Meet the Team

---

Vass is the Managing Director of SHIELD. 

Recognized as one of Canada’s sharpest policy minds, she is known for cutting through corporate jargon and bureaucratic inertia to ask the questions others won’t. With a career spanning think tanks, government, academia, and media, Vass has built a reputation as a fearless and independent voice on the policies that shape our daily lives. In 2020, she co-founded the Master of Public Policy in Digital Society program at McMaster University, where she also taught courses on policy design.

Vass is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, a Fellow at the Public Policy Forum, and an advisor to both the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project and Social Capital Partners. She is the co-author of The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians and writes for the The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business where she focuses on the policies, technologies, and corporate forces that shape our everyday lives and economic futures.

Kaylie is the Chief Economist at SHIELD. 

Kaylie is a next generation economist skilled in translating complex economic concepts into accessible formats. She is intellectually curious, solutions focussed and known for her ability to deepen insights and find the common thread between outwardly opposing ideas. 

Kaylie has supported economic decision making in some of Canada’s largest organizations and institutions, advising negotiations and developing public policy that connects policy goals to people’s everyday lives. 

Kaylie is a fellow at Social Capital Partners, an Advisor to the Master of Public Policy in Digital Society program and an informal advisor to many. 

Kaylie sits on the Board of Directors at Kindred Credit Union where she is a member of the governance committee and Chair of the Technology and Innovation Advisory Group. 

Emily Osborne is a Policy Research Associate at SHIELD. 

She is an interdisciplinary thinker and public policy researcher who cares deeply about issues affecting Canadians. She is also a Fellow at the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project (CAMP) and a 2025 winner of Global Affairs Canada’s International Policy Ideas Challenge. 

Formerly, she worked as a Researcher with the Centre for International Governance Innovation’s (CIGI) Global AI Risks Initiative team. 

Emily holds a Master of Public Policy in Digital Society and a Bachelor of Arts and Science from McMaster University. Her commentary has been featured in The Globe and Mail and Tech Policy Press.

Jessica is the Operations Manager of SHIELD. 

She holds a Master’s in International Public Policy from the Balsillie School of International Affairs, with a specialization in Economics. 

Her academic and professional work reflects a strong focus on global security issues, particularly in emerging domains. She has conducted research on outer space security and cybersecurity through her roles at Project Ploughshares and Policy Horizons Canada, where she contributed to forward-looking policy analysis and strategic foresight. 

She is passionate about advancing Canadian sovereignty in the context of international governance, technological change, and global security.