Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the Canadian not-for-profit educational organization was incorporated in 1980 and was known at that time as the Shad Valley Centre for Creative Technology.

Dr. Derek Lane-Smith, parent, teacher, physicist and entrepreneur founded the organization to provide a motivating summer educational program for outstanding youth. The first Shad Valley program ran at St. Andrew's College, a private high school in Aurora, Ontario in July 1981.

The organization now delivers the Shad Valley program at twelve host universities across Canada, as well as other high quality initiatives in conjunction with education and business. The Shad community boasts a network of over 12,000 Shad Valley alumni, over 150 partners and thousands of educators at Canadian schools nationwide. There are 25 Rhodes Scholars among our Shad Valley alumni.

Shad Valley is a program of Shad Valley International (a Canadian registered charity - registration number 11883 0025 RR0001).