2010 Speakers

Doug Merritt
Executive Vice President
SAP OnDemand Solutions

Doug Merritt is executive vice president of the SAP OnDemand Solutions organization, responsible for all sales and Go-To-Market (GTM) activities related to the entire range of SAP�s cloud offerings. This includes the SAP Business ByDesign suite of applications as well as applications for other lines of business ranging from sourcing and supply chain, to sales, finance, sustainability, IT and others. In this role, Merritt is responsible for all revenues and P&L activities associated with the GTM activities of the OnDemand organization. He reports jointly to Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe, co-CEO�s of SAP.

Previously, Merritt served as executive vice president of the Premier Customer Network for SAP. The Premier Customer Network (PCN) division is responsible for selling to, servicing, and partnering with SAP�s most elite and strategic customers. Prior to that, Merritt served as executive vice president and general manager of Business User Global Sales for Business Objects, an SAP company. In this role, he was responsible for all revenues generated from the sale of Business User and Business Objects products through all channels on a global basis.

Prior to his roles focusing on Go-To-Market execution, Merritt was a senior Product leader for SAP. Merritt was the �founder,� EVP and general manager of Performance Optimization Applications for SAP in addition to serving as the president of SAP Labs. He was responsible for creating and driving the performance optimization application category, which includes the governance, risk, and compliance suite and analytical applications from SAP, including enterprise performance management.

Merritt has over two decades of leadership experience in the enterprise software industry, heading up product, sales, development, support, marketing, and strategy functions. Previously, he was general manager of PeopleSoft�s Human Capital Management division, responsible for strategy, software development, support, and marketing activities for the cornerstone of PeopleSoft�s business. Prior to PeopleSoft, Merritt was Founder, President, and CEO of Icarian, Inc., a pioneer in the online Human Capital Talent Management category, later acquired by Workstream Corp. Earlier, Merritt served in various leadership positions for Patrol Software (acquired by BMC Software), Powersoft (acquired by Sybase), Oracle Corporation, and Accenture/Andersen Consulting.

Merritt holds a bachelor�s degree in business from the University of the Pacific in California. [ Minimize ]

Russ Daniels
Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
HP Enterprise Services

Russ Daniels is vice president and chief technology officer of HP Enterprise Services. In
this role, he sets the technology strategy and architecture for HP�s Enterprise Services
portfolio.

Daniels and his organization assist the HP Enterprise Services business unit in d...
[ Extended Bio ]

The Honourable Gary Goodyear
Minister of State
Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev)

Gary Goodyear was first elected to the House of Commons in 2004 and was re-elected in 2006 and 2008. On October 30, 2008, he was appointed Minister of State for Science and Technology, and on August 13, 2009, he was named Minister of State responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for ...
[ Extended Bio ]

Jacques Bernier
Managing Partner and Founder
Teralys Capital

Since July 1st 2009, Mr. Bernier is Managing Partner and Founder of Teralys Capital, a fund of funds whose limited partners are Quebec Governement, Caisse de Depot et de Placement and Solidarity Fund QFL.

With the Solidarity Fund QFL since 2004, Jacques Bernier has been Senior Vice-Pr...
[ Extended Bio ]

Michael Greeley
General Partner
Flybridge Capital Partners

Michael is a General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners focused on information technology, healthcare and medical technology investments. Among a range of general investment themes, Michael is currently focused on opportunities involving the convergence of healthcare and IT, technology-enabled b...
[ Extended Bio ]

Joe Catalfamo
Managing Director
Summerhill Venture Partners

Joe brings over 16 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, and overall growth and...
[ Extended Bio ]

Leonard Brody
Co-Founder/CEO
NowPublic

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 startup 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 startup in 2000 and subsequently closed a $240 Million IPO on NASDAQ.
Currently, Leonard is Co-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 & 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. [ Minimize ]

Paul Lee
Managing General Partner
Vanedge Capital Partners Ltd.

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 � 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. [ Minimize ]

Salvatore Tirabassi
Partner
M/C Venture Partners

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...
[ Extended Bio ]

Jean-Sebastien Cournoyer
Co-Founder
Montreal Start Up & Real Ventures

JS Cournoyer has been an entrepreneur, angel or VC in the IT sector since 1999. He is a co-founder of Montreal Start Up and Real Ventures, seed funds investing in web, mobile, software, digital media and casual gaming. He has co-founded or been a partner in a number of startups including Maybenow, S...
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The Honourable Glen Murray
Minister of Research & Innovation

Glen Murray was appointed Minister of Research and Innovation on August 18, 2010.
Throughout his distinguished career Glen has put public service above all else. Whether it was as a member of the Toronto Gay Patrol in 1983, the Co-Chair of Canadians for Equal Marriage, or serving as Mayor of ...
[ Extended Bio ]

Christopher Walker
Principal
HarbourVest Partners LLC

Chris Walker joined the Firm in 1998 as an associate in the secondary partnership group. In 1999, he joined the primary partnership group and has focused most of his efforts on U.S. venture capital and buyout investments. He became a vice president during 2003 and a principal in 2007. Chris also ...
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Chris Wormald
Vice President, Strategic Alliances
Research In Motion

A RIM veteran of seven years, Chris leads Research In Motion�s Strategic Alliances department and is responsible for business development, technology licensing, strategic partnerships, equity funding and acquisitions. Chris has played a significant role in ten acquisitions that RIM has completed to...
[ Extended Bio ]

Chris Goodridge
Managing Director of M&A and Partnerships
Torstar Digital

Chris is the Managing Director of M&A and Partnerships for Torstar Digital, the digital media division of Torstar Corporation. In this role Chris leads Torstar Digital�s acquisition, investment and strategic partnership efforts as it pursues its aggressive growth plans. Prior to joining Torstar Di...
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Rob Chaplinsky
Managing Director and Co-Founder
Bridgescale Partners

Rob Chaplinsky is the managing director and co-founder of Bridgescale Partners and brings more than 12 years of investing experience and more than 15 years of marketing experience to technology companies. Prior to forming Bridgescale, Rob was a general partner at early-stage venture capital firm Moh...
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John Coburn
Managing Director
XPV Water Fund LLP

Prior to joining XPV in January 2006, Mr. Coburn was a private investor focused on the water industry. He was one of the earliest employees of ZENON Environmental, and as President and Chief Operating Officer, he helped grow the company from start up to over $146M in revenue with a market capitali...
[ Extended Bio ]

Alex Nicolaou
Chrome Engineering Manager
Google Inc.

Alex Nicolaou joined Google in 2006, shortly after Google opened an office in Waterloo, Ontario, where his initial work was leading the development of Google�s mobile apps including Gmail, Buzz, and YouTube amongst others. He is now leading a new ChromeOS effort focused on building ChromeOS for ARM ...
[ Extended Bio ]

Chris Arsenault
Managing Partner
iNovia Capital Inc.

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 ...
[ Extended Bio ]

Robert Finkel
Managing Parter
Prism Capital

Robert Finkel has been investing as part of the Chicago venture capital and private equity community for over twenty years. As president and founder of Prism Capital, Mr. Finkel has overseen fund deployment into a total of 40 portfolio companies through both the Prism Opportunity Fund and the Prism...
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Trond Unneland
Vice President and Managing Executive
Chevron Technology Ventures

Trond Unneland, PhD, is vice president of the Venture Capital business unit of Chevron Technology Ventures. In this capacity, he is responsible for identifying and investing in promising new technology that can deliver a clear competitive advantage and superior financial returns for Chevron.
A native of Norway, Unneland graduated from Stavanger University where he earned a bachelor of science degree in petroleum engineer and a master of science degree in reservoir engineering. He later received his doctor of technical sciences from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He also served as a visiting scholar at Stanford University, and has worked for the Norwegian Industry Attache at the Royal Norwegian Consulate General, San Francisco, CA.
In 1984, Unneland began his professional career as a petroleum engineer with Statoil in Bergen, Norway, working in offshore oil production operations. After serving in various positions of increasing responsibility, he was named vice president of information technology in 1998.
Unneland joined Chevron in 2000 as technology account manager for Chevron Energy Technology Company. In 2004, he was named managing director and country manager for Chevron Denmark, where he was responsible for leading all of the company's upstream operations and serving on the executive leadership team for all of Chevron's European upstream business.
In 2006, he returned home as managing director and country manager for Chevron Norway with management responsibility for technical, financial, personnel, planning, and reporting for the company's upstream business. Unneland assumed his current post in August 2007.
The author of numerous articles on reservoir management and well dynamics, Unneland has been cited as an expert source in more than 100 international technical papers. He has been recognized three times by the Society of Petroleum Engineers for his service to the organization.
Unneland is currently a board observer for the four portfolio companies Brightsource Energy, DynaPump, RealityMobile and Southwest Windpower. [ Minimize ]

Boris Wertz
CEO
W Media Ventures

Dr. Boris Wertz is an Internet entrepreneur and investor and the CEO of W Media Ventures, a Vancouver-based angel fund that focuses on early-stage Consumer Internet investments in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada. He is also a venture partner with Munich-based Acton Capital, a late-stage con...
[ Extended Bio ]

Jordan Banks
Managing Director
Facebook Canada

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 was previously been named one of Canada's �Top 40 Under 40� honorees � a celebrated, national program that honors leaders for their achievements in leadership, vision, innovation, community involvement and contribution. Additionally. Jordan was also named one of the four inaugural winners of the Hugo Boss �Leave a Mark Award� celebrating �men of excellence� in Canada. [ Minimize ]

Scott Pelton
Vice President, Investments
GrowthWorks Capital

Scott Pelton is a Vice President, Investments for GrowthWorks Capital. Prior to joining GrowthWorks Capital in 2005, he spent five years at Scotiabank Private Equity Investments, most recently as Executive Director. Prior to Scotiabank, Scott worked in a variety of consulting and systems development...
[ Extended Bio ]

Charles Lax
Managing General Partner
GrandBanks Capital

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. [ Minimize ]

Chris Albinson
Co-Founder/Managing Director
Panorama Capital

Mr. Albinson is a co-founder and Managing Director of Panorama where he focuses primarily on internet technology investments. Mr. Albinson was also a General Partner at JPMorgan Partners running the technology venture capital practice. Prior to JP Morgan Partners, Mr. Albinson helped grow four sta...
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Barry Gekiere
Managing Director
MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF)

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 joini...
[ Extended Bio ]

Tom Rand
Advisor and Practice Lead
Cleantech MaRS

Tom leads MaRS' role in the Canadian cleantech ecosystem and works with our Advisory Services group to support our growing portfolio of cleantech ventures.
Tom has a strong and successful entrepreneurial background, including the founding of Voice Courier Inc. in 1991 and leading its expansio...
[ Extended Bio ]

Jonas Brandon
Director
Rogers Ventures

Jonas Brandon is a Director at Rogers Ventures, where he leads investments in emerging technology companies. He is also cofounder of StartupNorth (www.startupnorth.ca), Canada�s leading community of technology entrepreneurs. Prior to joining Rogers Ventures Jonas cofounded two startups, backed by s...
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Jennifer Brooy
Vice President and Head of Equity
Export Development Canada (EDC)

Jennifer heads up EDC�s Equity Group (EDC�s private investment arm for both direct and fund investing) and serves as a member or observer on several Strategic Advisory Boards and Board of Directors.

Jennifer has over 25 years of financing experience, including corporate and structur...
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Andrew Lipsher
Partner
Greycroft Partners LLC

Drew Lipsher is a Partner of Greycroft LLC with over fourteen years of media and entertainment corporate development and investment experience. Greycroft is a leading venture capital partnership formed to invest in promising digital media companies. Lipsher has spent his career in the media industr...
[ Extended Bio ]

Rick Nathan
Managing Director
Kensington Capital Partners Limited

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 ...
[ Extended Bio ]

J. Matthew Clark
Senior Director, Strategic and Emerging Business Team
Microsoft

Matthew Clark is Senior Director, Startup Engagement for the Strategic and Emerging Business Team (SEBT). In this role, Matthew is responsible for delivering Microsoft BizSpark� One, a global program that accelerates the growth of high potential startups and builds a supporting community of incubat...
[ Extended Bio ]

Alexander Chamberlain
Managing Parter
Investeco Capital

Alex Chamberlain is a Managing Partner at Investeco Capital, a private equity firm that partners with companies specializing in renewable energy, water technologies, sustainable agriculture and clean technologies. Investeco�s mandate is to produce superior financial returns by investing in high-grow...
[ Extended Bio ]

Robert Montgomery
CEO
Achilles Media Ltd. & First Maximilian Associates

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...
[ Extended Bio ]

Jeff Grammer
Partner
Rho Canada

Jeff Grammer is a partner of Rho Canada. With nearly 28 years of operational and venture experience, Jeff seeks entrepreneurs who see market opportunities and possess the business acumen to nurture young companies to become industry leaders.
He joined Rho Canada in 2006 and focuses primarily ...
[ Extended Bio ]

Roger Chabra
Partner
Rho Canada

Roger has a 15-year background in technology, telecommunications and digital media as an investor, entrepreneur and operator. Roger came to Rho from GrowthWorks Capital where he focused on software and digital media investments. At GrowthWorks, he sat on the boards of 10 early stage companies including Xkoto (acquired by TeraData), Whitehill (acquired by Oracle), NetShelter and Paymentus. Prior to GrowthWorks, Roger worked as a hands-on investor at Hargan Ventures, a seed stage VC fund, whose model is to invest early and for the funds' principals to take on senior operational roles alongside the founders they invest in. At Hargan, Roger worked on a number of deals including VisualSonics (acquired by SonoSite). Roger was also previously an investor at the Bell Accelerator Fund, the corporate venture program of Bell Canada Enterprise's (BCE) wireless division. At the Accelerator, his team was involved in funding and commercializing some of the most innovative wireless start-ups in North America including Trellia Networks, Cellwand, Sendum, Xybec (acquired by Tatara), Sanchez (acquired by Fidelity Information Services) and Mobile Diagnostix (acquired by Bitfone/HP). Roger has also held operational roles with Rogers Wireless. Prior to his experience with Canada's two largest wireless carriers, Roger was the co-founder and CEO of Mobilessence, one of North America's earliest startups focused on virtual goods and content for smart phones. Mobilessence was recognized as one of the top 20 wireless software companies in Canada by the Branham Group based on revenues and growth. He also spent three years at Sapphire Technologies, Canada-s largest IT recruitment services firm, where he was instrumental in developing the company's e-business strategy, internet spin-off companies and technology platforms. The company was acquired by a consortium of private equity players, including KKR, and later sold to Randstad.

Roger holds an MBA with Dean�s List Honours from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and a BA from the University of Western Ontario. Roger is a graduate of the Venture Capital Institute and currently serves on the Professional Development Committee of the Canadian Venture Capital Association.
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Dr. Tom Corr
President & CEO
Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE)

Dr. Tom Corr was recently appointed as President and CEO of Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) � a non-profit organization that drives the commercialization of cutting-edge Ontario-based research across key market sectors to build the province�s innovation economy and secure its global competitiven...
[ Extended Bio ]

John Marshall
President & CEO
Ontario Capital Growth Corporation

John Marshall is serving as the President and CEO of the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation, the agency overseeing the $250M Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund and manages Ontario�s limited partnership interests in the $205M Ontario Venture Capital Fund. John has served in that role since the Agenc...
[ Extended Bio ]

Peter Polydor
Associate
Sail Venture Partners

Peter Polydor is an Associate at SAIL Venture Partners (�SAIL�) where he focuses on research and analysis of global cleantech developments and investment opportunities. Peter also spends his time working directly with the partners on portfolio development and investor relations.
Prior to joi...
[ Extended Bio ]

Amar Varma
Managing and Founding Partner/ Founding Partner
Extreme Venture Partners/Xtreme Labs

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 ...
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Robert Koturbash
Managing Director
Maple Leaf Angels

Robert Koturbash is currently the founding Managing Director of the Maple Leaf Angels, an angel investment group based in the Toronto area. He is an active investor and has invested in several early stage companies. He also sits on the investment committee of the Investment Accelerator Fund adminis...
[ Extended Bio ]

Mark MacLeod
Partner
Real Ventures

Mark is one of Canada's leading startup finance expert. Since 1999, Mark has been leading finance for angel and venture-backed software startups and has raised over $ 50M in capital from investors in Canada, USA, Europe and China.
Mark is a partner in Real Ventures, a seed fund where Mark foc...
[ Extended Bio ]

Duncan Hill
General Partner
Mantella Venture Partners

Duncan is a General Partner at Mantella Venture Partners and a founding partner for Basecamp Labs. Duncan previously served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Ventures West, the board of directors of RapidMind (acq Intel '09), and the advisory board of Opalis (acq Microsoft '09). Duncan currently se...
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Bruce Croxon
Entrepreneur

A life-long entrepreneur who has founded, operated and helped to grow a number of fast-paced businesses over a 25year career.
He was one of the original founders of Lavalife Corp. and acted as CEO through the period of its sale to Vertrue Inc. in 2004. Since 2006, Croxon has assumed the rol...
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Suzie Dingwall Williams
Founding Partner
Venture Law Associates LLP

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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Chris Van Staveren
Partner, Transaction Services
KPMG

A Partner in the transaction services business at KPMG Enterprise, Chris Van Staveren has been involved in over 350 transactions for North American, Asian, and European based clients, including multi-nationals. Transaction sizes have varied from < $1 million to $50 billion. Chris gained in-depth ...
[ Extended Bio ]

Roger Wilson
Director
BDC Venture Capital

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 ...
[ Extended Bio ]

David Harris Kolada
Vice President, Corporate and Market Development
Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC)

As Vice President, Corporate and Market Development, David Harris Kolada�s overall function is to support the President and CEO in the development and management of strategic plans and initiatives required to deliver on SDTC mandates. Among other responsibilities, David leads SDTC�s Follow-on Fundi...
[ Extended Bio ]

Andrew Bell
Anchor/Reporter
Business News Network

A native of Dublin, Ireland, Andrew Bell worked as an investment reporter and editor with The Globe and Mail for 12 years prior to joining BNN. He�s a keen student of investing idiocy and corporate blunders.
Bell provides a blunt, well-researched assessment of the hot stocks and issues of th...
[ Extended Bio ]

Matthew Leibowitz
Investment Director
Best Funds

Matthew is involved with developing and reviewing investment opportunities for BEST as well as assessing new business activities for the firm. Matthew brings his entrepreneurial spirit to the team with experience in early stage, start-up, expansion, restructure, succession and buyout ventures and t...
[ Extended Bio ]

Craig Netterfield
Senior Vice President
Wellington Financial

Prior to joining Wellington in 2005, Craig worked at a mid-market financial advisory firm providing merger, acquisition advisory and business planning services. Previously, he was a Regional Director of an investment management advisory firm (1999-2003) and held a variety of roles with increasing re...
[ Extended Bio ]

Robert Antoniades
Partner
Clairmont Capital

Robert oversees and manages the RBC Venture Partners� portfolio on behalf of Clairmont Capital. Robert joined RBC Venture Partners as a Managing Director in 2004 and led direct investments in a broad range of software and technology companies ranging from enterprise software to information security...
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Pascal Tremblay
General Partner
Novacap

Pascal Tremblay has been involved in funding, managing, and developing technology companies for over 18 years. Prior to joining Novacap in 2003, Mr. Tremblay was a Partner at Argo Global Capital, a venture capital firm where he participated in numerous investments in technology and telecommunicat...
[ Extended Bio ]

Todd Tessier
Vice President
BC Renaissance Capital Fund

Todd Tessier and his colleagues with the Province are responsible for private capital investment and providing access to early stage capital for innovative companies from British Columbia His branch also works with global corporate investors looking at the province for expansion and investment opp...
[ Extended Bio ]

John Berton
Co-Founder/Managing Partner
Georgian Partners

John Berton has been a co-founder and managing partner of Georgian Partners since 2008. John has extensive investment and operating experience in high growth emerging companies across a diverse range of industries.
Prior to Georgian Partners, John spent eleven years at VRG Capital where he ...
[ Extended Bio ]

Marc Weiner
Associate
Tandem Expansion

Marc Weiner is an Associate at Tandem Expansion, a new Canadian growth capital fund focusing on investing in Canadian technology companies. Tandem is actively pursuing investments in Canadian clean technology companies with sustainable business models and growth potential. He is involved in all as...
[ Extended Bio ]

Glenn Egan
Vice President Information & Communication Technology
Business Development Bank of Canada

Glenn Egan, who joined BDC Venture Capital in 2000, leads BDC�s information and communications technologies investment activities. He brings 20 years of operational experience to the position, including 15 years in wireless products and services. Prior to joining BDC, he spent three years as vice pr...
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Stephen A. Hurwitz
Partner
Choate Hall & Stewart LLP

Stephen A. Hurwitz is a member of the Business & Technology Practice Group at Choate Hall & 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 sta...
[ Extended Bio ]

Nicolas Parker
Executive Chairman
Cleantech Group

Nicholas Parker co-founded the Cleantech Group, introducing the cleantech concept to the investment and business community in 2002. Previously Nicholas accumulated over 15 years experience starting and investing venture funds worldwide through limited partnerships, family offices, corporate funds an...
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Sunil Sharma
Global Practice Lead-Venture Capital and Private Equity
Department of Foreign Affairs & International Trade

Sunil Sharma is a rotational Foreign Service officer with Canada�s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and is currently based in the MaRS Innovation Centre in Toronto�s Discovery District.

Sunil is in the midst of a 3-year assignment with Canada�s Venture Cap...
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David Spector
Partner
Sequoia Capital

Dave works with growth stage internet, mobile and technology companies. Prior to joining Sequoia Capital in 2010, Dave held various sales and sales management positions at Google where he was involved in cloud computing, advertising and commerce related areas. Earlier, he held sales and finance role...
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Ian Carew
Director
Northleaf Capital Partners

Mr. Carew participates in all aspects of Northleaf�s investment activities, including the origination, evaluation and monitoring of primary and secondary Fund Investments and Direct Co-Investments. He is primarily responsible for the investment sourcing and manager research relating to Northleaf�s A...
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Rubsun Ho
Co-Founder
Cognition LLP

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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Janis Koyanagi
Vice President, Business Development & Strategy
Toronto Stock Exchange/TSX Venture Exchange

Janis Koyanagi CA, CFA is the Vice President, Business Development & Strategy at Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange. She is responsible for leading the national and international business development activities and strategy for both exchanges. Her team�s mandate is to build TSX an...
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Matt Golden
Director of New Ventures
Brigtspark Ventures

Matt Golden is a long time web and mobile entrepreneur and investor and frequent speaker at leading mobile industry events including Mobile World Congress and CTIA Wireless. Most recently, Matt was a partner with the BlackBerry Partners Fund where he led investments in companies such as SocialDeck ...
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John Albright
Co-Managing Partner
BlackBerry Partners Fund

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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Andrew Wilkes
Chairman
National Angel Capital Organization

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 bu...
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John Ruffolo
Global Tax Leader
Deloitte's Technology, Media and Telecommunications

John Ruffolo is the Global Tax Leader and the Canadian industry leader for Deloitte's Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) practice and a member of the firm's Tax and TMT Global Leadership teams. John is a Director on the Board of Deloitte. John has over 20 years of international corporate tax experience advising public and private companies on effective global tax strategies. He also has extensive experience providing strategic tax and advisory services to Canadian and foreign-based TMT companies and is recognized as one of the country�s leading "green" technology advisors. In addition, John works closely with a number of North America's leading venture capitalists, and advises many of the companies in which they invest.

John's advice has been sought by some of the world's leading technology, media and telecommunications companies including Nortel, Rogers Communications, Research in Motion (RIM), Open Text, CTV Globemedia, Constellation Software, Gennum, IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle. John has also worked extensively with a number of leading private equity firms including VenGrowth, GrowthWorks, Covington, Jefferson Partners, and Conundrum Capital.

John is a strong supporter of both the business and not-for-profit communities. He is Chairperson of the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association's Tax Policy Committee. He is also a member of the Corporate Fundraising committees for Sunnybrook Foundation and the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario. John is also actively involved with the David Suzuki Foundation. Further, he is a member of the Toronto chapter of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).

John has a high profile media presence across Canada and is widely regarded by the media as a leading commentator on TMT and taxation issues. John is an active public speaker within the TMT and venture capital industries and has written extensively on developing global tax strategies to manage both Canadian and foreign taxes, as well as how best to arrange tax structures to optimize IPO offerings, financing, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.
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Mike Lee
Vice President, Venture Investments
Rogers Communications

Mr. Lee is responsible for early stage venture capital investment for Rogers Communications. In this capacity, Lee is responsible for investments in technology based startups focused on wireline and wireless broadband innovation. Prior to this Lee served as Chief Strategy Officer for Rogers Commun...
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Noel Hulsman
Editorial Manager, Custom Content Group
Globe and Mail

Noel Hulsman is the Globe and Mail's small business editor and one of the leaders of the Custom Content Group, a newly launched cross-departmental initiative focused on finding additional ways to monetize content. His responsibilities include developing finance, technology and business content for p...
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Parminder Singh
President
Intellectual Ventures Canada

Parminder (Par) Singh has more than 25 years of professional experience in building, operating, and managing international businesses for private companies, government clients, and multi-national corporations around the world.

Parminder is currently the President of Intellectual Ventures Canada. In addition to the overall management of the Canadian operation, Parminder is responsible for establishing partnerships with a network of Inventors from start-up companies, academia, government agencies and general industry. Collectively, these groups of Inventors create commercially viable solutions in areas of Physical Science, Life Sciences and Information Technology.

Prior to joining Intellectual Ventures, Parminder was the Managing Director of the Microsoft Canada Development Centre (MCDC), located in Richmond, British Columbia. Par was responsible for establishing the Centre and setting its strategic direction. Today, the Centre is one of the premier software development locations for Microsoft. Par also served as the Director of Business Development and the General Manager for Xbox where he provided strategic direction, developed go-to-market strategies, and led negotiations with major manufacturing and content partners.

During his career Parminder spent 15 years designing, constructing and launching communications and broadcast satellites and satellites systems for private companies and governments around the world. He also found time to establish three successful start-up companies that focused on the areas of multimedia, internet software tools development and electronics manufacturing.

Par has held executive positions at companies in Canada and US including: Ensequence, Telesat Canada, Motorola, Teledesic, Microsoft, FreeInternet Networks, and 5th Link Software. Additionally, he has consulted for numerous companies including: Boeing, Acer, ATT, Flextronics, Wistron, Hughes Aircraft Company, Space Systems/Loral, Nortel, and Bell Northern Research.

Par sits on the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement of British Columbia and DigiBC. He holds a Bachelor�s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Nova Scotia and lives in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada and is married with two children, two dogs, and an occasional goldfish. [ Minimize ]

Patrick Eggen
Senior Investment Manager
Qualcomm Ventures

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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Sanjiv Samant
Managing Director & Head of Technology, Investment Banking
Canaccord Genuity

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, Ru...
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Jevon MacDonald
Entrepreneur in Residence
Innovacorp

Jevon has spent the last decade building enterprise software and services organizations. Jevon is currently the Entrepreneur in Residence at Innovacorp, a Venture Capital and Mentoring organization. Jevon is the co-founder of www.startupnorth.ca, Canada's largest startup community.
Most rece...
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John Varghese
CEO/Managing Partner
VentureLink Funds

John S. Varghese is Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the VentureLink Funds and the CEO, President and Director of the General Partner of the Manager. He is current Chairman of Sprott Power Corp. and past Chairman of Ventus Energy Inc, Orion Securities Inc. and MCCI Communications Inc, all ...
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David Unsworth
Partner
Clairmont Capital

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...
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Ben Yoskovitz
Founding Partner
Year One Labs

Ben Yoskovitz is a Founding Partner at Year One Labs, a seed accelerator based in Montreal. Year One Labs provides funding and hands-on mentorship to early stage startups. Previously, Ben was the Founder and CEO of Standout Jobs, which he started in 2007. The venture and angel-backed company was sol...
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Dr. Geordie Rose
D-Wave Systems
Founder & CTO
Marcel LeBrun
Salesforce Radian6
Senior Vice President & General Manager, Digital Media
Lewis Gersh
Metamorphic Ventures
Managing Partner
Paul Ciriello
Fairhaven Capital
Managing Director
Peter van der Gracht
Signal Set
CEO