Dale Blakely has a background in business and economic development in both the private and public sectors. Dale graduated with an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University focusing on marketing and sales. Throughout his professional career, Dale has held sales, marketing and leadership roles across the financial, printing, home renovation, electronics, and healthcare industries.  Dale's experience working with the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development with the Ontario Provincial Government led to his awareness of the increasing skills challenge facing businesses today between ones that are currently being trained and skills that will be needed in the future. With FedDev Ontario, Dale helped innovative entrepreneurs accelerate their business growth through access to federal government support, as well as communities expand regional economic development. At Community Innovation Lab, Dale successfully launched SPICE (Seniorpreneur Program 4 Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship), an accelerator program for entrepreneurs age 55+ who want to start or grow their businesses. Dale looks forward to expanding and scaling this program to offer more skills training and resources to the growing Seniorpreneur demographic.