The Innovation Expedition (IE) Inc. is a virtual organization, a global people network dedicated to identifying, connecting and supporting established and potentially influential innovators, explorers and creators who are committed to building high-performing organizations which will help to create sustainable prosperity and quality of life for their communities and in other communities around the world.

The Innovation Expedition was founded in 1991, out of a passion and commitment: to continually explore what is possible. It was cultivated at the world-famous Banff Centre for creativity, in the heart of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, and home to many pioneer explorers. Since then, IE has spread to operate as a stand alone company in several continents (e.g. Canada, India, Kenya, South Africa, US, UK) supporting people with a desire to go exploring and equipping them with all they will need for their own expeditions. It is the home for a publishing house known as futureTHINK Press , of ieTV and of the International Institute for Innovation (3i). It has worked on major projects in corporations, for governments and non-profits and has stimulated a great many developments in Canada and around the world.

 

Innovation Expedition: Our Founders and Colleagues

DR. DON SIMPSON, Chief Explorer

Don Simpson serves as Chairman of iE, building national and global relationships. Don also supports iE in identifying important opportunities through its well-regarded, Challenge Dialogue System™ (CDS) and training and action learning initiatives. Don spearheads the design of new products for unleashing innovation, and his leadership inspires people to engage in the concepts of a culture of innovation (including the idea of renaissance leaders) for a global knowledge economy.

He first got his taste for exploration with a trip to Africa in the 1960s where, as a rookie teacher and football coach, he launched a small student project to fund post-graduate studies in Canada for one student from Ghana, growing the program into the national African Students Foundation, which educated more than 300 people.

In the 1980s, he served as Director of the Centre for International Business at the Ivey Business School, stimulating efforts to globalize their curriculums and founding their first MBA course in Sustainable Development.  Don helped to establish the first “western-style” business school in China at Tsinghua University. Most recently, he has mentored young Kenyan entrepreneurs to win the $1 million prize in the 2010 Nokia Growth Economy Venture Challenge. Don continues to teach emerging Renaissance leaders from around the world and has taught at the Oxford University Advanced Management Program.

Don’s focus now is on sharing with others – as coach, mentor, writer and speaker – the insights gained through his work in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors in over 75 countries. From his early days as a fundraiser, Don has delighted in telling his stories of the diverse worlds he’s explored and the networks of innovators he’s connected or mentored.

DAWN RALPH, Crew Chief

Dawn’s initial training was in the health care sector, and her first endeavour was the design and development of Toronto, Canada’s first private downtown walk-in health care office.

Dawn’s passion for community-based non-profits led her to co-found the Peter F. Drucker Canadian Nonprofit Foundation for Innovation in 1993. She was instrumental in building the Foundation’s program to a national presence and served as its Executive Director until 2004.

Dawn has also been closely linked with the Innovation Expedition in an operations and project development capacity and is an active member of building the Expedition’s global network. Her entrepreneurial spirit and intuitive flare for collaboration, combined with her strong organizational and operating skills, have enabled her to work both as a leader and an integral support member to project teams in small to large organizations across the private, government and nonprofit sectors. Her skills have been used in projects in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and throughout North America.

 

KEITH JONES, Chief Navigator

Keith brings more than 35 years of experience working in and across virtually all sectors as a management consultant, marketer, software product manager, knowledge translator, educator, scientist and researcher.

Keith employs a highly integrative, multi-disciplinary, and collaborative approach to his consulting assignments. He is a Professional Biologist (P.Biol.) and a Certified Management Consultant, operating as an independent (R. Keith Jones and Associates) in Victoria, British Columbia.

Keith tackles projects that require strategy, collaboration, change and innovation. His consulting practice provides a vast range of high level services that encompass management, operations, business startup, planning and performance.

Keith has worked on public, private, First Nations and not-for-profit projects throughout Canada, the US and Africa. He also takes the lead in product development for the Expedition’s Challenge Dialogue System (CDS)™ and for CDS Action Learning initiatives.

More recent projects include facilitating complex dialogues with multiple stakeholders, business strategies, performance reviews, situation analyses, performance framework design, knowledge and innovation network design, technology commercialization studies and marketing, business plans and business case development, and gap analyses.

IE Inc. Affiliates

Our organization also includes a group of Affiliates. These professionals and experts are connected through their companies in a “community of practice,” and they are organized in a flexible network dynamic unique to Innovation Expedition.