Steve Gravel is the manager of the Centre for Smart Mining, a federally funded research centre that focuses on facilitating new technology adoption in the mining sector by providing mining technology companies with technical services and training. Prior to leading the Centre for Smart Mining, he held a position at the Ontario Centre for Innovation (OCI), where he worked with Ontario SMEs (small and medium enterprises) and tech firms as a business development and commercialization manager. 

In previous roles, Gravel has studied the Ontario mining supply and services cluster in depth and understands its uniqueness and strategic value. He also co-hosts a weekly podcast called The Unlikely Innovators which highlights stories of unlikely sources of innovation from thought leaders to start-ups and SMEs and a variety of industrial sectors.

Ryan Weymark is a mining executive and entrepreneur with experience spanning project development, permitting, corporate strategy, financing, and company building across the resource sector. He is a partner with the Fiore Group, supporting the identification, acquisition, and advancement of mining opportunities, and is a co-founder of several public companies, including West Red Lake Gold Mines, Nations Royalty, Selkirk Copper Mines, Cambria Gold Mines, and Crossroads Gold. Weymark  is also president and co-founder of Fuse Advisors, a technical advisory firm that grew to a 50-person consultancy before its acquisition by SLR Consulting in 2025. He helped co-found Canada’s first two public mining companies with significant Indigenous equity participation. 

Weymark holds a B.A.Sc. in Mining and Mineral Process Engineering from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and serves as a director of Nisga’a Growth Corporation and of the Britannia Mine Museum. He is a member of the Mining Technical Advisory and Monitoring Committee.