Age: 38
She’s sometimes called the Superwoman of Calgary’s tech community – the go-to gal spearheading the mission to turn Calgary into the tech hub of Western Canada. But there was a time when Claudia Moore wasn’t so tech savvy. Embarking on her first year at the University of Victoria in 1988, she blatantly ignored her mother’s suggestion to get a computer, instead frequently trudging out at midnight to buy eraser ribbons for her typewriter. “When I finally broke and got on with computers, there was no looking back,” she says, laughing.
No kidding. Since moving from Vancouver to Calgary in 2000, the marketing maven has kick-started Cowtown’s fledgling tech sector. Two years later, she became a partner of Material Insight, a firm that helps entrepreneurs market technology, establish brands and find talented employees. “These people are prolific thinkers, kind of crazy mavericks who move a million miles an hour,” says Moore. “There’s a challenge in keeping up with them that I find really addictive.”
Moore is now a full-on fanatic of all things tech, but it’s not a 24/7 love affair. On weekends, she unplugs from the wired world to hike in the Rocky Mountains with her husband. She also unwinds three to four times a week at yoga sessions – from Ashtanga to Bikram. This past summer, Moore scaled back her lead role in Material Insight, as the company narrowed its focus to a new recruiting venture company called Techbent Ltd. Moore is now also a part of Tynt Inc. – a Calgary tech startup unleashing a new web interface for social networking. And Moore has her own startup brewing – a baby girl set to make her debut later this month. “It’s that beautiful mix of feeling completely paranoid and absolutely blissed out.”
COMMUNITY WORK
Director,
STIRR Canada
Past president
and board volunteer,
Decidedly Jazz
Danceworks
Founder, Try on Tech
Co-founder,
Wired West
PAST
President, Decidedly
Jazz Danceworks