Navigating the Intersection of Technology Leadership & AI Innovation.
Colin Smillie is a Toronto-based technology executive and AI strategy advisor with over 25 years of enterprise technology leadership. He has served as SVP of National Technology at YMCA Canada, leading technology alignment across 37 associations and 24,000 employees, and has held senior technology and product roles at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Trader Corporation (Autotrader), and Refresh Partners. He advises organizations on AI adoption, digital transformation, and building high-performing technology teams.
Core Strategic Pillars
Product Management
Over 25 years of product leadership: from building mobile security products at Certicom to leading Autotrader Canada’s print-to-digital transition, reaching 4 million monthly visitors and record revenue. Product discipline shapes how I approach every challenge: understand the customer, prioritize ruthlessly, ship and learn.
- Product Strategy & Roadmapping
- Digital Transformation
- Enterprise Platforms
Technology Executive
As SVP of National Technology at YMCA Canada, led a large technology portfolio across 37 associations and 24,000 employees, aligning 300 technology leaders around a unified strategy. At Hill+Knowlton Strategies, managed a digital services team of 15 plus 4 external vendors, delivering hundreds of enterprise campaigns.
- Executive Strategy & Governance
- Team Building & Alignment
- Federated Organizations
AI Strategy
Led one of the first enterprise AI pilots at YMCA Canada using Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT across a 24,000-employee federation. Now advising organizations on practical AI adoption, from governance frameworks and leadership literacy to optimizing operations with AI chat agents. Ethical adoption, measurable outcomes.
- AI Governance & Ethics
- Enterprise AI Adoption
- Leadership AI Literacy
Experience Highlights
A career defined by impact at some of Canada’s most vital organizations.
Impact
YMCA Canada
Strategy
Hill+Knowlton Strategies
Leadership
Heritage Toronto
Recent Writing
Thoughts on AI adoption, technology leadership, and the decisions that shape both.
April 2026
I don’t need a CMS anymore (And Soon Neither will you)
After twenty years of building on content management systems, I've stopped reaching for one first. AI coding tools now let you describe what you want…
April 2026
Why Most Organizations Have No Idea Which AI to Trust
Most organizations using AI have no structured way to evaluate which model to trust. With multiple systems producing different answers to the same prompt, enterprises…
April 2026
🇨🇦 Canada’s AI Problem Isn’t Intelligence. It’s Cost.
Hedder recently described AI’s coming “oil shock moment.” It’s a great framing. But it misses something important. This isn’t just about scarcity. It’s about discipline.…
From the Lab
I also run Idea Warehouse, a personal technology lab where I build and ship real products using AI-assisted development. Recent projects include an iOS arcade game built with Cursor AI, a bilingual Canadian news aggregator, and a Shopify e-commerce experiment.
Currently Available For
CTO / CIO Roles
Full-time or fractional technology leadership for organizations navigating digital transformation or AI adoption.
Advisory
Strategic advice on AI adoption, technology governance, and building high-performing technology teams.
Speaking
Talks on AI strategy, technology leadership, and the intersection of ethics and innovation for conferences and organizations.
Board Roles
Technology governance roles on boards in the nonprofit, environmental, and public sectors.