Startup Canada

Kayla Isabelle is the CEO of Startup Canada, working across the non-profit and innovation sectors on entrepreneur support, community mobilization, and fundraising. Her background includes executive leadership, communications, and change management, and she serves as a board member and mentor for academic and charitable institutions. Her recognitions include DMZ Woman of the Year, the Globe and Mail's Top 50 Changemakers, and the Ottawa Business Journal and Ottawa Board of Trade Top Forty Under 40, and she has spoken at events including the GITEX Summit in Dubai and SaaS North in Ottawa.

Ali Taiyeb is Director of Partnerships & Ecosystem at the Vector Institute, where he leads enterprise partnerships focused on AI adoption and innovation. He also serves as Board Chair of Startup Canada. His experience spans corporate partnerships, startup ecosystems, and social impact initiatives.

Amanda Logan is a Programs Officer at Startup Canada, where she works on the Startup Women and Startup Global programs. Her background is in events and entertainment, with prior experience in marketing and communications.

Arielle Land is Director of Partnerships and Growth at Startup Canada. Her work focuses on strategic partnerships, revenue growth, fundraising and sponsorship strategy, and ecosystem development, with additional experience in relationship management, cross-functional leadership, and CRM and pipeline development.

Carleen Dehaney is the founder and Principal of FXO Consulting, which provides independent funding governance advisory services to boards and executive leadership at charities and foundations operating in funded and regulated environments. Her work addresses governance at points such as material funding exposure, regulatory scrutiny, structural transitions, and multi-stream funding complexity, using methods including the Governance ARC Assessment and Governance Recalibration. She has over 20 years of experience in senior finance and executive roles, including within the nonprofit sector.

Isabel Nolan is Director of Programs at Startup Canada, where she has worked since August 2021 overseeing programs including Startup Women, Startup Global, the Startup Canada Tour, Startup Canada Equal Slice, and Startup AI. She curates the Startup Women Advocacy Network, comprising 13 early-stage women-identifying entrepreneurs representing Canadian provinces and territories, and has collaborated with Women in Tech Regatta on events in Vancouver and Seattle since December 2020. Originally from Dublin, Ireland, she previously worked as an events coordinator in hospitality and organized monthly pitch nights with Volition, and was named one of The Peak's 2025 Emerging Leaders in Entrepreneurship.

Teri-Lyn O'Hara is the Marketing and Communications Officer at Startup Canada, where she manages the organization's social media and newsletters. Her work focuses on sharing the stories of Canadian entrepreneurs.