Jayson is an award-winning business economist specializing in industrial and technological change and is widely recognized as an influential policy advocate in Canada. He is an advisor to both private and public sector leaders and has counselled Canadian prime ministers and premiers as well as senior corporate executives and policymakers around the world.
Jayson has more than 25 years of experience building alliances among businesses, academic institutions, as well as community, labour, and advocacy organizations. Between 2007 and 2016, he served as President & CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, Canada’s largest industry and trade association. He was also the founding Chair of the Canadian Manufacturing Coalition, Vice-Chair of Canada’s National Roundtable on Skills, and Vice-Chair of the Ontario and Great Lakes Manufacturing Councils.
Jayson studied at Queen’s University and the University of British Columbia in Canada, as well as at the London School of Economics and Oxford University in the United Kingdom. He has held appointments as a Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, and as a lecturer in politics, economics, and international studies at both Oxford and the University of Warwick.
Bilal Haffejee, CPA, CA, CFAChief Financial Officer
Bilal is a senior finance executive with over 25 years of experience working at global multinational companies, operating in the information and communications technology, consumer packaged goods, and telecommunications sectors.
He has demonstrated ability in full-cycle Financial Accounting & Reporting, Strategy, Planning, M&A, Treasury, and Governance. He is focused on maximizing resources, cost optimization, and process simplification.
John joins NGen from the UK where he was responsible for setting the strategies and running high profile government R&D programmes at Innovate UK worth more than $8.5 billion across the automotive, aerospace and intelligent mobility sectors.
John held senior engineering and programme management positions at Visteon working with Ford, Honda, Mazda, Toyota, Suzuki and Volvo. At London Underground his brief was to deliver part of the Olympic Transport Strategy for the London 2012 games. He co-founded Appleseed Solutions, where he helped businesses across the transport sector achieve sustainable business growth, developed the UK Automotive Council’s Strategic Product Roadmap and was the architect and Technical Advisor for Nesta's Drones Flying High Challenge. He served as Launch Manager to set up Zenzic, a not-for-profit leading on R&D investment strategy in the connected and autonomous vehicles sector.
John holds a Bachelor of Engineering Honours Degree in Manufacturing Systems Management and a Diploma in Industrial Studies. He is an accredited IP advisor by the UK Intellectual Property Office. He is a Chartered Engineer in the UK and a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology.
Stewart brings over thirty-five years of diverse manufacturing and engineering leadership experience to the NGen team. Of particular relevance is his nearly twenty years of experience as the Chief Executive Officer of multi-site SMEs in the advanced manufacturing field serving customers in the aerospace, defense, automotive, energy, and biomedical industries.
Stewart’s companies were recognized leaders in the integration of advanced technologies into manufacturing operations, in conjunction with a strong underlying foundation in the principals of lean manufacturing and the theory of constraints. This was coupled with strong business and marketing principals to drive outstanding results. This broad business and technical background have helped Stewart to become an expert in helping companies, particularly SMEs, in the successful adoption and exploitation of advanced manufacturing processes and technologies.
Stewart has a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Arizona and a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering with a specialization in Structural Mechanics from the University of Southern California. He is the holder of two U.S. patents and is a registered Professional Engineer in the province of Ontario.
For over 30 years, Wendy has been a leader in technology and cyber security, bringing value as a business partner to innovation. Driven by security, she takes pride in bridging the balance between excellent operations, mitigating risk, and meeting the financial obligations of the business. Wendy recently worked in the utility industry where she contributed to the development of the Ontario Cyber Security Framework. She held a board position with CIPS (Canadian Association of Information Technology Professionals) and hold several certifications in Cyber Security.
As NGen’s Vice President of Data systems and security her goal is to support the growth of technology in Canadian manufacturing and raise the awareness of Cyber Security threats to our manufacturing industry.
Wendy currently resides in Brighton, Ontario with her family, enjoys the outdoors and supporting her community.
Robert Mastrotto, B. Mech Eng., joined NGen after 30 years in Operations Leadership roles across several global Manufacturing organizations. Robert was Vice President Operations at StackTeck Systems and prior to that was Vice President Operations (Americas) for Mold-Masters Ltd. In each of those roles, Robert specialized in leading Lean transformation, driving operational excellence, and championing the change toward world-class performance.
Robert also held senior Human Resources and Operation Leadership roles at Husky Injection Molding Systems Limited. Most recently, Robert led a successful consulting business that focused on helping to move People, Leaders and Organizations forward to achieve outstanding business results.
Robert is a family-focused individual and enjoys spending quality time with his wife and daughters. Robert spends his spare time completing home renovation projects, tinkering with old cars, and playing goal in ice hockey.
Robert derives great satisfaction from NGen’s work and his personal goal is to bring long-term success to Canadian manufacturers and the Advanced Manufacturing Ecosystem in Canada.
Robbie is a strategic thinker and communications specialist with experience in government and the non-profit space and expertise in innovation and strategic policy. At NGen, he is responsible for government & public relations, marketing, communications and supporting the Board of Directors as Corporate Secretary.
Robbie earned his BSc. at Carleton University where he completed his thesis in the field of nano chemistry and DNA aptamers with the DeRosa Lab. He obtained his MSc. in International Business Management from Ivey Business School at Western University where he completed terms overseas, obtaining his CEMS MIM designation from Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and consulting for Reckitt Benckiser Group in Heidelberg, Germany, and Teach for India in Pune, Maharastra.
