2026 AC:Studio Innovation Showcase

Meet the Keynote Speaker

Meet the Panel

Join us for an engaging panel discussion featuring founders from the Studio program to learn about their entrepreneurial journey's, and how they're innovations are supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Kade Truman

Founder - ArcticEdge

Christy Lee

Founder - Patient Companion

Emile Maamary

Founder - Steadiwear

Dennis Kuzmenko

Founder - InnovateOps

Kade Truman is the co-founder of ArcticEdge Technologies, a deep-tech company developing PFAS-free, high-performance materials designed to better protect firefighters.

A two-time University of Waterloo graduate, he is driven to bridge the gap between science and business.

His experience spans corporate innovation at Rogers Communications, competitive international business competitions including the Rice Business Plan Competition, Bangkok Business Challenge, Velocity 5K, and the Stu Clark New Venture Championships, as well as both dilutive and non-dilutive fundraising.

Christy Lee is the Co-Founder and CEO of PatientCompanion, a digital platform designed to enhance communication between nurses and patients. Inspired by her volunteer work in hospitals and long-term care homes, Christy recognized how communication gaps can affect quality of care. With a degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and professional experience at companies like Amazon and KA Imaging, she blends technical expertise with empathy-driven design to bridge healthcare and technology.

Emile Maamary is the Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Steadiwear, a company dedicated to restoring independence to those living with Parkinson’s disease and Essential Tremor. Inspired by the struggles of his own family members with tremors, Emile made it his mission to create accessible, non-invasive solutions. With over 10 years of experience in marketing, operations, and strategy, and an Executive MBA from Cornell and Queen’s University, he has led Steadiwear’s fundraising and revenue generation efforts, surpassing seven figures on both fronts with their novel stabilization technologies. Beyond his work at Steadiwear, Emile mentors accessibility-focused start-ups, believing deeply in the power of community, knowledge sharing, and compassion-driven innovation. In his free time, he enjoys tennis, football, and HIIT workouts.

Dennis Kuzmenko is the Founder and CEO of Innovate-Ops, where he leads the development of IoT Octopus, an industrial AI platform that connects intelligence to the physical world and helps organizations understand how their manufacturing equipment truly performs.

With over 20 years of experience across manufacturing, engineering, and operations, Dennis has worked closely with the challenges of equipment failure, inefficiency, energy waste, and limited operational visibility. He founded Innovate-Ops to make industrial intelligence more practical, scalable, and accessible for modern organizations.

Through AI-powered insights, Dennis and his team are helping manufacturers, logistics networks, and real estate operators reduce downtime, prevent failures, and improve energy performance. His work focuses on bringing clarity, resilience, and measurable impact to the systems that power the physical economy.