A new think tank funded by former BlackBerry co-CEO Jim Balsillie has tapped ex-Sonos CEO Patrick Spence to chair the board, The Logic has learned. Vass Bednar, an outgoing executive director at McMaster University, will lead the organization as managing director. 

The Canadian Shield Institute is an offshoot of the Council for Canadian Innovators (CCI), a lobby group chaired by Balsillie that represents members of the tech and business community. CCI announced Shield in January with a $10-million donation from Balsillie. 

The think tank—whose name stands for ‘securing homegrown innovation, economic leadership and defence’—will study and make recommendations on economic issues including tax changes, infrastructure and resource development, growing deep-tech sectors and innovation in industries like housing, health care and mining. 

“Our country faces the greatest challenges since World War II but also opportunities,” Balsillie told The Logic by email. “I believe high functioning institutions have an important role to play in positioning Canada onto better footing.”

In an email confirming her new role, Bednar—whose background is in tech and public policy—described the relationship between Shield and CCI as “friendly but distinct.” 

“CCI continues its work on behalf of its members,” she said. “Shield has a separate mission and mandate that will become clearer as we get to work.” 

CCI president Benjamin Bergen and CCI vice chair John Ruffolo will serve on the board of directors alongside Balsillie and Spence. “I joined this board because the Shield fills a void missing in Canada for a 21st-century digital economy-based think tank,” said Ruffolo. 

The chair position is Spence’s first new role outside Sonos since leaving the top job in January. Spence, a Canadian executive, had held C-suite positions at the audio technology company since 2012. His departure followed a tumultuous period at the California-based firm and a botched app release that contributed to a 16 per cent drop in year-over-year revenue the following quarter. 

Prior to Sonos, Spence worked for over 14 years at BlackBerry, including as a senior vice-president and managing director. 

Spence, who worked with Balsillie during his time at BlackBerry, said his involvement in Shield is a way to contribute to his home country, where he was educated and launched his career. He said high civic engagement and an appetite for change in Canada has created a “golden opportunity” for the work Shield will do. “It feels like a moment that our government, our private companies and a lot of people are thinking, ‘What do we do now to build the country we want for the future?’” he said. “I find that super exciting.”

Balsillie said his role at Shield will be “as supportive as appropriate,” adding “my wish is for the new voices to have a platform for impact, starting with Vass Bednar and Patrick Spence.”

While Shield is still working out its mandate, it’ll be broader than CCI’s focus on innovation. The lobby group, which launched ahead of the first Justin Trudeau government in 2015, has pressed the government on a range of issues affecting the country’s tech industry, including attracting and retaining talent, startup-friendly tax policy, and incentives to create and keep intellectual property in Canada. 

While the Liberals attempted to address some of CCI’s recommendations, Bergen and Balsillie have each criticized the former government’s overall policy agenda for hindering productivity and limiting growth. 

In an interview with The Logic in January, Bergen described Shield as a “policy powerhouse, with a mandate that goes beyond innovation policy.” 

Bednar has been a strong voice on policy issues relating to technology, the economy and the public interest, working in both the public and private sectors. She advised the Ontario government on its post-pandemic workforce recovery strategy, and before that chaired the federal government’s expert panel on youth employment. She’s held senior policy positions at Airbnb and Delphia. 

In 2020, she co-founded the Master of Public Policy and Digital Society program at McMaster, where she served as executive director—her last day is Friday. 

Bednar is also a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, another think tank founded in 2001 by Balsillie. 

“This new role brings together my policy research, podcasting, writing and teaching experience into a singular focus: helping shape Canada’s economic future through a new think tank,” she said in an emailed statement. 

Update: This story has been updated with comment from Jim Balsillie and Patrick Spence.