About Sean
Experience and background
I build reliable systems, and the teams that keep them that way. I've served Middlesex County in elected office, spent nearly three decades in software, and today I teach and lead research at Fanshawe College. Here is the longer version.
- 15+ years in Middlesex Centre
- TVDSB trustee, 2018–2022
- In software since 1997
- Fanshawe College professor
Rooted here
My family and I have called Middlesex Centre home for more than fifteen years, in the Ilderton area. I run my company, EcoWorks, from here, and you'll mostly see me campaigning by bike. As county trustee I represented every Middlesex community, so I have knocked on doors and taken calls from Ilderton to Delaware, Coldstream to Bryanston.
Public service
Elected School Board Trustee, Middlesex County
In October 2018, voters across all eight Middlesex municipalities elected me county-wide as their trustee. I served one full term, with a focus on capital planning and renewal and on care for how public money is spent, and I asked the hard questions about spending and oversight.
- Capital Planning and Priorities Committee: school buildings, renewal, and where capital dollars go.
- Financial Audit Committee: oversight of a board budget of more than $1 billion.
- Environmental Education Committee: the board's environmental programming and policy.
- Ontario Public School Boards' Association: the board's representative at the provincial association.
- Rural Education Task Force, facilitator: a cross-county table of municipal leaders and trustees on the future of rural schools.
- North Middlesex Community Schools Committee: citizen member.
A trustee's work is close to a councillor's: an elected seat, a public budget, capital plans, committee work, staff reports, and residents across villages and farms. The task force also meant working at one table with municipal leaders from across the county, which is the work County Council asks of a mayor.
Career
I have worked in software since 1997 as a developer, team lead, systems architect and technology director. The common thread: modernize what's old, keep what people depend on running, and explain it in plain language.
Software Engineering Team Lead
Led the front-end and back-end teams that rebuilt a consumer mobile app used across Canada, and delivered it ahead of schedule.
Software Development Team Lead
Connected-equipment software for construction fleets.
Software Development Team Lead, IIoT Platform Tools and Support
An industrial platform that connects heavy equipment to the internet, and the tools its support teams rely on.
Director of Ecommerce, Software and Technology Architect
Ran technology for a national direct-to-consumer pet food company for 16 years: online ordering, payments and security.
IT Coordinator
Websites, applications, systems integration and business process improvement.
Founder and owner
Websites and custom applications for clients in education, real estate, health care, tourism and retail. Today the work is civic technology: tools that make public information easier to find and public services easier to use.
Teaching and research
Professor, Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems program
I develop and teach the curriculum that prepares students for Transport Canada Basic and Advanced drone operations: mission planning, airspace, risk assessment, emergency procedures and hands-on flight instruction, plus mapping and how aerial data supports construction monitoring and inspection.
Research Project Lead
I lead a FedDev Ontario-funded project developing ways to use drones to detect methane from aging natural gas infrastructure beneath Lake Erie, working with Fanshawe researchers and pilots from ITPS Canada in London. The work is at the methodology stage: comparing sensors, designing calibration, and documenting flight operations.
Drone mapping and sensing are directly useful to a growing rural municipality: drainage and road condition surveys, asset inventories and growth planning.
Education
Lakehead University, with studies in outdoor recreation, which is part of why our arenas, parks and trails matter to me.
Endorsements
-
Marcus Ryan, Mayor, Township of Zorra · Warden, Oxford County · Chair, Western Ontario Wardens' Caucus
I've sat at a lot of tables with Sean Hunt. He's always the one who read the material, asked the hard question, and then found a way to get everyone to yes.
-
Alison Warwick, Mayor of Thames Centre (2018–2022) · Warden of Middlesex County (2022)
He was a great ally, assisting us with our rural schools. He was informed, innovative and a knowledgeable partner.
-
Arlene Morell, Former Chair of the Board and Trustee, Thames Valley District School Board
Middlesex Centre needs a Mayor who is prepared, thoughtful, collaborative, and focused on the long-term interests of its residents.
-
Meagan Ruddock, Deputy Mayor-elect, Central Elgin · Elgin County Councillor-elect · Former Vice-Chair and Elgin County Trustee, Thames Valley District School Board (2018–2022)
He can be direct and principled while remaining respectful, constructive and focused on finding a way forward.
What this brings to the mayor's chair
- Reading a public budget: audit committee work on a budget over $1 billion, for fair water and wastewater rates.
- Capital planning and renewal: for recreation and community facilities kept in top shape.
- School and family files: knowing how boards site and open schools, for every generation.
- Working across municipalities: elected by all eight, for a strong voice at County Council and for rural roads, drainage and broadband.
- Modernizing systems people depend on: for modern, efficient government and building this community together.