Cheryll Watson is passionate about supporting entrepreneurs. She’s a born and raised Edmontonian whose early career with Intuit, a global leader in financial software, gave her an immersive understanding of the importance of small businesses. Making the deliberate choice to give back to her city, in 2015, Cheryll left Intuit and applied her skills and experience to leading growth in the entrepreneur and innovation ecosystems of Edmonton and Alberta. At Edmonton Economic Development Corporation, she founded Innovate Edmonton (now Edmonton Unlimited) focused on creating the best possible environment for locally grown tech-enabled startup companies. Cheryll’s past experience working in some of the world’s most prosperous global cities inspired her to run for Mayor in the 2021 election. Following that she played a lead role in opening the doors of STEM Collegiate - a new public charter school in Edmonton focused on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and now serves as the Board Chair.Cheryll is the President and CEO of Junior Achievement Northern Alberta. JA inspires and prepares young people to succeed in a global economy by providing financial literacy and entrepreneurship training and a broader view into career opportunities. Cheryll, her husband Geoff and their four adult children actively contribute to causes and issues that have directly impacted their family lives, or will in the future, including: mental health, education, municipal government and environmental causes. Cheryll is a founding member of the Downtown Revitalization Coalition focused on supporting a welcoming and thriving downtown Edmonton for all.