A Company on a Mission

Geordie Rose

Co-Founder & CEO

Geordie Rose co-founded Sanctuary in 2018 and is our CEO. Prior to Sanctuary, Geordie founded D­-Wave, the world’s first quantum computing company, and was the CEO of Kindred, the world’s first robotics company to use reinforcement learning in a production environment. He has sold quantum computers and robots to Google, NASA, Lockheed Martin, Gap Inc., and several US government agencies. He was named the 2011 Canadian Innovator of the Year, was listed on Foreign Policy Magazine’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2013, and won the 2014 Canadian Technology Leader award.

Geordie holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of British Columbia. He is a two-time Canadian national wrestling champion, is a member of the McMaster University Hall of Fame, and was the winner of the 2010 NAGA masters white belt Brazilian jiu-jitsu world championships in both gi and no-gi categories.

Suzanne Gildert

Co-Founder & CTO

Suzanne Gildert co-founded Sanctuary in 2018 and is our CTO. Before Sanctuary, Suzanne founded Kindred, the world’s first robotics company to use reinforcement learning in a production environment. The acquisition of Kindred by Ocado in November 2020 was the third-largest exit for a robotics company in Canadian history. Prior to Kindred, Suzanne ran technical marketing at D-Wave, where she worked on porting AI algorithms to D-Wave’s quantum annealing hardware. During that time Suzanne invented and implemented MAXCAT, the world’s first game ever played against a quantum computer, worked on the world’s first supervised classifier run on a quantum computer, and was the first person to control the motion of a robot using a quantum computer. 

Suzanne holds a Ph.D. in experimental physics from the University of Birmingham. Suzanne is a published digital artist and poet, has worked as a graphic designer, and pioneered a technique for creating art using a quantum computer. She loves painting using acrylic on canvas, mixed media, digital painting, and tapestry. She also creates electronic music, inspired by retro video games and the synthwave genre.

Matt Ellis

Chief Product Officer

Matt Ellis joined Sanctuary in 2022, bringing with him more than 25 years of commercial product development experience built upon artificial intelligence, machine-learning, cloud and edge computing, IoT, simulation, high-performance computing, and autonomous systems. Matt has a demonstrated track record in research and development leadership, having worked in large and small enterprises. He has held senior leadership roles leading artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and product engineering organizations in multiple companies, including Amazon, HP, IBM, and startups.

Matt holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from University College London (UCL) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Theoretical Physics from the University of Kent. When he is not working, Matt gets his best ideas at high altitudes, on wild adventures, or whilst photographing natural wonders.

Philip Smith

Chief Financial Officer

Philip Smith joined Sanctuary in 2021 after 30 years of experience in banking and capital markets. Prior to joining Sanctuary, Philip had a 27-year-long career at Scotiabank, most recently as the Head of Investor Relations. He also served as Global Head of Debt and Equity Capital Markets; prior to that, he was Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Global Banking and Markets. During his time with Scotiabank, Philip held a variety of increasingly senior roles in finance, capital markets, investment banking, and wealth management.

Philip holds an MBA in Analytic Finance from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University. In his spare time, Philip enjoys cycling, alpine skiing, and hockey. In addition to enjoying sports personally, he also teaches them as a coach for children.

James Wells

Chief Commercial Officer

James Wells joined Sanctuary in 2019 with previous experience as a venture capitalist in both operator and investor capacities. He specializes in the commercialization and financing of breakthrough hardware technologies that can impact the world on a planetary scale, previously working with ventures on carbon capture, water treatment, and clean hydrogen production. During his ten years in the venture industry, James co-created 3 companies with founding investments, served on numerous boards, and contributed towards a top quartile performing fund.

James received his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of British Columbia, has raised money for the Parkinson's Society of Canada by cycling across Canada, and completed an N of 1 experiment in mindfulness by completing an IRONMAN by training only with yoga.

Ben Reed

Chief Marketing Officer

Ben Reed joined Sanctuary in 2021 after spending 17 of his 24-year technology industry career at Microsoft Corporation in various strategy, marketing, and communications leadership positions. He built and led the communication teams responsible for launching Microsoft Surface, Microsoft HoloLens, and the Microsoft Mixed Reality platform. He has a proven track record in business strategy, management, communications, marketing, and agency and vendor management with experience at organizations of all sizes. 

Ben holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of East Anglia. Ben has a wide and eclectic range of interests and hobbies but holds a special passion for piano, storytelling, and people.

Olivia Norton

Co-Founder & CIO

Olivia Norton co-founded Sanctuary in 2018 and is our Chief Innovation Officer. Prior to founding Sanctuary, Olivia led the Vancouver-based Artificial General Intelligence group at Kindred AI and previously worked in consulting for the energy industry and R&D at the Institute for Biomechanics at ETH Zurich. Passionate about creating and scaling impactful technology, Olivia lends her voice and expertise to a variety of organizations and groups in the Vancouver tech ecosystem. She is a member of the Advisory Board at the Vancouver Economic Commission and a founding member of the Frontier Collective. She is a regular guest speaker at the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, the University of Calgary, and Science World. Olivia is a 2018 BC Business 30 under 30 award recipient and a 2019 Schulich School of Engineering Alumni Award winner. 

Olivia holds a Master of Engineering in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Science with Distinction in Computer Engineering, specializing in Biomedical Engineering, from the University of Calgary. Olivia has her level 2 International Sommelier Guild Certification and has completed yoga teacher training. She continues to practice yoga and is a hobbyist photographer, runner, gardener, and dog lover.

Brad Bycraft

VP of Operations

Brad Bycraft joined Sanctuary in 2020. Prior to Sanctuary, he founded two companies with applications in medical, energy, and autonomous vehicles. His scope of work in engineering has ranged from designing and building nanotechnology for military applications to designing, testing, and manufacturing class I-IV medical devices for open-heart surgery. Brad ran operations for three open-source medical technologies, is a certified emergency medical responder, and actively volunteers in crisis intervention and suicide prevention.

Brad holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Science in Engineering Physics from the University of British Columbia. He has competed in three sports at a provincial level and during his spare time, he enjoys bouldering, playing tennis, and calisthenic exercise.

Thomas Mahon

VP of Intellectual Property

Thomas Mahon joined Sanctuary at the start of 2021 and has been managing intellectual property matters and strategic transactions at Canadian technology start-ups for over 15 years. He has a track record of exceptional in-house IP operations: at D-Wave Systems he grew the patent portfolio to rank 4th worldwide in the Computer Systems industry (IEEE, 2012), and at North Inc. he built an in-house patent team that became the third most active Canadian entity at the USPTO (IFI Claims, 2019). Thomas is a proven negotiator with experience across all manner of technology agreements and start-up fundraising efforts. He was a key part of the transaction team when Google acquired North in 2020.

Thomas holds Bachelor's Degrees in Engineering Physics and Economics and is a Registered Patent and Trademark Agent in Canada and the U.S. Thomas lives on a small hobby farm with his family, where they raise sheep and chickens, and grow every fruit and vegetable they can.

Matt Meeks

VP of Customer Experience

Matt Meeks joined Sanctuary as VP of Customer Experience in Spring 2023, bringing more than two decades of experience in team building and organizational leadership. His decorated career spans military operations, robotics, automation, and customer enablement. In his role, Matt manages customer experience initiatives and leads the deployments of Sanctuary's AI technology to customer sites.

Previously, Matt was the Senior Systems Lifecycle Manager for Robotic Fulfillment and Managed Customer Success at Amazon Robotics. There, he enhanced Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), system performance, and productivity, contributing to a 4X increase in the Global Robotics customer base over two years.

Matt excels in dynamic environments and is devoted to the development of people and teams. He holds an MS in Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School and a BS from Georgia State University. Outside of work, Matt enjoys time with family and friends, snowboarding, golf, and classic sports cars.

Vincent Clerc

VP of Hardware and Manufacturing

Vincent Clerc joined the Sanctuary team as VP of Hardware and Manufacturing in the summer of 2023. Vincent uses his expertise to lead the company’s growing manufacturing division, with responsibilities that include overseeing hardware development associated with the manufacturing and scaling of the company’s general-purpose robots. For over 25 years, Vincent has played a pivotal role in the growth of many successful technology companies of varying sizes, including Dyson, Softbank Group, and Terramera. Vincent has held senior roles in engineering, R&D, and mechatronics and is widely known for being one of the makers of Pepper, a semi-humanoid robot primarily used for customer service experiences, while the Nao and Romeo humanoid robots have also been released under his supervision.

Vincent holds a dual Ph.D. in Robotics and Signal Processing from Pierre and Marie Curie University (now a part of the Sorbonne University group) and a Dual Master’s in Mechanics and Electronics from ESME-Sudria. He is currently a board member of the Industrial Advisory Board for SFU Mechatronics School of Engineering and, in his spare time, enjoys outdoor activities, martial arts, and anything sci-fi related.

Zac Engler

Director of Talent Acquisition

Zac Engler joined Sanctuary in 2022 as Director of Talent Acquisition with over 15 years of experience supporting human resources and people operations. Zac is a results-oriented talent leader with prior roles as the Head of Talent Acquisition for PAR Systems where he built out the recruiting function hiring roles in marine engineering, industrial automation, nuclear engineering, and bio-medical automation. Before that, as Associate Director of Talent Acquisition, Zac built the Corporate Recruiting function for Amplifon North America. Recruiting for U.S. and Canadian positions, Zac also supported the development of global recruiting capabilities by implementing ATS automations, chatbot interviews, video job descriptions, and talent assessment systems. Earlier in his career, Zac spent five years at Apple, supporting retail hiring, leadership development, and sales and repairs management throughout the Minneapolis market.

Zac holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota Duluth, and an MBA from Hamline University. Born and raised in Minnesota, Zac is an Eagle Scout who loves the outdoors and traveling the world. He has paddled a canoe through 100+ km of the BWCA, 300+ km of Canadian wilderness, and enjoys skydiving, river rafting, spelunking, rock climbing, and bungee jumping. As a passionate follower of the recruiting automation space, Zac has also been published by SourceCon and delivered several DisruptHR talks about the impact of AI on HR.