The Advisory Council is comprised of individuals well known in entrepreneurial and innovative circles. The Council consists of business leaders, innovation catalysts, and venture capitalists who have a strong interest in the University of Waterloo and its entrepreneurial initiatives. Council members have agreed to act in several capacities: providing advice on ways for MBET to become the pre-eminent education unit in Canada for students wishing to pursue entrepreneurship and/or intrapreneurship, mentoring student groups in the Commercialization Practicum, providing guest lectures, and promoting MBET to the community.
| Murray Gamble P.Eng. Advisory Council ChairPresident, The C3 Group |
Murray Gamble is President of The C3 Group of Companies, a multi-discipline engineering, contracting and applied technology organization headquartered in Waterloo Region.
He has been a past Chairman of the Innovators Alliance, a not-for-profit networking organization for the Presidents and CEOs of Ontario’s fastest growing companies.
Murray and his business partner, Cameron Wood, have founded and grown a number of successful technical companies, and maintain active networks in the Canadian business and academic sectors.
He serves on Waterloo Engineering’s Dean’s Advisory Council and is on the Advisory Board for the Colleges of Ontario Network for Industry Innovation. In the past Murray has served as an advisor to the Queen’s School of Business, Centre for Enterprise Development and as a technical advisor to the Ontario Centres of Excellence.
Murray volunteers as an active board member for a number of not-for-profit and community based organizations.
| Dr. Doug Beynon Entrepreneur-In-ResidencePresident, Beynon Enterprises |
Dr. Beynon was Director, President and CEO of Unisearch Associates Inc. from 1998 through 2007 and in the additional capacity as Chairman of the Board from 2004 through 2007. Doug Beynon was also the founding Chair of the Advisor Council for the Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology at the University of Waterloo from 2003 to 2009. Dr. Beynon was the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Centre for Business Entrepreneurship and Technology from 2009 to present and has been Chairman of the Board of the Ontario Centre for Environmental Technology Advancement from 2003 to present. A member of the Dean’s Advisory Council and Campaign Cabinet at the University of Waterloo from 2007 to present, Dr. Beynon has also been on the Advisory Board of Metalumen from 2007 to present and the Advisory Board of Tangam Gaming from 2005 to present. Additionally, Dr. Beynon has been a Director of xRM Global Inc. from 2009 to present. Dr. Beynon is President & CEO of Beynon Enterprises (2241587 Ontario Limited), has been President of PinPoint Integrity Inc., PinPoint Environmental Inc., PinPoint Xploration Inc. and PinPoint Services Canada Inc. for 2009 to present. Doug has also been co-CEO of Square Foot Media Inc. from 2009 to present.
“CONRAD and the MBET program resonated with me from the start. It is a 12 month program that recognizes the needs of entrepreneurs and is continuously evolving the program around them. To succeed in the MBET program, you have to be an entrepreneur. The program is specifically targeted to assist in the development of the skill sets and on-the-ground experiences entrepreneurs seek.
What has been inspirational is the response of local business people, including many serial entrepreneurs, in participating with the students as they build their businesses. The Advisory Council members, as well as many others, have given their time and resources freely to the program. Several have also provided scholarships as well as other forms of support. The students leave this program with networking skills and networks that are highly develop. It is a privilege to be part of the Advisory Council and associated with such a great program.”
| Manfred Conrad President and CEO, The Cora Group Inc. |
Born and raised in Germany, Manfred came to Canada in 1963. In 1978, Manfred began acquiring smaller residential properties with a $30,000 investment under the name of The Cora Group Inc. The company soon moved into multi-residential development and then into larger office developments. Manfred’s futuristic, long-term vision and hands-on approach has allowed The Cora Group Inc. to become one of the Region’s largest developers and managers of commercial real estate. In 2008 Manfred sold a large portion of his holdings to Realex Properties Corporation and joined Realex as a member of the Board of Directors.
| Peter Allen President, Electric Contacts Ltd. |
Peter is a partner and the leader of Electrical Contacts Limited. ECL is a materials engineering firm producing specialized components for companies involved in the power engineering field. Founded in 1970, Peter assumed executive authority in 1992 and has guided the firm through a growth phase that has increased revenues five-fold.
Peter enjoys an active network of business associates within the industry and IEEE. Peter is currently serving as the chairman of the board of the Innovators Alliance, a not-for-profit peer mentoring organization head-quartered in Ontario. Peter also serves the Ontario government through the Ministry of Economic Development, as an active participant of the Ontario Manufacturing Council. The mandate of the Council is to provide advice and insight to the Minister on the manufacturing sector, both its near term challenges and its long term development.
Peter’s current business interests include governance, mentoring and the changing role of management in business today.
| Gary Bartholomew Chairman and CEO, CyberNorth Ventures Inc.. |
Mr. Bartholomew specializes in building early stage “Game Changing – Global Innovative” companies and opportunities as CEO and Chairman in both private and public markets with the focus on, technology, global financial services and capital markets. Gary has an unprecedented level of entrepreneurial expertise in the art of developing leading On Demand Softwware models and business opportunities and then successfully commercializing them. Along with developing these “Game Changing” companies, Gary has developed a global network of capital and strategic partnerships within the fastest growing economies around the world. Focussed on capital access in the GCC (mainly United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia), strategic partnerships in MENA, China, Brazil and Russia that control the major activities within these areas of innovation.
Gary has to his credit a number of successful start ups he is currently involved with: PinPoint Ltd (Cyprus), an airborne LiDAR technology used for oil exploration, oil pipeline leak detection an environmental assessments; xRM Global Inc., a On Demand Enterprise Solution for relationship management (TSX-V:XRM), Strategic Capital Partners, a $100 million pre-IPO private equity fund, and regulated Investment Dealer in the GCCC focussed on marketing funds and equity issues.
Past success include three highly successful e-commerce start-ups, including Basis100; iGate Technologies, a wireless e-commerce business; and Paypro, an Internet payment and settlement systems company. Gary founded, and was CEO and Chairman of Cervus Financial Group Inc. from 2002-2005; he. Gary’s impressive record of achievements also includes consulting on e-commerce and software technologies with a number of today’s leading technology companies, such as IBM, HP, International Verifact and Livingston International. He also consulted Royal Bank of Canada on their e-Lab Seed Capital Fund, an early stage capital fund for emerging e-commerce opportunities.
Gary graduated from the University of Waterloo in 1983 with a BSc in Science and Engineering.
| Bob Civak Managing Director, Ontario Centres of Excellence |
Bob Civak joined the Ontario Centres of Excellence in 1991 as Director, Business Development for the Manufacturing Research Corporation (MRCO), a predecessor of the Centre for Materials and Manufacturing. Earlier in his career, Bob worked in business development, sales and marketing and consulting roles for Tricil Environmental and Petro-Canada. He started his career with Gulf Oil Corporation and served in various capacities over a period of 10 years, including planning, sales, and business assessment. In 1989, Bob was part of a start-up consulting practice, IDG Environmental, which in 1990 was named Small Business of the Year by the Mississauga Chamber of Commerce.
Bob holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster University, and his professional affiliations include the Licensing Executive Society (LES) and the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). In addition, he is a founding Board member of the Mississauga Technology Business Accelerator, an advisory board member of the Ontario Partnership for Innovation and Commercialization (OPIC), a board member of the Ontario Bio Auto Council, a board member for the Advanced Design and Manufacturing Institute (ADMI) and serves on the teaching faculty for the Basic and Intermediate Licensing Course for the Alliance for Commercialization of Canadian Technology (ACCT).
| David Cork Co-founder and CEO, The Aspen Partnership |
David Cork has over 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Prior to co-founding Natural Convergence, he served in a variety of leadership and executive roles with Bell Northern Research, Mitel Corporation, ObjecTime and Nortel. David has proven his ability to execute business plans. While with Nortel, he held the position of Chief Operating Officer for eXtremeVoice, Nortel’s national ASP offering in the area of Internet Call Waiting. Previously, he laid the foundation for sales growth at ObjecTime and built Mitel’s Computer-Telephony Integration unit into a multi-million dollar business.
| E.B. (Ted) Cross Chair and CEO, E.B. Cross & Company |
Ted was the Director of the Technology Transfer and Licensing Office (TTLO) of the University of Waterloo for over fourteen years from 1982 through 1996. Prior to joining the University of Waterloo, he spent 25 years in the Canadian chemical industry, completing his industrial career as President and General Manager of Chinook Chemicals Company. He co-founded Chinook and in 1966, built the first Canadian methylamines plant at a “green field” site based on licensed-in technology.
Ted currently is an International Delegate to Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) and serves on the board of the Licensing Foundation as Treasurer. He is a member of The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) and has been a plenary and workshop speaker at meetings of both organizations. He is the CEO and Chair of the Canadian Innovation Centre and also sits on the Advisory boards of the University of Toronto’s Chemical Engineering Department and the Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning International Business Management program. After retiring in 1996, Ted remains active in the areas of Intellectual Property Management and Licensing to both emerging and established companies through his consulting company, E.B. Cross & Company.
| Jim Estill CEO, Synnex |
Jim Estill is the President, Chief Executive Officer, and Founder of EMJ Data Systems Ltd. He serves as Chief Executive Officer of Synnex Canada Ltd. and Advisor of Geosign Corporation. A member of the Advisory Committee of Kilmer Capital Partners, Jim has been a Director of Research In Motion Ltd. since 1997 and serves as a Member of the Audit Committee. Mr. Estill has been a Director of EMJ Data Systems Ltd. since 1994; he has been an independent Director of Hammond Manufacturing Company Limited since December 2000 and as the Member of the Audit and Compensation Committees. He is a frequent speaker at industry trade shows and publishes on the subjects of entrepreneurship, business, computer industry trends, negotiation skills, and time management and holds a B.A. and B.Sc. in Systems Design Engineering from University of Waterloo as well as a P. Eng degree.
| Sharron Gilbert Chair, President & CEO, Septimatech Group Inc. and Septimatech Developments Inc. |
Sharron is a partner and co-founder of both companies. Septimatech Group, founded in 1993, is a design and manufacturing company providing container handling solutions to the global packaging industry. Developments is a holding company and landlord for real estate.
Sharron has worked in many facets of the organization prior to successorship in 2001. Her background is business administration and materials management with 15 years experience in the packaging industry. She is currently a member of Innovators Alliance, PMMI (Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute), and the Canadian Packaging Association.
| Tom Hunter Partner, Gowlings |
Tom has been a partner at Gowlings since 1995. He practices in the area of corporate, commercial and technology law as head of the firms’ Waterloo Region Business Law Group. His particular areas of focus include assisting start-up and growth oriented companies, mergers and acquisitions and all aspects of equity and debt financing.
Mr. Hunter holds an honours degree in Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University and a law degree from the University of Western Ontario. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1988.
Tom is actively involved with Communitech, the Schlegel Centre for Entrepreneurship at Wilfrid Laurier University and is a frequent guest lecturer. He serves on a number of boards and committees.
| Bruce Gordon Chairman, Manulife Canada Ltd. |
Bruce Gordon is Chairman, Manulife Canada Ltd., Manulife Bank of Canada and Manulife Trust Company. He is also a director of Manulife Asset Management Limited and Aurigen Capital Limited. Bruce graduated from Carleton University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and qualified as a chartered accountant. Mr. Gordon retired from Manulife Financial Corporation in March 2007, where he held the position of Senior Executive Vice President and General Manager, Canada and was a member of the Executive and Management Committee. During his 18 year career, he held various senior positions. Mr. Gordon serves on the board of the C.D. Howe Institute. He is also involved in the Kitchener-Waterloo community, serving on the board of St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation as well as chairing the hospital’s Leadership Committee, and is a member of the University of Waterloo’s Board of Governors, Executive Committee, Finance and Investment Committee, Governance Committee, and Audit Committee.
| Toby Jenkins CEO, Columbia Developments Inc.President, Columbia Lake Health Club |
Toby Jenkins completed her undergraduate degree in urban planning from the University of Waterloo followed by an MBA from the Schulich School of Business. Toby wrote the original Knowledge Based Industry Banking policies for the Royal Bank before most had ever thought of the unique challenges facing knowledge based businesses. She financed a variety of businesses in the region and many of the local technology companies in the early 1990’s. With 12 years in the banking industry, three kids and an extremely busy husband, she took a break from the workforce but soon realized she couldn’t be a stay-at-home mom. In 1998, Toby created the first Waterloo based venture capital fund located in Waterloo. As Chairman from 1998 to 2008, she successfully led the growth of Waterloo Ventures by recruiting a strong team to grow this $5M fund to $80M all focussed on a local mandate. Toby has served on the board of Cancer Care Ontario and on the board of Grand River Hospital.
Toby Jenkins currently lists two jobs on her CV. She is the President, designer, owner and general manager of Columbia Lake Health Club; a full service fitness facility that helps individuals develop, maintain and protect an active lifestyle. She is also the President, developer, owner and operator of commercial office buildings located in Waterloo TechTown, a community centre for the Research and Technology Park, and Columbia Place in Waterloo. Toby’s interests include living an active life, snow and water skiing as well as biking. She is a founding entrepreneur of Women of Waterloo as well as a founding member of International Women’s Forum.
Toby Jenkins has found her entrepreneurial spirit and lives this through her businesses and her interest in helping entrepreneurs answer the tough questions and, analyze their options as they grow their businesses.
| Kevin Kimsa President & CEO, AudienceView Ticketing Inc. |
Kevin Kimsa co-founded AudienceView Ticketing in 2002, after the successful conclusion to his first venture, Solect Technology Group. Solect was an IP Billing software company, targeting the telecommunications and mobility market from 1993 until 2000. Kevin served as President and COO of Solect until its acquisition in April 2000 by Amdocs Inc. for $1.2 Billion. Kevin and the Solect management team completed 4 rounds of financing with a mixture of venture capitalists and strategic investors, including notable organizations Technology Crossover Ventures, SAIC/Telcordia, Bain Capital, British Telecom and Nokia. Kevin was also the Founder and President of Casero Inc., a software company providing a suite of Web 2.0 applications to the Broadband market. Notable customers included British Telecom, Comcast and Bell Canada. Casero was acquired by Radialpoint Inc. in February 2009. Kevin holds a Bachelor of Mathematics degree from the University of Waterloo, where he majored in Computer Science and Statistics. Kevin was a 2002 recipient of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award and is a Board member of Toronto East General Hospital and the Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology Centre, University of Waterloo (Advisory Board). Previous Board seats include: The Canadian Stage Company, Variety Village Children’s Charity, Ottawa Renegade Football Club, and ‘Cottage Dreams’ Cancer Recovery. Kevin has been a part owner in the Ottawa Renegade Football Club of the CFL and 3 National Lacrosse teams of the NLL.
| Iain Klugman President, Communitech |
Iain Klugman is President of Communitech – one of the most successful technology associations in Canada representing over 300 members in the Waterloo Region. Iain brings 20 years of marketing and technology business experience coupled with community involvement to the president’s position. Previously, Iain was Executive Director of Communications with the CBC, and prior to that, he was CEO of Ontario Tourism in the Government of Ontario. During the late 1990’s, Iain spent six years with Nortel Networks where he held executive roles in advertising, branding and human resources. He also brings seven years of federal government experience with stints in the Privy Council Office and Industry Canada.
| Ian MacLellan Vice-Chairman & President, Arise Technologies Corporation |
Ian MacLellan is Vice-Chairman and CTO of ARISE Technologies Corporation. He has 30 years experience in sales, engineering, venture capital, acquisitions, running two public companies and is a leading Canadian solar energy expert. He graduated from Ryerson Polytechnical University as an Electrical Engineering Technologist. He then spent ten years with Motorola, Hewlett Packard and Oracle in various technical, sales and management positions. In 1989 he founded Creation Venture Capital Corporation that made several successful investments, mostly in electronic manufacturers and then sold his interest in late 1995. In 1996, he consulted for Solar Design Associates, a world leader in solar energy and for a related company, Advanced Energy Systems where he became the Chairman of the Board.
| Angela Mondou President, Ice Leadership |
Angela Mondou is a former Air Force captain and marketing executive whose unique and unconventional career has taken her from worldwide military operations to top-ranked high-tech companies, most recently Research In Motion, the creators of BlackBerry™.
Angela has been ‘Pushing The Envelope’ throughout her entire career. She is the founder of ICE leadership, creator of highly successful ICE ‘product launch execution’ and team integration programs for mission-critical business and a self-published author. Angela has taken her unique leadership experience to a whole new level. She is a powerful national speaker on leadership and career strategies, delivers leading-edge & award winning workshops and recently launched her first bestselling book entitled, Hit the Ground Leading!
| Patricia Quinn Managing Director, Protiviti |
By recognizing and creating opportunity, Patricia Quinn has guided Creative Options from its humble beginnings as a promotional product supplier to its current position as a leader in the field of employee communications. After successfully leading the acquisition of her privately held company in February 2006, Pat now serves as the Managing Director of the internal communication and training practice within Protiviti, a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Half International Inc.(NYSE symbol: RHI).
With over 24 years experience building custom training strategies for some of the world’s leading organizations, she is an expert in communication, as it relates to change management, and has led an array of different initiatives to increase knowledge, modify employee behavior and enhance the performance of an organization’s human capital. From instilling a new code of ethics to ingraining specific internal controls or process guidelines throughout an organization, Pat has worked with a number of Fortune 1000 organizations globally in North America, the Middle East, Australia and Europe. She also led the development and successful commercialization of a mobile software application for the collection and reporting of operational compliance data.
Past Business Woman of the Year, Pat remains actively involved in the business community and has served as a guest lecturer at Wilfrid Laurier University, member of the Conestoga College Board of Governors and Board of Advisors for the Graphic Design Program as well as a member of the Board of Directors for the Chamber of Commerce. A successful entrepreneur and executive, she has launched a number of business ventures including Creative Options and a retail loss prevention consulting practice under the brand Radius. She also continues to pass along lessons learned as an entrepreneur while serving as a frequent speaker surrounding the role of women in entrepreneurship. Pat holds an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University.
| Eugene Roman CTO, Open Text Corporation |
Eugene Roman holds the position of Chief Information Officer at Open Text Corporation. Eugene is a seasoned, hi-tech executive with 28 years of global experience in the IT, infocom, network design and R&D sectors. He has a multi-skilled background in advanced technology, computer science, business development and finance which will nicely compliment the skills of the Executive Leadership Team. Eugene is a strong leader who encourages his team members to excel and work together on delivering above and beyond their expectations.
In accord with their mission to be recognized as the Content Experts and undisputed ECM market leader, Eugene works closely with all major areas of business, sharing his expertise and experience while working to make Open Text a showcase for their technology and IT business practices.
Previously, Eugene was Group President, Bell Systems & Technology. In this role, Eugene led the effort to enable breakthroughs in productivity and performance, and deliver current and next generation services more efficiently by harnessing the power of Bell’s network.
Prior to his appointment as Group President, he held the position of Chief Information and Technology Officer. In this role, Eugene led the integration of the critical resources of IS/IT, Technology and Process to better deliver innovative programs, achieving short- and long-term benefits.
Eugene started his career with Nortel in 1981 upon graduation from the Faculty of Management Studies at the University of Toronto. He has worked in various groups within BCE including Finance, Information Systems, R & D, and Corporate Office with significant international assignments in Asia, Europe and South America. Eugene is on the Board of Directors of a community based financial institution and has supported its evolution to an e-business.
Eugene is the proud father of two cyber kids: Krys and William. He is also an avid beekeeper, fisherman, gardener and winemaker. His favorite phrases are “Simplify IT”, “exCITE!, “netputing”, and “world of IP”.
Eugene holds a Bachelor’s Degree in economics, a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and is a Certified Management Accountant
| Ray Simonson CEO, COREWORX Inc |
Ray has a passion for applying technology to solve real world business problems in innovative ways. He has expertise in application development, management team building, customer support and venture fundraising. Software Innovations is a local enterprise software company delivering collaboration solutions to reduce the duration and cost of very large engineering projects. Prior to COREWORX, Ray was CEO of Software Innovation, and he co-founded BlueGill Technologies (bought out by CheckFree i-Solutions). He has been the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at TechCapital Partners and a partner in Verdexus.
| Rosemary Smith CEO, Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation |
Rosemary Smith grew up with a spirit of community and a commitment to it. She first became a resident of Kitchener-Waterloo in 1970 and after a successful career at The Mutual Life of Canada (now Sun Life) she joined The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation in 2001. As their CEO, she works to encourage cross-sectoral leadership and collaboration to in an effort to take this community from good to great. Rosemary has served previously on the Board of Directors of KWCF and also on the Board of the Cambridge & North Dumfries Community Foundation. Rosemary has also had leadership roles on many organizations such as Chair of The Greater Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce and has served on many boards such as the K-W YWCA and K-W Big Brothers. Rosemary has also had had the honour of being recognized as a Woman of Distinction in the area of business by the Cambridge YWCA.
By the time Rosemary joined The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation in 2001, she had created a track record of involvement some of which included: The Greater Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, Recipient of the YWCA’s Woman of Distinction Award for Business (2000), Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, The United Way Volunteer, Founder, Cambridge Women in Networking, K-W Women in Networking, K-W YWCA, Steering Committee, Leadership Waterloo Region and Member, Zonta Club of Kitchener-Waterloo, Steering Committee, Waterloo Region Immigrant Employment Network and Leadership Roundtable, Opportunities Waterloo Region
Rosemary says that “She has been apprenticing her entire life for her current job as Chief Executive Officer of The Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation”.
| John Southcott Co- CEO, Brock Solutions |
Mr. John Southcott is the Co-CEO of Brock Solutions. Prior to joining Brock in 2005 John was President and CEO, Evolved Digital Solutions. Evolved delivers integrated image, workflow and information management solutions to transform medical facilities from film to affordable digital systems, on a managed service (ASP) basis.
From 1980 – 2003, John was a partner with Deloitte Consulting – a global management and technology consulting firm, serving many of the largest private and public sector organizations in the world. John held many leadership roles in Deloitte, including leading Deloitte’s ERP business, Americas manufacturing practice and overseeing all strategic partnerships and alliances globally, including HP, IBM, SUN, SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, and Siebel. John graduated from the University of Waterloo in Computer Science in 1980.
Mr. Southcott was a partner at Deloitte Consulting for over 20 years where he held many leadership roles, including CEO of ICS Canada (Deloitte’s SAP and Baan practice), Americas Manufacturing Industry Practice Leader, and Global Managing Director – Strategic Partnerships and Alliances. John is a member of Young Presidents Organization and serves on the Advisory Board at the Conrad Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology Centre at the University of Waterloo. Mr. Southcott’s leadership experience and expertise in ERP, CRM, Supply Chain, MES, and Technology Integration over the last 25 years will be leveraged as Chair of the International MESA board.
| Mike Volker Director, Technology, Innovation, Management, Entrepreneurship (TIME), Simon Fraser University |
Mike Volker is an Entrepreneur active in the development of new high technology ventures. A University of Waterloo Engineering grad, Mike started his own company (Volker-Craig) in 1973. He sold this company in 1981 and then decided to work with entrepreneurs in building new companies. Since coming to B.C. in 1988, he has continued this work as Executive Director of the B.C. Advanced Systems Institute.
BASc(‘72), MASc(‘73) University of Waterloo, P.Eng., is a high-technology entrepreneur and investor involved in the development of technology-based businesses. He is Director of Simon Fraser University’s Innovation Office (since Dec’96) and President and Founder of WUTIF Capital (VCC) Inc – the Western Universities Technology Innovation Fund and Greenangel Energy Corp. In 1966, as a student entrepreneur, he was awarded the National Junior Achievement President-of-the-Year award. He received the University of Waterloo Alumni Achievement Medal in September, 1995. He served two terms as a Governor of the University of Waterloo from 1987-1993. His business career started in 1973 when he founded Volker-Craig Ltd., a computer terminals company that was acquired in 1981. Since then he has been active in various early stage businesses as a founder, investor, director, and officer. Mike was the first Chairman of Shad Valley in 1980. He frequently writes and speaks on management and technology issues and is active as a member of various charitable and educational boards. In 1988, he moved to British Columbia to serve as the first full-time Executive Director (1988-1991), and later as Chairman (2001-2003), of the BC Advanced Systems Institute, an organization dedicated to technology development and technology transfer. From 1991-1996 he was Chairman & CEO of RDM Corporation (TSX:RC), formerly Mindflight Corporation), a publicly-listed company he founded in 1987. From 1996 to 2001, he was Chairman of the Vancouver Enterprise Forum and continues to manage the Vancouver Technology Angel Network (VANTEC). Mike is very active on the B.C. high tech scene, serving on the non-profit boards of New Ventures BC, Canadian Listed Companies Association and the Auditing and Assurance Standards Oversight Council as well as various private company boards.
Just for fun, Mike was a “performer” in the 2010 Olympics closing ceremony. He was a “moose wrangler”.
In 2009, Mike was named Canadian Angel Investor of the Year by the National Angel Organization as well as B.C. Angel of the Year by the B.C. Angel Forum.
