Catherine Warren is an international media-tech executive and creative economy strategist, with 25 years at the intersection of innovation, culture, and trust. She is the founder and president of FanTrust, a pioneer in fan-building, digital dealmaking, and urban placemaking.
Catherine has overseen more than $8B in high-impact investment to Canada since 2018 through leadership roles including CEO of the Vancouver Economic Commission, CEO of Edmonton Unlimited, and oversight of the Vancouver Film Commission responsible for a $4B production ecosystem. Earlier in her career, she co-founded a broadcast software company that went public on Nasdaq and grew to a $300M market capitalization.
A leader in higher education, Catherine has served as the CEO of Canada’s Centre for Digital Media, a four-way university partnership and thriving innovation district in the heart of Vancouver, with graduate and undergraduate programs, game studios, art galleries, green spaces and student housing. Catherine has also led the growth of Western Canada’s foremost creative post-secondary institution, Emily Carr University of Art & Design, where she co-launched the inaugural Master of Digital Media program as Chief Industry & Research Officer. In Alberta’s capital, Catherine oversaw university collaborations across eight post-secondaries in support of the startup ecosystem, which became North America's fastest growing tech sector during her tenure. Today, she is also an adjunct faculty fellow at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and an Advisory Board member of Koawa Studios, Christchurch’s new campus for creative and digital media, with state-of-the-art virtual production, sound stages, motion capture and animation pipelines.
Catherine is a co-creator of Canada’s first ethical AI accelerator fund, co-developed a $100M fair-use marketplace for AI training rights, and advises global media companies, governments, and venture partners on AI innovation, monetization, and digital governance. She is currently producing a national TV talk show focused on ethical AI and entertainment.
A veteran Board Director in the creative innovation sector, Catherine serves as Canada’s representative on the International Emmy Nominating Committee, on the Executive Board of the UN flagship World Summit Awards for digital innovation, and is the incoming Board Chair of Young Citizens of the World, the largest global youth-icon network 1.25M strong, where kids interview their heroes. She is a Board Director of publicly-traded media, tech and finance companies with offices in Toronto, LA, Mumbai and Dubai.
Catherine holds an undergraduate degree in physics from Reed College, Portland, and a Master’s from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, New York, with a focus on digital innovation at MIT’s Media Lab.
