Speaker & Moderator Biographies
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Michael Arbow Capital Markets Specialist New Brunswick Securities Commission In August 2005, Michael joined the New Brunswick Securities Commission with the role of developing and executing an initiative to foster the province’s private and public equity market and improve access to capital. Michael has worked in financial services and studied investments globally from Australia to England to Canada. |
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Tim Burke CEO, President Tether and Quark Engineering Tim Burke, P. Eng., is a Halifax native and serial entrepreneur. In 2007, he launched Quark Engineering and Development Inc and more recently has spun-off several award-winning, high-tech startups including Skillz Systems and Tether. He has financed these endeavors through a mix of boot-strapping, friends and family, and Angel investments. |
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Robert Cervelli President & CEO Origin Biomed
Robert Cervelli is President & CEO of Origin BioMed Inc., a Halifax over-the-counter drug company, providing innovative products to drug stores. Robert has been involved in life sciences in Nova Scotia for over 22 years, and has held founding and leading roles in several Nova Scotia biotech companies.
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Robert Cowan Partner McInnes Cooper Robert is a Partner at McInnes Cooper who practices business law with a focus on entrepreneurship, technology and intellectual property. Robert provides advice on ownership, protection, licensing of intellectual property to both private and public sector organizations. He also offers advice to relating to raising capital, commercialization of technology and mergers and acquisitions.
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Colin Deacon CEO
BlueLight Analytics Inc.
Colin has spent the last 15 years commercializing technology in the health sciences and education. Part of the founding management team of the $300 million Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund, Colin worked closely with the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. Colin went on to become CEO of a small Atlantic Canadian education technology company that grew from one location in Charlottetown to 200+ locations across NA before being sold in 2006. |
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Mr. Dexter has been chair of Medusa’s Board of Directors since 1998. He co-founded Canadian International Capital Inc. in 1989 and is President and CEO of that company. Canadian International Capital has raised over $600 million in subscriptions under various Canadian immigration programs. Mr. Dexter has founded and continues to operate several companies in Nova Scotia. Additionally, Mr. Dexter practiced corporate law at the firm Stewart McKelvey Stirling Scales for 15 years. He has a Bachelor of Science in physics and a law degree from Dalhousie University and a Masters degree in mathematics from Waterloo University. |
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As Director of Operations and current acting Executive Director at Dalhousie University, Industry Liaison and Innovation (ILI), Kevin Dunn leads the business interaction and industrial relationships for Dalhousie as they relate to contract research and issues of technology transfer. He has also been responsible for technology commercialization efforts in Engineering, Sciences, Computer Science, and Management, but is now responsible for all operational issues at ILI. Prior to joining ILI, Kevin worked with Dalhousie’s Technical Cooperative and Career Services, helping engineering coop students find learning opportunities and meaningful employment. |
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Ross Finlay Founding Director First Angel Network Ross Finlay is co-founder of the First Angel Network. Ross has been an angel investor since 2000; as well, he has assisted a number of companies raise private equity. He’s a recognized facilitator, business planner, and strategic change advisor who has an extensive background in public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
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Bernard Greene Associate Director, Client Services Atlantic Canada Venture Gateway Bernard Greene is the Associate Director, Client Services of the Atlantic Canada Venture Gateway (Gateway), an initiative of Memorial University that prepares Atlantic Canadian high-growth technology firms to attract venture capital and private equity, and assists companies in securing investment in the international marketplace. Gateway is delivered in partnership with the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the Government of Newfoundland & Labrador. Mr. Greene was previously the Regional Investment Manager, NL for GrowthWorks Atlantic Ltd. and, prior to this, had an extensive operations management/international business career in the seafood industry. |
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Dr. M. Nauman Farooqi Professor Mount Allison University Dr. M. Nauman Farooqi is an Associate Professor at the Ron Joyce Center for Business Studies, Mount Allison University in Canada. Dr. Farooqi received his MBA and PhD. (major finance, minor marketing) from St. Louis University. He has worked as a consultant with national and international organizations, including the United Nations Development Program and The World Bank. |
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Dan Goguen Vice President - Private Markets New Brunswick Investment Management Corp.
Dan leads the activities of the private markets team at NBIMC (private equity, real estate and infrastructure). Dan was CFO at NBIMC (1996-2007). He obtained his CA while at the Auditor General’s (1990-1995) and also holds the Financial Risk Manager designation. He is married to Jocelyn and they have three beautiful kids. |
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Trevor Gough Managing Director CIBC Mid-Market Investment Banking Trevor is a Managing Director and Head of CIBC Mid-Market Investment Banking. He has over 12 years of mid-market mergers & acquisition ("M&A") and corporate finance experience, completing many transactions including divestitures, acquisitions, management buyouts and capital raising, across a wide range of industries. He is a Chartered Accountant. |
Mike Grandinetti Managing Director Southboro Capital LLC Mike Grandinetti has extensive operating experience as a VC – backed entrepreneur / CXO, helping to raise many rounds of institutional venture capital from prominent Boston and Silicon Valley VCs as well as strategics such as Compaq(now HP), Intel Capital and SAP Ventures. He helped lead 5 early stage tech ventures to successful exits, including 2 NASDAQ IPO ‘s and 5 trade sales, including co-leading Raptor Systems’ global IPO roadshow.
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Jevon MacDonald Entrepreneur in Residence Innovacorp Jevon has spent the last decade building high technology businesses. Most recently, he was senior partner at Dachis Group, an Austin, Texas-based start-up providing Social Business Design services and technology. He developed strategic alliances with companies such as IBM and Jive Software and helped the company grow from four employees to more than 180. |
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Peter MacNeil Director Venture Capital Nova Scotia Business Inc. As Senior Investment Manager of NSBI Venture Capital, Peter brings more than 28 years of expertise in financing business and, more specifically, 10 years of venture capital experience. A graduate of Saint Mary's University and of the National Venture Capital Association, he is also a member of Canada’s Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and serves as a board member and observer on a number of investee companies. |
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Chris Moyer Investment Manager GrowthWorks Atlantic Inc, Atlantic Canada
Chris Moyer is an Investment Manager for GrowthWorks Atlantic Ltd. He has been involved with numerous venture financings in Atlantic Canada over the last five years. Chris is a Director of three investee companies and is an observer on another. He has a Bachelor of Commerce from Dalhousie University, a MBA from St. Mary's University and has a CMA designation.
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Toon Nagtegaal Partner THENEXTPHASE During the last 30 years, Toon Nagtegaal has been involved in starting and growing companies in Europe, Israel and North America, either as a venture capitalist or a consultant. He was co-founder and partner of Atlas Venture, co-managing director of Holland Venture, co-founder and partner of p3 technology partners and VP Investments with GrowthWorks Atlantic. He served on the board of more than 25 companies. THENEXTPHASE, of which Toon is one of the two partners, exclusively prepares companies for growth and investment. |
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James D. Nicoll Vice President, Deals & Consulting, Transactions & Business Development PricewaterhouseCoopers Jamie is one of Atlantic Canada’s specialists in Corporate Finance. With a background in raising capital on both public and private markets, mergers and acquisitions and the divestiture of companies in the $1M to $30M range, he is able to bring a broad perspective to your potential transaction. Jamie joined the PricewaterhouseCoopers team in 2002. He has worked with Investment Dealers as both an Investment Banker (Yorkton Securities) and stock- broker (RBC Dominion Securities, Beacon Securities). Prior to joining the financial services industry, he spent ten years as an entrepreneur with a successful Halifax based sales agency. |
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Duncan Shaw General Manager Cogsdale Duncan was a founder of Cogsdale and partner since 1997 until assuming his current role as General Manager with Harris' acquisition of Cogsdale. Duncan continues to be responsible for Cogsdale’s product agenda and operations. Duncan was recently named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2010 for the Atlantic region. |
Kevin Stover Co-Founder VanDyne SuperTurbo Kevin is the Co-Founder of Colorado based VanDyne SuperTurbo Inc. The Clean Tech Company, spun out of publicly traded Woodward Governor in September 2009, specializes in fuel efficiency and carbon reductions for internal combustion engines. Kevin has an established global network of VC's, Institutions, and Angels.
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Kumaran Thillainadarajah CEO Smart Skin Technologies Kumaran developed the initial concept of Smart Skin. He then successfully translated the idea into a strong business opportunity. To date, Kumaran has led his team to success in various engineering and business plan competitions, most notably winning the New Brunswick Young Entrepreneur award (under 35 yrs), and has since raised $300,000 for Smart Skin. |