Scott Jackson
CEO
Scott Jackson is the CEO for the Centre for Research & Innovation in the Bio-Economy (CRIBE).
Scott has been working for over 25 years in the field of forest management and natural resource policy. Most recently, he was the Director of Conservation Biology at the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) where he worked with member companies, governments and partners to develop and communicate policy positions on a range of files related to forest management, climate change mitigation and adaption. Prior to joining FPAC, he worked as an independent consultant, as the Director of Indigenous and Stakeholder Relations with Forests Ontario, and as the Manager of Forest Policy with the Ontario Forest Industries Association.
Chris Walton
Director – Partnerships Development
Over the past seven years, Chris has helped CRIBE become Canada’s leading innovation agency in advanced materials from the bio-economy. Under Chris’s leadership, CRIBE has built strong partnerships provincially, nationally and at an international level, making the organization a leader in the sector.
Chris is a management professional with over 20 years of experience specializing in government relations, strategic planning, sustainability planning & project development, with a focus in the forest products & bio-economy sectors. Prior to joining CRIBE, Chris was the President & Principal Consultant for a Thunder Bay based boutique management consulting company that specialized strategic planning, government relations & organizational planning and prior to that he was responsible for the environment and energy portfolio for a large integrated pulp & paper facility.
Dayna Griffiths
Manager of Innovation Programming
Born and raised in Northwestern Ontario in a logging family, Dayna Griffiths is a registered professional forester with over 12 years of experience in the Canadian forestry sector. As the Manager of Innovation Programming at CRIBE, Ontario’s leading forest-based innovation accelerator, she works to advance sustainable forestry practices, support emerging technologies, and drive innovation and investment within the province’s bioeconomy.
A graduate of Confederation College’s Forest Ecosystem Management Technician program and Lakehead University’s Honours Bachelor of Science in Forestry program, Dayna combines hands-on industry experience with technical expertise and strategic leadership in the forestry sector. Her career spans operational forestry, regional planning, and remote logging engineering, with experience in both private and public sector roles. She is an active leader in the forestry community, serving on the councils of the Canadian Institute of Forestry and the Ontario Professional Foresters Association.
Through her work at CRIBE, Dayna fosters industry partnerships and supports the commercialization of sustainable, high-value forest products. She is particularly focused on strengthening Ontario’s position in the global bioeconomy through strategic collaboration, including CRIBE’s Nordic Collab initiative with partners in Finland and Sweden. Her work aligns with Ontario and Canada’s sustainability and economic development objectives, helping to position the forestry sector as a leader in bio-based innovation, investment attraction, and market expansion.
Nicola McFadden
Content Creator
Nicola is a materials engineering graduate (Queen’s University ’15 & University of Toronto ’18) with a diploma in interactive media (Durham College ’22). She has a unique understanding of both forest-based materials and graphic design principles that help CRIBE communicate their initiatives effectively. Nicola is excited to continue using this diverse skillset to promote Ontario as a leader in innovative, forest-based solutions.
Advait Shanker
Program Coordinator
Advait completed his B.A. from the University of Toronto Mississauga with a specialist in Economics and Political Science and minor in French in June 2023. Over his university years, Advait worked in the Environmental Governance Lab as an Undergraduate Research Assistant and at the Centre For Global Health Security & Diplomacy as a policy analyst intern.
As CRIBE’s Program Coordinator, Advait is excited to support the disbursement of CRIBE funding to pilot projects developing novel technologies, processes and products in the forest bio-economy, as well as demonstrate CRIBE’s strong governance, management and financial sustainability to CRIBE’s funders.