Propel, the Atlantic Canadian tech accelerator, has named seasoned tech executive Kathryn Lockhart as its new Chief Executive, filling the role to be left when CEO Barry Bisson retires.

A native of Bath, NB, Lockhart has held senior positions with a range of innovation-driven companies, including a five-year stint with St. John’s-based Bluedrop Performance Learning. She was most recently the Vice President of Growth and Corporate Strategy at JVPLabs, a St. John’s-based medtech startup focused on telemedicine.

She is taking over from Bisson, who interrupted his retirement three years ago to take over the accelerator.  Earlier this year, he announced he would retire once again in October. Under his stewardship, Propel moved to virtual curriculum with its Incite programs, and adopted a continuous intake so there is no longer a cohort system.

“We are thrilled to welcome a leader like Kathryn to Propel,” said Propel Chair Jeff White in a statement. “She is passionate about scaling young, emerging organizations and brings a broad range of experience building strong sales teams and creating the environments for teams to learn and thrive. Second to that, she has developed a global network through her leading strategic work for companies and has the long-term vision and ability to build upon the strength of the Propel brand to secure industry partnerships and drive results.”

With an MBA from the Harvard Business School, Lockhart previously launched a technology division for a now-global human capital management firm in Toronto, and held senior positions at two startups in Germany.

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In an interview, Lockhart said she hopes to build on the virtual programming that Bisson has implemented to improve the support that Propel brings to founders in the region.

“We certainly live in uncertain times with new challenges we’ve never faced before, and now is the time for guts,” said Lockhart. “I think founders play such a huge role in shaping the future and anything we can do to support them we should be doing.”

One thing she mentioned a few times in the interview was her ambition to “expand the digital footprint” of Propel. By this, Lockhart means she wants to find ways to amplify the stories of Atlantic Canadian founders, whether by video or articles, through social media or other means.

She also hopes her recent experiences in the medtech field will help to bridge the gap between the IT and life sciences communities in the region. “It would be great if we could open up that conversation,” she said.

Lockhart and her family will be based in Saint John once she starts the position with Propel in late September. She said that she has followed news on the Atlantic Canadian startup community when she’s lived in other parts of the world, and is now looking forward to stepping back into life in Atlantic Canada and the region’s tech community.

“Thanks to an exceptional team and leadership from Barry Bisson, Propel is poised to help founders tackle our new world in a big way,” said Lockhart in the statement. “The future is full of opportunity and entrepreneurs play a profound role in developing it, especially in times of change and uncertainty.”