Speakers

The Summit has a long history of providing high profile and dynamic keynote speakers, this year is no exception.

Opening Keynote

Mark Ruddock
Serial Entrepreneur,
Former CEO, Viigo (sold to Research in Motion);
Former CEO & Founder, INEA (sold to Cartesis Group)

Mark Ruddock is a serial entrepreneur with two successful exits and over 10 years of experience at the helm of VC backed technology startups.

Most recently, Mark was the CEO of Canadian Wireless Software Company Viigo. Under his leadership, Viigo raised funding from both Ventures West, and RBC Venture Partners, and rapidly grew to become one of the most popular BlackBerry apps of all time. By March of this year, when Vigo was acquired by Research in Motion the company boasted hundreds of distribution and content partners, had won numerous awards, including "PC Magazine's Editors Choice", the "Most Promising New Company of the Year" from the CNMA, and the "Wireless Leadership Award" from RIM, had signed marquee enterprise customers such as Oppenheimer, UBS, BAT and Scotts and had been downloaded millions of times.

Mark joined Viigo in August 2007 after having worked with the team as Entrepreneur in Residence at Ventures West. He had joined Ventures West in 2006 after the acquisition of INEA, a Ventures West portfolio company he'd founded.

INEA, an enterprise software company focused on the Financial Services Industry, was a key strategic partner to many of the world's leading financial institutions, and had deployments in over 44 countries. The firm was backed by RBC Venture partners, Ventures West, APAX Partners and Edgestone Capital.

After INEA was acquired in June of 2005 by the Cartesis Group, Mark joined the Paris-based management team as Chief Product Officer, where he led the successful integration of the two companies. Cartesis was subsequently acquired by Business Objects in 2007.

Mark is currently Senior Director of Content Strategy at Research in Motion.

Keynote Luncheon Speaker

Matthew Strauss
Senior Strategist, Fixed Income and Currencies
Vice President, RBC Capital Markets

During his 16 years as an economic strategist, Matthew Strauss has gained extensive international experience in currency and fixed income markets. He was named “South African Economist of the Year” twice within three years by Reuters during probably the most tumultuous period for the South African currency in modern history. He holds a Master's degree in Economics, an international capital markets qualification from the UK and is also a CFA charter holder. Before joining RBC in 2006, he co-managed a fixed income fund in Toronto. He currently holds the position of senior fixed income and currency strategist, Vice President, at RBC Capital Markets. His views and opinions are widely quoted in daily and weekly financial media around the globe.

Robert Finkel
Managing Partner, Prism Capital
Author, The Masters of Private Equity and Venture Capital

Robert Finkel has been investing as part of the Chicago private equity community for over twenty years. As president and founder of Prism Capital, Mr. Finkel has overseen fund deployment into a total of 40 portfolio companies through both the Prism Opportunity Fund and the Prism Mezzanine Fund.

Mr. Finkel is a co-founder and former chairman of the Illinois Venture Capital Association which represents Illinois' $77 billion of venture capital and private equity funds, and he received its prestigious Fellows Award. He also received on Prism's behalf the Private Equity Fund Manager of the Year Award for both 2007 and 2008 from Opal Financial. Mr. Finkel was selected to serve on the Illinois State Treasurer's Fund of Fund Review Board and serves on the board of Chicago Junior Achievement and the Governing Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Previously, Mr. Finkel was an Investment Manager at Wind Point Partners where he invested in both growth and later stage companies. Before entering the world of venture capital and private equity, he was an investment banker specializing in mergers and acquisitions with Paine Webber. He received an MBA from the Harvard Graduate Business School and a BA from Johns Hopkins University. Quoted in Business Week, and featured on MSNBC's Last Call, Mr. Finkel is the author of "The Masters of Private Equity and Venture Capital" (McGraw Hill Business Books) featuring 10 of the most notable VC and private equity investors in the country, including contributions from Business School Professors at Harvard, Stanford, and University of Chicago.

Mr. Finkel's appearances as a speaker include:

• US House Small Business Committee, selected to give testimony
• Private equity and industry conferences around the country
• Bloomberg's Last Call (TV)
  

Panellists

Kevin J Carroll BA, MBA
Director of Commercialization
OCE Centre for Commercialization of Research

As Director of Commercialization for OCE's Centre of Commercialization of Research, Kevin helps high-potential early stage companies build the capacity to become sustainable global competitors by providing management expertise, advice and investment. Kevin joined the Centre for Commercialization of Research in July 2008. Kevin has over 17 years of experience in the Telecom Industry, with extensive knowledge of Information Systems and a proven track record directing and managing multi-million dollar operations. Kevin has held several senior positions at Nortel including key roles in IT Procurement, IT Business Operation and Portfolio Management for strategic partners such as AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. Additionally he serves on numerous boards for private, not for profit and charitable organisations. Kevin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, a Master of Business Administration and is ITIL certified. Kevin and his wife Sue have four wonderful children and reside in Ottawa, Ontario.

Luc Filiatreault
Serial Entrepreneur in Transition

Luc Filiatreault is the former CEO of Nstein Technologies, a Montreal-based public company specialized in Semantic solutions and Content Management. Under his leadership, Nstein Technologies has refocused its activities in the News & Media sector which resulted in its revenues growing from under 10 M$ to near 30 M$ during a 3-year period.

Mr. Filiatreault is a serial entrepreneur and manager. Over the past years, he has built then sold 5 different companies including 3 publicly listed companies on Toronto Stock Exchange. His professional experience includes international assignments in the USA, UK, Senegal, Belgium, France, Mali, France, Brazil and Italy, just to name a few. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of PG Govern Information Systems (bought by Constellation Software in 2007) and the Founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of NordTech Aerospace, a publicly-traded Canadian aircraft maintenance center for commercial aircraft (acquired by ExelTech Aerospace in 2005). He is also the former President and Chief Operating Officer of BellZinc, a Bell Canada initiative to address the online SME market and the co-founder and Executive Vice-President Sales & Marketing of Informission Group, which grossed over $100 million in sales before being acquired by Quebecor in 2000.

Andrew Fisher
Executive Vice President, Wesley Clover

As an Executive Vice President at Wesley Clover, Andrew currently manages a portfolio of ICT and Digital Media companies globally. In addition he also acts as a business prime for the Wesley Clover affiliate program.

Andrew connects teams of new graduates with tier one Network Operator, Service Provider and Communications Equipment Manufactures globally. These partnerships provide invaluable customer insight and a route to market for each of the Affiliates. Through these partnerships, each party realizes time to revenue, time to market and engine for innovation advantage.

Andrew serves on the Board of Directors for March Entertainment, Benbria and Teldio Corporations. He is also a member of the Advisory board for the Canadian Digital Media Network and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Information and Communications Technologies.

Andrew is an honors graduate from the University of British Columbia, with an academic background in Computer Science, Engineering and Economics.

Barry Gekiere
Managing Director, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF)

The IAF is a seed-stage fund that invests up to $500,000 to help early-stage Ontario technology companies bring their products and services to market. Barry has over 25 years experience in senior management positions in venture capital, private equity and operating companies. Prior to joining MaRS, Barry was with the Kirchner Private Capital Group, in the Transition Management practice where he undertook a 15-month interim CEO assignment with an aerospace components company. Before this, he was a Partner at Ventures West for over 13 years making early stage technology investments in IT, communications, cleantech and medical device companies. He has served on the Board of the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and the IAF. Barry has an HBA Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario.

Michael Greeley
General Partner, Flybridge Capital Partners

Michael is a General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners focused on information technology, healthcare and medical technology investments. Among a range of general investment themes, Michael is currently focused on opportunities involving the convergence of healthcare and IT, technology-enabled business services, and technologies that address the physical security and homeland defense markets.

Michael currently represents the firm on the boards of BlueTarp Financial, Lighter Living, MicroCHIPs, PolyRemedy, Predictive Biosciences, T2 Biosystems, TARIS Biomedical, and VidSys and led the firm's investment in Magen BioSciences and Protein Forest.

Michael founded IDG Ventures Atlantic in 2001 before it transitioned to Flybridge Capital Partners in 2008. Michael served on the board of International Data Group, the flagship Limited Partner for the IDG Ventures global network of funds.

Previously, Michael was with Polaris Venture Partners, where he focused on both early-stage and later-stage financings for emerging growth companies. Before Polaris, Michael served as Senior Vice President and Founding Partner of GCC Investments, a $200 million private equity fund. Prior to GCC Investments, Michael was a Vice President and one of the early professionals at Wasserstein Perella & Co., an international merchant bank with a $1.0 billion private equity fund. Additionally, Michael was a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions Department of Morgan Stanley & Co. and worked in the Leveraged Buyout Group of Credit Suisse First Boston.

In previous positions, Michael has served on the Boards of a number of public and private companies including Global TeleSystems Group (NASDAQ: GTSG), El Sitio International (NASDAQ: LCTO), MotherNature.com (NASDAQ: MTHR), Crescent Communications (acquired by Clear Channel), Fleetcor Technologies and American Capital Access.

Howard Gwin
Managing Partner, Bridgescale Capital

Howard Gwin brings to Bridgescale more than 25 years of senior executive operating experience in the technology industry. Before joining Bridgescale, Howard spent the past decade helping more than 20 software, SAAS and Digital Media companies build, scale and drive great outcomes; serving as a Corporate Director, Chairman, and Operating Chairman. He has experience in all major software industry segments, and has focused on both the large enterprise and SMB marketplaces.

In 2000, Howard was President of Solect Technology Group, a global provider of billing, customer care and service management software for the telecommunications industry. Solect was sold to Amdocs Inc. for US$1.2B. Prior to Solect, Howard was EVP World Wide Operations at Peoplesoft Inc., responsible for all company revenue streams and field employees. During his tenure, the company grew from less than $100M in revenues to $1.3B. Howard began his career spending 13 years in senior sales, marketing and operations roles with IBM and Xerox.

Howard's current areas of active interest include enterprise SAAS (big ticket or SMB), mobile, optimizing IT, enterprise analytics and whatever serial entrepreneurs are attacking next - follow the blood hounds usually works.

Howard has a Bachelor of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University

Randall Howard
General Partner, VERDEXUS

Randall Howard is a senior serial technology executive committed to building world leading, high growth technology organizations through the transatlantic “Venture 2.0” boutique VERDEXUS. Randall is "hands-on" Chairman at VERDEXUS portfolio investment, iotum and from its acquisition in May 2004 to April 2006, Randall served as CEO of portfolio company, Coreworx, since acquired by Acorn Energy (NASDAQ: ACFN).

Returning to Canada from his first US startup, Coherent, in 1984, he founded MKS (TSX: MKX) one of Canada's leading enterprise software vendors and whose products optimize internal software development within large corporations. As founder, Chairman and CEO he led growth to $45 million revenue and 375 employees worldwide, including seven acquisitions.

To help jumpstart the Waterloo investment scene, he helped launch Golden Triangle AngelNet where he serves as Board member and chair of the Selection Committee. He is also on the Wireless Advisory Panel at MaRS and a co-founder of Communitech. As a seasoned board member/advisor, Randall has served a huge array of firms including Gore Mutual Insurance, Iotum, Coreworx, Necho, GoodContacts, Whitehill Technologies, Waterloo Maple Software, ARISE Technologies and Nanodesign.

Randall holds an Honours B.Math from University of Waterloo and was the 1997 High Technology Entrepreneur of the Year and the 2005 recipient of the Impact Award from Communitech.

Rob Koturbash
Managing Director, Maple Leaf Angels

Rob Koturbash is the founding Managing Director of Maple Leaf Angels. He is an active investor and has invested in several early stage companies. Prior to Maple Leaf Angels, Rob served as VP Finance and Operations for Snipe Networks. Mr. Koturbash was also VP at Mobile and RFID Data Systems. Previously, he was involved with the analysis and finance of rapid growth technology companies at Woodmere Court Investments. He was an associate at Helix Investments, a well established Canadian venture fund, and was a director of Agile Systems. Rob holds a BSME from Tufts University and a M.Sc. in Engineering Management from Stanford University.

Philip Kurtz
Commercial Counsel - M&A, Research In Motion Limited

Phil is responsible for the legal oversight of RIM's acquisitions and strategic investments. Prior to joining RIM in 2009, Phil was a partner at VenGrowth Private Equity Partners Inc., where he was responsible for structuring and negotiating transactions, managing selected investments, and advising on fund formation and compliance matters. Phil also served on the board of C.I.F. Furniture Limited. Before joining VenGrowth in 2001, Phil practised corporate and securities law with McCarthy Tétrault. Phil holds a B.A. from the University of Western Ontario, and LL.B. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Toronto. Phil is also a holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Yong Kwon
Director, Communications, Media and Technology Investment Banking, RBC Capital Markets

Yong Kwon is a Director in the Communications, Media and Technology Investment Banking Group based in Toronto. He joined the firm in 2000 and since then has worked on a number of financings and advisory assignments for public and private companies across a range of industries. Prior to joining the Communications, Media and Technology Group, Yong played a role in other areas of the firm including Equity Capital Markets and the Financial Engineering Group, at RBC. Yong attended the University of Toronto, where he earned both an MBA and a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting). Yong is a member of the Childhood Cancer Charitable Council for POGO (Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario).

Terry Lavineway
Senior Manager, Ernst & Young LLP

Terry Lavineway has extensive experience with small, medium and large companies in scoping operations, identifying areas of incentives opportunities and assistance preparing, or managing the preparation of, the associated SR&ED claims. He currently leads a team that assists in the identification and access to valuable government tax and non-tax related incentives that are available federally, provincially and municipally. Prior to joining Ernst & Young, Terry spent eight years in the telecommunications industry, mostly in research and development in wireless networks and optical networks.

John Marshall
President and CEO, Ontario Capital Growth Corporation

John Marshall is serving as the President and CEO of the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation, the agency overseeing the $250M Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund and manages Ontario's limited partnership interests in the $205M Ontario Venture Capital Fund. John has served in that role since the Agency's establishment in February 2009.

In addition to working at OCGC, John has led a range of venture capital policy and program development work at MRI, as well as leading the Ministry's international, business development and marketing activities.

In his 23 years of public service, John has served in a number of key ministries such as Cabinet Office, the Ministry of the Attorney General, Economic Development and Trade, Northern Development and Mines and Municipal Affairs.

Pierre Meloche
Business Advisor, Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP),
National Research Council Canada

Pierre Meloche is an Industrial Technology Advisor (ITA) with NRC`s Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP). IRAP helps SME conduct innovative research and development and, commercialization of new products and services. Pierre has extensive licensing, technology transfer and company start-up experience with the National Research Council (NRC), federal government laboratories and private sector. Prior to joining NRC, Pierre was employed as a Business Development manager with FP Innovations Inc. Pierre also has experience in corporate planning, sawmilling and logging. He is a graduate of the University of New Brunswick (B.Sc.Forestry) and the Richard Ivey School of Business (MBA).

Avedis Menechian
Chief Technology Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, and Strategy Vice President,
Services Business Group, Alcatel-Lucent

Avedis Menechian brings more than 30 years of telecommunications industry experience currently he is DFAIT ICT lead for the Government of Canada and an EIR at BDC ,other roles held most recently as CTO, CMO, and Strategy Vice President for Alcatel-Lucent’s Services Business Group. In this position, Mr. Menechian is responsible for all of the Group’s services strategy, portfolio planning, and marketing functions.

Prior to assuming his current role, Mr. Menechian served as Senior Director of Mergers and Acquisitions for Alcatel-Lucent in North America, where he was responsible for advising/supporting mergers, acquisitions, disposals, takeovers, joint ventures, strategic alliances, bid defenses, and public offerings.

Prior to joining Alcatel-Lucent, Mr. Menechian served as Founder and President of Clear Imagination; as Co-Founder, President and CEO of Spacebridge Semiconductor Corporation; and as President of AGRA Systems.

Avedis Menechian holds a degree in economics with a major in international business and a minor in mathematics from the University of Ottawa.

Karamdeep Nijjar
Associate, iNovia Capital

Karamdeep is a member of iNovia's IT investment team with a focus on software and digital media. Prior to iNovia, Karamdeep served as a subject matter expert at RBC on a variety of cross enterprise software architecture initiatives, concentrating on strategies to maximize flexibility and reuse. He also made some notable product contributions, including leading the design and development of a new Interac® Chip technology application currently deployed nationwide.

Karamdeep made the transition to venture capital after completing his MBA at the Richard Ivey School of Business. He also has a Bachelor of Mathematics in Honours Computer Sciences - Bioinformatics from the University of Waterloo, where he completed several interesting Co-op terms, including stints at Platform Solutions in Silicon Valley and Fidelity Information Services.

Lori O'Neill, CA, CPA
Partner, Deloitte

Lori is a Chartered Accountant and Certified Public Accountant and has been an audit partner in Deloitte Ottawa for more than 14 years. Lori previously lead our technology practice in Ottawa, served on the management committee for the audit practice in Canada, and the management committee for the technology practice in Canada.

Lori has extensive experience leading larger international audit assignments, and specializes in securities offerings in Canada and the United States.

Michelle Scarborough
Vice President, Investment & Commercialization, OCRI

Michelle Scarborough is an experienced entrepreneur with a track record of business achievement spanning more than 15 years. Currently Vice President, Investment and Commercialization at the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation, she has been responsible for building a team of business leaders and seasoned investment professionals who help start up and emerging companies across the knowledge based industries achieve global business success through mentorship, market intelligence and direct access to capital.

She has held a cross section of senior management roles in public and private sector organizations, including CEO, Scarborough & Associates where she outsourced her expertise to private industry and non-governmental agencies in the areas of financing and corporate restructuring including holding several positions such as acting CEO for organizations like Junior Achievement of BC. Through her company, she also acted on behalf of VC investors on due diligence and restructuring of several VC funded portfolio companies including Solflex Energy (Director, Corporate Development), Wildly Sophisticated (Investor), and The Portables (Director).

Kevin Talbot
Co-Managing Partner, BlackBerry Partners Fund™
Managing Director, RBC Venture Partners

Kevin is Co-Managing Partner of the BlackBerry Partners Fund™ in addition to being Managing Director of RBC Venture Partners where he oversees North American venture capital investments in early-stage enterprise software and services companies. Kevin has a long and successful track record as an entrepreneur and operator in the information technology industry in both Canada and the USA where he developed extensive start-up, growth and turn-around experience. Kevin began his career as an associate with a leading chartered accounting and management consulting firm.

Kevin represents the Fund on the board of Xobni and also sits on the boards of Brickstream, Lumeta, and Igloo on behalf of RBC Venture Partners. He has served on the boards of Thor Technologies (acquired by Oracle), iPhrase Technologies (acquired by IBM), Inea Corp. (acquired by Cartesis), Infobright Inc., Tacit Software (acquired by Oracle) and CashEdge (acquired by SIG). He is Chairman of the Financial Services Venture Capital Alliance and is a Trustee of Toronto Montessori Schools. Kevin also holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at the Schulich School of Business (York University) in Toronto.

Kevin holds the ICD.D designation and is a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors' Corporate Governance College (Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto). He obtained his MBA, with distinction, from York University. He also holds a BA degree in Strategic Studies.

Michael Weider
CEO, Blaze

Michael is the CEO of Blaze. Prior to Blaze, Michael was responsible for Application Security, Cloud and Software Development Automation product lines at IBM's Rational Software division. Michael was the Founder and CTO of Watchfire, the market leader in Web Application Security Vulnerability Assessment solutions. Watchfire was acquired by IBM in 2007. Michael holds an Engineering Degree from Queen's University.

Moderators

Laurie Davis

Laurie has 25 years of experience in technical and business management as well as technical expertise in hardware and software development, telecommunications and data networking.

Laurie graduated from the University of Alberta with a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering. Upon graduation, he joined Bell-Northern Research (BNR), where he specialized in the development and introduction of new products. He held increasingly more senior positions within BNR, and later Nortel Networks, ultimately becoming Vice-President responsible for a number of new products.

Laurie was initially involved in the development of voice switching products. In the early 90's he took a leadership role in Nortel's entry into the optical networking business, holding positions in both Canada and the United Kingdom. In the mid 90's he became involved in data communications, initially with frame relay and ATM networks, and later with IP networking.

For the past several years, as a member of Purple Angel and a founder of the Ottawa Angel Alliance and the Capital Angel Network, Laurie has been an active angel investor.

Glenn R. Egan
Vice President, Information and Communication Technologies, BDC

BDC's Information and Communication Technologies investment activities are led by Mr. Glenn Egan who joined BDC Venture Capital in 2000. Mr. Egan brings 20 years of operational experience to the position including 15 years in wireless products and services. Prior to joining BDC, he spent 3 years as Vice President, Business Development for EMS Technologies. He spent the previous 12 years in various senior positions with wireless carriers including a wireless start-up.

Glenn Egan holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Engineering from the University of Waterloo and a MBA from the University of Western Ontario.

Bryan Haralovich, CA
Partner, Ernst & Young

Bryan Haralovich, CA, is a Partner with Ernst & Young a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services to entrepreneurs. Bryan has over 20 years of experience providing accounting, audit, tax and related advisory services to entrepreneurs.

He has worked extensively with both public and private companies in various knowledge-based industries. He has worked with over 50 local technology companies that have raised greater than $500M in capital or completed successful mergers and acquisitions or IPOs, working with several companies from start-up to successful exit. Bryan has assisted publicly-traded technology companies and emerging businesses working with Canadian , IFRS and U.S. accounting standards and securities rules and regulations. Bryan has delivered numerous technical accounting seminars including the annual Financial Reporting Developments update, revenue recognition and IFRS seminars.

Bryan has extensive corporate governance experience. He is a member of the Board of Directors for OCRI and the National Capital YMCA. He was the volunteer Comptroller for Canadian Special Olympics - Winter Games hosted by Ottawa in January 2000. He has assisted the OCRI Entrepreneurship Center and Ottawa Capital Network (OCN) with accounting and tax presentations and entrepreneurial bootcamps.

Stephen A. Hurwitz
Partner, Choate Hall & Stewart LLP

Stephen A. Hurwitz is a member of the Business & Technology Group at Choate Hall & Stewart, a Boston-based law firm with a specialty in Canada-US cross-border transactions.

Mr. Hurwitz has served as counsel to public and privately-held companies. He has represented companies from start-ups through mature public companies both in their US and international activities. His practice has included representation of a wide range of high technology companies, private and public financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, licensing and distribution transactions.

Mr. Hurwitz has extensive experience in US-Canada cross-border issues and is a frequent speaker and panelist at many of the major technology, life sciences and venture capital events in Canada. He is chair and co-founder of the Quebec City Conference, a leading invitation-only international venture capital, private equity and institutional investors conference.

Mr. Hurwitz received his AB from Cornell University and his JD from Cornell Law School.

Brian P. Lenihan
Partner, Choate Hall & Stewart LLP

Brian Lenihan, co-chair of the firm's Business & Technology and Private Equity Groups, handles corporate transactions for private technology companies, including all types of cross-border transactions, mergers, acquisitions and venture capital financings. He also represents private equity and venture capital funds in a broad range of financing transactions.

Mr. Lenihan is recognized in Best Lawyers in America, Massachusetts Super Lawyers, Chambers USA, PLC - Which Lawyer and The Legal 500. He is a member of the American, Massachusetts and Boston Bar Associations, and he is on the task force of the Committee on Negotiated Acquisitions of the ABA Business Law Section that creates the annual "Private Target Mergers & Acquisitions Deal Points Study." Mr. Lenihan received his JD summa cum laude from Boston College, where he was Executive Editor of the Boston College Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif, and his BA cum laude from Dartmouth College.

David P. Little
Partner, Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP

David Little is a Partner with Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP and Chair of the firm's Private Equity/Venture Capital Practice Group. David's practice focuses on representing investment funds and emerging companies in venture capital financings, cross-border transactions, buy-outs and mergers and acquisitions. David also advises public company clients on private and public offerings of securities, corporate governance, stock options and other corporate matters, and he regularly represents founders, senior executives and angel investors of private companies. For more than 170 years, FMC has distinguished itself as one of Canada's leading and most trusted business and litigation law firms. With more than 500 lawyers and offices located in Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, FMC offers in-depth experience across all major industry sectors.

Mahesh Mani, MAcc, CA
Partner, KPMG LLP

Mahesh has spent virtually his entire career specializing in the technology industry working with organizations ranging from start-ups to large public companies in the communications, electronics, semi-conductor and software sectors. In addition to providing auditing services, Mahesh has been on assignments to KPMG Canada’s National Office and KPMG’s International Headquarters in the Netherlands where he dealt with complex accounting, auditing and risk management matters. Mahesh is actively involved in KPMG’s training programs and facilitates numerous courses and seminars to KPMG professionals as well as to clients. Mahesh currently serves as Learning Partner for the Eastern and Northern Ontario audit practices, and as a technical resource for other engagement teams in the areas of financial instruments, debt and equity, business combinations, internal control over financial reporting and IFRS. His work with private and public companies and his involvement in share and debt offerings, including initial public offerings, have provided him with an excellent working knowledge of regulatory and accounting requirements in Canada, the US and of International Financial Reporting Standards.