Speakers
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I thrive on working to make the world a better place for women. Although a graduate in Business Administration-Accounting, my true passion and dedication lie in ensuring girls around the world are provided with the guidance and resources that help them identify their true purpose and calling to reach their...show more
Speaking on: Women in Tech: What Advice Would You Give Your 22-year-old Self?


Nouman is Co-founder and CEO of Validere where he is thrilled to lead the world's most advanced AI platform for trading and logistics of oil & gas.
Prior to Validere, Nouman led operations of APEXA Corp, a leading smart contracting and compliance platform for the insurance industry. APEXA was acquired by...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #1


Tara Akhavan is a technology entrepreneur. She is the founder and CTO of IRYStec a Series-A Montreal based start-up in the display industry. She has raised and helped raising over $8M in Angel and VC funding. Prior to founding IRYStec, she has been awarded for scaling an Operations and Maintenance...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #4


Gregg has over 20 years of experience in software sales and leadership. He joined Conversica as the Chief Sales Officer in April of 2018. He oversees the North American, LATAM and EMEA teams for Conversica as a member of the executive team. Prior to Conversica, Gregg was the SVP Global...show more
Speaking on: AI is the Future of Sales


Tyson Baber is a Partner on our Investment team and manages a range of activities including deal selection, due diligence and post-investment support. In addition to serving on the boards of several portfolio companies, Tyson provides expertise and guidance in the areas of business alliances, investment analysis and exit strategy.
Combining...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #3


The Honourable Navdeep Bains has been the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development since November 2015. He is the Member of Parliament for Mississauga–Malton and a member of Privy Council. Since he was first elected in 2004, he has served in various roles, including Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister...show more
Speaking on: CIX 2018 Innovator of the Year Keynote and Award Presentation


Since her first entrepreneurial venture as a teenager, Janet has used her boundless energy and focus to build and shape companies. Part of the Real Ventures team since 2014, she has led investments in a dozen companies, and works actively to help them accelerate growth and create meaningful impact. Janet’s...show more
Speaking on: Mental Health and Startups: How to Make It a Priority


Jenifer Bartman is the Founder & Principal of Jenifer Bartman Business Advisory Services, assisting clients in the growth and transition stages of development. Service areas include investor-ready business and strategic planning, financing readiness and assistance, growth strategies, contract roles, and executive coaching.
An experienced senior executive, Jenifer has over 11 years...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #3


Dushan has been CFO of Baanto since 2015. He has over 15 years of experience in the financial services and technology industries, having worked in equity research, merchant banking and venture capital. Prior to joining Baanto, Dushan was a VP at Difference Capital where he evaluated investments in technology companies. ...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


Win Bear focuses on helping Canada’s leading innovation companies reach new heights. As SVB’s Managing Director of Canada, Win leverages the entire SVB platform for clients who range in development from early-stage to public. Working with tech companies across Canada, Win connects companies, market influencers and both Canadian and U.S....show more
Speaking on: Debt Financing: What Canadian Founders Need to Know


David is a visionary and serial entrepreneur with a diverse background working across a variety of industries. David is currently the Founder and CEO of LevelJump, a sales onboarding and enablement software for modern & fast growing sales teams. Prior to founding LevelJump David built and sold a corporate training...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


Steve Boms is the Executive Director of the Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA) of North America and a Director of FDATA Global. Steve has spent his career focused on complex financial services public policy issues. He worked in the United States Congress on the committee with jurisdiction over banking...show more
Speaking on: The Open Banking Revolution: Is Canada Next?


Jeff co-founded BuildDirect in 1999 from his first-hand experience with the inefficiencies and high costs inherent with the home improvement and building supplies industry. He led the company through 2 major disruptions to create a fast growing company doing revenues in excess of $120 million and a company value of...show more
Speaking on: Lessons Learned with the Co-Founder of BuildDirect


Christophe has been working with and investing in technology, media and telecom companies for over a decade. His experience ranges from personal angel investments to growth equity.
In his previous role as a Principal at Tandem Expansion Fund, a $300m late stage venture capital fund, Christophe identified, executed and managed investments...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #4


Matt is a Principal at TDF Ventures, based in Washington DC, where he focuses on startups in machine learning, data, and cybersecurity. Prior to TDF, Matt held investing roles at GE Ventures and FOUNDER.org. Matt started his career as a management consultant for Oliver Wyman where he focused on growth...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #2


Sue Britton is CEO & Founder of FGS (FinTech Growth Syndicate) – Canada’s leading FinTech and corporate innovation accelerator. FGS accelerates innovation and the creation of new products and partnerships inside incumbent organizations; accelerate growth strategy and results of start-ups and the incumbent FinTech’s being disrupted by them.
Sue is a...show more
Speaking on: Women in Tech: What Advice Would You Give Your 22-year-old Self?


Mallorie holds an Honours degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business, and has almost 10 years of entrepreneurial experience. She holds various entrepreneurial awards, including top prize at the 2015 Google Demo Day, Techvibes Entrepreneur of the Year Award, C100 Pitch Winner, Communitech Rev Winner, and BNN Top Disruptor...show more
Speaking on: Spotlight: Canadian Success Stories


Eric leads Yaletown's investments in the Intelligent Industry, Applied AI, and Digital Operations sector themes. In addition, Eric has led the firm's research, development and institutionalization of Yaletown’s emerging-growth strategy. Eric joined the firm in 2009, and brings almost 15 years’ of investing, finance and strategy consulting experience to the...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #1


Jake is an Associate Partner at Relay Ventures. Jake’s background in product management and marketing provides a strong understanding of rapid product development and go-to market strategy. He supports deal sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio management at Relay. Prior to joining Relay, Jake was actively involved in the startup and...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #3


Dr. Ann Cavoukian
Distinguished Expert-in-Residence, Privacy by Design Centre of Excellence
Ryerson University
Dr. Ann Cavoukian is recognized as one of the world’s leading privacy experts. Dr. Cavoukian served an unprecedented three terms as the Information & Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, Canada. There she created Privacy by Design, a framework that seeks to proactively embed privacy into the design specifications of information technologies,...show more
Speaking on: Save Yourself the Cost of a Privacy Breach and Damage to Your Reputation: Embed Privacy, by Design


Tony Chahine is the president and founder of Myant Inc, the world’s first end-to-end Textile Computing company based in Toronto, Canada.
Myant embeds technology into textile to create a ubiquitous platform for human-computer interaction that, thanks to its bidirectional capabilities, enables better health and wellness through data collection, analysis and personalized...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #2


Pat Chaukos is leading the Ontario Securities Commission’s initiative, the OSC LaunchPad. This initiative is committed to modernizing regulation to support fintech innovation.
Pat has extensive experience with novel fintech businesses. Before leading OSC LaunchPad, Pat managed a team that focused on the exempt market, working with...show more
Speaking on: Networking with the Regulators


Marie Chevrier is the Founder and CEO of Sampler the leader in direct-to-consumer sampling. Marie started her career in advertising at J. Walter Thompson. From there, she had the opportunity to work at a venture capital firm in New York City. After a few years there, Marie came back to...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


Laura joined London & Partners as Chief Executive in 2017. She leads the international promotion of London, and is responsible for the leadership, strategy, performance and accountability of the organisation. Laura has spent her career at the intersection of business, public policy and communications.
Prior to joining London & Partners, Laura...show more
Speaking on: Beyond the Border: How to Grow Your Business Internationally


Kyle Collier graduated as Systems Design Engineer from the prestigious University of Waterloo, he has been in blockchain since 2011 and has advised numerous venture capitalists and angel investors in the space. He has founded 3 companies and exited two of them, has nearly 10 years of experience building teams,...show more
Speaking on: Bringing Cryptocurrency to the Masses


Meghan is a lawyer practicing in the area of technology and intellectual property law. She joined Shopify pre-IPO and has been involved in shaping many of the company’s legal programs and policies, including the management of open source software.
Speaking on: Successfully Navigating Open Source Software and Cybersecurity Issues in Transactions


Patrick Conroy is a Vice President at Revolution Growth. He is a Board Observer with BigCommerce, CAVA, and Convene.
Prior to joining Revolution, Patrick was an Analyst at Morgan Stanley on the Technology Investment Banking and Global Capital Markets teams based in New York City. While at Morgan Stanley, Patrick advised...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #3


Deborah Conway is a Business Development Specialist at Samsung NEXT. She is responsible for strategy and BD efforts across NEXT, specifically focusing on investments and acquisitions in IoT, smart cities, and mobility. Prior to joining Samsung, Deborah worked in a BD and strategy role for a social media and mapping...show more
Speaking on: Investment and Partnership Strategies of the Tech Giants


Jackie Cooper is Interaxon’s dynamic Chief Revenue Officer, with more than 20 years of experience building brands for leading technology companies, from start-ups and challenger brands to mature companies. At Interaxon, Jackie has ignited awareness of the company’s flagship product through strategic partnerships, carefully crafted and executed media campaigns and...show more
Speaking on: Beyond the Border: How to Grow Your Business Internationally


Jen Couldrey is widely known and respected as a ‘tech + philanthropy’ champion. As the Executive Director of The Upside Foundation, Jen has led the organization’s growth to over 200 companies having pledged to donate equity for charity, built the organization’s brand, and is driving the conversation about social responsibility...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #1


Alistair makes early-stage companies improve their go-to-market strategies, and works with some of the world’s largest firms on business model innovation. He also helps governments understand the impact of technology on society, ethics, and resiliency.
As an entrepreneur, Alistair co-founded Coradiant; the Year One Labs accelerator; and a variety of other...show more
Speaking on: How to Be Just Evil Enough


Code is a Founder and Managing Director of Mistral Venture Partners - an early stage venture capital firm with offices in Ottawa, Ontario and Palo Alto, California. Code has more than 25 years of experience as a company founder, operating executive and investor. As a venture capital and private investor,...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #2


Marcus Daniels is a digital product entrepreneur, pre-seed venture capitalist and corporate accelerator expert that helps co-create new ventures with the Global 2000.
A Founding Partner of Highline BETA which is a Startup Co-Creation company launching new...show more
Speaking on: Working Together: FinTechs and Bank Partnerships


Christine Day is a performance-driven technology and business leader known for disruption in the Financial Services Industry. An entrepreneur by nature, an innovator, and a visionary, Christine has defined Questrade’s technology posture for 12 years, steering it from a small start-up to one of Canada’s top online financial services firms....show more
Speaking on: The Open Banking Revolution: Is Canada Next?


Anthony de Fazekas
Partner, Head of Technology & Innovation, Canada
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP
Anthony de Fazekas’ practice focuses on all areas of information technology law, including the formation of winning IP strategies and the development and prosecution of original patent applications in a wide range of IT-related technologies. He has also handled all aspects of high-profile in-bound and out-bound technology licensing transactions and...show more
Speaking on: Beyond the Border: How to Grow Your Business Internationally


Daniel Debow is the CEO and co-founder of Helpful.com, a video messenger for professionals. Most recently, he was SVP, Emerging Technologies at Salesforce. Previously, Daniel was the co-founder and co-CEO of Rypple, which was acquired by Salesforce in 2011. Prior to Rypple, Daniel was on the founding team of Workbrain,...show more
Speaking on: Founders with Money: Real Talk with Entrepreneurs-Turned-Angel-Investors


Tony is a member of GTC’s IP Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Business & Technology Transactions groups. He focuses on mergers and acquisitions, strategic development of patent portfolios, valuing and commercializing intellectual property assets, and licensing and other technology-related transactions. In addition, Tony oversees the firm’s computer code audit and...show more
Speaking on: Successfully Navigating Open Source Software and Cybersecurity Issues in Transactions


Tanay Delima is the General Manager at Clearbanc, a fintech startup focussed on helping entrepreneur's grow their online business. Clearbanc provides entrepreneurs the capital they need to double down on their marketing budget and accelerate their revenue growth by 6X though ROI positive digital marketing. At Clearbanc Tanay leads the...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #4


A Toronto native, Coinsquare CEO Cole Diamond aims to build Coinsquare into a 21st century financial institution that disrupts how the financial services industry operates. He is a serial entrepreneur, now launching his third company, with a proven track record of taking companies from nothing to millions of dollars in...show more
Speaking on: Spotlight: Canadian Success Stories


Shayn is currently an observer on WCIII portfolio companies Qvella, Affinio and Classcraft Studios.
Shayn is a Board Member of Food Starter, an organization providing access to business advisory services and a structured training program in order to help entrepreneurs build and grow their food businesses.
Shayn is active in the community,...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #2; Meeting Exchanges #3


Dan is Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at Equitable Bank in Toronto, Canada’s ninth-largest independent bank. He leads EQ Bank, Equitable’s digital banking arm, and is responsible for all technology strategy, delivery, and operations at Equitable, as well as project management.
Prior to joining Equitable in 2013 Dan was...show more
Speaking on: Spotlight: Canadian Success Stories


Andrea is Vice President at Azure Capital Partners, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm with over $750 million under management. Based in their Calgary office, she evaluates investment opportunities across Canada and works with all of Azure’s Canadian investments and selected consumer investments in the US.
Immediately prior to joining Azure,...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #3


Tim Draper founded Draper Associates in July, 1985, which, when joined by John Fisher and Steve Jurvetson, became the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (now DFJ). Investments include Skype, Hotmail, Tesla, Baidu, Theranos, and Overture, among many others. With Draper Associates, investments include Twitch.TV, YeePay, Indiegogo, Docusign, Parametric Technology...show more
Speaking on: Thoughts on Opportunities for Blockchain In The Future and How It Will Change The World


Deepak Dutt brings over 20 years of cybersecurity and entrepreneurial expertise in bridging the technology and business worlds. He has a range of experience from startups to large worldwide software companies and Government organizations. He has a reputation for going after tough tasks, hard goals, and accomplishing what the business...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #2


Chris brings TWG over 20 years’ experience in technology software & services, including more than 15 years in executive management positions. He has held leadership roles both in startups and with large organizations, and has helped...show more
Speaking on: Spotlight: Canadian Success Stories


Connor Edwards joined the investment team in 2018 and brings nearly a decade of technology, banking and advisory experience to the IAF.
Connor led digital innovation and fintech engagement for CIBC prior to joining the firm. Prior to CIBC, Connor spent four years at IBM’s management consulting practice with a focus...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #4


Currently, Greg is the Vice President of Enterprise Innovation & Wealth Digital for CIBC. Greg brings a new generation of thinking and passion to all things Digital & Innovation with over 10 years’ experience in the financial services industry. He is a change agent with a relentless focus on improving...show more
Speaking on: Is the Future of Fintech in the Back End?


Prior to this, Adam founded and was the CEO of Horizons Exchange Traded Funds, a director and founding investor of BetaShares Exchange Traded Funds in Australia and also led the launch of an ETF platform in Colombia.
Previously, Adam worked in JPMorgan Derivative's group in New York Adam began his career...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #1


Joel Finlayson is a Partner with iGan Partners and the Managing Director of iGan Advisory for portfolio companies. He has almost 20 years of strategy consulting & investing experience in healthcare & technology and is an Associate of the Creative Destruction Lab in Toronto.
Before joining iGan, Joel was the Co-Founder...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #4


A Computer Engineer by background, Brady spent almost a decade in investment banking, primarily focused on financing and advising technology and diversified issuers through strategic transactions, before leaving to found Coastr.
With Coastr, Brady successfully took a concept through ideation, building a development team, and launching the platform. We successfully sold...show more
Speaking on: Non-traditional Financing Strategies for Startups; Meeting Exchanges #4


Being an entrepreneur herself, and working to fund and grow early stage companies for over 20 years, Sophie Forest knows venture inside and out. She has been one of Brightspark’s managing partners since 2003 and has led and managed more than 50 investments in technology companies.
Prior to joining Brightspark Ventures,...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #3; CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #2


Simon is CEO & Founder of Chatter Research, an AI powered customer feedback solution. Chatter Research works with Fortune 5000 retailers to provide previously unknown consumer data, by talking to shoppers in a completely new way. Conversational surveys via SMS capture rich quantitative and qualitative data as the customer leaves...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


Kesem Frank, Chief Maven at Mavennet & Co-Founder of Aion, is a technology strategy visionary specializing in the blockchain industry. Kesem led multiple projects within Deloitte’s Technology Strategy and Architecture practice, before specializing in Blockchain technology. Kesem is an experienced team leader, having served as a naval officer with the...show more
Speaking on: Opportunities in Blockchain


Winston Fu is a seasoned entrepreneur, athlete, coach scientist and technology investor. Entrepreneurs appreciate that Winston’s advice and support is based on his experience as a fellow entrepreneur and technologist. Before founding LDV Partners, Winston served as a General Partner at US Venture Partners for 14 years, and led investments...show more
Speaking on: Insights from Asia: What are the Opportunities for Canadian Startups?


Joseph is the Co-Founder & CEO of Kiite, an AI platform purpose-built to provide sales teams with the information they need, when they need it. A graduate of the University of Waterloo’s Computer Engineering program, Joseph’s a repeat Founder & CEO, and with multiple successful exits, and speaks frequently on...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #3


David Furlong holds an MBA from the Queen’s School of Business and a Bachelor of CS from Memorial University of Newfoundland (Canada). Mr. Furlong joined National Bank of Canada in 2012 and has held a number of senior-level positions including Senior Vice-President – Marketing Experience Delivery and Transformation, Senior Vice-President...show more
Speaking on: Working Together: FinTechs and Bank Partnerships


Philippe Garneau began his career in advertising in the pre-YouTube early ’80s, working for agencies like Doyle Dane Bernbach and Chiat Day. His work for Volkswagen, LifeSavers, Mr Big, Rubbermaid and Canadian Airlines earned him a closet full of international awards before he co-founded GWP Brand Engineering in the early...show more
Speaking on: Women in Tech: What Advice Would You Give Your 22-year-old Self?


The IAF (http://iaf.marsdd.com/) is a $60 million seed-stage venture capital fund for technology companies funded by the Province of Ontario. The IAF’s mandate is to provide equity funding up to a maximum of $750k per company to help entrepreneurs achieve commercialization and raise follow-on capital from the broader venture...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #3


Suzanne is founder and CEO of Sanctuary AI, a company with a mission to build synthetic humans – "synths" – that are indistinguishable from us physically, cognitively and emotionally. Sanctuary is structured to explore both cutting edge technology and the ethical issues that arise from creating human-like machines. The company...show more
Speaking on: How Human-like Robots Will Impact Life, Work and Society


In his role as Associate at OMERS Ventures, Mark is responsible for researching and executing on investment opportunities in growth-oriented, disruptive technology companies.
Prior to joining OMERS Ventures, Mark was the Head of Strategy and Head of Sales at SAP.iO, the venture and incubation group of SAP – the world’s largest...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #4


Lindsey Goodchild is the co-founder and CEO of Nudge Rewards, a mobile-first platform that is reinventing team performance for the non-desk workforce in food service, retail and hospitality. Leveraging the combined power of behavioural theory and powerful analytics, Nudge helps customers like Compass Group, DavidsTea and Samsung drive engagement and...show more
Speaking on: Spotlight: Canadian Success Stories


MaxSold Incorporated was founded by Barry Gordon in 2010. MaxSold combines back-end technology and efficient localized staff to provide downsizing and estates sales across North America in a safe, reliable, finite, easy, and transparent way to capture the best return for its clients. Barry is a licensed appraiser and auctioneer...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


As the Chief Architect for Amazon Web Services, Glenn is responsible for creating architectural best practices and working with customers on how they use the cloud and innovation to transform their own businesses or disrupt new markets.
Glenn has held previous roles in AWS, most recently as head of architecture for...show more
Speaking on: The Intersection of Cloud and Machine Learning in the Real World; Conversation with Amazon Web Services and AWS Partner, Slalom


Andrew Graham is co-founder and CEO of Borrowell, a financial technology company that helps consumers make great decisions about credit. Borrowell was the first company in Canada to offer credit scores for free and has grown to be one of the country’s largest fintech companies, with over half a million...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #1


A former entrepreneur and retail lender, Vanessa is passionate about innovative technologies and how they transform business. Her clients are technology innovators and those groups that fund them. She is particularly interested in distributed ledger technology and its applications across industries.
From a legal perspective, Vanessa’s practice focuses on mergers and...show more
Speaking on: Opportunities in Blockchain


Dr. Alexandra T. Greenhill is one of Canada's leading physicians in digital health innovation. She is currently the cofounder CEO and Chief Medical Officer of Careteam, an AI-enabled digital health platform with the mission to solve the fragmentation of health care - shifting away from single disease specific solutions towards...show more
Speaking on: Life-saving Innovations: AI in Healthcare


Tony focuses his time on identifying and evaluating investment opportunities across all software verticals. During his junior year of high school, Tony launched his first entrepreneurial venture – Tony’s Tasty Treats – which provides catering services to dozens of public events in the tristate area each year. The company’s wholesale...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #3


Danielle has been Senior Legal Counsel in Market Regulation at the ASC since April, 2018. In this role, Danielle provides legal support to the Market Regulation division, which includes the formulation of policy respecting the oversight of securities and derivatives dealers and markets, the processing of exemptive relief applications from...show more
Speaking on: Networking with the Regulators


Michael Hainsworth is a veteran news reporter and lifelong geek. Hainsworth spent 18 years at BNN, and as Senior Anchor distilled the day’s most important financial and technology stories into understandable and engaging reports for 2.2 million viewers on the network and the CTV Evening News nation-wide. Hainsworth co-created the...show more
Speaking on: Thoughts on Opportunities for Blockchain In The Future and How It Will Change The World


Tyler is the co-founder & CEO at inkbox - a tattoo ecosystem that empowers customers to make good tattoo decisions. In just 3 years he’s led the development of a new product category and co-manages a team of over 60 employees on a mission to empower the world to find...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #3


Neal Hill was appointed Vice President, Market Development with BDC Capital in 2016. His main responsibilities are to ensure the continued execution and future development of Canada’s Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP) and to identify and develop high-potential Canadian general partners (GPs).
Neal has more than 30 years of experience in...show more
Speaking on: Conversation with BDC Capital


Katherine Homuth (Hague) is the Founder and CEO of Y Combinator backed Sheerly Genius, the world's first pair of indestructible sheer tights. She is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. Katherine's first venture backed startup, ShopLocket, was acquired in 2014 by global manufacturing and design company PCH. Following ShopLocket's success...show more
Speaking on: Founders with Money: Real Talk with Entrepreneurs-Turned-Angel-Investors


Dale is a technical visionary with a passion for the big picture. A constant forger of new ideas, his deep understanding of system-level programming equips him with the right skills to strengthen Vendasta’s reputation as a world leader in distributed applications using cloud-based infrastructure. He also brings an entrepreneurial background...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #1


This is Steve's 5th venture into Entrepreneurship. A Serial Entrepreneur in the digital media space
with two exits. Steve has been a pioneer in digital entertainment. His career has revolved around
publishing (TSN, CTV), and software startups (Fantasy Sports & Social Media). Steve has a creative
mind and is disruptor that see opportunities...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


Sam Ifergan is the President and CEO of iGan Partners, a Toronto-based venture group focused on healthcare IT, medical imaging devices, B2B SaaS, and data-driven technologies. He has over 20 years of entrepreneurial, technology and venture capital experience. Prior to founding iGan Partners, he co-founded several companies including Visualsonics, Tri-Link...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #3


Eric is based in Toronto and Principal at CIC Capital Ventures, the North American venture investment division of Crédit Mutuel – CIC, the 3rd largest financial group in France.
Eric has close to 10 years of experience in venture and growth capital, and business development in France and Canada mainly in...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #1


Lina has spent her career working with fintech companies in Canada and Europe defining the vision and strategic direction through product innovation, marketing and cultural transformation. Lina has propelled the growth of the business and enabled the development of solutions that have transcended the status quo. She believes that by...show more
Speaking on: Women in Tech: What Advice Would You Give Your 22-year-old Self?


Justin Jackson serves as a Senior Analyst at Fenox Venture Capital, managing investments in the US and Southeast Asia. He also leads corporate partnership activities for Startup World Cup, a global pitch competition with $1M investment prize. He also serves as the Executive Director of FutureBoss, a non-profit Youth Entrepreneurship...show more
Speaking on: Official Opening; Special Announcement: Winner of Canadian Regional For Startup World Cup


Sheetal Jaitly is the CEO of TribalScale. He is a charismatic entrepreneur, an avid investor, and a 20-year veteran in the tech space. Sheetal is passionate about innovation and technology’s potential on both local and global scales. Sheetal isn’t afraid to roll-up-his-sleeves and he works with all TribalScale’s teams. Sheetal...show more
Speaking on: Mental Health and Startups: How to Make It a Priority


Lexi Kaplin leads product development at conversationHEALTH through her background in engineering, and experience in product management from her previous startup. Her core focus is bridging the gap between new technologies and consumer-friendly applications in the market.
ConversationHEALTH is a digital health startup that taps into the power of AI driven...show more
Speaking on: Life-saving Innovations: AI in Healthcare


Melissa Kargiannakis, MHISis the Founder & CEO of skritswap. skritswap is a Silicon-Valley Venture-Capital backed Canadian start-up that uses AI to replace jargon with plain, everyday language. With skritswap, Melissa was one of only four founders worldwide selected to participate in the Women's Startup Lab in California in 2016 and has...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #2


Michael Katchen is the CEO and co-founder of Wealthsimple, a leading online investing service operating in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. Wealthsimple launched in September 2014 and quickly established itself as a leader...show more
Speaking on: Spotlight: Canadian Success Stories; Official Opening


Robert Keith is currently a Principal on the Salesforce Ventures team, Salesforce’s strategic investment arm. He has been with the team for four years and worked on 75+ investments including nCino, Mulesoft, InsideSales, Docusign, FinancialForce, Anaplan, Conga and Tulip Retail. Before joining Salesforce Ventures, Robert worked at Morgan Stanley in...show more
Speaking on: Conversation with Salesforce Ventures; Investment and Partnership Strategies of the Tech Giants


Along with co-founding Stash Energy in 2015, Jordan leads the business development, corporate/business strategy and financial management aspects of the company. Jordan received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) and has successfully completed his Masters of Engineering in UNB’s Technology Management and...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


Rob Khazzam is the General Manager of Uber Canada, with operations across 15 cities in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta. Previously, from 2014 to 2017, Rob oversaw international expansion and operations for Uber in Central and Eastern Europe, eventually growing operations to over 30 cities and 9 countries, serving millions of...show more
Speaking on: Save Yourself the Cost of a Privacy Breach and Damage to Your Reputation: Embed Privacy, by Design


Patrick Kiely is the founder of Island Water Technologies (IWT), an organization that prides itself on being a catalyst for water technology innovation by identifying and validating next generation solutions at the intersection of renewable energy and wastewater treatment. Under his guidance, the team at IWT have developed unique processes...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #4


Teri Kirk is Founder and CEO of Fundingportal, a leading funding services and SaaS solutions platform that helps companies and organizations get funded. Teri was recognized as a CATA/ EY Sara Kirke Entrepreneur and Innovator of the year and has presented on the topic of alternative funding for businesses everywhere...show more
Speaking on: Non-traditional Financing Strategies for Startups


A graduate of Dalhousie University Bachelor of Commerce program, Michael knew from a young age that he never wanted to be a part of the rat race working hard to help make the dreams of others come true, instead he wanted to make a name for himself and work on...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


Samir is managing director, providing technical leadership for the recently announced AI Fund. He will also lead investment activities in other key frontier technology areas such as quantum computing and autonomous vehicles. Prior to this, he was senior director for business development and product management in Qualcomm’s corporate R&D division. In...show more
Speaking on: Conversation with M12; Investment and Partnership Strategies of the Tech Giants


Naheed Kurji is the President and CEO of Cyclica, a Toronto-based computational drug discovery company. Cyclica is working with many of the leading pharma companies globally to transform R&D productivity by empowering scientists with an integrated network of cloud-based an AI-augmented technologies that support how scientists design, screen, and personalize...show more
Speaking on: Life-saving Innovations: AI in Healthcare


Lauren is a Structural Engineering graduate from The University of Western Ontario. Lauren has always had an interest in how new technologies can improve efficiency and productivity in traditional industries. In 2012, along with Mallorie Brodie, Lauren founded Bridgit, a software company focused on building mobile-first software for on-site construction...show more
Speaking on: Spotlight: Canadian Success Stories


Eva has extensive knowledge and experience in building Internet products and online communities. Before starting Two Small Fish Ventures, she was Wattpad’s Head of Community and Content. She helped nurture and scale the Wattpad community from its infancy to become one of the largest online communities with tens of millions...show more
Speaking on: Founders with Money: Real Talk with Entrepreneurs-Turned-Angel-Investors


Yves-Gabriel founded his first startup in e-commerce at age 17. Since then, he has successfully launched his fair share of online businesses. He has since then moved his entrepreneurial focus to fintech.
Before launching Flinks, Yves has successfully spearheaded the development of custom products dedicated to online lenders...show more
Speaking on: Is the Future of Fintech in the Back End?


Daniel is a Managing Director in CIBC’s Mid-Market Investment Banking group and leads the technology practice. He has over a decade of technology sector experience across investment banking, equity research and private equity. Over his career, Daniel has successfully closed more than 50 M&A and capital raise transactions across a...show more
Speaking on: U.S. Growth Equity Investors


Juwan Lee is an entrepreneur, VC, blockchain and fintech influencer, and investment professional with three decades of investment industry experience where he managed portfolios and organizations on behalf of multi-billion dollar hedge funds, proprietary trading desks, asset management and venture capital firms.
He is the Founder and CEO of NexChange, a...show more
Speaking on: The Institutionalisation of Crypto Hedge Funds


Patrick is a partner at Western Technology Investment ("WTI") which is Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm founded in 1980 that specializes in investments in early, emerging and late stage, fast growing companies. Portfolio companies include Eventbrite, Facebook, Google, Jet.com, Juniper, Ring, Stem Centrx and Stitch Fix. WTI is currently investing...show more
Speaking on: Debt Financing: What Canadian Founders Need to Know


Matthew Leibowitz is a seasoned growth-stage technology investor and career VC, having originated, managed and completed dozens of transactions. During his tenure at B.E.S.T. Funds, Matthew oversaw dozens of growth-tech finance investments with consistent double-digit returns...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #1


Oded is the President of Epstein Enterprises Inc., a single family office based in Toronto. EEI is a multi-faceted investment company with direct and indirect investments in private and public corporations as well as commercial and residential real estate. EEI’s technology investments span pre-revenue through growth stage. EEI looks to...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #3


Warren Levitan is co-founder and CEO of Smooch, the omnichannel conversation platform. Founded in 2015, Smooch connects any business software to all the world’s messaging channels for a more human customer experience. It was named New Startup of the Year by Techvibes and a Cool Vendor by Gartner.
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #4


Mr. Zhaohui Li currently works as the Managing Partner of Tencent Investment and General Manager of Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Department of Tencent. Mr. Li is responsible for Tencent’s investments in Offline-to-Online (O2O) field, including social commerce, new-retail, automotive, education and healthcare, among other consumer industries. He accomplished various growth...show more
Speaking on: Fireside Chat with Tencent Investment


Elana is an Investment Director at Intel Capital. She drives investment in Retail, Internet of Things (IoT), AI, Robotics, etc. She is currently on the Boards of Rubikloud, Bossa Nova Robotics and BrightEdge. Before joining the IoT investment team, she made and/or supported investments in Airware, Tier3 (acquired by CenturyLink),...show more
Speaking on: Investment and Partnership Strategies of the Tech Giants; Spotlight: Canadian Success Stories


Veronika Litinski is CEO at GeneYouIn Inc., a personalized medicine company. Bringing to market the genomics-guided medication management service, Pillcheck, Veronika is drawing upon a decade’s experience launching innovative products in the medical sector, building winning alliances and capitalizing opportunities in the health and wellness revolution.
Veronika led the Health practice,...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


Michael is the co-founder and CEO of the leading Video Marketing platform, Vidyard. While he's not bringing leading video-based technologies to market, he serves as general partner of Garage Capital, a seed stage fund focused on Super-Cluster companies looking to expand their networks into Silicon Valley. He also sits on...show more
Speaking on: Spotlight: Canadian Success Stories


Kerry Liu is the Co-Founder & CEO at Rubikloud where he has led the company to become one of the world’s largest AI platforms for large retailers. Founded 5 years ago, Rubikloud has grown to over 100 people, opened offices in four countries, and raised venture funding of $45m. By...show more
Speaking on: Spotlight: Canadian Success Stories


A born innovator, Stuart Lombard’s destiny was set by the age of 12 when he began building a foldable canoe that could be carried around in a briefcase. Today, as the President and CEO of ecobee, he is so committed to his work that he was once seen buzzing around...show more
Speaking on: CIX 2018 Innovator of the Year Keynote and Award Presentation


Alan manages Ryerson Futures’ and Zone Startups’ accelerator programs, Innovation for Hire, and seed funds in Calgary and India. He works closely with the programs’ startups to provide them with strategic and tactical guidance. He has been a co-founder, CEO, CTO, and COO of many technology businesses, and been working...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


After building two businesses and experiencing firsthand the costs of uncertainty and bias in conventional hiring practices, Caitlin MacGregor became the CEO and co-founder of Plum (http://plum.io) out of her own necessity. Plum combines advanced Industrial/Organizational Psychology with Artificial Intelligence to provide organizations with the ability to predict with certainty...show more
Speaking on: Is the Future of Fintech in the Back End?


Since the mid-90s, Alan MacIntosh has been helping build, operate and invest in entrepreneur-led technology businesses at the intersection of mobile and the Internet. Earlier in his career, he worked for innovative international companies in oilfield exploration with Schlumberger, product management with Hewlett Packard and mobile communications with the Telesystem...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #4


Mark MacLeod is the founder of SurePath Capital Partners, the premier strategic financial advisor to today’s emerging technology leaders. Since 1999, Mark has been helping fund, grow and exit venture capital-backed startups as either an advisor,...show more
Speaking on: Debt Financing: What Canadian Founders Need to Know


Sophia Maizel joined HarbourVest in 2015 to help expand the Firm’s local presence in Canada. She focuses on sourcing, reviewing, executing, monitoring, and reporting on direct co-investments and partnerships, primarily in the Canadian market. Sophia has been involved with several of the Firm’s direct co-investments, including Q4 Inc, Sonder, and...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #4


Humera Malik is the founder and CEO of Canvass Analytics, where she drives the vision and strategy for changing the way industrial companies think about and use operational data. Humera has worked with some of the largest businesses around the world to transform their business strategies, enter new markets and...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #1


Lori Martel is a leader in product strategy at Envestnet|Yodlee, where she focuses on consumer permissioned data access and the ways in which data can be used to enable financial decisions across a network of more than 16,000 financial institutions. Lori is driving strategic initiatives focused on leveraging financial data...show more
Speaking on: The Open Banking Revolution: Is Canada Next?


As President of Thinking Capital, Peter Mazoff supervises all aspects of the Company’s operations, and oversees the Company’s senior executives. His main focus is ensuring that Thinking Capital has the necessary resources it needs to scale and grow, as well as ensuring that the Company’s corporate culture continues to evolve...show more
Speaking on: Working Together: FinTechs and Bank Partnerships


Michelle is passionate about working with amazing entrepreneurs in Ontario. As a Director at the MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund, she leads investments in early-stage companies health and technology companies. Michelle is a skilled business professional with...show more
Speaking on: Spotlight: Canadian Success Stories


As a recovering entrepreneur, Kelly knows the ins and outs of getting a company off the ground and growing. After spending 10 years working with startups, including 4.5 as co-founder, Kelly joined Communitech in 2017 to help other founders succeed - and not make the same mistakes. Now an active...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


Mr. McQueen has worked in the financial services industry since 1993. He led the growth of venture debt specialist Wellington Financial from its inception as a $7 million fund in 2000 through to its $900 million investment program via Wellington Financial Fund V. Wellington opened its first U.S. office in...show more
Speaking on: AI is the Future of Sales


Mason joined Frontier Capital in June of 2017. Prior to joining Frontier, he worked in many different fields of marketing, communications and recruiting. Most recently as an Executive Search Consultant with one of the firm's growth partners, Sockwell Partners, where he helped in Frontier’s diligence and talent evaluation process, while...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #2


Dr. Brian Mech is a transformational business leader who has spent two decades in the ophthalmic medical technology space, and who has dedicated his career to mitigating the impact of visual impairment through disruptive, sight-restoring technology. He joined eSight in April of 2015 and continues to lead the company through...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #3


Dr. Rhea Mehta, Bowhead Health CEO, has a PhD in Molecular Toxicology and Nutritional Biochemistry from the University of Toronto and is a certified integrative health coach. Rhea has over 10 years of experience in scientific research and healthcare practice, and as a wellness community builder. Rhea is also the co-founder of Camp Reset, an Ontario-based...show more
Speaking on: Opportunities in Blockchain


Lisa Melchior, founder of VERTU Capital, is an experienced private equity professional with a 20 plus year track record of building businesses and successful investment outcomes.
Lisa has extensive experience across a variety of industries and stages with a focus on growth equity and buyouts in the technology sector. As a...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #4


Nabeela is an Analyst at Relay Ventures. She works with the investment team to build a data-oriented foundation to Relay’s investment thesis. Prior to joining Relay Ventures, Nabeela helped design and test laser systems as the Laser Safety Specialist on the Electro-Optics Engineering team at L-3 Wescam.
Nabeela holds a B....show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #4


Chad is an investor at Radian Capital, a growth equity firm that focuses on enterprise software and tech-enabled services businesses. Before joining Radian, he was a technology, healthcare and consumer retail private equity investor at KKR.
Chad studied Financial Engineering (part of the Management Science and Engineering Program) at Stanford University.
Speaking on: U.S. Growth Equity Investors; Meeting Exchanges #4


Richard Moran is a Silicon Valley veteran and an investor/board member with early stage companies. His background includes stints in senior management at Atari, Accenture, Portal Software and venture capital firm Venrock. He currently serves as Managing Partner of Blue Book Ventures and projects there include LookyLoo, Ambi, Perfect Forms,...show more
Speaking on: Failure Is Your Friend: Lessons Learned from a VC


Monique Morden has a data driven background combining over 20 years of experience in customer intelligence and over 10 years in technology. Monique played a role in disrupting the market research industry as a senior executive at Vision Critical, where their cloud based customer intelligence platform created an innovative alternative...show more
Speaking on: Is the Future of Fintech in the Back End?


Hassan Murad is the CEO of Intuitive, an AI startup he co-founded with Vivek Vyas, where they are developing AI to create a Zero Waste World. Hassan is a Robotics Engineer who has developed firmware for autonomous submarines, drones and worked on self-driving cars at Tesla Motors. Being at Tesla...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #3


Vaibhav Nalwaya is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Wavecrest Growth Partners, a Boston-based growth equity firm partnering with founders running high-growth B2B technology businesses in North American markets outside of Silicon Valley. At Wavecrest, Vaibhav currently serves on the Boards of Toronto-based Tier1CRM and Boston-based Building Engines. Vaibhav has...show more
Speaking on: U.S. Growth Equity Investors


As the former Head of Financial Technology for MaRS Discovery District, Senior Vice President of Zafin, a top Canadian FinTech Startup, Vice President of Digital Payments for MasterCard and the Global Head of Social Media and eCommerce partnerships for BlackBerry, Nanjee has grown as an expert in financial technology, cybersecurity...show more
Speaking on: Official Opening


Latif is 2x entrepreneur, and at his core, a product manager who loves building businesses around problems he has experienced firsthand. Before founding Roadmunk, Latif co-founded Pokerspace.com, an online social network for poker players, and spent four years working as product manager at Miovision in Waterloo. Latif is also the...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #1


Alison Nankivell currently serves as Vice President, Fund Investments and Global Scaling for BDC Capital, the risk capital subsidiary of the BDC. Based in Toronto and Hong Kong, she leads BDC Capital’s fund investments...show more
Speaking on: Fireside Chat with Tencent Investment; Insights from Asia: What are the Opportunities for Canadian Startups?; Official Opening


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...show more
Speaking on: Investment and Partnership Strategies of the Tech Giants


Alex Norman is a Partner at N49P, the Canadian Partner of AngelList and is active in the Canadian tech ecosystem. He cofounded TechToronto and Elevate Techfest to engage and help grow the tech ecosystem across Canada. Previously, he founded and sold an eCommerce company, was an early employee at Simply...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #4


Jérôme Nycz was appointed Executive Vice President, BDC Capital in 2013.
In this role, he leads the activities of BDC Capital, the investment arm of BDC that offers venture capital, equity as well as growth and business transition capital. He also oversees BDC’s deployment of the Venture Capital Action Plan.
Mr. Nycz...show more
Speaking on: Conversation with BDC Capital




Amy is Executive Director at CIBC Innovation Banking where she provides growth capital financings to a wide spectrum of founder-owned or sponsor-backed technology companies across Canada and the United States. She leverages the CIBC Innovation Banking platform to help start-ups grow to scale,...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #1; Debt Financing: What Canadian Founders Need to Know


Rich leads the TELUS Ventures team to source, structure and optimize investments of strategic importance to TELUS. TELUS Ventures has been Canada’s most active corporate venture capital fund over last 5 years and Rich was named one of the Top 100 Corporate Venture Capital Investors in the world by Global...show more
Speaking on: Investment and Partnership Strategies of the Tech Giants; Conversation with TELUS Ventures


In his role as Managing Director at OMERS Ventures, Sid Paquette is responsible for contributing to the identification and execution of investment opportunities for OMERS Ventures in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) sectors. Prior to...show more
Speaking on: Spotlight: Canadian Success Stories


Éric-Aimé Patry is the Outreach and Communications Manager for the NEW Innovative Solutions Canada Program and the Build in Canada Innovation Program.
Éric-Aimé has been working the innovation scene encouraging startups and SMEs to participate in federal funding programs for the past few years. He’s interested in expanding knowledge of key...show more
Speaking on: Lunch and Learn: Two Innovation Programs are Colliding, Come Hear About How You Can Benefit


Andrew Peek is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor.
Having sold two prior ventures (Atatomic, Jet Cooper) and held pivotal roles at two of Canada’s most notable startups (FreshBooks, Shopify), Andrew is consistently making bets on where technology is headed next.
His current startup, Delphia – where he is co-founder and CEO, is...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #2


Alexander is a passionate, technology-focused leader with international experience in the Payments, Digital Commerce, Software Development and Media industries. Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, educated in Melbourne, Australia and with stints in Africa, South-East Asia, and Europe, Alexander currently serves as Vice President of Innovation & Enterprise Architecture...show more
Speaking on: Working Together: FinTechs and Bank Partnerships


Carlo Perez is an engineer and entrepreneur, passionate about delivering designs and transformative technologies that put empathy into action. Raised by a father who was a trained engineer and a mother who worked as a nurse, Carlo spent seven years in R&D at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Inc., where his...show more
Speaking on: Life-saving Innovations: AI in Healthcare


Gabriel is a lawyer and an analyst in Corporate Finance at the AMF since April 2017. In this role, Gabriel provides support to the Corporate Finance division which includes the review of prospectus offerings, the processing of exemptive relief applications and the participation to various policy projects and initiatives related...show more
Speaking on: Networking with the Regulators


Hamilton is an Associate at Generation Ventures. In his role as Associate, he is responsible for conducting due diligence on new investment opportunities, reviewing and updating Generation Ventures’ investment thesis, and actively engaging with companies in the fund’s portfolio. Hamilton joined the fund in mid-2016.
Hamilton holds a dual JD/MBA degree...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #1


Mark is the Founder and Managing Partner at Xtreme Blockchain Labs and COSFINEX, a crypto asset and security token marketplace. He is a firm believer in the digitization of capital markets and democratization of investing through the application of Blockchain technology. Previously a Portfolio Manager and trader, Mark has worked...show more
Speaking on: Non-traditional Financing Strategies for Startups


Gerry Pond has extensive experience in the ICT industry. Pond is the Chairman and Co-Founder of Mariner Partners Inc., and has co-founded a number of successful ICT start-ups, including iMagicTV, Q1 Labs, Brovada Technologies, Radian6, Shift Energy and Cirrus9. He is also the Co-Founder of Propel ICT, the Co-Founder of...show more
Speaking on: Founders with Money: Real Talk with Entrepreneurs-Turned-Angel-Investors


Alexandra Posadzki is a financial services reporter at the Globe and Mail, where she writes about capital markets, securities regulation and cryptocurrencies. She joined the Globe in August 2017 after spending nearly three years covering banking and real estate, among other topics, for the Canadian Press newswire.
She has a Master...show more
Speaking on: Bringing Cryptocurrency to the Masses


Philipp is a product visionary, brand builder and an award-winning marketer who has been involved in the Vancouver tech scene for over 15 years. In 2013 he co-founded RentMoola, which continues to be one of North America's leading fintech companies with the mission to eliminate the rent cheque and modernize...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


With a deep and blended background embracing international consular relations, consulting and academia, Richard Prior has a demonstrated presence in the Global and E.U. FinTech policy space. As a passionate advocate of Open Banking, his areas of focus include market entrance strategies, partnership cultivation in the E.U., U.K., Canada, Latin...show more
Speaking on: The Open Banking Revolution: Is Canada Next?


Melissa’s passion to empower people through technology is why she has immersed herself in the blockchain, cryptocurrency, and mesh technology world. Heading up Corporate Strategy for RightMesh, Melissa is focused on helping the company achieve its mission by working with regulators, lawyers, and partners around the world to ensure the...show more
Speaking on: Opportunities in Blockchain


Amy is focused on investing in SaaS-based vertical businesses technologies. Prior to joining Vanedge, Amy was a Vice President and General Manager with Ziplocal (USA) where she was responsible for the development of new product rollout. At both companies, she leveraged her deal-making and relationship building skills to attract and...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #2


Nagar is a Principal on Kensington’s venture capital investment team. Nagar began her career in forensic accounting and financial analysis, working to detect terror financing and money laundering activities as the leader of a financial compliance team. From there, Nagar transitioned into the entrepreneurial side of finance through her role...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #3


Katherine Regnier is the CEO & Founder of Coconut Software, an Enterprise Appointment Scheduling solution for Financial and Business Services. She launched Coconut with a $5K loan, and bootstrapped it from 2011 to 2016 while attracting high profile clients such as TELUS, London Drugs, Bell, Jackson Hewitt and Rogers.
Katherine exemplifies...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #3


Lauren is a Partner at Highline BETA, an early stage investor and a startup co-creation firm that launches and funds new ventures with leading corporations and entrepreneurs. Highline BETA works with forward-thinking, Fortune 1000 companies to reimagine and co-create the future of their industries through Corporate Innovation Programs, New Venture...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #2


Claudio Rojas is Managing Director at Hurt Capital Inc., a founder-centric investment and venture capital platform that invests in growth stage companies and early-stage funds with an emphasis on fintech, artificial intelligence, and next-generation technologies.
For almost a decade, Claudio has established a track record in identifying world-class companies, investing during...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #3


Gary, one of North America’s preeminent authorities on artificial intelligence, has over 25 years’ experience working with leading global corporations to deliver revenue and profit growth. He founded Daisy Intelligence in 2003 bringing autonomous machine intelligence to clients in retail, insurance and healthcare. Daisy Intelligence, headquartered in the Greater Toronto...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


Dr. Michael Salter is Chief of Research at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), a Senior Scientist in the Program in Neurosciences & Mental Health, and a Professor of Physiology at the University of Toronto.
Salter received an MD degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1982 and went...show more
Speaking on: From the Lab to Patients: SickKids' Strategy for Commercializing Healthcare Innovations


Shahab is an Associate at 7 Gate Ventures, an early stage Venture Capital firm with offices in Vancouver and San Francisco. Shahab has over 8 years of experience in entrepreneurial ventures, business development, and capital markets.
Shahab was the Founder & Managing Director of Pura Foods, a full line of organic...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #4


Prior to joining Whitecap, Russell was a Senior Manager on the Corporate & Business Development team at Freshbooks, a growth stage startup and North America’s 2nd largest cloud accounting provider. At Freshbooks, Russell led a number of strategic efforts including: restructuring Freshbooks’ portfolio of 3rd party payment gateway relationships, leading...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #4; Meeting Exchanges #2


A lifelong entrepreneur and self taught programmer, Kevin started his first business at the age of eleven and has been a startup junkie ever since. After studying engineering and finance in university, Kevin spent a decade working in investment banking and private equity before being bitten by the entrepreneurial bug...show more
Speaking on: Working Together: FinTechs and Bank Partnerships


Quin Sandler is the CEO and Co-Founder of Plantiga. Plantiga monitors, measures and analyses athletic movement through the most indicative point of performance – the feet. The company helps organizations of all sizes make better health, performance and operational decisions based on their team's movement patterns. To do this, Plantiga...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


With the rise of the innovation economy, algorithms and data-driven approaches are shaping our lives today and far into the future. Dr. Sarah Saska works to guide innovation (and the disruption that comes with it) to ensure that we build a future that benefits everyone and brings everyone forward.
As the...show more
Speaking on: Practical Tips for Infusing Diversity and Inclusion into Your Business


Michelle Scarborough
Managing Partner, Thrive Venture Fund and Women in Technology Venture Fund
BDC Capital
Michelle Scarborough is Managing Director, Strategic Investments and Women in Tech. In this position, she leads the origination and execution of strategic initiatives to fill current and future financing gaps in the Canadian ecosystem. She is...show more
Speaking on: Spotlight: Canadian Success Stories


As General Manager, Steve Schlesak leads scale and expansion of Dialogue across Canada. He joined Dialogue after three years with Uber Canada overseeing national marketplace operations. He received his MBA from USC's Marshall School of Business, where Steve co founded the Leadership Fellows Program, TEDx Venice Beach, and cut his teeth...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #4


Som Seif is the founder and chief executive officer of Purpose Investments Inc., an innovative and leading institutional and retail investment manager. Through Purpose, Som is building on his vision of empowering investors with the tools to build more resilient portfolios. Under his leadership, the company works to develop innovative...show more
Speaking on: Bringing Cryptocurrency to the Masses


Sunil Sharma is Managing Director for Techstars Toronto. Techstars Toronto is a city program and Techstars' first accelerator in Canada. Techstars Toronto is a joint venture between Techstars and Real Ventures (Canada’s most active venture capital...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #1


Robert Simon joined BDC Capital in 2011 as Senior Managing Partner in the IT Venture Fund. He is responsible for overseeing the IT Venture Fund investments and maximizing value creation across the portfolio.
Robert brings over 25...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #1


Sean has been an investment manager at GM Ventures since April 2016. Prior to this role, Sean was Founder/CEO of AutoBike, a startup that designed and built electronic automatic shifting systems for bicycles. Before that, he worked in both the automotive and military defense industries as a lead engineer with...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #1


Takara Small is the executive director and founder of Venture Kids – a not-for- profit that teaches youth from Toronto's underserved communities how to code and launch their own successful tech startup. By day, she works at the DMZ – the number one university-based incubator in the world – as...show more
Speaking on: Women in Tech: What Advice Would You Give Your 22-year-old Self?


Jason is a 5-time tech entrepreneur. His latest venture is Klue, a competitive intelligence platform for enterprise sales funded by OMERS Ventures. Prior to Klue, Jason was President of Vision Critical, helping take the company from startup to 500-person customer intelligence SaaS leader, with clients such as HP, Nike, BBC,...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #2


Mark is a venture capital investor with RBC Capital Partners, the corporate venture capital group within RBC. His interest areas are consumer internet/mobile, enterprise and SMB SaaS, platforms and networks, and deep tech (AI/ML, quantum, space). Mark has more than a decade of investing and operating experience. His specialties are...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #2


Alan’s purpose in life is to inspire and educate the next generation of young entrepreneurs to think and act in a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable way.
Alan is the CEO of MetaVRse, a global leader in vCommerce (Virtual & Augmented Reality for Retail and eCommerce). MetaVRse is also building...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


Robert spent over 25 years in financial services with the last 16 years as President and CEO leading Unisen, Citigroup Fund Services Canada and Fundserv. He has always been passionate about the role of technology in redefining the way business is done and has always supported the emergence of new...show more
Speaking on: Women in Tech: What Advice Would You Give Your 22-year-old Self?


Andreas is the founder of Carrot Rewards, Canada’s most popular wellness app and the world’s first national health rewards program. A decade earlier he had founded Green Rewards, the world’s first mass eco-loyalty platform, which was acquired and fused into the popular AIR MILES program.
He has been recognized globally for...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


In his role as Managing Partner and Global Head of Venture Capital at OMERS, Damien Steel is responsible for leading OMER’s $1 billion global venture portfolio and investment strategy.
Damien has over 15 years venture investing and operating experience having spent time previously with both BridgeScale Partners and EdgeStone Capital Partners....show more
Speaking on: Conversation with OMERS Ventures


Kirstine is TribalScale’s President and CRO. She is a top-tier executive responsible for TribalScale’s continued growth and international expansion. She leads TribalScale’s revenue and sales strategies, and operations, while actively fostering collaboration and innovation at TribalScale and with its partners in mobile, AI, and voice tech. Kirstine brings revolutionary and...show more
Speaking on: Working Together: FinTechs and Bank Partnerships


Craig is a partner at Round13 Capital, a growth-stage venture capital firm based in Toronto. Craig works “hands-on” with R13’s portfolio companies to help them scale. He is a currently a director on the boards of Affinio, Kooltra, Limelight and Statflo.
Prior to joining...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #1


Ying Tam is Managing Director of Health for MaRS Ventures, one of the world’s leading urban innovation hub. MaRS works with entrepreneurs to access customers, investors, corporates and partners, mentors, university and research institutions to develop and test their concepts and to create successful global businesses from sciences, technology, and...show more
Speaking on: Life-saving Innovations: AI in Healthcare


Cherry Rose is a fifth-generation entrepreneur, a high-performance coach, and an award-winning educator who has taught Canada's richest families. She teaches founders how to be emotionally indestructible, so they can excel at the highest levels of stress.
With an entrepreneurial lineage from the 1800s, Cherry Rose has...show more
Speaking on: Mental Health and Startups: How to Make It a Priority


Terence is responsible for EDBI’s North American investments in enterprise software, mobility, IoT, robotics and future of computing. He is currently a board observer at Puppet, Paxata and Ramp. He is an engineering-trained investment professional and has over a decade of experience in software engineering, project development & management, technology...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #2


Taylor is the creator of the longest running investment TV show in Canada, BTV - Business Television. On air for 20 years, BTV is broadcast on BNN Bloomberg, US national, Air Canada, and top financial sites including Reuters, TSX and Yahoo Finance. As a full digital and media company, BTV...show more
Speaking on: Lessons Learned with the Co-Founder of BuildDirect


Aïko is the founder and CEO of InFounders, an organization that runs masterminds for entrepreneurs. She is also the Program Director for SHAD, an award-winning enrichment and entrepreneurship program for youth, as well as an Entrepreneur in Residence at York University.
Aïko has been active in the New York and Toronto...show more
Speaking on: Women in Tech: What Advice Would You Give Your 22-year-old Self?


Saskia Tolsma is a Senior Economist at the Department of Finance working to lead the Government's review into the merits of open banking. She has worked on a number of cross-cutting and emerging policy files at the Department of Finance including the establishment of the Canada Infrastructure Bank and recent...show more
Speaking on: The Open Banking Revolution: Is Canada Next?


Alex joined Information Venture Partners in 2016 as an Associate focused on investments in FinTech and enterprise software startups, and works closely with the fund’s portfolio companies.
Prior to joining Information Venture Partners Alex worked at Hootsuite as its first team hire in corporate development. Alex worked cross-functionally with its leadership...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #1


Frederick Townes is a serial technical founder, speaker and angel investor from Boston, MA. Frederick served as Co-founder and CTO of Placester.com, a real estate marketing platform. Prior to Placester, Frederick was founding CTO of Mashable.com. He helped grow both ventures to $250MM valuations each during his tenure.
Frederick has presented...show more
Speaking on: Is the Future of Fintech in the Back End?


Rita Trichur is an award-winning journalist. She is the Financial Services Editor for The Globe and Mail and a Canadian business columnist for the Report on Business Magazine. Rita returned to Globe in July 2016 after spending about 2 ½ years as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal’s Canada...show more
Speaking on: Showcase of Innovative Designs for Accessibility (IDeA)


Vivek Vyas leads the machine learning and technical operations at Intuitive and applies his growing technical knowledge to accelerate the optimization of the venture’s AI systems. Vivek’s technical abilities played a key role in Intuitive’s win at the prestigious NextAI as the Most Outstanding Venture and the company’s successful graduation...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #3


As an executive with over 25 years’ experience in the strategic use and deployment of advanced technology and processes, Steve has advised Fortune 500 companies on developing and implementing digital, customer centric strategies using agile methods. Steve is an advocate for the smart solutions and technologies that Slalom produces for...show more
Speaking on: Conversation with Amazon Web Services and AWS Partner, Slalom


Tom built his first piece of software at age five. What started as a simple interest in video games has grown into more than 15 years of experience in development, project management and product strategy. Tom is an active mentor at a variety of startup accelerators in North America. His...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #4


Fanglu Wang is CITIC Capital's Senior Managing Director and Managing Partner of CITIC Capital Silk Road Fund. He is also the Chief Investment Officer of CITIC Kazyna Investment Fund I. He has over 25 years of experience in capital markets, corporate finance, financial engineering and risk management. He has led...show more
Speaking on: Insights from Asia: What are the Opportunities for Canadian Startups?


Ben Weinberg is a Managing Director with SGE where he leads investments in vertical software, financial technology and marketplace companies. He is particularly interested in the use of technology in slower-adopting and highly fragmented industries.
Before joining SGE, Ben was a Principal at Element Partners, where he led investments in software,...show more
Speaking on: U.S. Growth Equity Investors; Meeting Exchanges #3


Boris Wertz is one of the top tech early-stage investors in North-America and the founding partner of version one ventures. His portfolio encompasses over 50 early-stage consumer internet and enterprise companies, including Clio, Edmodo, Flurry, Frank...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #4


Blair practises in the area of corporate and securities law, with an emphasis on regulatory matters relating to trading securities and derivatives, including registration and marketplace regulation. He leads the firm’s cross-disciplinary team advising on issues related to Blockchain and crypto-currencies, particularly with respect to regulator matters and capital-raising. Blair...show more
Speaking on: Networking with the Regulators


Jordan is the CEO and Founder of Thrive Savings. Thrive is a goal-based savings app for businesses to offer their employees, and recognizes a growing category of workers who live paycheck-to-paycheck, helping them to break out of this reductive cycle. Jordan was a member of the early launch team at...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


Dr. Sean Wise BA LLB MBA PhD is an expert on startups & venture capital. He uses this expertise in his various roles as: tenured Ryerson University Professor, bestselling author, international business speaker, and partner at Ryerson Futures, a seed stage venture capital fund and technology accelerator. Dr. Wise has...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #1


David has 18 years of investment banking experience including as Head of BMO Capital Markets’ Technology group. Prior to joining BMO Capital Markets in 2008, David spent eight years covering the sector at another Canadian bank...show more
Speaking on: CIX Top 20 Live Showcase #1


Mr. Wu is the managing partner of SkyChee Ventures. Prior to this, Ray was an advisor and partner of Cybernaut Capital Management and advisor to China Century Fund. Mr. Wu was the managing director of HP’s new business ventures that is responsible for startup technology evaluation, new business incubation, and...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #2


Alan Wunsche is CEO & Chief Token Officer of TokenFunder.com, Chair & Co-Founder of Blockchain Canada and Canadian Chair of ISO TC307 (Blockchain Standards) Committee. Alan is a finance and blockchain technology expert focused on the disruptive impacts of blockchain and cryptocurrencies on capital markets and global wealth distribution. He...show more
Speaking on: Non-traditional Financing Strategies for Startups


Shawn Young is a co-founder and CEO of Classcraft, the Engagement Management System for schools. Since its launch, Classcraft has gained incredible traction with educators worldwide, providing tools to gamify their classrooms.
Shawn taught 11th grade physics for 9 years, holds a bachelor’s degree in physics and master’s in education from...show more
Speaking on: Rocket Pitches


Ms. Nan Zhou is responsible for Baidu's newly established growth fund Baidu Investment Partners, leading the fund overseas investment with a focus on AI core tech and AI enabled vertical application, such as healthcare, transportation, industrial, fintech, logistics, etc. She developed in-depth industry insights in artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous...show more
Speaking on: Insights from Asia: What are the Opportunities for Canadian Startups?


Sanjay Zimmermann (Montréal and Toronto) – Babson College, LSE, Associate for White Star Capital in Montréal. Before joining White Star Capital as an Associate, Sanjay started his career in investment banking at Rothschild & Co in London. During this time he worked within the technology, media and telecommunications team, where...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #2


Sharon Zohar is a brand marketer and digital product entrepreneur with more than twenty years of experience founding, funding, advising, and operating technology, internet, and digital media companies. Her passion is in identifying and investing in new technologies and business models that have the potential to disrupt markets. While working...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #1


Tami is the Chief Mom behind VarageSale. While on extended maternity leave in 2011, she came up with the idea for a safer and better buy and sell app that would stretch family budgets and connect local communities. With the help of her programmer husband and Co-Founder, the VarageSale platform...show more
Speaking on: Mental Health and Startups: How to Make It a Priority


David Zug joined HarbourVest in 2005 and focuses on sourcing, evaluating, and executing growth equity, buyout, and mezzanine transactions. David recently led the expansion of the firm’s international operations to Canada and the opening of the Toronto office. He currently serves as a board member for Benefitmall, Healthgrades, and Q4...show more
Speaking on: Meeting Exchanges #3