Momentum at MaRS

Scale-up experience:

• CEO of TransGaming (now FinDev, TSX-V: FDI), a leading digital media company. Previously served as CFO/COO
• Took company public via RTO and raised over $25 million
• Through strategic M&A acquired key talent and titles/brands to become #1 cloud-based games provider in cable TV segment
• CFO of Viron Therapeutics
• Raised U.S.$20 million Series B including venture and strategic investors

• Directly involved in more than $500 million of financing and M&A transactions in the past 10 years
• Former CEO of Equation Angels, Canada’s second largest Angel network, whose model he helped architect in 2017
• Investor and past Chair of the Board of Sensory Technologies, a health-tech venture
• Chartered Business Valuator

• Strategic Planning
• Inorganic growth / M&A
• Pitching for capital
• Mentorship

Scale-up experience:

• CEO of Argus Software
• Scaled to $60 million ARR/$15 million EBIT
• >80,000 customers in nine countries with 40,000 SMB users
• Transitioned Company to SaaS Model
• CEO of GuestLogix
• Company in turn-around; stabilized and refocused business to supporting 2.4-million daily travellers
• launched an innovative customer experience

• Ranked Wall Street analyst, managing director RBC Capital Markets. Covered B2B, B2B2C and other tech companies
• BS/MS Engineering MIT; MBA from Harvard
• Creative Destruction Lab Mentor
• President, Rogers New Media

• Optimizing your value proposition, demand generation and product value pricing strategies
• Positioning your company for success in public markets and late-stage financing, including understanding and managing investor and board stakeholder perspectives

Scale-up experience:

• Global CMO of Ceridian
• Scaled Dayforce from $0 to $20 million, leading to acquisition by Ceridian
• Led Ceridian marketing team to most successful tech IPO of 2018 and $1 billion in revenue
• Restructured marketing organization into Revenue Center of Excellence leading to 40 percent of revenue driven by marketing
• VP Marketing of Workbrain
• Scaled Workbrain from $10 to $200 million, leading to acquisition by Infor
• Grew marketing organization from team of two to 20 people

• Founder of ACCELLE Women in Leadership, which accelerates the personal and professional success of women
• Board member of Orion Talent, Trios College

• All things pre-sales and marketing: brand, awareness, demand generation, PR, performance marketing, etc.
• Sales and marketing operations
• Leadership, organization structure and team engagement
• Corporate scorecards, metrics and analytics

Scale-up experience:

• Area Vice President, Gartner
  • Drove 30+ consecutive quarters of double-digit growth over an 18-year tenure, growing the company to $3.3 billion.
  • Scaled global sales teams by developing repeatable growth and retention programs that improved performance across new and tenured professionals.
• Managing Partner, ValueSelling Associates
  • Led sales transformation initiatives for startups, mid-sized and Global 500 companies to establish reliable, predictable sales processes.
  • Coached executives and sales leaders on value-based selling and operational excellence to drive scalable revenue growth.

• 25+ years of sales and senior leadership experience in high-growth, global organizations.
• Proven record in building and executing growth strategies that deliver consistent, measurable business outcomes.
• Trusted advisor and coach to founders and sales teams navigating scale and transformation.

• Designing and executing scalable sales systems
• Leadership development and sales team coaching
• Growth strategy and performance accountability
• Building high-retention, high-performance sales cultures

Scale-up experience:

• Head of drug development at Allelix Biopharmaceuticals
• Successful product development partnership with multinational pharma
• Team member raising venture capital financing and eventual IPO
• Early-stage research through to clinical development
• CSO at ApoPharma
• Growth of drug development programs from a staff of 10 to more than 200.
• Successful regulatory approval and marketing authorization

• Founder of Advanced Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering Consortium, an industry-academic partnership
• Integrated multi-site contract manufacturing and clinical development facilities

• Biotech strategic partnerships
• Therapeutics product development strategies
• VC interactions and financing
• Product licensing (in-/out)

Scale-up experience:

• President, Grapevine6
  • Scaled business 10x in three years.
  • Led the successful sale of Grapevine6 to Seismic, a market-leading unicorn in sales enablement software.
  • Led a ~$300-million division with three business lines and product portfolios, delivering sustained revenue growth and operational efficiency.
• Vice President, Innovation and Strategic Planning at RBC
  • Led strategy and applied innovation across Technology & Operations, overseeing a team of 30 and launching 20–40 pilots annually to drive new business models and client experiences.
  • Spearheaded enterprise innovation initiatives including RBC Connect (the internal social network for 80,000 employees) and The Next Great Innovator Challenge, Canada’s leading student innovation competition.

• 20+ years of experience spanning SaaS, fintech and technology services.
• Multiple successful exits through strategic acquisitions and scale-up leadership.
• Deep expertise in go-to-market strategy, operational scaling and customer success.

• Scaling SaaS and services organizations for exit or acquisition
• Go-to-market strategy and partnership development
• Operational excellence and business performance optimization
• Building customer success and revenue retention systems

Scale-up experience:

• Invested in seed to Series E startups with Wittington Ventures in Toronto and Maverick Ventures in San Francisco
• Invested in larger-scale private equity transactions in healthcare and B2B SaaS with Madison Dearborn Partners in Chicago
• Sectors of focus: digital health, commerce technologies, SaaS
• Worked with portfolio companies to execute fundraising, strategic projects, leadership succession and cash burn management

• Strategy lead at Opencare: developed new business line from idea to MVP to $100,000 ARR with team of 20 across three countries
• Strategy at Limbix: seed-stage mental health company focused on using virtual reality to treat addictions and phobias

• Experience as healthcare investment banker at Goldman Sachs
• Teach corporate finance in CPA Ontario Continuing Education Department
• B. Com / B Sc. (Life Sciences) from Queen’s; MBA from Stanford

• Developing a capital strategy
• Building financial forecasts
• Refine pitch decks and storytelling
• Finding product market fit
• Building and defining culture as your startup scales
• Managing career and a young family

Jon is an experienced founder, executive, and board member of private and public entities in energy, mobility, and alternative fuels. He was formerly the Senior Vice President of Venture Services at MaRS. Prior to leading the Venture Services Team, he was the Managing Director of the Cleantech Practice. He is also the founder of the MaRS Advanced Energy Centre.

Prior to joining MaRS, he led business development for Hydrogenics Corporation (now Cummins) through the launch of the company’s fuel cell and hydrogen generation divisions. He also co-founded Sustainable Energy Technologies (now Eguana Technologies), a leading Canadian provider of power electronics for the solar power industry. He has also served on the Energy Transformation Network of Ontario, on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Clean Water Agency, and on the investment committee for Arctern Ventures fund 2.

Christine currently leads government affairs for the MaRS Discovery District and is responsible for managing government relationships and driving public policy initiatives. Christine brings extensive experience managing complex public policy issues across the charitable, government and corporate sectors and is recognized for developing public policy responses to pressing environmental and social issues including food waste reduction, product and packaging stewardship, and food insecurity. Christine served as director, strategic business initiatives with Second Harvest, Canada’s largest food rescue organization. Her work there led to the release of The Avoidable Crisis of Food Waste, a ground-breaking report that identified the scope and scale of food waste in Canada. Christine was also senior director of public affairs with Walmart Canada, where she led government affairs and sustainability and community involvement activities.  Her accomplishments in that role include identifying strategies to reduce food waste across the company’s supply chain. Christine’s record of public service includes serving as a founding director of the board of Canadian Stewardship Services and recently served as a director on the Resource Productivity Recovery Authority.

Scale-up experience:

• Managing Director, Orrick / Director, Perkins Coie LLP
• Led in-house investment banking platforms, raising more than $300 million for emerging and growth-stage companies.
• Global Head of Venture Pipeline, DLA Piper LLP
• Raised more than $100 million and managed a $100-million venture portfolio, achieving 4.4x fund return.
• Originated and executed venture and private equity transactions across 3D printing, cleantech, fintech and enterprise SaaS sectors.
• Chief Sustainability Officer, Hycrete Inc.
• Led product commercialization and capital strategy, launching three advanced materials products and raising a $15-million Series C round.
• Oversaw sustainability reporting and secured $4 million in non-dilutive funding to accelerate market expansion.

• Founder and managing partner of CAЯBON where he built sustainable development group advancing vertical farming, decentralized energy, and cleantech infrastructure ventures
• Principal, NJTC Venture Fund where he deployed 60 percent of a $100-million fund with 4.4x return
• Founder of EDGE, a Black and Brown founder accelerator

• Venture capital fundraising and investor syndication
• Alternative investments, ESG strategy, and capital formation for sustainable industries
• M&A strategy and impact investment structuring

Scale-up experience:

• CFO at GoBolt
• Led a $75-million Series C round and attracted new institutional investors.
• Drove acquisition efforts, overseeing the purchase of BoxKnight to enhance the company’s same and next-day parcel delivery service.
• CFO at Financeit
• Executed a $500-million portfolio funding commitment from RBC and its sale to new private equity ownership

• Understands navigating board governance issues and resolving challenges with regulators (e.g. CRA, IRS, OSC)
• CFO of a company owned by Goldman Sachs and leader at a company owned by Brookfield Asset Management’s PE Group

• Debt and equity financing, and capital restructurings
• M&A strategy and execution
• Corporate governance and investor relations
• Business strategy development

Scale-up experience:

• CEO of Clear Channel International, a global media company with 9,000 staff in 60 markets
• Took the company private in a buyout valued at U.S.$27 billion
• Founding Director of Clear Media, one of China’s leading outdoor advertising companies
• Floated the company on the Hong Kong stock market with a value of U.S.$450 million
• Co-founded MSQ Partners, London Radio and Chrysalis Vision
• MSQ Partners is valued at U.S.$100 million

• Led/supported seven IPOs and initiated multiple M&As
• Non-executive member of the Board of Directors of Uber in the U.K.

• Executing strategy at scale
• M&A and post-acquisition integration
• IPO preparation and managing listed companies
• Handling conflict at the executive level

Scale-up experience:

• CTO at EnPowered
• Built and scaled a new business unit (Arlo) from concept to launch, leading sales, product and engineering.
• Managed investor, partner and customer relationships while implementing financial compliance and IP strategy.
• CTO at Encircle
• Grew the product team from four to 28, adding senior leadership roles across Product, UX and Engineering.
• Senior Director, Global Developer Relations at BlackBerry
• Led a global team of 35+, supporting developers worldwide during BlackBerry’s high-growth years.

• Founder of Arlo, an AI-powered loan processing platform
• Over 20 years of leadership scaling technical and product teams globally
• Board and ecosystem leadership experience at Golden Triangle Angel Network and Waterloo EDC

• Scaling product and engineering teams
• Product development and go-to-market strategy

Scale-up experience:

• COO and Acting CEO, Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC)
• Oversaw operations, strategy and ecosystem partnerships for a national $20-million organization funding Canada’s leading cleantech ventures.
• Led corporate transformation and stakeholder engagement across government and industry to advance sustainable innovation.
• EVP, Operations and Engineering, Iogen Corporation
• Led the commercialization and scale-up of cellulosic ethanol technology through a U.S.$105-million industrial facility with Raízen (Brazil).

• Directed $190–200 million annually in cleantech investments, approving more than $800 million into 200+ projects driving environmental and economic impact as VP Investments at SDTC.
• 25+ years of experience in cleantech innovation, impact investment and technology commercialization.

• Scaling cleantech ventures and technology commercialization
• Impact investment strategy and portfolio management
• Public-private partnerships and sustainable innovation policy
• Organizational leadership, governance and stakeholder relations

Scale-up Experience:

• Founder and CEO at ecobee
• Raised $200 million of venture capital
• Led the acquisition by GNRC for U.S.$770 million
• Co-inventor of the smart thermostat and smart sensors
• VP R&D at Grocery Gateway
• Built the technology infrastructure to scale Grocery Gateway from $0 to $50 million in revenue in 18 months

• Bootstrapped InfoRamp into one of Canada’s largest internet service providers, merged with two others to form iStar internet, the largest IPO in Canada in 1995
• Held Board positions at Grocery Gateway, Shiva and QuickPlay Media

• Strategic investment and board leadership
• Designing and implementing scalable technology solutions
• M&A strategy and execution
• Business strategy development