Sophie Forest

Managing Partner

Brightspark Ventures

Prior to joining Brightspark Ventures, Sophie was a partner at CDP Capital Technology Ventures, a subsidiary of la Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec. Sophie met Mark in 1997 when she became the lead investor in his start-up, Balisoft. They ended up collaborating on this exciting venture for three years and sold the company to Kana Software in 2000.

Since joining Brightspark in 2003 as a managing partner, Sophie has led and overseen more than 50 investments in technology companies. Notably, she has played a pivotal role in the investment, growth and exit of Radian6, leading to a 23x multiple on capital invested, and becoming one of the most successful technology exits in Canadian history.

Sophie was involved in the creation and growth of Jewlr.com and iStopOver.com. She is still an active board member of Jewlr inc., a leading online personalized jewelry company.

She sits on the Board of Directors of a number of companies, including Hopper, nGUVU and Jewlr. Sophie works closely with the startups she invests in and is known for her nurturing and listening qualities. In October 2017, Sophie was awarded the NACO Angel of the Year Award.

Sophie is a member of the Science and Technology Council of Canada, which provides external advice to the federal government in the domain of science, technology and innovation.

She is the proud mother of three teenage daughters and is passionate about opening up doors for women to the VC and tech world. Through her career, she has often been the “only woman in the room” and wants to continue to facilitate the entry for other women.

Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien III

President & CEO

la Fondation de Gaspé Beaubien

As President and CEO of the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation, and through his travels and participation in various global organizations, Philippe has developed an extensive network of families, foundations and private trusts around the world – gaining access and partnerships for his companies in new markets around the world.

He has close ties to the local, provincial and federal governments in Canada. Obtaining financial and political support is one of his key strengths. His family obtained the first cellular license for Canada and the cellular company they created subsequently became the largest in the country. They also acquired the first satellite broadcasting license to distribute content to Canadian communities, and 10 years later received 1G of spectrum for commercial development, the largest amount of spectrum ever given to the private sector.

Starting or acquiring companies before they become mainstream, Philippe has had a direct hand in areas as diverse as cellular phones and towers, radio station consolidation, broadband wireless expansion, spirits, data mining and anti-aging products companies. His investments span these industries and more, including Zoom, Biomod, Nannette de Gaspé, SonoFit, EERS, PUR, Starlink, Jobbook, and TechTown.

He develops niche strategies for B2B companies that allow them to dominate their industry, with added forays into the B2C market where attractive opportunities exist.

Philippe is an accomplished entrepreneur and has been involved in 15 start-ups and turn-arounds over the past 20 years. He understands entrepreneurs, embraces technology, and is highly aware of the need for sufficient funding at the growth stage. He is accomplished at finding companies that possess a key product but have not been able to commercialize it effectively.

He rates these areas of the Canadian business environment as being particularly attractive for growth and investment potential: Pharma, ICT, Wellcare, FinTech, Agri-Food and Cleantech.

On top of his many successful ventures, Philippe has lived through several significant industry collapses in the last 17 years. He navigated his investments through the dotcom and telecom collapses of the early 2000’s and the debt crisis of 2008-09, suffering inevitable losses but also managing to multiply his ROI on a number of occasions.

Notable successes include his move to privatize Telemedia, a multimedia company, producing a 15X ROI, and his founding of Redline, a telecom company now operating in 60 countries and considerable upside.

Sabrina Foster

Director, General Counsel

Athena International Management Limited

SABRINA FOSTER joins Athena to serve as an independent director and as general counsel. Sabrina has over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry, having practiced law for over 16 years and served as an independent director for six years. In her role as Partner in the Funds and Investment Services team of the global law firm, Appleby, Sabrina’s key practice areas included hedge fund and private equity structuring and formation, commercial and private trust structuring, as well as advising on corporate governance, financing and regulatory matters relevant to both regulated and non-regulated investment funds operating in multiple jurisdictions. She has been recognised by Legal 500 for her corporate and commercial work and by PLC Which Lawyer? as a lawyer of choice for private clients.

In 2013, with the continued focus on legal and regulatory compliance in the alternative investment industry, Sabrina recognised a growing interest for directors with legal experience and transitioned from her career in law to directorship services. She joined the large governance teams of Intertrust and later Maples Fiduciary where she served on a wide range of alternative investment funds including hedge funds, fund of funds, segregated portfolio companies, private equity vehicles, fund management companies and related structures. She is passionate about thought leadership and has contributed to several industry publications and journals and has participated as a panelist at industry events.

Sabrina holds a Bachelor of Law (Hons) from the University of Liverpool and completed her Professional Practitioner’s Course (Cayman Islands) with the University of Belfast. She was admitted as an attorney in the Cayman Islands in 1997. Sabrina also holds the Accredited Director designation from the Chartered Governance Institute of Canada. She is a member of the Cayman Islands Legal Practitioners Association, the International Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the Cayman Islands Directors Association. She is also a Notary public in and for the Cayman Islands.

Michael Rudd

Managing Partner

Fort Greene Capital

Michael Rudd is the Managing Partner at Fort Greene Capital, a family office advisory group. He specializes in private equity and hedge fund selection, as well as portfolio construction.

Prior to Fort Greene Capital, Michael served as Chief Investment Officer at Sigma Analysis and Management Ltd in Toronto, constructing portfolios of hedge funds for Sigma’s managed account platform. Michael started his career at UBS in London, rising to lead the credit derivative index (iTraxx) and swaption trading desk before transferring to New York to run RBC’s covered bond and yankee bank trading platforms.

Michael received an MSc in Accounting and Finance (specialization Finance) from the London School of Economics and is a Chartered Investment Manager®.

Maria Pacella

Senior Vice President, Pender Ventures

PenderFund Capital Management

Maria has over 20 years of investing and operational experience in emerging growth companies, with a focus on technology businesses. She spent 11 years with one of Canada’s largest venture capital firms where she invested in multiple early-stage technology companies and served on a variety of boards, in the areas of enterprise software and health-tech. Along the way she worked at two start-ups assisting with operational activities and strategic initiatives. Prior to that Maria worked in M&A for Deutsche Bank. ​Current board roles include Clarius Mobile Health, Jane Software, Teradici, Librestream, One45 Software and Tantalus Systems. She is also on the SFU Beedie School of Business Advisory Board. She holds a BBA from Simon Fraser University, is a CFA charterholder and an active member and a past President of CFA Society Vancouver.

Michael Bunn

Partner

Norton Rose Fulbright Canada

Michael Bunn is a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP. He practises corporate and securities law with an emphasis on the investment management sector. He regularly advises on the establishment and capital-raising needs of Canadian and international investment funds, including private equity funds, venture capital funds, hedge funds and retail mutual funds. Once a fund is launched, he remains on hand to advise on continuous disclosure, regulatory, corporate governance and other ongoing matters. He also provides registration advice for Canadian and international investment fund managers, investment advisors and dealers regarding their business activities in Canada. Prior to joining Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, he practised at a leading offshore law firm in the Cayman Islands

Ricky Lai

Principal

Portag3 Ventures

Lewis Chong

Partner

Harneys

Lewis Chong is a partner of the Investment Funds practice group. He specialises in Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands fund matters. His clients include United States, European and emerging markets managers.

Prior to joining us in 2010, Lewis worked as counsel at O’Melveny & Myers LLP. He currently specialises in the establishment of new funds and the restructuring of existing funds and also advises fund clients subject to litigation. Additionally Lewis advises on Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands corporate and commercial law, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate restructurings. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, he is currently the only person practising Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands law in the Pacific time zone

Jocelyn Blanchet

Partner, National Leader, M&A Tax Services

KPMG

Based in Toronto, Jocelyn is a Partner and the National Leader for KPMG’s M&A tax practice. He has more than 15 years of experience assisting private equity, venture capital and hedge funds and other financial sponsors to plan and execute acquisitions, reorganizations and divestitures. Developing solutions for complex situations has gained him recognition as an innovative tax planner.

In addition, Jocelyn has extensive experience working with financial institutions on the design of products and strategies in their highly-regulated and heavily-taxed industry. As a result, he understands the necessity of working with regulators and other business units (compliance, capital management, financial reporting) in the design and implementation of their tax-efficient structures.

Jocelyn has authored and spoken extensively on the design of investment funds and on other issues relevant to M&A. He is also the Chair of the Tax Policy Committee of the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA), advocating for positive tax changes in the industry.

Senia Rapisarda

Managing Director

HarbourVest Partners (Canada) Limited

Senia Rapisarda joined HarbourVest in 2014 to focus on partnership and direct co-investments in Canada and to expand HarbourVest’s local presence in the market. Senia joined the Firm from BDC Venture Capital, where she was responsible for the establishment of a team focused on direct and indirect investments across Canada. Her previous experience includes positions at Nur Energie in London, London Business School, Nomura International, and Salomon Brothers, among other roles. Senia received a JD (summa cum laude) from LUISS University in Rome in 1987 and a Masters in Law and Economics (Fulbright Scholar) from Columbia University in 1989. An Italian and Canadian citizen, Senia speaks fluent Italian, French, and Spanish.

Derek Chan

Vice-President Tax

Northleaf Capital Partners

Derek participates in all aspects of Northleaf’s private markets investment activities and is responsible for international tax planning and strategy, compliance and investment transaction support for Northleaf’s investment funds, management company and related corporate entities.

Prior to joining Northleaf in 2016, Derek was a Director, Taxation at BGRS, a portfolio company in Brookfield Asset Management’s private equity group, where he oversaw the Canadian and international tax planning and reporting function of a global business with foreign operating subsidiaries in five continents. Previously, Derek spent six years at Deloitte LLP in the International Tax Services group where he focused on structuring complex tax transactions and advising on cross-border issues for multi-national corporations.

Derek received a Master of Accounting and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours Accountancy Studies) from the University of Waterloo and holds the Chartered Professional Accountant designation.

Sajal Jagdish Heda

CEO & Founding Partner

Amana Global Partners

Sajal is CEO and Founding Partner of Amana Global Partners. He has two decades of experience managing global investments for sophisticated Single Family Offices. He has allocated more than USD 5 billion in global investments. Alternative Investment CIO magazine had selected him, on their ‘40 under 40’ Chief Investment Officer list for 2016 and he is honoured to be the only CIO globally to be recognized from SFO space. AIWMI has selected Sajal on its 2020 ’40 under 40’ Alternative Investments professional. He was involved with many notable international committees mainly – CFA Disciplinary Review Committee, Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) Investor Steering Committee, CAIA Middle East Advisory Committee, Evolvence India fund advisory and others. He is CFA, CAIA and CDDA Charterholder, CMA certified and has an MBA from London Business School.

He is actively involved on international conference speaker’s circuit and have been regularly invited as speaker at prominent alternative investment conferences globally. During his association with AIMA he was involved with writing papers on subjects like Liquidity, Portfolio transformers and Beyond 60/40. He is an avid traveller and have been passionately involved in collecting Indian contemporary art.

Nick Bakish

Relationship Manager

Richardson GMP Limited

Nick Bakish is a trusted and highly skilled multidisciplinary financial professional who is widely acknowledged as an award-winning industry leading expert for his contributions to the investment community over the past two decades.

After earning a B.Comm in Economics and Finance from McGill University with first class Honours, Nick joined Investor’s Group, one of the country’s largest asset management firms, where he consistently ranked as a top professional and received numerous awards of distinction.

During his tenure at his predecessor firm, Nick also obtained significant management experience as a Division Director serving in that capacity for several years. In 2015, he joined Richardson GMP, a leading independent wealth advisory firm in Canada, in order to provide the discerning clients and families serviced by Bakish Wealth with a more comprehensive suite of alternative investment opportunities along with Family Office services.

Nick has always distinguished himself as someone who is tirelessly devoted to excellence in advanced financial proficiency. The pursuit of this passion led him to having earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, recognized as the gold standard for the global investment industry, along with the Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP) designation.

As a prominent member of Montreal’s business community and someone that believes firmly in the importance of making a positive social impact, he dedicates much of his time to several causes that are close to his heart. He is past President of the Sierra Club Foundation, a member of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montréal, the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, and Tiger21.

Éléonore Jarry-Ferron

Principal

Brightspark Ventures

Previously Assurance & Advisory at Ernst & Young LLP, focusing on alternative investment funds, family offices, and PE firms (Recipient of the 2015 Quebec Discovery of the Year award in 2015).

Very active in the tech community in Canada: co-founder of Front Row Ventures, Canada’s first university-focused venture capital firm. Board member and advisor to Technovation, Founder Institute, and the Canadian Venture Capital Association. 2018 Connector of the Year, 2019 Canadian Women in Tech to follow. BBA and a graduate diploma from HEC Montréal (awarded Lieutenant Governor of Québec medal).

Mark Shulgan

Managing Director & Head

OMERS Growth Equity

Mark Shulgan is Managing Director and Head of OMERS Growth Equity. He currently serves on the boards of Purpose Financial, TouchBistro and Coveo.

Prior to joining OMERS, Mark helped start and then led the Thematic Investing team at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). At CPPIB, Mark oversaw a $5B investment portfolio comprised of public and private investments in technology, healthcare and consumer companies located in North America, Asia and Europe.  Prior to CPPIB, Mark was a Vice President at Fortress Investment Group. He began his career as an investment banker at Scotiabank. Mark also volunteers as a Board Member of the Greater Toronto YMCA and is the Chair of its Investment Committee.

Mark is a graduate of Western University where he received a Bachelor of Arts and graduated with the Gold Medal.