Welcome to ORIGIN

Melissa is a member of the Red Rock Indian Band and was born and raised on Lake Helen Reserve. She leads and inspires a passionate team of innovators, collaborators and connectors who are driven to engage and inspire our future workforce. Melissa is an experienced Indigenous business owner, with demonstrated successes of working in the Indigenous Recruitment industry, using technology across Canada to successfully match job seekers to employers. Melissa is a Confederation College Alumni as an Executive Administrator and Human Resource Management professional graduate.

As President and CEO, Melissa manages the organization, supports partnership development, develops community relations, attends public speaking engagements, provides direction to marketing and communications, and much more.

Today, she continues to focus on transforming the way communities and businesses improve innovation practices through customized keynote speeches, advisory engagements and other services. She continues to be a strong presence in her home community, the city of Thunder Bay and a strong connection with her Indigenous Women’s Entrepreneurial colleagues across our Nation.

Paul is an expert in workforce development with over 20 years’ experience working on strategies, curriculum, and processes to advance and innovate approaches in the education, employment and training fields. He is a graduate of the Master’s in Management program from Lakehead University, and also holds degrees in Sociology, Social Work and Business.

As Managing Director and Chief Development Officer he provides leadership and management for the organization, support community relations, oversees ImmersiveLink production and development, client relationship management, and provides strategic direction.

Paul is the visionary behind ImmersiveLink, a revolutionary 360 Virtual Reality platform that is applied to support reconciliation on two fronts. ImmersiveLink Careers is a proven workforce development system. ImmersiveLink Cultural is produced collaboratively with Indigenous Knowledge Keepers across Canada to preserve and promote traditions and cultural awareness for reconciliation purposes. His focus continues to be on developing programming, products, and solutions to enhance reconciliation efforts at a grassroots and community level.

David, an Anishinaabe from Pawgwasheeng, is a seasoned management professional, with over 25 years of experience in the areas of Indigenous relations, operations, product marketing, marketing communications, business development and client service. Outside the office, David has served on several community boards including the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, Native Women's Resource Centre of Toronto and Skills Ontario. David received his MBA from the Edinburgh School of Business, Heriot Watt University.

As the Vice President of Operations, he plans, directs, coordinates, and oversees operations activities in the organization, ensuring development and implementation of efficient operations and cost-effective systems to meet current and future needs of the organization.

David believes ORIGIN provides a great place to work with and for Indigenous peoples and communities. Our services are making an impact in communities and closing the employment gap while increasing Indigenous cultural knowledge which is a key factor in achieving reconciliation.

Charmaine McCraw is a Manager of Indigenous Engagement and Training at ORIGIN, a company that connects Indigenous people to employment opportunities and helps corporate Canada to advance along the path of reconciliation. With a BA from Lakehead University and over 15 years of experience in Community Economic and Social Development, McCraw has a strong track record of building capacity and relationships with First Nation communities, Indigenous job seekers, and employers across Northern Ontario.

McCraw leads a team that uses innovative approaches to engage and train Indigenous candidates, such as the "Wake the Warrior" and "Operation Innovation 2.0" projects, which increase the impact of positive job acquisition and retention using training to employment models and creating more opportunities for Indigenous people. Previously, McCraw conducted grass-roots driven research on Indigenous participation in the workforce for the Northern Policy Institute, managed Nishnawbe Aski Nation's Economic and Resource Development Unit, and provided input to the Senate Committee on Housing and Infrastructure. McCraw is passionate about facilitating social and economic inclusion for Indigenous people and fostering mutual understanding and respect between diverse cultures and stakeholders.

Randy brings 13 years of experience working in the not-for-profit field in various executive positions including being the Indigenous lead for the province of Ontario for Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario. At ORIGIN, he develops partnerships with Indigenous community leaders, government officials, union representatives and more to ensure as many Indigenous individuals as possible can obtain necessary training and skills required to be successful and find employment. Randy finds enjoyment in knowing we are taking people from various backgrounds with various skills, and providing them with wanted and needed training and putting them on a path of success towards a future career.

Colette is a seasoned social worker with over two decades of experience in the field. She builds and facilitates workshops using a holistic approach to provide education and training to communities, organizations, and schools. The best part of working at ORIGIN for Colette, is the appreciation and support of the differences of all people and a safe environment to learn and be appreciated.

Mindy brings to the team a background in education and experience working closely with many Indigenous communities and organizations. As a member of the project team, her role focuses on working closely with participants and trainees including success coaching and creating success paths with candidates of Operation Innovation. Mindy loves the ORIGIN’s concept of career exploration and employment training using virtual realty and is excited to be a part of this growing technology.

Ryan is a member of The Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, Tynendinaga Territory. He holds a B.A. from McMaster University with a background in business development. Ryan leads the implementation of IL7’s Culture and Career VR Libraries and the new IL7 Career Ethics Online Course. Ryan appreciates the opportunity to support our mission to advance economic reconciliation and the team’s dedication to creating new personal and career growth paths.

Nicholas has a background in accounting and project management. With his education and experience with ORIGIN combined, he manages AR/AP, payroll, bookkeeping, budgeting, and supports with policy management. Nick loves working at ORIGIN because we are committed to helping people gain meaningful employment.

Andrew is a member of Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek. He has an education in Computer Science from Lakehead University where he became familiar with object-oriented programming. At ORIGIN, he writes code for our VR systems including managing the server and working on the development of VR applications. Andrew enjoys working at ORIGIN because he can work with the latest VR technology and continuously grow his skillset.

Kody is an Interactive Media Development graduate from Confederation College. He works alongside the production team during the creation of tours and experiences. Kody also provides technical support to the ORIGIN team and Immersive Link users. Kody enjoys the community aspect of working at ORIGIN and the work we are doing in virtual reality.

John is an experienced software engineer with a passion for enhancing the learning process through the utilization of technology. He has worked with many teams in the creation of video games, VR/AR experiences, and various forms of interactive digital content. John’s role on the team consists of providing leadership and project management for the development and implementation of strategy to produce VR modules. John’s favourite part about working at ORIGIN is having the opportunity to pursue his motivation while we continue to innovate, learn, and create real impact on people.

Adam is an accomplished director, screenwriter, and an award-winning filmmaker. He brings his experience into his work supporting the development of the production team to ensure that all essential specifications of the VR productions and training modules are met and delivered on time. Adam is excited to share his knowledge of virtual reality to help ORIGIN create great immersive experiences.

Will has an education in Interactive Media from Confederation College. At ORIGIN, he collaborates with the production team on virtual reality editing to create immersive experiences and tours. Will enjoys creating and crafting in Unreal and Unity editors, the opportunity to work with these tools on a daily basis is why he enjoys working at ORIGIN!

Breanna is a commerce graduate with a background in marketing. She supports all marketing initiatives at ORIGIN including content creation, social media management, and asset development. Her favourite part about working at ORIGIN is the team she gets to work alongside and the impact of the work we do.