CCI Expands Strategic Capacity with New Director of Partnerships

The Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) is strengthening its capacity to support Canadian scale-ups through deeper partnerships across the innovation ecosystem. As Canada’s business council for high-growth technology companies, CCI delivers advocacy, executive education, peer networks, and strategic advisory services that help innovators grow and compete in global markets.

As part of this effort, CCI is pleased to welcome Dean Velentzas as Director of Partnerships. In this role, Dean will lead relationships with corporate, ecosystem, and public sector partners, building programs and platforms that create more opportunities for CCI members to connect, collaborate, and scale.

“Strong partnerships are essential for Canadian innovators that are trying to grow in a complex and highly competitive global environment,” said Patrick Searle, incoming CEO of the Council of Canadian Innovators. “Dean’s mix of government relations experience, ecosystem building, and corporate partnership development will help us open more doors for our members and build the coalitions needed to strengthen Canada’s innovation economy.”

Dean joins CCI as a seasoned consultant lobbyist with deep government relations expertise, advising high-growth companies on how to influence public policy at both the federal and provincial levels. His work has focused on priority files such as open banking, access to credit, financial modernization, and broader innovation economy competitiveness. Through this experience, Dean has helped shape complex regulatory conversations across multiple jurisdictions and built strong relationships with policymakers nationwide.

Dean also brings experience in corporate partnerships and innovation programming. At Elevate, a nonprofit that hosts one of Canada’s largest technology festivals, Dean led major partnerships with enterprise leaders, scale-ups, and public sector organizations. In that role Dean developed high-value thought leadership platforms, curated executive events, and national profile activations that connected innovators across Canada’s tech ecosystem.

Dean holds a Master of Global Affairs from the University of California, Berkeley and also serves on the Board of Directors of Lambda Scholarship Foundation Canada, one of Canada's longest running charities supporting LGBTQ2S+ students through scholarships, mentorship, and community building initiatives.

“I’m thrilled to be joining CCI,” said Dean Velentzas, Director of Partnerships. “Throughout my career, I’ve had a front-row seat to the challenges and opportunities facing Canadian innovators—whether navigating regulation, scaling operations, or accessing the right networks. CCI plays a unique and essential role in strengthening Canada’s innovation economy, and I’m excited to help build the partnerships and platforms that enable our members to grow.”

As CCI’s membership continues to expand, the organization is investing in the people and partnerships that help Canadian companies succeed. Dean’s addition to the team reinforces CCI’s focus on delivering practical value for members and supporting a more competitive and resilient innovation economy in Canada.

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ABOUT THE COUNCIL

Founded in 2015 by Canada’s most successful technology CEOs, CCI aims to amplify their voices in the public policy development process around innovation, countering the dominance of foreign multinationals and other entities not focused on Canadian economic growth. CCI’s CEOs lead Canadian-based innovation firms in sectors such as Healthtech, Cleantech, Fintech, and Cyber, driving commercialization of intellectual property, generating jobs and wealth, making investments, and engaging in philanthropy. We advocate on their behalf for government strategies that increase their access to skilled talent, strategic capital, and new customers, as well as expanded freedom to operate for their global pursuits of scale.