« Carl's Corner 1/24/07 | Main | Jon Arnold / Don Smith - Mitel and IP Telephony Trends »
January 31, 2007
Jon Arnold / Mark Whaley - City of Waterloo and Global Tech Leadership
On this week's podcast, Jon spoke with Mark Whaley, who is a Councillor with the City of Waterloo. Jon saw Mark present at a conference earlier this month in Hawaii, and liked the Waterloo story enough to do a podcast about it, now that both of them are much closer to home. Waterloo is a bit more than an hour west of Toronto, and in tech circles is best known for local hero RIM. As Mark explains, there is much more to the Waterloo tech story, and he does a great job talking about the role the University of Waterloo plays here, and its close relationship with the prviate sector.
On a more timely basis, is the recognition Waterloo just received from the Intelligent Community Forum, where for the second year running, Waterloo placed in the top 7 of global communities utilizing broadband for the betterment of their community. Mark talked about what the ICF is all about, and the characteristics of what makes for a leading community. He's a big part of how Waterloo is doing this via their Intelligent Waterloo Committee, and he provides a lot of insight about their thinking.
---
Mark Whaley is a lifetime resident of Waterloo, Ontario. He was one of the first ever recipients of the Waterloo Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to his community over the past 25 years as environmental leader and social activist.
As Councillor, Mark is the Councillor Liaison to the Recreation and Leisure Services Department that encompasses approximately 395 City employees and provides services to tens of thousands of Waterloo residents annually.
On the economic development front, he was the originator of Waterloo’s bid to become one of the world’s top 7 Intelligent Communities, and was a pioneer in working for WiFi coverage for the entire city, being one of the first municipalities anywhere to do so.
Before he was elected, Mark promoted Waterloo on the world stage as the Chairman of its three bids in the International Awards for Liveable Communities, where Waterloo received two silvers and a gold award as one of the world’s most liveable communities. The LivCom Awards were launched in 1997 and are endorsed by the United Nations Environment Programme. LivCom is the world’s only Awards Competition focusing on Best Practice regarding the management of the local environment.
Posted at January 31, 2007 04:12 PM
-->
