Partners
Montreal Challenge Program and Speakers
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Please click here to download the Montreal Challenge 2013 Official Program
- April 17, 2013
- 8:00 am - 9:00 amRegistration & Breakfast
- 9:00 am - 10:00 am“The Future of Canadian Venture Capital, as seen by “Fund of Funds” who Capitalize Them, and Corporate Strategics who Invest With Them.”Chris Walker, HarbourVest, Jacques Bernier, Teralys Capital, Sylvie Pinsonnault, Investment Quebec, Henrik Holland, Shell Technology Ventures and Senia Rapisarda, BDC Strategic Initiatives and Investments, moderated by Samuel Shafner, Burns & Levinson. How do US and Canadian “funds of funds” choose which Canada-friendly VC funds to support? What do they expect of the funds in which they invest? How do international corporate strategic venture investors choose which VC funds to follow and co-invest with in Canada? And how can a Canadian entrepreneur position itself to take advantage of those expectations?
- 10:00 am - 10:30 amNetworking & Coffee Break
- 10:30 am - 12:00 pm6 Innovative Companies Pitches
- 12:00 pm - 1:30 pmBusiness Luncheon on the role of Quebec's largest VC funds with Alain Denis, VP FSTQOn 6th floor of the Hyatt Regency Hotel
- 1:30 pm - 2:00 pmKeynote Address with François-Charles Sirois, CEO of TelesystemIn Ovation Room, 5th floor
- 2:00 pm - 3:20 pmMontreal innovative companies pitches before a panel of VC fund managers and strategics as judgesIn Ovation room, 5th floor
- 4:00 pm - 8:00 pmSalon Entrepreneurs - conferences with Montreal Young Chamber of CommerceOn 4th floor, Soprano rooms
- 4:45 pm - 6:00 pmClosing remarks & Cocktail
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MVF Chairman
Jacques BernierManaging PartnerTeralys Capital
Jacques Bernier is a highly respected venture capitalist, entrepreneur and investor who’s helped shape the Canadian technological innovation scene. Through a 30 year career of contributions to the high-tech community, he has been actively involved in more than a dozen emerging high-tech companies as Founder/CEO or angel investor as well as Senior Vice-President of the Solidarity Fund QFL. Jacques’ widely valued wisdom and experiences continue to define, develop and implement a new approach to venture capital in Québec and abroad.
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Speakers
Samuel M. ShafnerPartnerBurns & Levinson LLP
Samuel M. Shafner has concentrated his practice exclusively in the area of transactional corporate and securities law for more than twenty years. Mr. Shafner has particular expertise in assisting emerging technology companies, both domestic and international, in their capital formation as well as in basic business contract needs. Most of Mr. Shafner's clients are high-technology businesses and venture capital firms specializing in high technology investments. Consequently, Mr. Shafner frequently negotiates software licenses, ...
Christopher J. WalkerPrincipalHarbourVest Partners, LLC
Chris Walker joined the Firm in 1998 as an associate in the secondary partnership group. In 1999, he joined the primary partnership group and has focused most of his efforts on U.S. venture capital and buyout investments. He became a vice president during 2003 and a principal in 2007. Chris also has extensive experience working on the healthcare sector, as well as primary partnerships in Canada. Prior to graduate school, Chris served as a pilot in the United States Navy for 11 years, flying the P-3 Orion aircraft, and achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He received a BS in Financ...
Jeff GrammerPartnerRho Canada Ventures
Jeff Grammer is a partner of Rho Canada Ventures. With nearly 28 years of operational and venture experience, Jeff seeks entrepreneurs who see market opportunities and possess the business acumen to nurture young companies to become industry leaders. He joined Rho Canada Ventures in 2006 and focuses primarily on investments in new media, information technology (hardware and software) and communication companies – mostly at the seed and early stages of development. Prior to Rho Canada Ventures, Jeff worked operationally at Intel, Chips and Technologies, N*Able Technologies and Ember Corporat...
Chris ArsenaultManaging PartneriNovia Capital
Chris Arsenault is Managing Partner at iNovia Capital and has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur for the last two decades. Chris currently serves as a director or observer on the boards of Fixmo, Gamerizon, Localmind, Reflex Photonics, Ryma, Well.ca and Woozworld. Chris is an active board member of the Canadian Venture Capital Association (CVCA), is Co-Chair of the Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) and is active Charter Member of Silicon Valley based C100 (the Top Canadians in the Valley organization). Before joining the firm in 2002, Chris founded, co-founded or funded a number...
François-Charles SiroisPresident & CEOTelesystem
François-Charles has more than 15 years of experience in corporate mergers, acquisitions and financings. His entrepreneurship expertise and talent for developing successful joint ventures with innovative partners have enabled Telesystem to leverage the momentum in the media and technology industry. Before joining Telesystem, François-Charles founded and helmed up2 technologies, Microcell i5 and Masq. He currently serves on the boards of Telesystem, Stingray Digital, Plexo, iPerceptions, Zone 3, WoozWorld, the TRIOOMPH Foundation and the Sainte-Justine UHC Foundation. François-Charles has...
Alain DenisSenior Vice-President - New EconomyFonds de solidarité FTQ
Alain Denis is a Senior Vice-President at Fonds de solidarité FTQ where he is responsible for all investments in Information Technology, Telecommunications and Life Sciences sectors. Activities includes management and growth of existing portfolio, sourcing of new investment opportunities, new partnerships and business development.
Amit SrivastavaManaging PartnerEntrepia Ventures
Amit Srivastava serves as a Managing Partner and CEO of Entrepia, based out of the Montreal office. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Intransa and as a Board Observer at Achronix, Bluestreak, Freelinc and Vantrix. Prior to joining Entrepia in 2001, Mr. Srivastava worked for seven years at JP Morgan Chase, including four years at JP Morgan Partners (formerly Chase Capital Partners), where his responsibilities included leading venture capital investments in the electronics sector, oversight of private equity investments in India, and serving as the Portfolio Manager...
Sylvie PinsonnaultVice-President, Investment Funds, Business Immigration and Tax MeasuresInvestissement Québec
On April 1, 2011, Sylvie Pinsonnault was appointed Vice-President, Investment Funds, Business Immigration and tax Measures at Investissement Québec. She had previously been the Corporation’s Vice-President, Subsidiaries since March 2010, after serving as Director, Corporate Initiatives, Policies and Products in the Credit and Risk Management Division for three years. With an MBA in International Business and Export Management from City University Business School in London, England, Pinsonnault was named Chief Executive Officer of FIER...
Senia RapisardaVice President, Strategic Initiatives and InvestmentsBDC
Senia Rapisarda is Vice President, Strategic Initiatives and Investments. She joined BDC in 2010. In this role, Ms. Rapisarda is leading BDC’s efforts to develop a healthy VC ecosystem in Canada through several key strategic initiatives and investments. Ms. Rapisarda has over 20 years of experience in the telecommunications and technology sectors, including roles as senior advisor at NUR Energie, a London-based investment fund specialized in renewable energy; and Managing Director of the Technology Private Equity Team at Nomura International, managing over $300 million of investments in 42 ...
Michel LambertPartnerCycle Capital
Michel is a partner in Seed Fund Cycle-C3E, LP. For the past 23 years he has been an involved and true believer in technology startups. As an investor in several venture capital firms, he was engaged in the startup of 16 cleantech and industrial technology companies, and has invested in nine venture capital funds dedicated to technology start-ups in Canada and abroad. Over the past 15 years, Michel has built and managed a portfolio of more than $200M and has been involved in 6 exits. Michel’s first entrys into the clean technology sector was in 1993 when he started a new product f...
Anne-Marie BourgeoisVice-President, Investments EnerTech Capital
Anne-Marie has a strong operational background, with 17 years of experience with energy and clean energy companies. Anne-Marie serves as a member of the venture deal team. She is responsible for enhancing EnerTech Capital’s proprietary deal flow in Quebec, as well as building relationships with local investors and on a global basis. With her capacity to work fluently in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish, Anne-Marie builds on EnerTech’s focus to develop companies into international leaders and deliver outstanding returns to investors. Pr...
Gary RubinoffManaging PartnerSummerhill Venture Partners
Gary brings over 19 years of venture investing experience. He focuses on a broad range of opportunities including mobile computing, cloud computing, broadband communications and digital media. Gary is based in Boston and represents Summerhill on the board of Jumptap and Scribble Technologies. For the 9 years prior to joining Summerhill Venture Partners, Gary was a partner at J.L. Albright Venture Partners LP and Jefferson Partners LP, both Wireless and IT focused VC funds based in Toronto. Gary’s wide range of experience in finance, law and entrepreneurial management, enables him to p...
Henrik HollandVenture PrincipalShell Technology Ventures
Henrik holds an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Twente. He is also a Six Sigma Academy (SSA & Company) certified Six Sigma & Lean Black Belt. He started his career in telecommunications with Alcatel-Lucent and Telefonica. With Shell, Henrik worked predominantly in Upstream Commercial, both in operational and business development roles. Prior to joining STV, Henrik worked as an Enterprise Supplier Manager on the development of various Equipment category strategies and negotiated long-term Enterpr...
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- April 17, 2013
