Ideon Leadership
Meet the powerful and talented humans driving our goal to accelerate the transition to low-impact mining.
Board of Directors
Gary Agnew
Executive Chair and Director
Gary has been CEO at Ideon since March 2020, joining the team just as the global pandemic took hold. He has led Ideon through a relaunch of the company and the transition from R&D to early commercialization, through to a successful Series A raise in 2022.
He is a visionary with strong operational credentials and a track record of building teams that deliver extraordinary results. Prior to joining Ideon, Gary spent 25 years providing mining equipment, technology, and services in support of the global mining industry, including over 20 years at Finning International.
Doug Schouten
Director
Doug is a global leader in muon tomography and one of the few people in the world with the expertise to turn muon research into industrial problems solved.
Doug holds a BSc. (Hons) in physics and computer science from UBC, and a PhD in subatomic physics from SFU. Doug also has extensive expertise in computer simulation, data analysis and statistical inference – including machine learning methods and detector physics.
Alan Bye
Independent Director
Alan is a co-founder and director of Imvelo Pty Ltd., an Australian company leading a technology-driven transformation of the mining industry.
With over 20 years of experience in operational and strategic mining roles, Alan served as VP, Technology at BHP from 2015 to 2019. He was responsible for executing major innovation programs, designing future mining operations, establishing strategic partnerships, and implementing digital and extractive technologies across multiple commodity value chains. Previously, he founded and led the Cooperative Research Centre for Optimizing Resource Extraction (CRC ORE) and held senior operational positions at Anglo American.
Alan holds a PhD in mining engineering, a BSc in Geology, and is actively involved in various advisory roles and memberships in the mining and technology sectors.
Eric Palmer
Independent Director
Eric is a Canadian serial C-level executive and company growth strategy advisor with extensive history in operations and finance.
An expert in software, service, and SaaS businesses, he has orchestrated private equity financings, venture capital investments, IPOs, private and public debt financings, acquisitions, roll-ups, and other strategic initiatives. Eric is passionate about creating value in early and growth-stage companies – his programs and strategies have driven successful exits for several high-growth companies.
Eric earned a Business degree from Wilfrid Laurier University, and is an accredited Chartered Accountant, a Certified Management Accountant, and a CPA.
Bruce Leak
Director
Bruce is a Founding Partner at Playground Global, investing in world-changing ideas.
With a Master’s in Electrical Engineering from Stanford, he interned at Microsoft and tested the Microsoft Word prototype, and later worked on the company’s Macintosh applications. Working at Apple, he was instrumental in creating 32-bit Colour Quickdraw, later developing into Quicktime. Bruce co-founded General Magic, Rocket Science Games, and WebTV, which was acquired by Microsoft. After founding startups and exploring the world, he co-founded Playground Global to make a lasting impact in robotics, quantum computing, and medical advancements.
Bruce resides in Palo Alto where he enjoys outdoor adventures, is passionate and advocating for wildlife conservation and preserving natural habitats.
Executive Leadership
Gary Agnew
CEO & Co-Founder
Gary has been CEO at Ideon since March 2020, joining the team just as the global pandemic took hold. He has led Ideon through a relaunch of the company and the transition from R&D to early commercialization, through to a successful Series A raise in 2022.
He is a visionary with strong operational credentials and a track record of building teams that deliver extraordinary results. Prior to joining Ideon, Gary spent 25 years providing mining equipment, technology, and services in support of the global mining industry, including over 20 years at Finning International.
Doug Schouten
CTO & Co-Founder
Doug is a global leader in muon tomography and one of the few people in the world with the expertise to turn muon research into industrial problems solved.
Doug holds a BSc. (Hons) in physics and computer science from UBC, and a PhD in subatomic physics from SFU. Doug also has extensive expertise in computer simulation, data analysis and statistical inference – including machine learning methods and detector physics.
Krysta Chapman
Director
Krysta, a Chartered Professional Accountant (CA) and Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder, is a financial executive with over 15 years’ progressive success leading accounting, tax, and financial strategy for international venture capital and financing organizations.
Her experience includes CFO and senior finance roles at Winshear Gold, Tectonic Metals, Sandstorm Gold, and Pathway Capital (where she managed several private and public mining companies).
Miranda Alldritt
VP, Products & Services
Miranda is responsible for maximizing the value delivered to customers through Ideon products and services. She is a veteran of the technology industry, having spent much of her early career in product leadership roles at Creo/Kodak and later, 10 years at Copperleaf Technologies in various leadership roles spanning the company’s evolution from startup to unicorn IPO. More recently, Miranda has worked with a variety of local startup companies on product and Go To Market strategies.
Miranda studied engineering physics at UBC and completed the Stanford Executive Program in 2021.
Kim Lawrence
VP, Talent & Customer Experience
Kim handles employee experience and culture, talent management, brand and customer experience, marketing, communications, community engagement, and facilities.
She earned her undergrad degree from Queen’s University and completed graduate studies in Business Management (Asia-Pacific) from Capilano University before launching a career in high-tech. Prior to Ideon, she served for 8 years as CMO at the University of Calgary, one of Canada’s leading research universities with a focus on energy innovation.
Erika Katzberg
VP, Business Development
As an expert in the technology and mining market, Erika is responsible for driving company growth by developing customer relationships, driving meaningful partnerships, and leading strategic business development and sales efforts.
She has 15 years of experience in organizations that challenge the status quo and drive innovation through new technology platforms. Prior to joining Ideon, she spent nine years with Seequent and helping the business grow its Mining segment from a small new player to an industry standard. Her role grew from developing strong customer relationships to overseeing business development for their Mining segment, and eventually leading operations across North America.