyed Kapil's overview of what LEDC does in our city.I think I learned more about the LEDC in this 45 minute interview than I knew after living here for almost 20 years.It was a good exploration of the economic factors that determine the success or failure of a small city.

I enjoyed this interview with Steve Bolton, Head Coach at Libro Credit Union. The conversation was hard to stay on the topic of London's brand as Steve has so many good comments on leadership as well. I enjoyed how he framed the Libro strategic process around their 'why'.We explored both the importance of a focus on building London but also the broader economic region of Southwestern Ontario.

The first section of Branding #LdnOnt explores the concept of "A tale of two cities" - there are different narratives that come to the surface about London. Are we conservative? Progressive? Forward thinking? Looking back.

An update on the Branding #LdnOnt project, and the official launch of Season 1.