CENGN is pleased to announce that two new directors have been added to its Board of Directors to provide governance and strategic guidance as CENGN continues to advance and scale its Living Lab Initiative across Canada.

The CENGN Living Lab Initiative is designed to create authentic, real-world testing environments where small and medium-sized Canadian technology companies can validate, refine, and optimize their solutions under practical operating conditions. By bridging the gap between innovation and deployment, the initiative aims to strengthen both Canada’s traditional and technology sectors, improve technology adoption rates, and accelerate overall digital transformation and growth.

CENGN is excited to welcome these new board directors, whose combined expertise and leadership experience will play a key role in supporting the continued success and expansion of the Living Labs initiative.

Charlene Gavel

Charlene Gavel is President and CEO of SaskTel. She brings more than 25 years of executive leadership experience in the telecommunications sector, including nearly a decade as Chief Financial Officer.

In that role, she supported long-term strategic planning, financial stewardship, and the execution of major network and customer experience transformation initiatives. 

As CEO, she leads SaskTel’s overall strategy and operations, with a focus on strengthening connectivity services and driving continued investment in digital infrastructure.

She is recognized for her collaborative leadership style and her ability to align financial discipline with enterprise-wide transformation. She holds a Bachelor of Administration from the University of Regina, is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA), and holds the ICD.D designation.

She also serves on several boards, contributing her expertise in governance and strategy. 

Graham Osborne

Graham Osborne brings more than 38 years of global experience in telecommunications and IT, with deep expertise spanning R&D, manufacturing operations, sales leadership, and executive management. 

During his career at Ericsson, he held several senior global roles, including Global Head of Radio R&D, Head of IT for the Americas, and Senior Vice President of Sales for Ericsson’s largest global account.

He later served as President and CEO of Ericsson Canada. 

His experience covers a broad range of leadership domains, including board governance, research and development strategy, large-scale sales organization leadership, and country-level executive management.

His background provides CENGN with deep insight into global telecom innovation, operational scaling, and strategic commercialization of advanced network technologies. 

Supporting Canada’s Innovation Leadership 

Together, these appointments reinforce CENGN’s commitment to strong industry leadership and governance as it continues to expand the CENGN Living Lab Initiative, supporting innovation, accelerating technology adoption, and strengthening Canada’s digital economy. 

About the Author

Rita is a strong advocate for driving innovation and is always interested in learning more about technology and emerging solutions. 

As Creative Marketing Lead at CENGN, Rita supports the organization’s brand and digital presence through visual design and marketing content.  

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