Practical AI. Municipal experience. And yes, a bit of an AI geek.
I’m Daphne Thomson, founder of Catch the Beat AI Inc, former Director of Legislative Services, and someone who gets very excited about making local government work a little easier.
My background spans more than 15 years in digital marketing and transformation. But stepping into municipal leadership made this work deeply personal.
In November 2024, the District of Port Edward lost its entire administrative team overnight. I stepped into an organization facing an enormous gap in capacity and corporate knowledge. Residents still needed services. Council still needed support. And the work certainly wasn’t going to wait.
That’s when AI became my lifeline.
It helped me navigate unfamiliar information, work through complex tasks, and build clearer processes. I experienced what it means to be overwhelmed, responsible, and trying to find a starting point. I also learned something that shapes everything I do today: AI can help with the work. It cannot carry the responsibility.
Since then, I’ve supported more than 20 local governments across Canada through training, practical AI guidance, and transformation work. Today, I help CAOs and their teams move from “Could AI help us with this?” to putting it to work responsibly.
That includes training staff, building AI agents, automating repetitive tasks, improving records management, and developing the governance that holds it all together. Council resolution tracking, bylaw and policy reviews, finance processes, and finding information without opening seventeen folders? That’s my kind of work.
And yes, I love to geek out on AI. Give me a complicated municipal process, a team stretched thin, and a spreadsheet that has practically become a full-time employee, and you have my attention. What excites me most is helping the people doing the work get some breathing room.
I also provide fractional and interim support as a CIO, transformation lead, or Corporate Officer, helping local governments connect their technology decisions with their operational needs, staff capacity, and responsibilities to the public.
I’ve completed my MBA in AI Leadership and am now a Doctor of Business Administration candidate at Golden Gate University, studying Emerging Technologies with a concentration in Generative and Agentic AI. I bring that learning straight back to the practical questions facing local government teams.
My goal is simple: help your team use AI with confidence, make everyday work easier, and keep people firmly in charge.
Because behind every process is a person trying to serve their community. That’s the human I’m here to help.
FEATURED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF FREDERICTON
UFred Student Stories ·
Discover how Daphne’s MBA in Artificial Intelligence Leadership helped shape her work with Canadian local governments. In this University of Fredericton feature, she shares how hands-on municipal experience, continued learning and human judgment guide her approach to practical, responsible AI.
Read the Full Article HereWHAT CLIENTS SAY
Read letters of recommendation from the communities and teams who have worked with Catch the Beat.
