Stephen was born and raised in Pugwash Nova Scotia and received an Engineering degree from St. Mary's University and the Technical University of Nova Scotia graduating two years later with an MBA honoring in Finance from Queen' University.

He joined Bell Canada in the Plant department rising to Divisional Construction Manager in Toronto. Subsequently he held 5 Vice-Presidential postings in Economics, Systems Development, Corporate Performance, Quality and Strategic Planning.

He left Bell in the 80's and started his own companies specializing in the strategic use of communications and in quality management.

Stephen was under contract with the Manitoba government in the economic development field enhancing the Province's information and telecommunications infrastructure. He was also the founding President of the Manitoba Innovation Network (www.min.mb.ca), a non-profit company supported by all levels of government, whose mission it is to accelerate Manitoba's move into the information economy.

Over a period of 30 months Stephen increased the budget of the Manitoba Innovation Network from $20K to $650K, while attracting more than 60 members and sponsors. Upon leaving Winnipeg, he was presented with an Honorary Citizen Award by the Mayor for his contributions to the City

Stephen has taught strategic planning at McGill University, done research at the University of Montreal, and sat for a number of years as a director of the Executive Development Program at Williams University. His past directorships include the American Productivity and Quality Centre, the Canadian Workplace Automation and Research Centre the Canadian Healthcare Telematics Corporation, the EDI Council of Canada, TRLabs, the Canadian Electronic Commerce Committee and Positron Fiber Systems.

Stephen is married to Dennice Leahey, a Senior Vice President & the Ombudsman for the Royal Bank Financial Group. They have two grown children.