Dan Wicklum

Wicklum was raised in Perth, Ontario, in the Ottawa Valley, and attended St. John's Separate School and Perth and District Collegiate Institute.[2] He played football with the Ottawa Sooners of the Canadian Junior Football League.[3] After high school graduation, he entered the University of Guelph and received a B.S.[2] in biology in 1990. He played football with the Guelph Gryphons winning the Vanier Cup in 1984 and named an OUAA All-Star in 1987,[4] setting the Guelph record with 119 total tackles in the season.[5] In 2002, Wicklum was named to the Guelph's Athletics hall of fame.[4]

The CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers drafted him in the first round of the 1988 Canadian College Draft. Securing a starting linebacker role, Wicklum went on to help the team win the Grey Cup in 1988. In 1989, the Calgary Stampeders selected him as the first Canadian player in an equalization draft. He then played three seasons for the Stampeders and named Calgary's special teams Player of the Year twice.[2][4]

After retiring from football, Wicklum went on with his education in the field of aquatic ecology, completing an M.S. in 1994 at the University of Calgary, and a Ph.D. in 1998 at the University of Montana. In Montana, he also did postdoctoral work, served as research assistant professor, and authored nine scholarly papers.[2] While there, he and his wife, Dr. Sonja Wicklum, had their children named Connor and Ali.

Wicklum launched and was later named executive director of the Canadian Forest Innovation Council and then occupied various senior positions for Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada including Director of Strategic Alliances, Director General of Wildlife and Landscape Science, and Director General of Water Science and Technology.

Dan was the Chief Executive of COSIA (Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance) from March 2012 to February 2019.

In August 2019, he became the first CEO of The Transition Accelerator.