Joe brings over 19 years of venture capital investing and a wealth of experience in the areas of business planning, financings, negotiations, IPOs and acquisitions.

His diverse and extensive experience allows him to play an integral role in the structure, strategic direction, overall ...
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Joe brings over 19 years of venture capital investing and a wealth of experience in the areas of business planning, financings, negotiations, IPOs and acquisitions.

His diverse and extensive experience allows him to play an integral role in the structure, strategic direction, overall growth and business development of emerging companies.

Joe currently represents Summerhill on the boards of Vantrix and Blinq. Previously he represented Summerhill on the boards of Radian6, Trust Digital and Third Brigade.

For 14 years prior to joining Summerhill Venture Partners in June 2004, Joe served as EVP, CFO and Director of Whitecastle Investments, a leading Canadian private investment company, and Managing Director of its venture practice, Whitecap Venture Partners. As one of the venture practice founders, Joe was instrumental in shaping the vision and investment strategy of Whitecap. He was a core element of the senior team that brought a number of high-grossing investments to fruition.

Joe�s past successes include investments in Radian6 (Acquired by Salesforce, NASDAQ: CRM), Third Brigade (acquired by Trend Micro, NASDAQ: TMIS), Trust Digital (acquired by McAfee Inc, NYSE: MFE), Broadband Networks Inc. (acquired by Nortel, NYSE: NT), Positron Fiber Systems (NASDAQ IPO and acquired by RELTEC, NYSE: RLT), Loran International Technologies (acquired by Peregrine Systems, NASDAQ: PRGN), Electrophotonics (acquired by ETEC, NASDAQ: ETEC), PC Docs Group International (NASDAQ IPO, and acquired by Hummingbird, TSE: HUM & NASDAQ: HUMC) and ImagicTV (NASDAQ IPO, and acquired by ALCATEL, NYSE: ALA).

Joe began his professional career with KPMG, where he held various senior positions in both Canada and the U.K. Joe is a Gold Medal graduate from the University of Waterloo�s Master of Accounting program (1986). Joe holds Chartered Accountant and Certified Management Accountant designations in Canada.

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Mr. Varghese is a co-founder of nanoCAP Partners a venture and growth capital fund targeting opportunities in Canada, the Northeast and Northwest of the United States. The fund seeks to invest in companies that offer advanced materials and advanced manufacturing solutions, for the supply chain in t...
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Mr. Varghese is a co-founder of nanoCAP Partners a venture and growth capital fund targeting opportunities in Canada, the Northeast and Northwest of the United States. The fund seeks to invest in companies that offer advanced materials and advanced manufacturing solutions, for the supply chain in the natural resource sector, energy and the environment and micro-electronics industries deploying nanotechnologies.

Mr. Varghese is Chairman of Sprott Power Corp, a TSX listed company, along being a board member of Ecosynthetix Inc. He is on the Executive Committee and a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, where he chairs the Membership committee and also sits on the government relations committee of the CVCA. He is also on the board of Nano Ontario, a member of the Alberta Innovates nanoWorks Steering Committee and on the executive committee of the Canadian Innovation Exchange. Mr. Varghese is a founding Board member of Bay Street Fore a Cau$e Inc. a not-for-profit corporation that supports numerous children�s charities across the GTA. Mr. Varghese is also a past member of University of Toronto�s Business Board of Directors and a past Board Member of the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation.

Prior to launching nanoCAP, Mr. Varghese was CEO and one of the co-owners VentureLink Innovation Fund Inc., (�VL�). At its peak, VL had over $275 million under management making equity and debt investments in alternative energy, technology and financial service sectors. Mr. Varghese was responsible for the management and investment activities of the fund as well as leading the marketing initiatives. He is past Chairman of Ventus Energy Inc, Orion Securities Inc. and MCCI Communications Inc, all successful exits for VentureLink.

As a Partner and Vice President at eLab Technologies Ventures, Mr. Varghese was responsible for the investment and operational functions of the firm since its inception. At eLab, Mr. Varghese played an active role in launching the fund, including branding and marketing activities in Canada and select parts of the United States. His responsibilities included identifying portfolio enhancing companies and ensuring their success by providing active, hands-on senior management direction via roles on boards, involvement in strategy, recruiting and planning. Mr. Varghese was also responsible for managing the exits from investments and for managing the funds liquid portfolio. eLab successfully returned capital to its investors in 2001, generating realized returns greater than 75%.

As a Director of the Internet and Communications Fund within Royal Bank Ventures Inc. (RBVI), Mr. Varghese was a senior partner responsible for making investments in and managing portfolio companies in Ontario and Quebec. His duties included roles on public and private company boards. Prior to joining RBVI, Mr. Varghese was a Vice President at boutique merchant bank that orchestrated and fuelled Canada�s first high profile, publicly traded Internet Company that eventually exceed $1 billion in market capitalization.

Mr. Varghese�s professional experience ranges from venture capital and investment banking to senior management and board of director roles in various industries. He has held COO and CFO positions at start-up organizations, as well as senior management roles within multi-national corporations including Royal Bank Capital Corporation, Midland Walwyn Capital Inc. (Merrill Lynch Canada), Dell Computer Corporation and Jim Pattison Industries Ltd.


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David is the founder and Managing Director of XPV Capital Corporation, a leading investment firm that invests in high growth water companies. David identifies and invests in companies capitalizing on the opportunities created by the 'new water economy' - a concept he developed. He is a respected spe...
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David is the founder and Managing Director of XPV Capital Corporation, a leading investment firm that invests in high growth water companies. David identifies and invests in companies capitalizing on the opportunities created by the 'new water economy' - a concept he developed. He is a respected speaker and contributor in water technology and investing. Some of the organizations David has worked with include: Empire Club of Canada, Globe, Milken Institute, the Brookings Institute, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Water Innovation Alliance.
David is Advisor to the Ontario Clean Water Initiative and Imagine H2O and is a recipient of the 2009 Canada's Top 40 Under 40 Award.

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Amar Varma is a Managing and Founding Partner of Extreme Venture Partners (EVP) and a Co-Founder of Xtreme Labs, a Toronto-based mobile strategy and product development firm. Xtreme Labs was recently recognized as one of Canada's Top 50 Emerging Growth Companies for 2010. Amar brings over a decade ...
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Amar Varma is a Managing and Founding Partner of Extreme Venture Partners (EVP) and a Co-Founder of Xtreme Labs, a Toronto-based mobile strategy and product development firm. Xtreme Labs was recently recognized as one of Canada's Top 50 Emerging Growth Companies for 2010. Amar brings over a decade of experience in the technology and investment arenas to his ventures. Prior to founding EVP and Xtreme Labs, Amar was a Director at VenGrowth Capital Partners, focusing on investments in the technology sector. Amar has further experience with a number of public and private technology companies in both Canada and the United States. Some of these include Jetstream Communications Inc., Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, ATi Technologies Inc. and Newbridge Networks Corp. Widely recognized as one of Canada's leading mobile technology experts, Amar has shared his insights in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Life Magazine, and BNN, as well as in numerous speaking engagements across the country. Amar has a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and is a graduate of the Venture Capital Institute sponsored by the National Venture Capital Association.

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Jordan Banks is the managing director of Facebook Canada, responsible for leading and managing all commercial operations at the Facebook Canada office based in Toronto, Ontario. Previously, Jordan was the managing partner at Thunder Road Capital, which he founded in 2008 to provide investment and...
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Jordan Banks is the managing director of Facebook Canada, responsible for leading and managing all commercial operations at the Facebook Canada office based in Toronto, Ontario. Previously, Jordan was the managing partner at Thunder Road Capital, which he founded in 2008 to provide investment and advisory services to early stage technology companies. Jordan was also the chief executive officer of JumpTV (TSX: NLN), a leading broadcaster of sports and international television over the Internet. Hired in 2007, Jordan was a key architect of the merger in 2008 of JumpTV and NeuLion Inc., a company owned by former Computer Associates founder and CEO Charles Wang. Prior to joining JumpTV, Jordan served as the managing director of eBay Canada. Jordan helped launch eBay Canada in 2000 and was the second employee of the Canadian office of eBay Inc. In his role of managing director at eBay Canada, Jordan had overall responsibility for the ongoing development of eBay Canada including operations, strategy, and marketing, as well as building the eBay brand and community of users in Canada. Jordan and his team were responsible for growing the activity of Canadians on eBay to over one billion dollars in 2007 which accounted for approximately 25% of all Canadian e-commerce activity. Before joining eBay Canada, Jordan managed the Licensing and International Business group at the National Hockey League Players' Association. In this role, he was responsible for supervising and managing global retail product licensees, negotiating license and international event agreements, and identifying and pursuing new areas of business for the organization. A lawyer by profession, Jordan also practiced corporate law at Goodmans in Toronto. Over the course of the past two decades, Jordan has personally championed numerous efforts relating to raising money and awareness for Alzheimer's research and care. As part of that commitment, Jordan was the founder of both the Twitter movement called "A Million Tweets to Remember" as well as the popular fundraising event called Sportsfest. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Well.ca and the Baycrest Centre, as well as sitting on the Advisory Boards of The Mark News, Polar Mobile and the Canadian Innovation Exchange. Jordan is also one of seven business leaders who form the Canadian Football League's "Commissioner's Council", dedicated to the future growth of the CFL and he is also a member of the Globe and Mail's Small Business Advisory Panel as well as the Corporate Advisory Committee at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Jordan is a member of the Young President's Organization and Jordan has been named one of Canada's "Top 40 Under 40" honourees - a celebrated national program that honours leaders for their achievements in leadership, vision, innovation, community involvement and contribution. Jordan was also named one of the four inaugural winners of the Hugo Boss "Leave a Mark Award" celebrating "men of excellence" in Canada.

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Mr. Samant is a Managing Director and Head of the Canadian Technology Investment Banking practice at Canaccord Genuity. He has extensive experience providing financial and capital markets advisory services to a wide range of growth companies including Workbrain Corporation, Miranda Technologies, Rug...
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Mr. Samant is a Managing Director and Head of the Canadian Technology Investment Banking practice at Canaccord Genuity. He has extensive experience providing financial and capital markets advisory services to a wide range of growth companies including Workbrain Corporation, Miranda Technologies, RuggedCom, TeraGo Networks, Bridgewater Systems, Corel Corporation, ComDev International and Adenyo. Prior to its merger with Canaccord, Mr Samant was one of the original partners at Genuity Capital Markets at its formation in 2005. Previous to this, Mr. Samant spent a combined ten years in the Communications and Technology practices at RBC Capital Markets and CIBC World Markets. Mr. Samant has an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University, an LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School and a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) from the University of Western Ontario. Mr. Samant also holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

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Suzie is a founding partner with Venture Law Associates LLP, a leading Canadian law firm representing public and private companies, entrepreneurs and investors in corporate, commercial and technology law matters. She regularly advises clients on new business models, raising capital, music and conten...
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Suzie is a founding partner with Venture Law Associates LLP, a leading Canadian law firm representing public and private companies, entrepreneurs and investors in corporate, commercial and technology law matters. She regularly advises clients on new business models, raising capital, music and content rights issues, and technology licensing issues. Suzie is currently legal counsel and business advisor to a number of Canadian and American entrepreneurs and start-ups as well as later stage software and communications companies. Admitted to the New York and Ontario bars, Suzie has worked at leading law firms on Bay Street and Wall Street, and as senior counsel for Nortel Networks. Suzie was also a member of the founding team and general counsel to Saraide Inc., a wireless data spinout of Nortel Networks which was sold to Infospace for US $470 million. Following the sale of Saraide, Suzie spent two years as a venture capital investor with BCE Capital, where she managed telecommunications investments in Canada and the United States. A frequent commentator on innovation and issues for entrepreneurs, Suzie also is the author of a blog, Venture Law Lines. Her first book, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying, should be finished any day now. Really.

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Geoff is a partner with Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP (based in Toronto) and concentrates on private and public financings, M&A transactions and strategic commercial matters. He advises a broad spectrum of life sciences and technology companies, including privately held high-growth companies,...
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Geoff is a partner with Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP (based in Toronto) and concentrates on private and public financings, M&A transactions and strategic commercial matters. He advises a broad spectrum of life sciences and technology companies, including privately held high-growth companies, new businesses established to commercialize technology acquired from private or public research organizations and large cap public entities (in corporate finance and M&A matters). As an adviser to many North American VC funds, Geoff has been involved in over 100 cross-border VC deals and has advised acquirors, targets and selling shareholders in numerous private (and public-private) M&A transactions.

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With more than 25 years of management experience, Howard has an in-depth knowledge of operational execution in the high-tech industry. Howard has spent the past eight years sharing his skills with more than 20 companies, serving as a Board Director or Board Chairman in the Software, SaaS, and Servic...
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With more than 25 years of management experience, Howard has an in-depth knowledge of operational execution in the high-tech industry. Howard has spent the past eight years sharing his skills with more than 20 companies, serving as a Board Director or Board Chairman in the Software, SaaS, and Services marketplace. He has sat on both Audit and Compensation Committees for TSX- and Nasdaq-listed companies and is well known in the Canadian and U.S. software industries.

Howard currently serves on the boards of Coveo Inc., dna13 Software (Chairman), Cirba Inc., Kinaxis Inc., MKS Inc. (Toronto:MKX.TO) and Opalis Inc.

In January 2000, Howard was president of Solect Technology Group, a global provider of billing, customer care and service management software for the telecommunications industry. In April 2000, Howard helped orchestrate the sale of Solect to Amdocs Inc., a world leader in customer management billing systems. The transaction (US$1.2B) was the largest ever for a private Canadian software company.

Prior to Solect, Howard held a variety of executive management positions at PeopleSoft Inc. from 1995-2000, including VP and General Manager Canadian Operations, VP and Managing Director European Operations, SVP International Operations and EVP World Wide Operations. During his last role at PeopleSoft, Howard was responsible for all company revenue streams and field employees. During his tenure, the company grew from

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Mr. Wilkes is an active Angel investor who looks for high-growth opportunities in traditional industries with a technological edge (including manufacturing and distribution, energy, water, financial services/payments industry, and bio-materials). He is a partner in Management Initiatives Inc., a bus...
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Mr. Wilkes is an active Angel investor who looks for high-growth opportunities in traditional industries with a technological edge (including manufacturing and distribution, energy, water, financial services/payments industry, and bio-materials). He is a partner in Management Initiatives Inc., a business advisory and investment firm located in Toronto, Ontario where he invests, mentors, raises capital and advises business owners and investment funds. Mr. Wilkes is the Chairman and a founding member of the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO), and past-Chairman of the NACO Public Policy Committee. He is active on numerous Boards of Directors with private and public businesses, and volunteer organizations. Mr. Wilkes holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Business (1998 Dean's Honours List), a Bachelor of Commerce degree, and a Chartered Accountant designation. He is an active long distance runner having completed numerous half and 7 full marathons - including the Boston Marathon in April 2008. In April 2010, he will be running the Boston Marathon again with his daughter. "How cool is that!"

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Mark's career began in 1988 at Royal Bank and worked in a number of commercial banking roles. Mark then was recruited by Cisco Systems in 2000 to join Cisco Capital's structured finance team in Toronto where he financed the sales of Cisco equipment and services to sub-investment grade customers in C...
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Mark's career began in 1988 at Royal Bank and worked in a number of commercial banking roles. Mark then was recruited by Cisco Systems in 2000 to join Cisco Capital's structured finance team in Toronto where he financed the sales of Cisco equipment and services to sub-investment grade customers in Canada and the U.S. East Coast. Mark returned to Royal Bank in 2001 to lead the bank's Information Technology Banking team in the Greater Toronto Area. In Mark's last role at RBC, he was the executive responsible for RBC's entire Knowledge Based Industries practice in the Ontario marketplace in addition to the Toronto Tech Banking Group. Mark joined Wellington as a Partner in the summer of 2006. While at Wellington, Mark has lead over $45Million of transactions with 11 different companies over the past 3 years. Mark has his MBA from Queen's University and is involved in a number of technology associations and organizations.

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Ilse Treurnict is the CEO of MaRS Discovery District, a leading innovation centre located in Toronto. She oversees both the development and operations of the MaRS Centre and its board suite of entrepreneurship and innovation programs.

MaRS offers advisory services, market intelligenc...
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Ilse Treurnict is the CEO of MaRS Discovery District, a leading innovation centre located in Toronto. She oversees both the development and operations of the MaRS Centre and its board suite of entrepreneurship and innovation programs.

MaRS offers advisory services, market intelligence and entrepreneurship education to emerging companies in health care/life sciences, information technology, communications and entertainment (ICE), cleantech and social purpose businesses across Ontario.

Ilse has worked closely with the leadership of Toronto�s academic institutions and teaching hospitals to create MaRS Innovation, an integrated commercialization platform for 14 Toronto Institutions and served as the interim Managing Director of a year following its formal launch in early 2008.

Ilse joined MaRS in early 2005 from her role as President & CEO of Primaxis Technology Ventures, a start up stage venture capital fund focused on the advanced technologies sector. Prior to Primaxis, Ilse was an entrepreneur with senior management roles in a number of emerging technology companies.
She is an active member of Canada�s innovation community, has served on the boards of private companies, industry associations and research organizations, and has been a member of several government advisory panels.

Ilse holds a DPhil in chemistry from Oxford University, which she attended as a Rhodes scholar.

In 2009, Dr. Treurnict was inducted into the Women�s Executive Network�s Canada�s Most Powerful Women Top 100 Hall of Fame. Read the Globe and Mail interview on this: �A different pace to leadership�.


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Duncan Stewart is the Director of Deloitte Canada Research in the areas of Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT). He is a member of Deloitte's national TMT executive team and is a co-author of Deloitte Research's annual Predictions report on trends in TMT. Duncan has almost two decades...
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Duncan Stewart is the Director of Deloitte Canada Research in the areas of Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT). He is a member of Deloitte's national TMT executive team and is a co-author of Deloitte Research's annual Predictions report on trends in TMT. Duncan has almost two decades of experience in the TMT industry. As an analyst and portfolio manager, Duncan has provided research or made investments in the entire Canadian technology and telecommunications sector. He has written research on names such as Nortel and Celestica, and been a venture capital investor in Research in Motion among others. Duncan is also founder and CEO of DSAM Consulting, which performs research and analysis on companies in the TMT and GreenTech space. Prior to that, Duncan was a co-founder of Tera Capital, Canada's first high tech and biotech money manager, where he was responsible for managing both mutual funds and VC funds, and was the Canadian Technology Fund Manager of the Year in 2003. In the mid 1990s, Duncan managed a $150 million small cap high tech/biotech fund at a large Canadian pension fund manager. In his years as an investor he has deployed a cumulative $2 billion of capital into the global TMT and Life Science markets. Duncan has a high profile media presence and is frequently interviewed on technology and biotechnology issues. He has also been a bi-monthly columnist for The National Post and CBC Radio. Duncan is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

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As the Managing Director of Terracap Ventures, David's responsibilities include developing the firm's overall corporate strategy, managing our relationships with other VC's, angel and high net worth investors, bankers and strategic investors, and developing relationships with potential investee comp...
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As the Managing Director of Terracap Ventures, David's responsibilities include developing the firm's overall corporate strategy, managing our relationships with other VC's, angel and high net worth investors, bankers and strategic investors, and developing relationships with potential investee companies.

David previously spent approximately 15 years as an Equity Research technology analyst � analysing both public and private companies. Most recently, he spent 3 years at Mackie Research Capital as Head of the Technology Group in the Equity Research department where he covered the Software & Media sectors. David was also responsible for coordinating the firm�s overall strategy in technology equities research. David has been consistently ranked as a leading technology analyst (software) in Canada, and prior to joining Mackie Research Capital had been with a number of financial institutions, including Desjardins, CIBC World Markets, and First Marathon. David has also have been directly involved in the technology industry, having worked with several technology start-ups as CFO and at Celestica where he was responsible for financial analysis for the EMS division. David holds a B.A. (Specialized Honours) degree and an MBA from York University, and also has his CFA designation.

David is currently on the Advisory Board of the Canadian Innovation Exchange and is also an Advisor to Keek Inc. and Charity Bids.

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Sunil Sharma is Managing Director and "Chief Connector" for Extreme Startups, a world-class venture-backed tech accelerator based in the heart of downtown Toronto. Backed by 5 of Canada's premier VC funds (OMERS Ventures, Relay Ventures, BDC Venture Capital, Rho Ventures and Extreme Ventu...
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Sunil Sharma is Managing Director and "Chief Connector" for Extreme Startups, a world-class venture-backed tech accelerator based in the heart of downtown Toronto. Backed by 5 of Canada's premier VC funds (OMERS Ventures, Relay Ventures, BDC Venture Capital, Rho Ventures and Extreme Venture Partners), Extreme Startups looks to fund, connect and help grow Canada's next generation of technology companies. With a rigorous program of mentorship, corporate partnership and hands-on coaching, Extreme Startups has become a sough-after program for early-stage companies in the internet, social media, mobile, software, gaming, e-commerce domains and other sectoral domains.

Prior to joining Extreme Startups Sunil was the International Director of Canada's Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) where he has been active in helping connect the Canadian venture capital and private equity industry with international funding partners and institutional investors. While working with the CVCA (Sunil still maintains an active role with the organization), Sunil was on assignment from Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade where he served as a member of Canada's Foreign Service. Most recently Sunil was appointed Head of Consulate at Canada's Consulate in San Diego, California.


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Mr. Ruffolo is the Chief Executive Officer of OMERS Ventures, the venture arm of OMERS. OMERS Ventures invests in early or later stage companies in the Technology, Media, Telecommunications, Clean Tech or Life Sciences sectors. In addition, he is also the Senior Vice President & Head of Knowle...
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Mr. Ruffolo is the Chief Executive Officer of OMERS Ventures, the venture arm of OMERS. OMERS Ventures invests in early or later stage companies in the Technology, Media, Telecommunications, Clean Tech or Life Sciences sectors. In addition, he is also the Senior Vice President & Head of Knowledge Investing with OMERS Strategic Investments.

Prior to joining OMERS Ventures, Mr. Ruffolo was a Partner at Deloitte, as well as the Global Thought Leader, the Global Tax Leader and the Canadian Industry Leader for Deloitte�s Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) practice. He was also a member of the firm�s Tax and TMT Global Leadership teams and a member of Deloitte�s Board of Directors.

Mr. Ruffolo has over two decades of experience advising public and private companies around the world. He has extensive experience providing strategic advisory services to Canadian and foreign-based TMT companies.

Mr. Ruffolo has also been recognized as one of the country�s leading clean-tech advisors. In addition, he has worked closely with a number of North America�s leading venture capital and private equity firms and has advised many of the companies in which they invest.

Mr. Ruffolo serves as Chair of the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association�s Tax Policy Committee and the David Suzuki Foundation Friends of Ontario. He is also a member of the Corporate Fundraising committees for Sunnybrook Foundation and the Art Gallery of Ontario and is a member of the Toronto chapter of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).

A chartered accountant, Mr. Ruffolo was formerly a partner with Arthur Andersen LLP and has also spent time as an instructor for both the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and York University�s Schulich School of Business, from which he holds a Bachelor of Business Administration.

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Michelle Scarborough is an experienced entrepreneur with a track record of business achievement spanning more than 15 years. Currently Vice President, Investment and Commercialization at OCRI (Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation), she has been responsible for building a team of business leader...
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Michelle Scarborough is an experienced entrepreneur with a track record of business achievement spanning more than 15 years. Currently Vice President, Investment and Commercialization at OCRI (Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation), she has been responsible for building a team of business leaders and seasoned investment professionals who help start-up and emerging companies across the knowledge-based industries achieve global business success through mentorship, market intelligence and direct access to capital. She has held a cross section of senior management roles in public and private sector organizations, including CEO, Scarborough & Associates where she outsourced her expertise to private industry and non-governmental agencies in the areas of financing and corporate restructuring including holding several positions such as acting CEO for organizations like Junior Achievement of BC. Through her company, she also acted on behalf of VC investors on due diligence and restructuring of several VC funded portfolio companies including Solflex Energy (Director, Corporate Development), Wildly Sophisticated (Investor), and The Portables (Director). An active member of the Angel investment community, she has participated as a founder and principal seed investor in several capital pool companies and publicly traded businesses in a range of industry sectors, including Palmarejo Silver and Gold (TSX Venture Exchange), purchased by Coeur d'Alene Mines in a $1 billion transaction. Ms. Scarborough graduated from the University of Calgary with dual bachelor designations in Science and Communications. She was recently honoured as a 2008 Top 40 Under 40 Award Recipient and is a participant in The Leadership Forum Series at the University of Otawa. She is also a regular guest of CTV's TechNow, reporting on investment trends in technology in Canada on a quarterly basis. Ms. Scarborough is a guest lecturer at the eMBA program at the University of Ottawa on venture capital and entrepreneurship, and she currently sits on the board of the National Angel Organization.

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Richard Remillard is Executive-Director of Canada's Venture Capital and Private Equity Association(CVCA), a post he has held since November 2003. He has also been President of R C G, a management consulting firm active in the financial services industry,a Vice-President with the Canadian Bankers Ass...
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Richard Remillard is Executive-Director of Canada's Venture Capital and Private Equity Association(CVCA), a post he has held since November 2003. He has also been President of R C G, a management consulting firm active in the financial services industry,a Vice-President with the Canadian Bankers Association, a special assistant to the Minister of Finance and a public affairs manager with Bank of Montreal. Richard sits on several boards, has taught at Concordia University and is a graduate of McGill University and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Roger has been in the venture capital business for over 16 years. Leveraging his prior entrepreneurial experience, he has assisted many technology growth companies over the years, managing investments in software, IT services, electronics manufacturing and life sciences. He's played an active role o...
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Roger has been in the venture capital business for over 16 years. Leveraging his prior entrepreneurial experience, he has assisted many technology growth companies over the years, managing investments in software, IT services, electronics manufacturing and life sciences. He's played an active role on the board of directors of both private and public companies. Since 2000, Roger has concentrated on the software sector where he currently serves on the board of several companies. He was previously Vice President of the Canadian Venture Capital Association (CVCA) and Chair of the CVCA's Professional Development Committee.

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Mike Middleton, MBA, CFA, is the founding partner of Q1 Capital and a recognized leader in investment banking to private Canadian technology companies. Prior to entering the field, Mike worked in the financial services industry and was the Founder and President of a niche Canadian consumer products ...
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Mike Middleton, MBA, CFA, is the founding partner of Q1 Capital and a recognized leader in investment banking to private Canadian technology companies. Prior to entering the field, Mike worked in the financial services industry and was the Founder and President of a niche Canadian consumer products firm. Mike has dedicated the past 15 years to investment banking with a focus on high-technology, advanced manufacturing, and consumer product companies. Progressing from research analyst to Managing Partner at two leading Canadian private investment banks, Mike co-founded his own boutique investment bank in 2001 with the primary mandate to serve the unique financing and M&A needs of Canadian private companies. Within these roles, Mike has focused exclusively on small to mid-cap companies and has looked at over 1,000 firms. Companies that he has worked with include: Leitch Technology Corporation, ATS Automation Tooling Systems, The Learning Company, Enghouse Systems, and Wescam. Mike has a strong reputation for delivering value to his clients. He brings relevant expertise, deep investor networks, and an uncompromising approach to finding buyers or raising capital for private Canadian technology companies across Canada. Mike's objective is to provide entrepreneurs with a level of professional service that previously was only available to public companies. He has an excellent track record in the successful completion of mandates and has been featured in several recent Canadian business publications for his work.

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A Nortel veteran as Director of Branding and Advertising, Executive Director of Communications with CBC, and CEO of Ontario Tourism. Federal stints with the Privy Council Office and Industry Canada. Overall, a 20-year background in marketing with a unique mix of technology and management experien...
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A Nortel veteran as Director of Branding and Advertising, Executive Director of Communications with CBC, and CEO of Ontario Tourism. Federal stints with the Privy Council Office and Industry Canada. Overall, a 20-year background in marketing with a unique mix of technology and management experience. Iain's Nortel work supported start-up technology companies around the globe. Here in Waterloo Region, he's committed to supporting technology businesses where they need it most: right in the trenches, providing practical services and programs to members of all sizes. Part of his role is as key contact for government relations, to make sure that all levels of government know about the developments and capabilities in Waterloo Region's tech sector. Iain is also committed to community partnerships, sitting on several boards, including the Prosperity Council, the Guelph-Waterloo Biotechnology Council, the Accelerator Centre and the Research + Technology Park. Iain holds an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University, an MPA degree from Dalhousie University and an HBA from Laurentian University

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Stephen A. Hurwitz is a member of the Business and Technology Practice Group at Choate Hall and Stewart, a Boston-based law firm with a specialty in Canada-US cross-border transactions.

Mr. Hurwitz has served as counsel to public and privately-held companies. He has represented compan...
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Stephen A. Hurwitz is a member of the Business and Technology Practice Group at Choate Hall and Stewart, a Boston-based law firm with a specialty in Canada-US cross-border transactions.

Mr. Hurwitz has served as counsel to public and privately-held companies. He has represented companies from start-ups through mature public companies both in their US and international activities. His practice has included representation of high technology and other companies in various industries, private and public financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, licensing, and distribution transactions.

Mr. Hurwitz also has extensive experience in US-Canada cross-border issues and is a frequent speaker and panelist at many of the major technology, life sciences and venture capital events in Canada. He is chair and co-founder of the North American Venture Capital Summit.

Mr. Hurwitz received his AB from Cornell University and his JD from Cornell Law School.

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As the founding principal of Critical Path Group, Marc has positioned his firm at the intersection of high growth companies and the private equity community.

A graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada, Marc was an operational naval officer for eight years, serving in Halifax C...
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As the founding principal of Critical Path Group, Marc has positioned his firm at the intersection of high growth companies and the private equity community.

A graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada, Marc was an operational naval officer for eight years, serving in Halifax Class warships with allied navies around the world before being recruited by a global management consulting firm. Being passionate about working with entrepreneurial teams, he founded Critical Path Group to serve private and public sector clients in two under-served areas: strategic planning, and recruiting A-players for companies committed to building world class teams.

Marc holds a BA (Hons) and an MBA specializing in technology commercialization and new venture planning. He also holds the CMC (Certified Management Consultant) designation and is a dedicated member of the Canadian Association of Management Consultants. Marc believes strongly in distinguishing between leadership and management - defining management as coping with business complexity, and leadership as coping with the human element of change.

A prolific networker, Marc invests heavily in professional development leadership roles that are directly aligned with addressing the challenges and "pain points" facing his client organizations. He is a founding delegate to the Canadian ICT Federation, the Executive Director of the Banff Venture Forum, Canada's largest annual technology financing forum for emerging high-growth companies, and has served on a number of advisory boards.

When not leading the firm, Marc practices being an "earth astronaut" - skiing, mountain biking, kayaking, mountaineering, and fly fishing. He has lived in Canada, the UK, Germany, and Australia.

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Don is responsible for MaRS Business Services including advisory, capital, and talent services, and educational programs. In addition, Don is also responsible for corporate strategy and the MaRS operational performance management program. Don joined MaRS from Deloitte Consulting, where he served as ...
[ Extended Bio ]

Don is responsible for MaRS Business Services including advisory, capital, and talent services, and educational programs. In addition, Don is also responsible for corporate strategy and the MaRS operational performance management program. Don joined MaRS from Deloitte Consulting, where he served as a Senior Manager in the Strategy and Operations Consulting group based in Toronto. Through his consulting career, Don has worked with numerous clients in the life sciences, healthcare and consumer business industries. Don was part of a successful service-oriented start-up company, currently serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Engineering and is an Executive Board member for the Queen's Players Toronto Theatre Company and JUMP Math. He holds a BScH in Environmental Chemistry from Queen's University and a MASc in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto.

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Dr. Sara Diamond is the President of the OCAD University, Canada's "university of the imagination". She holds a PhD in Computer Science and degrees in new media theory and practice, social history and communications. While retaining OCAD University's traditional strengths in art and design...
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Dr. Sara Diamond is the President of the OCAD University, Canada's "university of the imagination". She holds a PhD in Computer Science and degrees in new media theory and practice, social history and communications. While retaining OCAD University's traditional strengths in art and design, she has led her university to become a leader in digital media and design research and curriculum through the Digital Futures Initiative, towards new research in Inclusive Design and health and design, as well as in sustainable technologies and design. She has also led OCAD University to begin the unique Aboriginal Visual Culture Program. She currently serves on the Ontario Ministry of Culture's Minister's Advisory Council on Arts & Culture, the Board of Directors of the Toronto Arts Council Foundation and ORION, Ontario's high speed network, the board of National Centre of Excellence GRAND and IO (Interactive Ontario) and SACUR with the Association of Universities and University Colleges. She is founding Chair of the Mobile Experience Innovation Centre and current co-chair (with RBC).She is a visualization, wearable technology and mobile media researcher, artist and designer. She is co-principle investigator on the Centre for Information Visualization/Data Driven Design, an OCADU/York University major initiative. Diamond was the Artistic Director of Media and Visual Art and Director of Research at the Banff Centre, where she created the Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) in 1995 and led it until 2005. In this role she assisted with the development, incubation and support for many of Canada's leading new media companies. Diamond created and was Editor-in-Chief of www.horizonzero.ca, an on-line showcase for new media art and design, in collaboration with Heritage Canada and The Banff Centre. At the Banff Centre she created international think tanks and collaborations in ICT, digital media and science research with artists, designers and scientists from Latin America, Africa, Asia, Central and Western Europe and the USA, as well as Canada. She developed www.codezebra.net, a performance and media art, fashion and software collaboration environment. Diamond continues to write about digital media history, digital media and design strategy for peer reviewed journals and curates for festivals and galleries.

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Kevin is Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of the BlackBerry Partners Fund a leading independent venture capital firm focused exclusively on mobile computing in collaboration with Research In Motion. Kevin has been an entrepreneur, operator and investor in both Canada and the USA for over 20 years....
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Kevin is Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of the BlackBerry Partners Fund a leading independent venture capital firm focused exclusively on mobile computing in collaboration with Research In Motion. Kevin has been an entrepreneur, operator and investor in both Canada and the USA for over 20 years. He represents BlackBerry Partners Fund on the boards of Xobni, PayFone and PocketGear.
From 1997 until 2010, Kevin was with the venture capital operation of Royal Bank of Canada where he was Vice President of Venture Capital and Managing Director of RBC Venture Partners, and focused on investments in financial services technology throughout North America. In 2010, Kevin and his team spun RBC Venture Partners and the Bank's interest in the BlackBerry Partners Fund manager out of RBC. He presently sits on the boards of Brickstream, Igloo and txteagle on behalf of RBC. Previously, he served on the boards of Thor Technologies (acquired by Oracle), iPhrase Technologies (acquired by IBM), Inea Corp. (acquired by Cartesis/Business Objects), Infobright Inc., Tacit Software (acquired by Oracle) and CashEdge (acquired by SIG).
Kevin holds an MBA, with distinction, from York University, a BA degree in Strategic Studies and the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors' Corporate Governance College at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Kevin also holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at the Schulich School of Business (York University) in Toronto.

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David Crow is an entrepreneur and community animator. David recently cofounded Influitive, a platform for automating referral marketing processes. Prior to Influitive, David has held senior product marketing and user experience roles at Microsoft Canada, Radiant Core, Ambient Vector, Reactivity and ...
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David Crow is an entrepreneur and community animator. David recently cofounded Influitive, a platform for automating referral marketing processes. Prior to Influitive, David has held senior product marketing and user experience roles at Microsoft Canada, Radiant Core, Ambient Vector, Reactivity and Trilogy Software Inc. David's passion is helping startups with product & marketing strategy. He is the co-founder and community animator of StartupNorth.ca where he blogs about Canadian startups. He hosts DemoCamp, an irregular event of cocktails and product demos for entrepreneurs, developers and marketers. He enables connections between Founders & Funders, a dinner meeting between the individuals that start high potential companies and the individuals that fund them. He has been named Toronto's Best Web and Tech Evangelist for his efforts on DemoCamp, BarCampToronto, and Founders & Funders. David has a Master from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon Univeristy and a Bachelors from the University of Waterloo. David blogs at http://davidcrow.ca/ and http://startupnorth.ca/. For more information check out his LinkedIn profile or follow him on Twitter @davidcrow.

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Roger Chabra is a General Partner at Rho Canada Ventures, a division of Rho Capital Partners focused on early-stage investing in Canada's most innovative technology companies. With more than 15 years of venture capital, operating and entrepreneurial experience, he seeks to partner with passionate, e...
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Roger Chabra is a General Partner at Rho Canada Ventures, a division of Rho Capital Partners focused on early-stage investing in Canada's most innovative technology companies. With more than 15 years of venture capital, operating and entrepreneurial experience, he seeks to partner with passionate, energetic and visionary entrepreneurs who solve big problems and also possess the innate qualities needed to lead people to achieve their goals.

Roger joined Rho in 2010 and focuses on investments in new media, software, Internet, wireless and communication companies at the early stages of development. Prior to Rho, he worked as a venture investor at GrowthWorks Capital where he was involved in the funding and growth of numerous companies including Whitehill (acquired by Oracle), Xkoto (acquired by Teradata), Paymentus (acquired by Accel-KKR) and NetShelter. Roger was also previously an investor at the corporate venture arm of BCE's wireless division, where he was instrumental in the financing & development of many successful wireless and telecom companies across North America. He has also been a technology start-up CEO at Mobilessence and has worked in a variety of web technology-focused roles at Rogers Wireless and Sapphire Technologies (acquired by Randstad).

Roger is dedicated to maintaining and enhancing Canada's competitiveness in the global information economy. He believes Canadian entrepreneurs are among the best talents in the world, and he is passionate about the advantages of growing technology companies in Canada and making them global leaders.

Roger received an M.B.A. from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and a B.A., also from the University of Western Ontario.


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Leonard is a highly respected entrepreneur, venture capitalist, best-selling author and Emmy-nominated media visionary. He has helped in raising millions of dollars for start-up
companies, been through one of the largest internet IPOs in history and has been involved in the building, financin...
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Leonard is a highly respected entrepreneur, venture capitalist, best-selling author and Emmy-nominated media visionary. He has helped in raising millions of dollars for start-up
companies, been through one of the largest internet IPOs in history and has been involved in the building, financing and/or sale of five companies to date.

Much critical acclaim has followed him in his endeavours. At Onvia (where he was part of the initial executive), the company was voted Canada's number one start-up in 2000 and subsequently closed a $240 Million IPO on NASDAQ.

Currently, Leonard is C--Founder and CEO of NowPublic which is one of the pioneers in citizen-generated news and quickly becoming one of the largest news agencies in the world,
with over 170,000 contributing reporters in 160 countries and over 3 million readers a month. The Guardian in London ranked NowPublic as one of top 5 news sites in the world and Time Magazine named it as of the top 50 websites in the world.

Leonard acts as an advisor to venture capital funds in the US, Europe and Asia. Throughout his career, has also advised several entities including the Associated Press, Alliance Atlantis,
CanWest Global, Derby County Football Club and Sonic Foundry. In addition, he was the Senior Technology Advisor to Former Minister of Foreign Affairs & International Trade, David Emerson. Currently, Leonard is a Senior Advisor to the Canadian Ministry of International Trade and a Director of Canada's largest technology association, CATA.

A highly sought-after public speaker, Leonard has lectured at universities such as Stanford, the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai and the Gordon Business School in Johannesburg. His insight has been requested by companies such as Forbes, Warner Music and Bell, as well as the governments of countries such as India, Israel, Ireland and South Africa. He has spoken at conferences throughout the world including NASSCOM, the World Newspaper Congress, CEBIT and the Monaco Media Forum. His work has been featured in such publications as USA Today, Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC, El Mundo and Der Spiegel. Recently he was given the award as one of Vancouver's Top 40 Under 40. He is coauthor of the best selling books, "Innovation Nation: Canadian Leadership from Jurassic Park to Java" and "Everything I Needed to Know About Business...I Learned from a Canadian", both published by John Wiley and Sons.

Leonard holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts from Queens University, a law degree from Osgoode Hall and is a graduate of the Private Equity Course at the Harvard Business School.

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The IAF is a seed-stage fund that invests up to $500,000 to help early-stage Ontario technology companies bring their products and services to market.


Barry has over 25 years experience in senior management positions in venture capital, private equity and operating companies. P...
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The IAF is a seed-stage fund that invests up to $500,000 to help early-stage Ontario technology companies bring their products and services to market.


Barry has over 25 years experience in senior management positions in venture capital, private equity and operating companies. Prior to joining MaRS, Barry was with the Kirchner Private Capital Group, in the Transition Management practice where he undertook a 15-month interim CEO assignment with an aerospace components company. Before this, he was a Partner at Ventures West for over 13 years making early stage technology investments in IT, communications, cleantech and medical device companies. He has served on the Board of the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and the IAF. Barry has an HBA Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario.

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V. Paul Lee is the Managing General Partner of Vanedge Capital Partners Ltd., a venture capital fund established to focus on opportunities in the interactive digital media space. The market for interactive and digital entertainment and media is massive, growing, and changing at an extremely rapid pa...
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V. Paul Lee is the Managing General Partner of Vanedge Capital Partners Ltd., a venture capital fund established to focus on opportunities in the interactive digital media space. The market for interactive and digital entertainment and media is massive, growing, and changing at an extremely rapid pace. It affects the ways companies use the Internet to attract and engage target audiences and conduct commerce electronically. Lee is the former President of Electronic Arts, Inc., the global leader in interactive software, and was responsible for its Worldwide Studio group. Electronic Arts had fiscal 2008 revenues of US $3.67 billion. He managed more than 6,000 employees and US$1 billion in annual capital and operating expenses in the development studios making it the largest entertainment studio in the world. In 1987 Lee graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Commerce with Honours Degree and was one of six students selected to enter the prestigious Portfolio Management Fund program at the UBC Sauder School of Business. Lee is a Leslie Wong Fellow and is also a designated Chartered Financial Analyst. From 1987 to 1989 Lee worked at Chrysler Canada as an Investment Manager for the pension fund and health and welfare benefit plans. Lee invested in and joined Distinctive Software as a Principal in 1989, having been a member of its board for several years prior. Distinctive Software became a leading independent videogame developer and was acquired by Electronic Arts in 1991. Lee has been a member of the executive management team since, holding a variety of positions. 1994 saw Lee recognized as one of the "40 Under 40" business leaders by Business in Vancouver. In 1996 he was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from the University of British Columbia. In 2002 Lee was awarded the BC Technology Industries Association Person of the Year Award for his outstanding leadership in the high technology industry. Lee has also received numerous awards for his community service including the Commemorative Medal for the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for significant contribution in the form of public service in 2003. In 2005 he was recognized as an Honorary Fellow of the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business. Lee has served as Chair of the BC Technology Industries Association from 1998 to 2001. Lee was an investor and member of the Board of Directors of A.L.I. Technologies until its landmark sale to McKesson Corporation in 2002. Lee was Co-Chair, along with the Premier of British Columbia, of the Premier's Technology Council from its inception in 2001 until 2005 and remains a member of the Council. Lee currently serves as a member of the Dean's Advisory Council for the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia, is a member of the Minister's Steering Committee for the Vancouver International Financial Institutions Sector, and currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Vancouver Board of Trade and New Media B.C. He is Chair of the Board of Directors at D-Wave Systems, a company working to build the world's first commercial quantum computer.

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Mr. Eckert is a Managing Partner of McLean Watson Capital Inc, a Toronto-based venture capital and private equity firm that invests in, and advises, knowledge-based technology companies including software, hardware, telecommunications, and energy and health sciences. Investors include many of the le...
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Mr. Eckert is a Managing Partner of McLean Watson Capital Inc, a Toronto-based venture capital and private equity firm that invests in, and advises, knowledge-based technology companies including software, hardware, telecommunications, and energy and health sciences. Investors include many of the leading public pension funds in Canada and Asia, high net worth individual investors as well as the partners of McLean Watson Prior to founding McLean Watson Capital, John and Loudon Owen, the other Managing Partner of McLean Watson, financed and advised Softimage, a world leader in high-end 3D animation, in its growth from 4 to 250 employees, its IPO on Nasdaq in 1992 and the sale to Microsoft in 1994. John and Loudon served as the Joint COO for Softimage from 1993 to its sale. John has extensive experience in corporate finance, having served as a VP and Director in Corporate Finance and Capital Markets of Wood Gundy Inc. and CIBC Wood Gundy in Canada. He also served as Managing Director of CIBC Wood Gundy (Australia), a merchant bank. John has worked with industry organizations and Government to improve the economic environment in Canada. John was a judge for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award from 2002 to 2006. He regularly lectures at the Rotman School of Management and the Richard Ivey School of Business on the venture capital and investment industries, and speaks at investment and entrepreneurial forums in Canada and abroad.
BOARDS John has served on the Board of the Canadian Venture Capital Association, having previously held the positions of President (2000-2002) and Chairman (2002-2003). He also serves on the Boards of several private and public companies, including SkyWave, Sitebrand and Activplant.
EDUCATION John holds a BA from the University of Western Ontario and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business.

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Since July 1st 2009, Mr. Bernier is Managing Partner and Founder of Teralys Capital, a fund of funds whose limited partners are Québec Governement, Caisse de Dépôt et de Placement and Solidarity Fund QFL. With the Solidarity Fund QFL since 2004, Jacques Bernier has been Senior V...
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Since July 1st 2009, Mr. Bernier is Managing Partner and Founder of Teralys Capital, a fund of funds whose limited partners are Québec Governement, Caisse de Dépôt et de Placement and Solidarity Fund QFL. With the Solidarity Fund QFL since 2004, Jacques Bernier has been Senior Vice-President, Information Technologies, Telecommunications and Industrial Innovations until May 31st 2008 and has act as the gatekeeper for the fund of funds activity. An engineering graduate from École polytechnique in 1979, Mr. Bernier is behind the creation of the Industrial Innovation Center of Montréal. He was also co-founder and CEO of BGH Planning, a software developer, and co-founder and Vice-President of OMVPE Technologies, a manufacturer of semi-conductors. Mr. Bernier helped found Téléport de Montréal, a Québec beacon in the telecommunications sector, and served as its President from 1987 to 2002. Before joining the Solidarity Fund QFL, he was President of Mégapoint, a holding company in the high-tech sector, and Chairman of the Board of LxSix Photonics, a leader in new production processes in fibre-optic communications and optical sensors. Over the past 29 years, Mr. Bernier has demonstrated his expertise-both in Canada and the U.S.-in launching businesses, financial engineering, business development, growing investments, scouting for new markets and defining innovative business strategies. Mr. Bernier is also a member of the Board of Director and executive committee of the CVCA.

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Charley Lax is the co-founder and Managing General Partner of GrandBanks Capital (GBC) of Wellesley, Massachusetts. Mr. Lax focuses on early-stage investment activities (Series A and B) in the areas of Internet infrastructure, software and software services, security and storage applications, media ...
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Charley Lax is the co-founder and Managing General Partner of GrandBanks Capital (GBC) of Wellesley, Massachusetts. Mr. Lax focuses on early-stage investment activities (Series A and B) in the areas of Internet infrastructure, software and software services, security and storage applications, media technologies and services, financial technologies and services, and wireless technologies and services. Mr. Lax has raised and managed over $2.2 billion of venture capital investment funds over the last dozen years. Mr. Lax's personal investment career includes investments in 42 portfolio companies, which have resulted in 31 exits thus far. His track record includes 15 public companies, of which 10 achieved market caps in excess of $1 billion. With over 18 years of venture capital experience, Mr. Lax currently serves on the boards of GBC companies including Coradiant, Ember Corporation, OutStart and SilverRail Technologies. Additionally, Mr. Lax is a founding General Partner of both SOFTBANK Venture Capital (Mobius Venture Capital) and SOFTBANK Capital Partners, and co-created Flatiron Partners of New York City. Prior to his career in venture capital, Charley worked for a series of software companies in marketing, product management and sales roles, including Phoenix Technologies Ltd., the BIOS developer. A graduate of Boston University with a BS degree, magna cum laude, in 1982, Charley was elected secretary of Boston University's Alumni Council in 2005 and is a member of its Executive Committee. He is also an Advisory Board member to Boston University's Office of Technology Development (OTD) Ignition Award Program. In 2001, Charley received the Alumni Award for Distinguished Service and gave the Class of 2001 Graduate School of Management commencement address titled, "Lessons Learned from the Internet Bubble." In 2003, the Boston University Entrepreneurial Management Institute awarded him the Henry Morgan Award for outstanding contribution to the Institute. Mr. Lax also sits on the President's Council of the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering.

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Mr. Albright is the Founder and Managing Partner of JLA Ventures and the Co-Managing Partner of the Blackberry Partners Fund. Prior to the founding of JLA Ventures in 1996 and the BlackBerry Partners Fund in 2008, Mr. Albright held senior positions with several private equity and venture capital fir...
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Mr. Albright is the Founder and Managing Partner of JLA Ventures and the Co-Managing Partner of the Blackberry Partners Fund. Prior to the founding of JLA Ventures in 1996 and the BlackBerry Partners Fund in 2008, Mr. Albright held senior positions with several private equity and venture capital firms. During his tenure in the private equity and venture capital business Mr. Albright gained extensive experience assisting entrepreneurs and managers to shape their vision and capital plans into successful long term growth programs which typically involve an aggressive financing strategy. Mr. Albright has a history of assisting entrepreneurial companies through significant growth and eventually to the public markets. His ability to work with and advise senior management of investee companies as well as his skills in filling supporting roles where existing management lack the experience or skill set, has been vital to the success of past investments. Mr. Albright is a Chartered Financial Analyst and received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Schulich School of Business at York University. Mr. Albright serves as a director of several private and public companies, and the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) and is an advisory board member of the North American Venture Capital Association.

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Patrick is a Senior Investment Manager at Qualcomm Ventures. He serves as the group lead for investment opportunities in the mobile software and services sector. Prior to joining Qualcomm, he worked for Citigroup's Investment Banking unit in their Chicago, London and Hong Kong offices. He was a memb...
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Patrick is a Senior Investment Manager at Qualcomm Ventures. He serves as the group lead for investment opportunities in the mobile software and services sector. Prior to joining Qualcomm, he worked for Citigroup's Investment Banking unit in their Chicago, London and Hong Kong offices. He was a member of their Global Telecommunications team, involved in both M&A advisory roles and capital-raising transactions. Patrick currently manages and actively serves as a Board Observer for Qualcomm Ventures investments in Aicent, Avaak, BrainCor, Buzzd, GoTV, Obopay and TweetPhoto. Additionally, he is actively involved in several China-based early stage investments including Bedo, Great Wall Software and formerly Enorbus (acquired by Disney) and TechFaith Wireless (NASDAQ: CNTF). Patrick has an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a B.A. from Northwestern University.

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One of Canada's leading startup finance experts, Mark is a General Partner with Real Ventures, Canada's largest seed venture fund. At Real, Mark focuses on SaaS, freemium and e-commerce investments. Mark was also CFO at Tungle, which was recently acquired by RIM and advises some of Canada's most exc...
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One of Canada's leading startup finance experts, Mark is a General Partner with Real Ventures, Canada's largest seed venture fund. At Real, Mark focuses on SaaS, freemium and e-commerce investments. Mark was also CFO at Tungle, which was recently acquired by RIM and advises some of Canada's most exciting SaaS startups. Mark has been in the startup world since 1999 and has raised over $80-million capital during his career. Mark is also a frequent blogger about the world of startups investments at startupcfo.ca
Connect to Mark: @startupcfo about.me/markmacleod

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Scott Pelton (aka @spelton) has been a Canadian-based venture capitalist since July 2000. It was an interesting time to start a career in technology investing and Scott can confirm that both astronauts and VCs are expensive to train.

Scott joined Round13 Capital in February 2012 afte...
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Scott Pelton (aka @spelton) has been a Canadian-based venture capitalist since July 2000. It was an interesting time to start a career in technology investing and Scott can confirm that both astronauts and VCs are expensive to train.

Scott joined Round13 Capital in February 2012 after six years with GrowthWorks Capital. Round13 is raising its first fund, the Round13 Founders Fund, with the help of Canada's most successful technology founders. Prior to GrowthWorks, Scott was a founding partner at Scotiabank's e-commerce VC group, e-Scotia Acquisition, later renamed Scotiabank Private Equity Investments.

Scott spent the 1990's going to school (Computer Engineering and Management at Mac), working with startups (Pandesic, Roadware) and large firms (P&G, Intel, SAP) as a consultant, programmer or sysadmin. Notable investments include Fixmo (personal seed investor), BumpTop (sold to Google), Datawire (sold to First Data) and Sysomos (sold to Marketwire).

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Rubsun Ho is a corporate lawyer and adviser to a number of early stage technology companies. He co-founded Cognition LLP, a new breed of law firm, upon recognizing that the existing legal marketplace was in need of re-engineering to provide better service at lower costs. Prior to co-founding Cognit...
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Rubsun Ho is a corporate lawyer and adviser to a number of early stage technology companies. He co-founded Cognition LLP, a new breed of law firm, upon recognizing that the existing legal marketplace was in need of re-engineering to provide better service at lower costs. Prior to co-founding Cognition, Rubsun was VP Business Development with Wysdom Inc., a wireless Internet startup based in Toronto, where he helped the company raise over US$60 million in financing and procured marketing and distribution agreements with various telecom and Internet entities. Before Wysdom, Rubsun was a corporate and securities associate in the Toronto and New York offices of Stikeman Elliott, where he worked on a number of public and private financings and M&A transactions. Rubsun holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Toronto (1995) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) from McGill University (1992).

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Steve is a founder of Yaletown Venture Partners and has more than 18 years experience financing and working with entrepreneurial technology teams. Yaletown focuses on early-stage IT and cleantech investments in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest, and is backed by leading US and Canadian instit...
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Steve is a founder of Yaletown Venture Partners and has more than 18 years experience financing and working with entrepreneurial technology teams. Yaletown focuses on early-stage IT and cleantech investments in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest, and is backed by leading US and Canadian institutional investors and a network of successful technology entrepreneurs.

Steve is presently active on the boards of Constructive Media, Mixpo, GenoLogics, the Canadian Venture Capital Association, and is a past director of ActiveState (acquired by Sophos PLC in 2004). He is on the editorial boards of Private Capital magazine, Business In Vancouver newspaper, and is a member of the steering committee responsible for the landmark report on the Economic Impact of Venture Capital in Canada - published January 2009.

Prior to co-founding Yaletown in 2001, Steve established and built TD Bank�s technology financing business on the west coast of Canada, was a senior executive in the Technology, Communications, and Entertainment group of PricewaterhouseCoopers, and began his career as a software engineer with Accenture where he designed and built workflow systems for the energy industry. Steve is a graduate of the University of British Columbia and British Columbia Institute of Technology magna cum laude.

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Ms. Claudia Fan Munce is the Managing Director at IBM Venture Capital Group. She has held this position since March 2004 and is based at the firm's California office. She is involved primarily in marketing and conference duties. Ms. Munce is also Vice President at IBM Corporate Strategy. She joined ...
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Ms. Claudia Fan Munce is the Managing Director at IBM Venture Capital Group. She has held this position since March 2004 and is based at the firm's California office. She is involved primarily in marketing and conference duties. Ms. Munce is also Vice President at IBM Corporate Strategy. She joined IBM Research Division in 1985 and held many technical and business leadership positions. Previously, she was the Functional Manager at IBM Research overseeing technology transfer and licensing activities as well as defining new business opportunities with top IBM partners. Ms. Munce is a Member of Advisory Board at lluminate Ventures. She is also a Member of the Advisory Panel of Arcapita Bank, Venture Capital Arm and Arcapita Ventures I, L.P. She is the Chairman of NVCA Corporate Venture Advisory Board for 2007/2008 and also serves on the Board of Latin America Venture Capital Association. Ms. Munce has done a M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Santa Clara University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.

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As Vice-President, National Digital Solutions, Dominique-Sébastien Forest is responsible for Transcontinental Media digital media strategy, including the diversification of their product offering and the acceleration of the growth of the New Media and Digital Solutions Group. His mission is t...
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As Vice-President, National Digital Solutions, Dominique-Sébastien Forest is responsible for Transcontinental Media digital media strategy, including the diversification of their product offering and the acceleration of the growth of the New Media and Digital Solutions Group. His mission is to create the most compelling and efficient online echo-system for Transcontinental clients. Mr. Forest is recognized for his ability to market innovations and develop effective commercialization strategy with emerging products. He has been a speaker in numerous events in Canada, the United States and Europe on different topics including the future of music, mobility, television and e-commerce. He is Chairman of the board of directors for the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) of Canada.

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Robert Montgomery is a Toronto-based entrepreneur, investor and adviser focused on the digital media and information technology industries. Robert is CEO of business-to-business media and facilitation company Achilles Media Ltd as well as investment company First Maximilian Associates. Robert's pri...
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Robert Montgomery is a Toronto-based entrepreneur, investor and adviser focused on the digital media and information technology industries. Robert is CEO of business-to-business media and facilitation company Achilles Media Ltd as well as investment company First Maximilian Associates. Robert's prior positions include: Co-Founder and Partner in Achilles Partners in Toronto and New York, an investment and advisory firm; President, Americas at the Fantastic Corporation in San Francisco, a broadband software company; Co-Founder and Chairman of Media Content plc in London, a media rights company; Managing Director for Europe and Asia Pacific at research and consulting firm Kagan World Media in London; co-founder of Digital Media International and Managing Director for Euromoney plc, and what is now Informa plc, all business to business media companies in London. Robert is a native of Winnipeg and a graduate of the University of Manitoba. Robert is Chair of the Board of Governors of the Ontario College of Art and Design and Co-Chairman of the Canadian Innovation Exchange.

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Mr. Tirabassi joined M/C in 2007 and focuses on media and communications industry segments, including digital media, broadband services, wireless services and technology-related services. From 2000 to early 2007, he was a Partner at Dolphin Equity Partners where he led investments in and served on t...
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Mr. Tirabassi joined M/C in 2007 and focuses on media and communications industry segments, including digital media, broadband services, wireless services and technology-related services. From 2000 to early 2007, he was a Partner at Dolphin Equity Partners where he led investments in and served on the board of eight portfolio companies including Airband, Gomez (acquired by Compuware in 2009), MaxPreps (acquired by CBS in 2007) and VitalStream (acquired by Internap in 2006). Prior to Dolphin, Mr. Tirabassi worked in product development and marketing at Diamond Lane Communications (acquired by Nokia in 1998). Previous to Diamond Lane Communications, he was an early employee and spent 4 years at FutureBrand, a strategic marketing consulting firm (acquired by Interpublic Group in 1997).

He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Airband, CSDVRS and HyPerformix and is a Board of Directors observer at Public Mobile, Seven Networks and SpeechCycle.

Mr. Tirabassi received an AB cum laude in philosophy and foreign languages from Harvard University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was named a Palmer Scholar. He also received an MSE in Telecommunications and Networking Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Paul Kedrosky, a senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, is an investor, essayist, technology analyst, and entrepreneur. A San Diego resident, Kedrosky assists the Kansas City-based foundation on issues related to entrepreneurship, innovation and capital markets. Previously, he was the executive d...
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Paul Kedrosky, a senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, is an investor, essayist, technology analyst, and entrepreneur. A San Diego resident, Kedrosky assists the Kansas City-based foundation on issues related to entrepreneurship, innovation and capital markets. Previously, he was the executive director of the William J. von Liebig Center, an innovative seed capital program founded to help commercialize technologies developed at the University of California, San Diego. He is a sought-after speaker;
an analyst for CNBC television; a research advisor to Ten AssetManagement; a columnist for TheStreet/RealMoney; and editor of Infectious Greed, one of the best-known business blogs on the
Internet. He has published more than 300 articles in academic and non-academic publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and Harvard Business Review. He serves as the chair of the Money:Tech conference in New York.

Kedrosky was previously a venture partner with Ventures West, where he invested in consumer technologies, media, semiconductors, and life sciences. He is currently an advisor/investor to CoveritLive, and Xpenser, and has been on the board of many venture-backed companies, including Marqui Corporation, Dabble DB, and ActiveState. Earlier in his career, Kedrosky was a highly ranked technology equity analyst, and founded the technology equity research practice at HSBC James Capel. As an entrepreneur, he financed and launched one of the first hosted blogging services,
GrokSoup, which grew to more than 1,000 subscribers. Kedrosky obtained his undergraduate degree in engineering from Carleton University, his MBA from Queen's University, and his Ph.D from the
University of Western Ontario.

About the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City is a private, nonpartisan foundation that works with partners to advance entrepreneurship in America and
improve the education of children and youth. The Kauffman Foundation was established in the mid-1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman. Information about the Kauffman Foundation is available at www.kauffman.org.

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Dr. Boris Wertz is an Internet entrepreneur and investor and the founder of W Media Ventures, a Vancouver-based angel fund that has made over 20 investments in early-stage Consumer internet companies in the Pacific Northwest and across North-America. He is also a venture partner with Acton Capital, ...
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Dr. Boris Wertz is an Internet entrepreneur and investor and the founder of W Media Ventures, a Vancouver-based angel fund that has made over 20 investments in early-stage Consumer internet companies in the Pacific Northwest and across North-America. He is also a venture partner with Acton Capital, a late-stage Consumer internet fund, and one of the founders of GrowLab, a Vancouver-based start-up accelerator. Previously, Boris was the Chief Operating Officer of AbeBooks.com, the world�s largest marketplace for books which sold to Amazon in 2008. Boris joined AbeBooks in 2002 after JustBooks, the German company he co-founded in 1999, was acquired by the company. He successfully finished his PhD as well as his graduate studies at the Otto Beisheim School of Management (WHU), Koblenz, majoring in Business Economics / Business Management. Boris was named the Pacific Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award winner in 2005 and a Top 40 under 40 nominee by Business in Vancouver in 2011. He serves among others on the boards of Suite101, Fitbrains, Yapta.com, Indochino, Techvibes, the Bootup Entrepreneurial Society and DigiBC. Living in Vancouver with his wife Luisa and his two children, he loves the outdoors, reading and traveling.

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Bruce Chin is the Greater Toronto Area Leader for Deloitte's TMT industry group
and a partner in Deloitte's audit practice.

Bruce has over 14 years experience working with TMT companies across a broad range
of industry sub-sectors, including telecom, software, high-tech ...
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Bruce Chin is the Greater Toronto Area Leader for Deloitte's TMT industry group
and a partner in Deloitte's audit practice.

Bruce has over 14 years experience working with TMT companies across a broad range
of industry sub-sectors, including telecom, software, high-tech manufacturing and media.
He has advised rapid growth, public and private companies under both Canadian and U.S.
GAAP and he has been actively involved with the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 program and the Canadian New Media Awards Company of the Year Award for several years. Bruce's clients include Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and The Weather Network, Allstream, Bell Canada, Dyadem International, Major League Baseball and Manitoba Telecom Services.

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Daryl Johnston is a Director Market Development in Deloitte's Technology, Media and Telecommunications and CleanTech (TMT) industry group in the GTA. Daryl is well connected in the TMT space with over 18 years experience working with high growth TMT clients across a broad range of industry sub-sect...
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Daryl Johnston is a Director Market Development in Deloitte's Technology, Media and Telecommunications and CleanTech (TMT) industry group in the GTA. Daryl is well connected in the TMT space with over 18 years experience working with high growth TMT clients across a broad range of industry sub-sectors including telecom, software, hardware, high-tech manufacturing, social and digital media. Prior to joining Deloitte in 2008, Daryl held senior positions within Canada's financial services industry focused on the TMT space and assuming the lead role in providing his clients with financing advice and solutions including Senior Debt, Mezzanine Debt, bridge facilities, M&A transactions and equity raising.
Daryl has been actively involved in Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 Awards Program on a regional and national level, the DigiAwards and serves as a coach for companies participating in the Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies Awards Program.

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Selma M. Lussenburg is Chair of the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation (OCGC) which manages the Government of Ontario's interest in the $205 million Ontario Venture Capital Fund LP (OVCF) launched in 2008 and it manages and operates the $250 million Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund (OETF) launched...
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Selma M. Lussenburg is Chair of the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation (OCGC) which manages the Government of Ontario's interest in the $205 million Ontario Venture Capital Fund LP (OVCF) launched in 2008 and it manages and operates the $250 million Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund (OETF) launched in 2009.

The OVCF was created to foster innovation and investment in Ontario. OVCF is a partnership between leading institutional investors to invest primarily in Ontario-focused venture capital and growth funds that support innovative, high growth companies. OVCF has committed to a significant number of Ontario based funds and made a number of direct investments in Ontario based companies in support of its mandate to support the Ontario and Canadian venture capital industry.

The OETF is a direct co-investment fund established in response to the challenges emerging technology companies experience in raising capital in capital constrained credit markets. OETF co-invests alongside qualified investors into innovative, high-potential, private Ontario companies in the following sectors: clean technologies, life sciences and advanced health technologies, digital media, and information and communications technology. Since its inception OETF has invested in more than 20 Ontario based companies.

Selma has substantial governance and senior executive business experience working in financial and investment services and telecommunications. As SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at OMERS she was responsible for the Legal Division, including the Corporate Secretariat, Board Secretariat, and Compliance as well as the provision of legal services to OMERS business, investment and pension operations. Selma served as AT&T�s Chief Legal Officer in Canada and as Vice President, Legal Affairs, General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer at AT&T Enterprises Canada Co., supporting AT&T�s Canadian and international operations and investments in the Canadian market place.

Selma also serves as a director of the Association of Corporate Counsel (Ontario Chapter), as a member of the Canada-United States Law Institute Executive Committee and Advisory Board, a Canadian representative to the Trade Ministers' NAFTA 2022 Advisory Committee on the Resolution of Private International Commercial Disputes and has been appointed to the Dispute Resolution Roster under both the Agreement on Internal Trade and the NAFTA Chapter 20 (Arbitral) Dispute Resolution Provisions.

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Rick Nathan is Managing Director of Kensington Capital Partners Limited, a leading Canadian private equity investor. Kensington invests across the private markets in buyout, venture capital, growth and infrastructure assets through both direct investment and fund investment programs. Rick currently ...
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Rick Nathan is Managing Director of Kensington Capital Partners Limited, a leading Canadian private equity investor. Kensington invests across the private markets in buyout, venture capital, growth and infrastructure assets through both direct investment and fund investment programs. Rick currently serves as a Director of Public Mobile Inc. and Mobile Knowledge Inc., and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Novacap funds.
Prior to joining Kensington, Rick was Managing Director of Goodmans Venture Group, a division of Goodmans LLP. In that role, he acted as legal counsel and strategic business advisor to entrepreneurs, emerging growth companies, and private equity investors in the Canadian market, and also had responsibility for a related investment portfolio. In 1999, Rick was a founding partner of Brightspark, an innovative early-stage venture capital fund focused on incubating entrepreneurs in the software, digital media and information and communications technology sectors. Prior to founding Brightspark, Rick spent more than 10 years as a corporate and securities lawyer at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, including as leader of the firm's Technology Business Group.
Rick is the current Chairman of CVCA - Canada's Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, and the Co-Chair of the Canadian Innovation Exchange. He is also a member of the Advisory Board to the Toronto Region Research Alliance.
Rick is a graduate of Dartmouth College (Computer Science) and the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law.

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Chris Arsenault is Managing Partner at iNovia Capital and has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur for 17 years. Chris currently serves on the board of directors of Airborne Technology Ventures, DFT Microsystems, Fixmo, Plastic knowledge, Reflex Photonics, and Woozworld. Chris is an active ...
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Chris Arsenault is Managing Partner at iNovia Capital and has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur for 17 years. Chris currently serves on the board of directors of Airborne Technology Ventures, DFT Microsystems, Fixmo, Plastic knowledge, Reflex Photonics, and Woozworld. Chris is an active board member of the Canadian Venture Capital Association and is a strong supporter of the Silicon Valley based C100 (the Top Canadians in the Valley), the Quebec Angel Network and the National Angel Organization.
Before joining the firm in 2002, Chris founded, co-founded or funded a number of Software, Mobile and Consumer Internet technology start-up companies, including 2 spin-offs of telecom giants Microcell and Teleglobe. Chris is also proud to have been instrumental in the creation of the ENABLIS Entrepreneurial Network (a $30+ million G8-sponsored venture capital seed fund). Chris� entrepreneurial and investment experience includes a number of notable exits that generated large shareholder returns, such as Airborne Entertainment, Corpernic.com, Wanted Technologies, i5, up2 and SIT Inc. His work in the mid 90�s as founder and CEO of SIT provided him with the opportunity to play an important part in the initial growth of the Internet. As one of Netscape�s first developer partners, integrator and international reseller, SIT�s security products and dial-up technology eventually grew to become an integral part of Netscape�s deployment.
Chris believes that Entrepreneurship is a �state of mind�, and thus part of one�s core. It may be sleeping (waiting to be activated, nurtured or mentored), but it can�t be taught or infused into a person. Entrepreneurship is not a profession; an entrepreneur has unique character traits that enable him/her to do amazing and impossible things

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David Unsworth is focused on management of the RBC Venture Partners portfolio. David has ten years of venture capital investment experience and has invested in a broad range of information technology companies.

David currently serves on the board of directors of Verafin Inc. and ...
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David Unsworth is focused on management of the RBC Venture Partners portfolio. David has ten years of venture capital investment experience and has invested in a broad range of information technology companies.

David currently serves on the board of directors of Verafin Inc. and is an observer on the boards of IGLOO Software, Lumeta Corporation, Varicent Software Incorporated and Adaptive Planning Inc. David managed the investment and served on the board of Viigo Inc (acquired by RIMM), and was an observer on the board of Tacit Software Inc.(acquired by ORCL).

Prior to joining Clairmont David was a Director with RBC Venture Partners, the venture capital operation of Royal Bank of Canada (RY:NYSE). Prior to his career in venture capital David had a successful track record within RBC Financial Group in retail and commercial banking, e-commerce strategy development and project management.

David obtained an MBA from Queen's University, holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University and is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). He is also a graduate of the NVCA's Venture Capital Institute and the Rotman SME Board Effectiveness Program.

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Michael Hyatt is CEO and Co-Founder of BlueCat Networks and a recipient of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 Award. A finalist in Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Michael is a weekly business commentator on CBC Newsworld and guest-hosts CBC's The Lang and O'Leary Exchange. He has been feat...
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Michael Hyatt is CEO and Co-Founder of BlueCat Networks and a recipient of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 Award. A finalist in Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Michael is a weekly business commentator on CBC Newsworld and guest-hosts CBC's The Lang and O'Leary Exchange. He has been featured on the cover of Canadian Business Magazine. BlueCat Networks is a four-time winner of "Deloitte's Fast 50," and a winner of Red Herring's Top 50 Private Companies. Michael also co-founded Dyadem, a highly successful Canadian software company that was acquired by IHS (NYSE: IHS). As an entrepreneurial success story himself, Michael helps and mentors youth and entrepreneurs to succeed and become contributing citizens in their communities. He is also an active lender with Kiva.org

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