Future of the City: On Third Spaces and Calgary's Innovation Strategy
Join us for a thoughtful conversation about the Future of the City with two panel discussions — on Third Spaces and Calgary’s Innovation Strategy — about how we can build Calgary today for a bright and innovative future.
Doors open at 6 p.m. with the first panel scheduled at 7 p.m. and the second panel to follow at 7:45. Afterwards, enjoy the cocktail reception with some light hors d’oeuvres and a networking opportunity with our panellists. A cash bar will be available for refreshments.
Third Spaces and the City of Belonging
In this panel discussion, Avenue invites you to consider how we build a city of belonging by improving our third spaces — those places that aren't our homes or our workplaces, but "third" spaces that we use to forge community. Panellists include Bethel Afework, co-founder of Alcove; Barb Gillard, executive director of visitor experience for the Calgary Public Library; Ryan Sirski, vice president of office leasing and operations at Oxford Properties Group and Jasmine Palardy, co-founder of Good Company and global coordinator of WRLD CITIES.
Calgary’s Innovation Strategy: Innovation by Design
Becoming the innovation capital of Canada won’t happen by accident, it will happen by design. Learn what our panellists are doing to make it possible, here. Panellists include Kate Koplovich, Director, Strategy Communications, Marketing and External Affairs at Calgary Economic Development (CED);Crystal Phillips, Senior Director at the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund (OCIF) and Kimberley Van Vliet, founder and CEO of WaVv and ConvergX.
20 A-Dollars
20.00/non-member guest (+GST)
- September 19, 2025 - 12:00 AM - 3:30 AM
- Eau Claire Tower, 600 3 Ave SWMap It
- 20 Spots
- 3.5 hours
of 20 spots left
Details
Barb Gillard is a visionary leader, responsible for shaping and executing the overall strategy for visitor experience across Calgary Public Library's 22 locations. Barb has more than 20 years' experience working in archives and libraries in both Canada and the United States. As the Executive Director, Visitor Experience at one of North America's largest public library systems, Barb is a champion of creating accessible spaces across the community where everyone belongs. She holds her undergraduate degree from the University of Calgary, a Master of Arts in Public History from Northeastern University, and her Master of Library and Information Science from Western University.
Jasmine Pallardy is a community builder who specializes in innovative engagement methods that encourage imagination and collaboration. Her career has been spent balancing the worlds of innovation, tech and design to bring diverse groups together to envision and build better places — from innovation districts to main streets, parks, alleys, higher education labs, cultural institutions and more. She is the founder of The Good Future Collective and is the Global Director of WRLDCTY.
Born and raised in Calgary, Kate's purpose and passion is building a resilient, diverse economy for Calgary. At Calgary Economic Development (CED), as the Director of Strategy, she does this by leading Uplook: An Action Plan for Our Economy, Calgary's long-term economic plan, the city’s Innovation Strategy, and Calgary Economic Development’s internal strategies.
Prior to Calgary Economic Development, Kate was with Deloitte's Sustainability & Climate Change team. She holds an MSc in Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment from University College London and continues to do economic policy analysis at CED to provide insights on Calgary’s economy. Outside of work Kate is an avid outdoors (wo)man, having completed two Half Iron (wo)Mans and a trail ultramarathon. She is also passionate about music and the arts in all its forms.
Crystal Phillips is the Senior Director at the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund (OCIF), where she leads strategic investments that strengthen Calgary’s economic future.
Her interdisciplinary background spans competitive sport, neuroscience, and venture capital. She founded and now chairs the Branch Out Neurological Foundation and is an angel investor through the emerging 1A Capital platform. Previously, she was part of the founding team at Thin Air Labs Fund I, helping raise and deploy capital into early-stage startups across Canada.
Crystal is passionate about using capital — philanthropic, institutional, and personal — to drive meaningful progress and create lasting impact in communities.
Kimberley Van Vliet
With over 17 years of experience in creating and facilitating cross-industry solutions worldwide, Kimberley is a passionate and visionary leader in the aerospace, defence, security and space sectors. As the founder and CEO of WaVv and ConvergX®, she has enabled the transfer of commercialized technology across multiple industries, resulting in close to $2 billion in deals tracked as a result of the congress. She has also established strategic partnerships with existing companies and organizations in the aerospace, defence, security, and space (ADSS) sector, as well as connected with other ADSS hubs from around the world.
Kim is also a member of the Canadian Delegation of the NATO Industrial Advisory Group (NIAG), where she is the Deputy Chair for the Community of Interest for NIAG-Allied Command Transformation Unit (ACT), overseeing Innovation, C4ISR, Multi-Domain Operations, Digital Transformation, Logistics and Sustainment. In addition, she is part of the leadership team for the new NATO SpaceNet division. Through these roles, she leverages her expertise and network to advance business opportunities and innovation for the ADSS sector and beyond.
Specifications
Dress Code
Casual to business attire
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