Keith McIntosh has led his award-winning software testing company, PQA Testing, from his home province of New Brunswick for more than 20 years. He has grown the company into a multimillion-dollar organization with 9 offices across Canada, and a team of more than 150 professionals who provide quality testing services to customers both at home and abroad.

In 2015, following the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Report and his participation in the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference, Keith founded PLATO Testing, the world’s first Indigenous-led and staffed software testing company. His goal was to address two important issues: our country’s shortage of technology professionals and the high rates of unemployment among Indigenous youth.

Today, the two companies have are working as one toward a commitment to not only training but employing members of First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities as software testers. Keith and the PLATO team are proud to have trained more than 225 Indigenous software testers, injected more than $10 million directly into the Indigenous economy, and created a meaningful impact in more than 60 communities across Canada.