Melanie Nadeau

CEO, Centre for Oceans Ventures & Entrepreneurship (COVE)

Role: Associate

Site: CDL-Atlantic

Stream: Oceans

Melanie Nadeau is Chief Executive Officer for COVE driving high-tech innovation and entrepreneurship across the ocean sector. An award-winning Canadian businesswoman and trailblazer, Melanie leads and grows organizations by developing strategies to gain market confidence, drive investments, deliver profits and achieve operational success. She is an expert in the commercialization of emerging technologies, developing business strategies, and incubating new technology into mature revenue generating engines.

Prior to joining COVE, Melanie held executive roles for an energy and services company with over $30B in assets. She was a trusted advisor, analyzing global markets and identifying business strategies to position companies for growth. She held positions of increasing responsibility overseeing $500M+ budgets, negotiating major commercial agreements, and managing operations. She offers a global perspective and has been a notable expert for the International Energy Agency, the United Nations Environment Programme, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Electrotechnical Commission.

She has earned multiple awards including Canada’s Clean16 Award for her outstanding contribution towards clean capitalism and has been named Atlantic Canada’s 25 most powerful women by the Atlantic Business Magazine. She has been an invited speaker to numerous events including TEDGlobal.

Melanie is an accredited professional engineer graduating from the University of Waterloo, Canada and has an ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. Her Board appointments have included international marine businesses, national industry associations, a professional regulatory board and a health-science foundation.

She began her career serving in the Royal Canadian Navy where she harnessed her deep appreciation for our ocean.