Moderator Mr. Douglas Kennedy RBC Managing Director at Centre for Global Enterprise Douglas Kennedy is the Managing Director of the Centre for Global Enterprise, a public and privately- supported foundation whose mission is to motivate, educate and support Canadian business, especially small-and-medium scale enterprise, in identifying and exploiting global opportunities. Prior to joining the Centre, Douglas was President of Excelar Capital Limited, an advisory firm providing strategy, business planning and valuation services for early-stage businesses. Before that Douglas spent 24 years in the financial services sector, all of it outside of Canada. Based in Tokyo and Hong Kong, Douglas acquired extensive investment banking experience throughout the Far East with firms such as Morgan Stanley and in a global management capacity considerable capital markets and institutional investment experience in Europe and the United States. Douglas has degrees and diplomas from the University of Toronto and the Schulich School of Business. As a recipient of the Japanese Ministry of Education s Special Scholars Award Programme he spent 18 months conducting post-graduate research at Keio University in Tokyo.
Speakers Adam Froman, MBA1992 CEO Delvinia Adam Froman (MBA 92) is the CEO of Delvinia, a Torontobased digital strategy and innovation firm he founded in 1998. His entire career has been driven by passion and a vision that interactive technologies would change the way we communicate, work and play. As an entrepreneur, Adam has dedicated himself and his company to helping clients respond to the opportunities and challenges that digital technologies bring to customer relationships. Adam is an active speaker in the marketing and research communities. His association memberships include the Canadian Marketing Association, ESOMAR and the MRIA where he is a director of the Research Agency Council. Adam is a Professional Engineer (Human Factors Engineer from the University of Toronto) and has an MBA specializing in the areas of Strategy and Finance from the Schulich School of Business. His first book, Delve In, Dig Deep: An Entrepreneurial Journey was released earlier this year.
Daniel Warner Head of Strategic Partnerships Groupon SnapSaves Daniel is a founding member of SnapSaves, a Torontobased mobile coupon startup recently acquired by Groupon. He's continued in his role as Head of Strategic Partnerships for the newly named, Snap by Groupon, and is moving to Chicago in the new year to build the US business. As a serial entrepreneur, Daniel has created several startups, from the first 'photo-tagging' social media site and a campus marketing agency to an OOH hand sanitizer ad network and a cloud-based receipts startup. Daniel is a MBA graduate from the Schulich School of Business ('12), Bachelor of Management Studies graduate from Western University ('06) and a Marketing Management Diploma graduate from Seneca College ('07). While at Seneca, he was recognized as the CIBC ACE Ontario Student Entrepreneur of the Year and appeared on CBC's Dragon's Den. His favourite Dragons are Mr. Wonderful and Brett Wilson. As an active community leader, he's been recognized by the Ontario Government for his volunteerism, having raised over $1MM for various charitable organizations and created an entrepreneurship conference, "StartupCHAT," at his old high school. Daniel enjoys his startup life at work and at home, with his wife and baby girl. He believes that in both your personal and professional life, your team is everything.
Jeff Chapleau, MBA 1989 Serial Entrepreneur, Mentor, Board Advisor and Investor Jeff Chapleau is a serial entrepreneur, mentor, board advisor and investor. With education and experience in marketing, sales, strategy, operations, technology, HR and governance, and a passion make that fervor for achieving results, he actively engages at all levels of organizations with a view impacting the bottom line: ROI for investors, employees, corporations and most importantly, humanity. As President and CEO of Due Good Deeds, invests in and grows businesses that produce returns for investors.. and our society. Due Good currently has active roles, advisory positions and equity positions in amateur sports, medical technology, medical services and technology. Mr Chapleau has active roles in TeamSnap (online sports management), Newtopia (genetics wellness), Innovate Health (health technology), DART>> (technology solutions) and Sports411 among others. Due Good fundamentally believes it is possible to achieve significant returns in both profit AND CSR metrics. Mr Chapleau also supports a series of pro-bono programs in the education and sports space including The Golden Baton, Win4Gwyn, TCP (The Charity Project) and a number of non-profit boards and groups. Mr. Chapleau holds a Master of Business Administration from Schulich Business School and a Bachelor of Science (physics) from the University of Western Ontario.
Joe Stasko, MBA 2009 Account Manager Business Development Bank of Canada After completing Schulich International MBA program in 2009, Joe embarked on a career selling and distributing plastics throughout Canada. Although he would often say there is nothing sexy about plastics, it was that very material he now thanks for sending him running towards a slightly more exciting career in the fast-paced world of entrepreneurs. From a stint in the green-tech research space, to a start-up in the online travel industry, Joe s growing desire to help new businesses succeed eventually led to his move into financial services at the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) in 2012. In his current role at BDC, Joe works exclusively with entrepreneurs. Focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises, Joe provides entrepreneurs with financing and consulting services to help fuel growth in the Canadian economy. Joe has worked in Korea, Italy and Belgium and prides himself on his razor-sharp delivery of both good and bad news. He also believes that his ability to remain flexible and creative continues to help him succeed in this new economy.