Imagine Kanata and Ottawa’s most fascinating and engaging presenters, artists and thinkers coming together to share their passions and discuss their visions for the world all within an underlying theme. Well, it’s happening at TEDxKanata! Join us for inspiration, innovation and, of course, ideas worth spreading— featuring some of Canada’s most interesting and challenging speakers.

With over 20 years of experience in communications, business development, sales and marketing, Veronica Farmer plays a central role in augmenting her clients’ leadership position in their respective markets. Experienced in both public and private corporate environments, for profit and not-for-profit as well as working with entrepreneurs and corporations, Veronica brings a unique strategic, tactical and practical perspective. Her breadth and depth of experience includes all aspects of marketing and communications such as market segmentation and competitive analysis, strategic and tactical planning, corporate positioning and branding, communications strategies and all aspects of online marketing.Veronica has held a variety of senior management, business development and marketing communications positions within in a variety of industries including local companies such as Invest Ottawa,Tundra Semiconductor (now IDT), and NCI Navatar. In 2007, Veronica founded TrueCourse Communications Inc., a marketing communications company, providing clients in North America and internationally with strategic marketing and communications support.Veronica has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Queen’s University and an Executive Masters in Business Administration from the University of Ottawa.Leadership Competencies • Strategic Marketing & Branding• Reputation Management• New Product & Brand Development• Marketing Technology Automation • Partner & Channel Management• Innovation and Development of Digital Assets • Team Building, Management & Mentoring• TSX, Public Company & Board Experience• Integrated Marketing across Content, Email, Social, SEM, SEO, Social Media• Alignment with Sales - global demand creation, lead gen and customer acquisition• Collaboration with HR - internal comms, employee engagement and championing culture

Executive in Residence advising tech entrepreneurs in the Startup Garage pre-accelerator program led by the University of Ottawa’s Entrepreneurship Hub to foster and support entrepreneurship. This in-house startup program has assisted many early-stage Ottawa companies to successfully go-to-market. I have the honour of mentoring and working with the co-founders of Bagsort. Its the traveller's solution to short-term luggage storage. Arrive at your destination, store your luggage, and explore.

“My singular goal is to foster rapid collaboration and long-term partnerships between academia and industry that result in mutually beneficial outcomes. With the campus situated in the heart of the Tech Park and a team focused exclusively on their needs, companies can easily access the University’s talent, learning and solutions, as well as leverage its local, national and global networks, reputation and reach. For our researchers, the proximity to Canada’s largest technology park, is a unique opportunity to advance their research in partnership with world-class companies in the shared pursuit of innovation and improving our world.”

SheBoot is an Ottawa-based 6-week bootcamp that prepares founders to pitch their business and secure investment. SheBoot is designed and delivered by leading women from across our ecosystem: a collective of seasoned entrepreneurs, angel investors, and all-around success experts.

In this interim position, Veronica developed the foundation for a new marketing strategy aligned with Invest Ottawa's strategic objectives, instilled a practice of accountability in the team and collaboration with other groups in the organization. Mentored the team and set new performance goals and training plans. Implemented 30/60/90-day plan plus reset main processes, tools, technology and allocation of budget. Re-evaluated all vendor and technology contracts for efficiencies. Led the efforts to search, select and hire the new Director of Marketing & Comms.

Responsible for the development and management of the marketing & communications strategies for a wide range of key stakeholders: customers, partners, sales channel, investors, media, analysts and employees. Working with a team of six professionals and several global external suppliers. Key areas:• Global sales & Partner marketing communications programs• Corporate and Investor Relations communications program • Demand Creation and Lead Generation strategies • Media and Analyst Relations • Content management, digital marketing and online optimization Accomplishments:• Re-branded company to align with new strategic initiatives, messaging platform and visual branding. Activities included; re-design of the website and corporate collateral, internal brand training and pre- and post-testing of the brand. • Implemented and delivered an investor relations communications program. • Managed an effective global PR program, working closely with regional PR agencies to increase media reach. • Managed a team of marketing specialists as well as several external suppliers to deliver a broad range of cost effective and creative marketing initiatives. • Planned and managed several global product launches. Worked closely with the product management and sales teams on customer engagement, sales training and channel/partner marketing • Worked closely with US, Europe and Asia regional sales teams and partners to maximize demand creation and lead generation as well as distribution and channel marketing. • Implemented practical performance metrics to measure the effectiveness of campaigns against set targets to improve lead generation.

Responsible for business development and client support for a busy management consulting enterprise. Sourcing of new clients and closure of contracts as well as the maintenance of existing client contracts and retention.