Cheryll Watson
Cheryll Watson (born April 5, 1968) is a 2021 mayoral candidate for the City of Edmonton.[1] Watson is best known as the former Head of Innovate Edmonton, formerly a division of the Edmonton Economic Development Corp and now a stand-alone economic development entity. [2]
Early Life
Born to Ruth Gronland, a single mother who left her parents' central Alberta tree farm to come to Edmonton, Watson grew up in Edmonton, Alberta.[3] Later, Ruth met and married Cheryll’s first stepfather, Cedric Mah, who adopted Cheryll (giving her the name Cheryll Mah).[4] Due to his Chinese heritage, Cedric Mah was initially denied the right to join the Royal Canadian Air Force. Instead, he flew more than 300 missions for the Chinese National Aviation Corp., risking his life to provide support for the famous Flying Tigers and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.[5]
Cheryll’s family lived in the Edmonton community of Beverly. As a child, Watson and her younger brother, Christopher, relied on free community programs in Beverly, including skating, baseball and soccer. Watson attended M.E. Lazerte High School and worked as a waitress at the Canadian restaurant chain, Smitty’s, to earn spending money. After divorcing from Cedric, Watson's mother later married Don Patterson who served as a submariner in the Canadian Navy. Growing up with military influence, Watson served as an Air Cadet leadership staffer and drill instructor.[6]
Professional Life
Watson spent 20 years in strategic business transformation, tech innovation, and small business enablement in both private and public sectors.[1] Watson began her career with IBM in the late 1990s managing real estate assets through Y2K.[7] From 2000 to 2015 Watson worked as a senior executive at tech giant, Intuit, to build a "first of its kind in Edmonton" Silicon Valley tech campus.[8] As part of the team leading Intuit’s global expansion, Watson worked with Eric Ries (Lean Startup) applying startup practices in their foreign market expansion and General Stanley McCrystal (Agile Teams) implementing front line decision making in large and complex team environments. [7]
After 15 years with Intuit, Watson was offered the chance to live and work in Silicon Valley but chose to stay in her hometown of Edmonton. In 2016 Cheryll joined the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation. In 2019, she founded Innovate Edmonton and co-founded Alberta Innovation Corridor.[9] In 2016-2019 she served on the board of the Zebra Child Protection Centre[10] and from 2016 to 2018 she was on the board of Edmonton Arts Council.
Watson is currently a committee member of the Downtown Recovery Task Force[11], serves as the Co-Chair on the Startup Genome Global Senior Policy Maker Forum.[8] She also acts as a mentor in the Threshold Impact Venture Mentor Program.
Personal Life
Watson’s immediate family includes her husband Geoff and their four adult children. Together they actively contribute to the following issues: mental health, education and environmental causes, that have personal meaning to the family.[12]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Meet Edmonton's Mayoral Candidates". CBC News. February 4, 2021. Retrieved September 11, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Edmonton Journal". Retrieved 2021-09-14.
- ↑ "About Cheryll Watson". Watson for Mayor 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
- ↑ "Fearless airman braved the Himalayas to support troops fighting Japan". Retrieved 2021-09-14.
- ↑ "Aviation hero Cedric Mah dies". CBC News. May 3, 2011. Retrieved September 11, 2021.
- ↑ "About Cheryll Watson". Watson for Mayor 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Cheryll Watson Edmonton Mayoral Candidate". www.albertaimpact.ca. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "https://macewanjournalism.com/12639-2/". City's Centre. Retrieved 2021-09-14. External link in
|title=(help) - ↑ "Research Money Inc – Alberta Innovation Corridor co-chairs urge immediate provincial help for struggling startups". researchmoneyinc.com. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
- ↑ "Cheryll Watson". Zebra Centre. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
- ↑ Antoneshyn, Alex (2021-02-01). "Watson opens campaign office, launches mayoral platform". Edmonton. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
- ↑ "Edmonton mayoral candidate Cheryll Watson would establish independent accountability officer - Edmonton | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
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