Top 50 Enterprise Angel Investors in Canada in December 2024

Barney Pell was the co-founder, Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of LocoMobi Inc. Barney has a long history as a leading technology innovator, product visionary, entrepreneur and angel investor based in Silicon Valley. Barney is known for being an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Mayfield, a top Venture Capital firm, which he left to becomeFounder and CEO of Powerset, which built a natural-language based search engine that read each sentence in Wikipedia and answered user queries in plain English. Microsoft acquired Powerset in 2008 to help create its new search engine, Bing. Barney then served Microsoft as Search Strategist, Evangelist, and Chief Architect for Local Search at Bing, until leaving Microsoft in September 2011 to return to the start-up world full-time.Barney also has active investor, board member, and advisory roles with multiple start-up companies and non-profits across a variety of industries. Barney is Co-Founder, Vice Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of Moon Express, a private company building autonomous robotic lunar landers to enable exploration and commercial development of the solar system. This builds on his earlier career managing advanced software technologies at NASA. Highlights of innovations during Barney’s career at NASA include mission critical software to support planning and collaboration for the Mars Exploration Rovers mission; Clarissa, the first spoken dialog system in space; and the development of the Remote Agent, the first AI system to fly onboard and control a deep space probe. Remote Agent is widely considered one of the top achievements in the history of Artificial Intelligence and was awarded NASA’s "software of the year" award in 1999. Barney is also Associate Founder and Trustee of Singularity University (SU), a new university created to educate leaders for life in a future driven by accelerating technological change.Other recent active angel investments and advisory positions include: Getaround, Robotex, Halcyon Molecular, SpaceX, and CrowdFlower. Recent start-ups that have had successful exits include: Appjet (now Google), Aardvark (now Google), Hot Potato (now Facebook), Etacts (now SalesForce.com), Movity (now Trulia), and LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional social network which recently went public after acquiring its hundred-millionth member.Barney received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cambridge University, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and his B.S. degree in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was a National Merit Scholar.Barney is a frequent speaker at conferences and universities. These include keynote talks at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, the Association for Computational Linguistics, Search Marketing Expos, International Semantic Web Conference, World Wide Web Conference, the Informational Retrieval Conference, and panels at SXSW Interactive. Barney has also spoken at the NPA and IPI conferences and has been featured in all major Parking industry magazines.

Jacky is dedicated to angel investment and has built up a portfolio of more than thirty startup companies in Canada and the US. His target investments are the early-stage B2B companies with disruptive technologies and business potential in enterprise software, information technologies, MedTech, and Advanced Manufacturing.Jacky has acquiredconcrete business experiences as a successful founder in the startup ecosystem and an executive of Fortune 500 companies over two decades. His remarkable accomplishments range from building startups from scratch to leading a billion-dollar business with the leverage of 14,000 enterprise channel partners. The unique journey has shaped Jacky's outstanding of investing in early startups.Jacky holds the degrees of Mater's E.E. and MBA, and he graduated from CEIBS and The Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Marc, our Chief Executive Officer, co-founded Sandvine (TSX:SVC) and served as its Chief Technology Officer, developing the company's vision and technology strategy. Prior to Sandvine, he was co-founder at PixStream which was acquired by Cisco Systems.

James Lochrie is an entrepreneur, angel investor, venture capitalist and volunteer. He is the Co-founder of the global fintech company Wave. He is a Partner at Thin Air Labs, overseeing Thin Air Fund 1 and the Capital team. He has worked with thousands of entrepreneurs to help them scale their companies and #BuildWhatsNext.

Tom Williams

Daniel is the Vice President of Product (Demand) at Shopify. He previously worked as an SVP at Salesforce.com, where he drives marketing for Salesforce Work.com, a sales performance management solution that helps Facebook, LinkedIn, Spotify, and other innovative companies align, motivate, and drive the performance of their sales teams. Prior tojoining Salesforce, Daniel was co-founder and co-CEO of Rypple, a social performance management platform acquired by Salesforce in 2012. Prior to Rypple, Daniel was on the founding team of Workbrain, which provided workforce management solutions to Wal-Mart, Citibank, and other large enterprises. Workbrain grew to $100 million in annual revenues before being acquired by Infor in 2007.A sought after speaker on how social media is changing the workplace, Daniel is a contributor to Fortune.com and the Huffington Post. He’s been widely quoted in Wired, the Financial Times, the Economist and Bloomberg Businessweek. Daniel holds a JD/MBA from the University of Toronto and an LLM in Law, Science and Technology from Stanford University.

Jevon MacDonald is the Co-Founder at StartupNorth.

Jordan Banks is the Co-Founder at Thunder Road Capital. Jordan Banks attended York University - Osgoode Hall Law School.

Originally trained as a medical doctor, Dr. Ray Muzyka cofounded BioWare, a video game development studio focusing on story and character, in the early 1990s. He practiced emergency/family medicine for two years full time, with medicine transitioning to part-time over the following decade as he focused on his role as BioWare’s CEO. BioWare wasacquired by Electronic Arts in 2007, and Dr. Muzyka took on the roles of Senior Vice President at Electronic Arts and General Manager of EA’s BioWare division, which grew over the next five years to span eight development locations worldwide with about 2000 staff (1400 full time). He retired from video games in October 2012, with his third “career chapter” at ThresholdImpact, where he focused on sustainable, profitable impact investing: mentoring and angel investing in information technology, new media, and medical innovations with social entrepreneurs. An active angel investor and entrepreneurial mentor, Dr. Muzyka is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization, the A100, the Ashoka Support Network, and the Board of Governors of the University of Alberta (serving as Chair of the Human Resources Committee and on the Learning and Discovery Committee and as a member of the University of Alberta Advancement Council). He is Chair of the University of Alberta’s entrepreneur Venture Mentoring Service, a venture advisor at iNovia Venture Capital, and a member of the Alberta Research and Innovation Advisory Committee and the Alberta Premier’s Advisory Committee on the Economy. He also serves on a number of private company boards. He previously served on the board of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences from 2001-2008 and was on the Board of Trustees of the Stollery Children’s Health Foundation from 2012-2015. He was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame in 2011 and received the International Game Developers’ Choice Awards 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Muzyka received the inaugural Alumni Innovation Award in 2015 from the University of Alberta. He additionally was named as the 2017 Allard Chair in Business at the MacEwan University’s School of Business and as an Honorary Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary Club International in 2016, in recognition for his philanthropic efforts. Other awards include entry into Canada’s Top 40 under 40 and Ernst and Young’s 2001 Entrepreneur of the Year (IT, Prairies).He obtained his Bachelor of Medical Science from the University of Alberta in 1990, his Doctorate of Medicine from there in 1992, and his MBA from the University of Western Ontario (Ivey School of Business) in 2001.

Ryan Holmes is the CEO and Founder of HootSuite. Thought leader, dog lover and serial entrepreneur, he has redefined the face of social media - bringing Twitter, Facebook and other social networks out of the dorm room and into the boardroom.Holmes has grown HootSuite from a lean startup to a global leader in social media with 8 million users,including 79 of the Fortune 100 companies. A college drop-out, he started a paintball company and pizza restaurant before founding Invoke Media, the company that developed HootSuite in 2009.Today, Holmes is an authority on the social business revolution, quoted in The New York Times and Wall Street Journal and called upon to speak at TEDx and SXSW Interactive Conferences. An angel investor and advisor, he mentors startups in Canada and around the world. Through HootSuite University, Holmes partners with major universities to deliver social media coursework to the next generation of business leaders.

Farhan Thawar is the VP Engineering at Shopify. Attended University of Toronto - Rotman School of Management.

Patrick Lor is Managing Partner at Panache Ventures. He attended the University of Calgary.

Neal Dempsey is the Managing Partner of Bay Partners.

Dr. Fong is a Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary. He was formerly the Head of the Department of Radiology at the University of Calgary and the Calgary Health Region. Dr. Fong is active in funding and nurturing start-up companies. Over the past two decades, he funded over 50 companies in diverse technology sectors,with an emphasis in medical devices. Dr. Fong is the co-founder and board member of Calgary Scientific Inc. and is also on the board of Clarius Mobile Health, Cohesic Inc. and Innovere Medical. In addition to seed investing, Dr. Fong is active in the Calgary community sitting on six charitable boards and foundations.In 2015, Dr. Fong joined the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) at the University of Toronto business school as a mentor. CDL helps young entrepreneurs to shape or pivot their nascent ideas. He is widely credited with launching CDL at the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary, bringing together seasoned business leaders from Alberta, Canada and the US to grow budding companies. Dr. Fong is on the Strategic Advisory Board of CDL and a Fellow of CDL in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver. In 2017, Dr. Fong was named to the Order of Canada for his contribution to medical technology innovation and philanthropy.

Scott is an American entrepreneur and angel investor. He is best known as a co-founder of IronPort and an early advisor and board member at PayPal.Scott Banister started his career as a pioneer in the email business. He was Founder and VP of Technology at ListBot, the largest ASP for business email list hosting. ListBot was acquired byMicrosoft. After ListBot, Scott spent his time working with other start-ups as a board member and investor. These start-ups include eVoice, creator of the first email-enabled home voicemail service, which was acquired by AOL in 2001. He served as VP of Ideas at idealab!, where he contributed numerous innovations, including the unique bid-for-placement search engine model that powers Overture. In December 2000, with Scott Weiss, Banister co-founded IronPort, an email appliance provider that was acquired in 2007 by Cisco for US$830 million.Scott Banister is co-founder and Chairman of Other private equity investments include Zappos.com, LiveOps, Facebook, Hi5.com, Tagged.com, iLike, and Causes.com.Banister attended University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, from which he dropped out in 1996 to move to Silicon Valley. He currently lives in Half Moon Bay, California with his wife Cyan.

Michele Romanow is an engineer and a serial entrepreneur who started five companies before her 33rd birthday. A “Dragon” on CBC’s hit show Dragons’ Den (Canada’s Shark Tank), Michele is the co-founder of Clearbanc: the alternative funding company that gives fast-growing e-commerce brands non-dilutive marketing capital. She previously co-foundedSnapSaves, which was acquired by the American tech giant, Groupon. Michele was also the co-Founder of Buytopia.ca, which acquired ten competitors including Shop.ca and WagJag and was ranked #3 on the Profit Hot 50 list of fastest-growing companies. She’s ranked in WXN’s “100 Most Powerful in Canada” and listed as the only Canadian on Forbes magazine’s “Millennial on a Mission” list. Michele is a prolific angel investor and the winner of Angel Investor of the Year award. She co-founded the Canadian Entrepreneurship Initiative with Richard Branson to encourage more women entrepreneurs. Michele has worked driving new digital solutions to many of the world’s leading brands, including P&G, Netflix, Starbucks, and Cirque du Soleil. In addition, she’s advised Fortune 100s and governments on innovation, AI, blockchain and the new economy.Michele is a director for Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN), Freshii (TSX: FRII), League of Innovators, Queen’s Business School and Shad, a transformational program that develops the entrepreneurial potential of exceptional Canadian youth.

Mark Pincus is the founder and Executive Chairman of the Board of Zynga. He has served as our Chairman from April 2007 to March 2016 and the company's Executive Chairman since March 2016. He previously served as Chief Executive Officer from April 2007 to July 2013 and from April 2015 to March 2016, and as Chief Product Officer from April2007 to April 2014. In 2014, he founded superlabs, a San Francisco-based product lab focused on developing products that connect and empower people, which was acquired by Zynga in 2015. Pincus also founded Zynga.org in 2009, a non-profit organization dedicated to using social games for social good.From 2003 to 2007, Pincus served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Tribe.net, a company he launched and one of the first social networks in the industry. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Chairman of Support.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRT), a help desk automation software company he founded, and he served as Chief Executive Officer and President from December 1997 to July 1999. From 1996 to 1997, he served as Chief Executive Officer of FreeLoader, Inc., a web-based news company he founded.Pincus also made founding investments in Napster, Twitter, and Facebook.Pincus graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is an angel investor in multiple Silicon Valley startups and regularly gives lectures to aspiring entrepreneurs.

Rasool is a serial entrepreneur with experience in the software, healthcare, and CPG industries. He continues to maintain his passion for technology as an active angel investor with a focus on b2b, consumer saas and health tech. Rasool maintains an active role with CEO’s as a board member, mentor and advisor. He currently serves on the boards ofthe Victoria Foundation, VIATEC, and Checkfront Software.

Jennifer Lum is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Biospring Partners, a growth equity firm that invests in Life Sciences Technology. She is an accomplished entrepreneur and investor. She has cofounded several companies and has worked with many others from formation through to M&A.Jennifer is a Venture Capital Advisor at Harvard BusinessSchool and an Advisor at MIT’s Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship. She is also an Advisory Board member at The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.Jennifer co-founded Forge.AI (acquired by FiscalNote) and Adelphic (acquired by Time). She was an early team member at Quattro Wireless (acquired by Apple), m-Qube (acquired by VeriSign) and WebHosting.com (acquired by AT&T).She has also held various roles as a management consultant with financial services and technology companies.Twitter: @lum

Boris Wertz is the Founder & General Partner of Version One Ventures. He previously worked at Ether Capital as a Lead Independent director. Boris Wertz attended the WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management.

Gerry Pond is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Mariner Innovations. He previously worked at Aliant Telecom as a President. Gerry Pond The University of New Brunswick.

Gavin Uhma - Co-Founder / CTO @ Cape Privacy

Mike has a wealth of experience in building and scaling consumer technology companies in private and public markets

Sebastien Marineau is the VP Software at Apple. He attended University of Ottawa.

Brice Scheschuk is a Co-founder, Director and the Chief Financial Officer of Globalive Communications / Wind Mobile. He has been with Globalive / Wind for eight years in a senior finance capacity and is responsible for all aspects of finance, facilities and business planning including direct responsibility for raising in excess of $1.2billion in capital. Brice is the Co-President of Brave Investment, an investment holding company focused on private and public company and fund investing and manages over $10 million in assets across a number of investment classes including alternative funds, private and public equity, venture capital, angel, real estate, CPC’s, SPAC’s and RTO’s. He is the Chairman and Director of Samba Days, a gift experiences company, and a past director of a number of public and private companies including Web Host Industry Review, iLookabout, Hy-Drive Technologies and Varicent Software. Brice is a Canadian Chartered Accountant and earned his designation at Coopers & Lybrand in 1997. A passionate entrepreneur and investor, Brice has been involved in some of the most exciting start-ups in Canada over the past 15 years.

Lisa Shields is FI.SPAN’s founder and CEO. FI.SPAN is Lisa’s second financial technology startup - she also founded and led Hyperwallet Systems Inc for 15 years; today it is recognized as a leading global payments processor for business to consumer mass payouts. She is a member of the Canadian FinPay Committee, was named the EY RegionalEntrepreneur Of The Year in 2015 and received a Women in Payments Innovation Award in 2016.A firm believer in inclusive commerce, Lisa is always looking for new ways to unite ecosystem participants for the benefit of end users. She also has a personal interest in the underbanked and speaks frequently and passionately on the importance of low-cost, compliant payments.

Jon Oringer is the founder and chairman of Shutterstock.

Dean Bakes is the Principal at M3 Ventures and Investor at Foxtrot, Jaanuu, and Rhone. He is also an Advisory Committee of The Vinetta Project. He was the Creative Director at Michael Andrews Bespoke and the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Charles Dean before that.He brings to M3 Ventures a unique combination of investment acumen,relationship building, and unbridled ambition. Dean has developed a firm knowledge and understanding of branded consumer companies as well as a unique perspective as the founder of his own apparel startup

Joseph Fung is the CEO and Co-founder of Uvaro.

Paul Buchheit co-founded social network aggregator FriendFeed, along with three other former Google employees. He is also an investor in FriendFeed and participated in a $5 million Series A round in February 2008.He was the 23rd employee at Google, where he created Gmail and implemented many of its innovative features. He developed the originalprototype of Google AdSense, and was responsible for Google's famous "Don't be evil" motto in a meeting.

Manny is an entrepreneur, educator, angel investor and philanthropist based in Vancouver, B.C.A self-made entrepreneur who built his first multi-million-dollar company at age 26, Manny is dedicated to providing education and mentorship to today’s youth. He is the founder of New Avenue Capital, a global firm focusing on four fundamental pillars:investment, lending, recruitment and philanthropy.Manny sits on a number of advisory boards in the education and not-for-profit sectors, and is an active advisor and angel investor in Vancouver’s tech community and around the globe. He has invested in local start-ups including Picatic, MyBestHelper, G-Kup, ShareShed and NovaBind.Manny is also the co-founder of GradusOne, an organization that connects students and new graduates with mentors and provides them with the resources they need to achieve future success. It is Manny’s personal mission to educate 1 million people worldwide.He is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Private Equity & Venture Capital program. Manny also completed his MBA from Queen’s University and his BBA (Honours) from Simon Fraser University.

Investor in real-time web companies in the US & China via 2020 Ventures, LLCPreviously:- Managing Partner at Alacon Ventures, LLC (San Francisco)- Co-founder & Partner at Mandarin Ventures Ltd. (Beijing)- Founder & President of GoodWork International, LLC (Beijing)- Co-founder & SVP Sales & Marketing of Work.com(Redwood City)- Director of E-commerce and Financial Content at Excite.com (Redwood City)- Director of Games Publishing, Powerhouse Entertainment (Dallas)- GM of Consumer Software at Micrografx (Dallas)- Associate M&A at Charterhouse plc (New York)- Analyst, Kidder, Peabody & Co. (New York)

Dennis Bennie is a pioneer, entrepreneur and innovator in the Canadian technology industry. Over the past 20 years, Bennie's entrepreneurial management has powered Mission Electronics, Ingram Canada and Delrina. In 1997, he founded the XDL Venture Capital Fund, focusing on information technology opportunities. The $25 million fund hasyielded exceptional returns to date. One of its most noteworthy investments was a 1997 start-up, Delano Technology Corporation (NASD:DTEC). XDL Intervest, a $150 million fund was started in 1999 and is now fully invested. Bennie currently manages an experienced team investing in private equity opportunities as the XDL Capital Group. From 1988 to 1996, Mr. Bennie was CEO of Delrina Corporation, an independent software developer and publisher, which forged the new software categories of electronic forms and PC fax communications. Under Mr. Bennie's leadership, Delrina pioneered the development of PC fax software called WinFax and became a world leader in the communication software market with annual sales revenue exceeding $130 million. Listed on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, Delrina cultivated a reputation for leadership, growth and profitability, and completed several public offerings. In November 1995, the company was successfully sold to Symantec Corporation for share consideration valued at $560 million. Mr. Bennie entered the world of technology in 1979, when he co-founded Mission Electronics. He drove the expansion of this leading British audio equipment manufacturer to become a dominant force in the high-end stereo market. In 1982 he sold his interest in Mission Electronics and founded Aviva Software, an independent, mass-market software developer. Under his direction, the company expanded its scope to include software distribution and merged with Ingram Micro Inc. in 1986 to become Canada's largest software distributor. Residing in Toronto, Canada, with his wife Laura and three daughters, Dennis is an avid golfer and runner. A member of the World President's Organization, he also regularly serves on various charitable boards including the Toronto Hospital Board.

Ronald Richardson is the Vice President of Product Management and Co-Founder of Benbria. Ronald has contributed to all aspects of the business through Benbria’s growth, from software implementation to corporate financing rounds. With a rich career history covering finance, platform technology, and software start-ups, Ronald has held positionsat Barclays Capital in Strategic Modelling and Rates Trading, Intel in Design Engineering, and SlipStream Data (acquired by RIM) in Software Architecture. Ronald holds a B.S.E. (Bachelors of Software Engineering, with Distinction) from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Garry Tan is the incoming President and CEO of Y Combinator. He previously worked at Posterous.com as a Co-Founder. Garry Tan attended Stanford University.

Jean François Grenon brings more than 25 years of expertise in the telecom and wireless space. Prior to forming Vectrad Networks and then NTF-Capital in 2003, Jean-François was Chairman and CEO of Innova Corporation, a company he led folllowing its listing on the NASDAQ.Jean-François graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal andholds a Harvard Business School MBA.He sits on the board of several innovation driven corporations including Inter-Mobile S.A.S, a NexTFund portfolio company.

Greg Rudin

Tim Draper is the Founding Partner of Draper Associates. He attended Harvard Business School.

Sergio has a diversified investment portfolio of companies across the United States and Canada ranging from B2B Cloud & SaaS startups (leveraging Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Analytics and Security) to B2C Consumer startups (leveraging Mobile Apps, IoT/Wearables and eCommerce). Sergio has +15 years of experience as a multiple timestech entrepreneur with startups in Aerospace, eCommerce, Manufacturing, AgTech and Financial Technologies. Over the last 8 years, he has been deeply involved in the international entrepreneurial scene (incubators and accelerators) through his involvement in Founder Institute, Techstars Startup Programs, McGill X-1, Startup Chile, Startup Peru, Startup Bootcamp FinTech London, MsB Tunisia, Flat6Labs Tunisia, Kuwait National Fund, World Bank 'Tech Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean', Krypto Labs in the Middle East and Creative Destruction Lab in Artificial Intelligence. He has been pioneering the Canadian investment scene by launching one of Canada's very first super angel funds: BCFventures.vc

Mike Cegelski is the Founder, Chairman, and Managing Partner at Panache Ventures and an Investing Partner at Kanata Ventures, Limited Partner at Brightspark Ventures, Akkadian Ventures, iNovia Capital, Real Ventures, and Plaza Ventures. Prior to that, Mike was a Fellow at Creative Destruction Lab. He attended the Université de Sherbrooke.

Kirk Simpson is the CEO of Confirm. He is a passionate team builder, innovator, and entrepreneur with more than two decades of experience leading disruptive technology ventures.Before his current role at Confirm, Kirk co-founded Wave Financial Inc., a company dedicated to providing financial services and software solutions to small businesses.Under his leadership as CEO, Wave expanded significantly, achieving $100M in annual revenue and growing its team to 370 employees. This growth culminated in Wave’s acquisition by H&R Block for $537M in June 2019.In the same year, Kirk’s exceptional leadership was recognized when he was named Canada’s Most Admired CEO in the growth category by Waterstone Human Capital.Beyond his role at Confirm, Kirk actively contributes to the North American startup ecosystem as an angel investor and advisor.

Matt Wyndowe is Head of Product Partnerships at Uber. Before that he was Product Manager for Facebook NYC where he oversaw 4 groups, including profile growth, identity accuracy and 2 to-be-announced (and pretty darn cool) product launches coming soon.Before that he was back in Menlo Park where he was the Product Manager for Facebook Apps& Games, where he oversaw product for the Facebook Platform games ecosystem. Prior to this role, Matt worked as a Manager and then Director of Business Development for 4 years, focusing on product launches (e.g. Connect) and major company partnerships (e.g. Zynga and Microsoft). Before Facebook, he founded KoboCafe, a reasonably unsuccessful app company, and worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. Matt has a BA in economics with a minor in computer science from McGill University, and attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford D.School. Matt lives in between SF and NYC depending where he is in his career, but is moving back to SF soon.

Brian Craig is a Principal of Adventure Capital, a privately held venture capital firm based in Calgary.Brian has had operating roles in many high-tech companies in Calgary and is the former CEO of Solium Capital Inc., a publicly traded financial services firm based in Calgary. Brian has experience leading several successful start-ups and is aco-founder and director of privately held FX Energy, a Calgary-based oil and gas firm.Brian is an investor and serves on the Board of several early-stage companies - public, private, energy and technology. He is a passionate architect of emerging businesses with the knowledge, experience and patience to help guide these fragile companies through their early life experiences. The clarity to succeed, the drive to win and the discipline to execute are all common attributes of the companies Brian associates with.Brian is an engineer with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick (Fredericton).

Fred is an out-of-the closet design and technology geek who envisions a world where software enables the full potential of ideas, enriches lives, and is a joy to use. He has led Macadamian in its tremendous growth to become a multi-million dollar consultancy with an award-winning work culture. Frédéric started his career at Corel Corporation in thesoftware engineering department, becoming the Senior Development Manager of Paradox, the company’s flagship database product. Having learned the ins and outs of creating successful software he began his entrepreneurial journey by starting Macadamian in 1997 with 3 other founders.As Chair of the Information Technology Association of Canada, Fred is an ardent advocate for technology-based innovation in Canada. He is also a community leader and mentor, who encourages a passion for healthcare, science, and technology in high school and university students. Frédéric graduated from the Université de Sherbrooke with a B.S. in Computer Science. He resides with his wife and children in Gatineau, Quebec, where he enjoys mountain biking, skiing, and cooking for family and friends.

Ajay Agrawal is the Co-Founder of Sanctuary Cognitive Systems Corporation. He previously worked at Queen's School of Business as a Assistant Professor. Ajay Agrawal attended the University of British Columbia.

Jon Oringer is the founder and chairman of Shutterstock.

Ajay Agrawal is the Co-Founder of Sanctuary Cognitive Systems Corporation. He previously worked at Queen's School of Business as a Assistant Professor. Ajay Agrawal attended the University of British Columbia.

Bob is chief operating officer and co-founder of Mariner. Prior to joining the Mariner team, Bob held a variety of senior positions with NBTel and Aliant Telecom, including VP, Broadband Engineering, VP, Engineering and VP, Technical Solutions and Support.Bob’s expertise spans the full range of IP and broadband networking applications andtechnologies. In addition to leading Aliant Telecom’s Broadband infrastructure deployment, Bob directed the development of industry-first IP applications, including IP Centrex, TV on the PC and the world’s first IP TV service to deliver multiple MPEG TV streams on DSL technology. Bob has also led the technology development and implementation of self service and service improvement software and tools for both HSI and IP TV. Bob was instrumental in establishing NBTel as the first Canadian telephone company to provide internet service, and he led the technology strategy to deliver a widely respected contact center program which delivered over 10,000 seats of agent technology to world-leading contact center operators, including Fortune 500 clients.

Auren Hoffman is the CEO and Chief Historian of SafeGraph and he was the CEO of Rapleaf. Auren holds a B.S.E. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the UC Berkeley. He writes a blog called Summation.

Ellen Levy is the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Connect.