Amy E. Yee - Candidate

Warm greetings. You might say that I'm a National Capital-ist. I consider myself in many ways very much a product of this fine region. I'm an entrepreneur who has founded two companies and I've been a catalyst for growth at three leading web startups in the region in the areas of ecommerce, social web and open source code management. I've had 10 years of experience as a director on three non profit boards: Tech Venture Challenge, Volunteer Ottawa and of course, the National Capital Freenet.

What skills will you contribute to the NCF Board?

EventBots (Ottawa Business Journal 2010 Startup to Watch, Bootstrap Award Winner Silver "Best New Micro Business") is a company I founded based on the idea of creating a democracy among voices that come together in a common cause and the concept that 50% of the real value at any given event lies with the audience. I think it's important to listen, to obtain value and then to promote accessibility to that value.

I hope to contribute creativity and the perspective of a social entrepreneur. In addition to my board experience, I hope to bring fresh perspective and experience from my background in management, program development/delivery and fundraising at non-profit organizations such as EduNET (a non-profit academically oriented ISP), SHAD Valley (a diverse extended community of leaders dedicated to the development of remarkable youth, helping them to recognize, harness, and strengthen their talents), and Engineers Without Borders Canada - one of Canada's greatest NGO success stories - EWB promotes human development through access to technology by partnering with developing communities to help build the capacity of their technical sector.

I also hope to contribute my knowledge from helping to build companies at Canada's leading technology venture capital firm, Celtic House Venture Partners, where I've had the honour of working with some of Canada's best entrepreneurs. I've also been a marketing, web and social media strategist on internationally reaching projects for organizations like World Vision. I hope to bring fresh ideas from other parts of the world to bear.

What do you think are the most important functions of NCF for its members?

I believe it's important for the NCF to help provide an unmatched level of accessibility to the Internet for its members, and to maintain it's presence as a community-oriented facilitator for all in the National Capital region. To borrow from Engineers Without Borders Canada: Simple technology, dramatic results.

Why do you want to be an NCF director ?

a) I am a big fan.

b) I believe that volunteers can move mountains.

c) I like to build things.

A Few Projects and Links:

LinkedIn: Amy Yee | Company: EventBots | Current Board Member: Volunteer Ottawa | Current Board Member: Tech Venture Challenge