Jennifer Chesney Schaeffer

Jennifer Chesney, Associate Vice-President, University Digital Strategy
The University of Alberta

Jennifer Chesney Schaeffer is Associate Vice-President of University Digital Strategy in University Relations at University of Alberta, the first unit of its kind in a Canadian university. Her team focuses on the convergence of web, digital learning, mobile, and social media engagement and amplification in digital experiences. She recently led the move of the chief digital brand of UAlberta.ca to the cloud resulting in better accessibility for rural-based Canadians to remote international stakeholders. Jennifer is also co-Founder of Onlea, a nonprofit spin-off from University of Alberta, that produces interactive learning experiences for academia and industry. Under Jennifer’s leadership, Onlea is part of the thriving downtown Edmonton tech start-up community, helping its clients reach over 250,000 learners in 163 countries. Jennifer has over a decade of executive management of R&D teams, including creating and leading Customer Strategies, Product Development and Analytics units at financial firms in western Canada and as Vice President, Institutional Securities Marketing at Morgan Stanley in New York. In the mid-‘90s, she founded, was CEO and Executive Editor of one of the first open-source digital media companies, NewsTrolls. Jennifer has her M.Mus., Yale University, B.Mus., Indiana University, and is a proud Albertan.

Twitter: @JGChesney