Dr. Avi Sheshachalam holds a PhD in Cell Biology and brings 15+ years of experience spanning drug discovery research funded by the Gates Foundation (Netherlands), VP of Product at a biotech company in Edmonton, and workforce strategy at a post-secondary institution. The thread throughout: rigorous thinking applied to problems that matter, and commercial instinct that follows the evidence.
Calm Growth Studio draws on all of it. The scientific rigour. The commercial instinct. The policy literacy. The experience of working inside organizations at every scale — and knowing when a problem needs a strategist, when it needs a facilitator, and when it needs someone who has actually done the thing they are advising on.
Selected work from events where the outputs were programs, reports, and decisions — not just conversations.
Panel moderation · Higher Education Future of Work & Industry Listening Night — this event led to reports, program development, and CE programming aligned with AI training and community market needs
High-impact facilitation · MacEwan SCE · AI and data education, future of work, and workforce alignment with market needs
On-camera interview · MacEwan University advanced videography students · Workforce development and AI in higher education · 2026
Facilitating · Inventures 2025, hosted by Alberta Innovates · Skills of the future: where human skillsets trump AI