John is the Dean of Innovation at Sheridan College and the founder and initial director of Sheridan’s Screen Industries Research and Training Centre (SIRT). He was originally hired in 2005 to teach directing as a faculty member at Sheridan. A member of the Directors Guild of Canada, John worked extensively and successfully as a director and writer within the Canadian film and television industry prior to joining Sheridan. In 2012, John was presented with Ontario’s prestigious ORION Leadership Award for Higher Education. In 2014, he was awarded the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (now CiCan) National Leadership Excellence Award, which recognizes his innovative work at SIRT. In John’s current role he supports Sheridan’s five research and entrepreneurship centres and is working to integrate sustainability education at Sheridan.