CRAIG DOBSON – PRINCIPAL

Craig Dobson has over thirty-five years of professional experience in the information and communications technology (ICT) industry, specializing in research, strategic technology, and business development. In his role as principal of TaylorWarwick, he provides unbiased guidance, strategies, and solutions to help developers, communities, telecom providers, and governments plan, finance, build, and operate broadband copper, fibre, and wireless networks for telecom, develop the partnerships they require to deploy services and manage on-going operations, and accrue the knowledge they need to support and capitalize on their broadband deployments.

Under contract to a national incumbent, Craig provided an in-depth economic evaluation of five copper and fibre-based broadband access deployment scenarios for major regions of Canada. As lead consultant and a founding Director of O-Net, Craig helped the Olds Institute for Community and Regional Development realize their aggressive plans for a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network to every home and business in the Town of Olds. In support of that project, Craig provided an extensive review of the available architectural, structural, and operational alternatives and developed the detailed financial models and Business Plan upon which the two-entity operational structure was established. Olds has now become and to date remains the only community based, gig-community in Canada.

Craig has provided executive leadership together with strategic, technology, and business planning services to TELUS, Bell Canada, TRLabs, the Agile All Photonics Network consortium, Western Economic Development Canada, Alberta Innovation and Science, dozens of municipalities, and several start-up companies. As lead Strategist, Craig completed a Global ICT Environmental Scan for TRLabs and Alberta Advanced Education and Technology (AET) in late 2009. The scan was designed to provide 'up-to-date background, trends, and statistics for opportunities and challenges found globally, nationally, and locally in the ICT sector' that AET could use to inform policy development initiatives within the provincial government. In 2015, Craig led a national level review of the Canadian Microsystems Industry for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada. The review covered Canadian research and development capabilities in the fields of micro/nano-technology, microfluidics, photonics, micro-electro-mechanical (MEM) devices, and embedded systems.

Craig recently served as an External Reviewer for the Northern Ontario Residential Broadband program with Canada's Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (CENGN). The program funded innovative projects across Northern Ontario that demonstrated technology solutions that offered flexible, lower cost, higher performance residential broadband access for rural and remote Northern Ontario communities. He has been recognized through his work on various NSERC committees, membership on the Awards Adjudication Panel of the Alberta Science and Technology (ASTech) Foundation, and position as Vice-President and Director of the Canadian Telecommunications Consultants Association. He has completed terms on NSERC's Committee on Research Partnerships, the Advisory Board for Computing Science at the University of Alberta, and the peer review committee for NSERC's Fellowships Innovation Platforms initiative.

A life member of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Craig is a professional engineer and holds Masters degrees in both Science and Business Administration from Queen's University in Kingston. He was a Founding Director of Olds Fibre Limited and is Principal of TaylorWarwick Consulting Limited.