Hanan Anis joined the University of Ottawa, as an Associate Professor at the School of Information Technology (SITE) in July 2004. Prior to that, Hanan was the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Ceyba, an optical long-haul networking company that employed 250 people at its peak.

Mike joined the Velocity team in 2012 to help foster entrepreneurship throughout the University of Waterloo and the startup community of Kitchener-Waterloo. During his time at Velocity, he has mentored such startup successes as BufferBox, MappedIn and Thalmic Labs, to name a few.

Greg is currently the Special Advisor to the Provost, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the Executive Director of the Queen’s Innovation Connector at Queen’s University. Greg started as a student at Queen's University in 1981 after a stint in the Canadian Armed Forces Air Command.

Iain Klugman is the president of Communitech, based in Waterloo. He is also a Nortel veteran where he served as Director of Branding and Advertising, was Executive Director of Communications with CBC, and CEO of Ontario Tourism.

Throughout his career, Ryan Burwell has done his best to blur the lines between his dual role as teacher and entrepreneur. After nine years of designing interdisciplinary curriculum for a number of private high schools, he started Scale Consulting. Founded on the belief that education can be designed as a framework for creativity, Scale helps start-ups grow and refine their educational initiatives.

Chris Labelle is the co-founder and COO of Mosaic Manufacturing, a 3D Printing hardware company. Mosaic has developed a new technology that enables virtually any single colour desktop 3D printer to print in multiple colours, as well as select materials with different properties.

Sorin Cohn is the Leader of Innovation Metrics for the Centre for Business Innovation with The Conference Board of Canada. Sorin is the Chair of the Board of Startup Canada as well as several technology companies. He is President of BD COHNsulting and the Chief Program Officer of i-CANADA, driving Innovation Nation programs to help Canadian communities enhance their competitiveness.

Luc Lalande is a seasoned professional specializing in the design, development, and execution of innovation programs for communities seeking to enhance economic and social development. He has recently joined the University of Ottawa as the first Executive Director of the new Entrepreneurship Hub.

As an Entrepreneur-In-Residence with ventureLAB in Markham, Heather mentors entrepreneurs both on a one-to-one basis and on a one-to-few basis and as one of the facilitators in ventureLAB’s BUILD educational program for early-stage entrepreneurs. She is also tasked with helping to build-out the social enterprise ecosystem in York Region through an initiative entitled CommunityBUILD, a partnership of York University, Seneca College and United Way York Region.

Jeremy Laurin is the President and CEO of ventureLAB — York Region’s Innovation Centre and member of the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs (ONE). Previously, Jeremy was a technology entrepreneur having founded his first of three technology firms in Kingston, ON in 1995. Jeremy has worked internationally opening offices throughout the European Union, China, Korea, Japan and the United States of America.

Martin Croteau is passionate about entrepreneurship. Over his career, Martin has worked with dozens of early-stage technology startups as a founder, an investor, a consultant and an academic, providing him with a uniquely diverse perspective on the factors that lead to startup success.

Brian MacDonald joined the Ministry of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure as a Senior Business Advisor in January 2008 following a career that spanned both finance and entrepreneurship. Mr. MacDonald spent almost 20 years with the Toronto-Dominion Bank, Banque Nationale de Paris, and ABN Amro Bank as a commercial and corporate lender during which he worked in various cities. 

As the Director of SME Programs, Louie is responsible for developing and implementing initiatives of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce that are designed to strengthen the business climate of Ontario and support our members by providing them with access to resources.

Bill Mantel is the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Research, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship Division serving both the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation and the Ministry of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure.

Dr. James (Jamie) Doran is the Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Client Services for Innovation Guelph. Since joining Innovation Guelph in January of 2012, Jamie has helped IG grow into Guelph’s focal point for innovative ideas and entrepreneurial spirit.

Allison is the Program Director for the Business & Education Partnership of Waterloo Region where she has the privilege of working with a team to deliver programming that leads the way in career exploration for youth.

As Director of Partner Engagement for ventureLAB, Karen leads the development and management of strategic and collaborative partnerships key to ventureLAB’s clients and stakeholders, and to the evolution of a dynamic regional ecosystem supporting innovation and entrepreneurship.

Mark Patterson is a changemaker in the career development space. His career has seen him in roles focused on creating opportunities for professionals from diverse educational and career backgrounds.

Chris Dudley has over 20 years of business experience as an executive at Dun and Bradstreet, The Hudson's Bay Company, and being a successful entrepreneur. During his business carrier he taught a variety of business courses at the post-secondary level.

Chris Rickett is the Manager of Entrepreneurship Services for the City of Toronto.  Chris works with a dedicated team that encourages entrepreneurship, innovation and investment in the City through collaboration with public and private sector partners.

Sudeshna began her career as a science and math teacher in the Toronto District School Board. She held various positions of leadership in the board in the years of Ontario secondary school reform.

As Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Odette School of Business and Director, Research and Interdisciplinary Learning at the University of Windsor’s Entrepreneurship Practice and Innovation Centre (EPICentre), Dr. Schlosser has worked with other faculties to develop an entrepreneurial culture on campus.

Michael is the Australian & New Zealand International Partner and Strategy Designer at Business Models Inc. He specialises in business design and innovation capacity-building, blending the rigour of traditional business frameworks with empathic, design-led thinking tools to design, test, and deliver what his clients want.

Rob has 25 years in Sales, Marketing and General Management experience in technology and online publishing companies. Rob built a sales and alliance consulting business helping organizations respond to changing market conditions by refocusing on go to market strategy and sales process.

Steve Farlow is the founding Executive Director of The Schlegel Centre for Entrepreneurship at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo Ontario. He brings his own entrepreneurial background to support student’s education in entrepreneurship.

Dr. Karen Sievewright is Executive Director of the University of Toronto’s Banting and Best Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Dr. Sievewright graduated from the Department of Materials Science at the University of Strathclyde in 1986.

Katie Gibson is Director of the Social Enterprise Branch in Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development, Employment & Infrastructure. Katie is a lawyer and MBA graduate with extensive Canadian and international experience in social innovation, consulting, and advocacy.

Abdullah Snobar is the Executive Director of the DMZ at Ryerson University. Abdullah joined the DMZ in 2014 as the Director of Community and Business Development. In that role, he established and led the team responsible for increasing and strengthening connections with industry and corporate leaders.

Nilay is the Entrepreneurship Manager at York University and manages York University’s Entrepreneurship program: LaunchYU. Nilay was the Founding Associate Director of the Creative Destruction Lab accelerator at University of Toronto.

Joeri van den Steenhoven is the Director of the MaRS Solutions Lab. He is a longtime social innovator fascinated by our society’s transition towards the knowledge society. Being a systems thinker, he likes to work on wicked problems and find innovative solutions with others.