About Us
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Ayon Shaded
DIRECTOR
Ayon is a strategic leader with over 15 years of experience spanning the realms of health, technology, social enterprise, housing, and public policy. With extensive business development, strategic planning and facilitation experience, Ayon brings a critical focus to ensuring strong communication and inclusive spaces that embrace divergent and convergent thinking.
As President of Branch Innovations & VP of Innovation and Business Development at Seafair Capital, he spearheads transformative initiatives grounded in a deep focus on impact for community wellbeing, the healthcare system, and on entrepreneurial success. A skilled collaborator, Ayon forges strategic partnerships across government, private, non-profit sectors, navigating complex systems to drive ambitious, people-centred solutions. Prior his work with Seafair Capital, Ayon held influential leadership roles at Choices for Youth and Engineers Without Borders Canada.
Ayon’s leadership extends to his active involvement in various boards and committees, including previous governance positions with the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, the St. John’s Tool Library, the City of St. John’s Affordable Housing Committee, and the Catherine Donnelly Foundation. He is currently serving on the board of MusicNL and supporting DEIB initiatives in Newfoundland and Labrador’s technology ecosystem.
Ayon holds a Masters in Mechanical Engineering. In 2021, he completed the Strategic Innovation Programme at the Oxford University Saïd Business School. In 2019, he received an Engineering Excellence Award from Queen’s University; and in 2015, Ayon was named one of Atlantic Canada’s Top 50 Under 40.
President, Branch Innovations, & VP, Innovation and Business Development at Seafair Capital
President and CEO, Virtual Marine
Dr. Randy Billard is President and CEO of Virtual Marine. He is the original founder of the company has been with the company since it started in 2004. He is a P. Eng, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering from Memorial University of Newfoundland, with expertise in small vessel motion and wave modeling. He has a Ph.D. in Engineering at Memorial University with a research concentration in measuring human performance in simulation-based training programs.
Randy is responsible for leading Virtual Marine’s team in the continuous development of small craft simulation technologies. He has expertise in oil and gas and military simulator development and project management and is actively involved in ocean engineering and simulation R&D communities. He has experience in managing technical product development from earlystage prototypes to commercially ready systems which includes validation and testing of simulators at various technology readiness levels. His work has included human factors studies to assess the effectiveness of simulation-based training programs and measurement of learning and skill retention in marine training programs. He has published research papers on vessel and wave numerical modelling, human performance modelling, and simulator training transfer. He is currently leading the development of the company’s automated tracking and adaptive learning software.