Janelle Janis is the Executive Director of Events & Business Development at Explore Edmonton - Edmonton’s Destination Management and Marketing Organization. She oversees the attraction of major sport, culture, and business events, and ensures they are an incredible success in our city.
Janelle carries a deep-seated passion for our northern metropolis and has dedicated her career to building a thriving future for the Edmonton region and its people. As a born and raised Edmontonian, she has great respect for the Treaty Six Territory this city was founded on and for the extraordinary people who call it home.
Her love for Edmonton is the reason she attracts major events to the city—events that showcase Edmonton’s story to the world, strengthen our social prosperity, and build our economic resilience. It is her mission to help transform Edmonton for the better—one event at a time.
Janelle is honoured to be part of Edify’s Top 40 Under 40 class of 2021. As a strong believer in paying it forward, she has served on several community and professional boards.
Janelle is a former board member of Alberta Soccer’s Development of Women in Soccer Committee, Give for Good, Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance, International Association of Event Hosts, past President of the University of Alberta Pandas Soccer Alumni Society, University of Alberta Green and Gold Society, and has served on NorQuest’s 1000 Women Committee since 2022.
She holds her Bachelor of Commerce as an Academic All-Canadian while playing on the University of Alberta Varsity Soccer team, and recently completed her MBA at the University of Alberta part time in 2021.
While Janelle is a passionate city builder, her greatest passion in life is raising her two young boys with her husband and teaching them the value of giving back to the community that has helped build them.