Accelerator Bootcamp Advisors

The following are just some of the generous experts who helped coach our ten finalists at the Accelerate Venture Development Bootcamp in November 2011.Barb SteeleBarb is Director of Strategic Partnerships at Network for Business Sustainability where they enable business sustainability by fostering collaboration between research and industry. In her current role she is working to improve the access and applicability of NBS research and tools for business leaders. Barb’s work experience includes senior leadership roles in marketing, consulting and account services with both for profit and non-profit organizations.  Barb holds an Honours Business Administration degree from the Richard Ivey school of Business, and a Masters of Science in Organizational Development and Change from Pepperdine University. Bernie Li Bernie is a co-founder and Vice President of Pure Energies, the fastest growing installer of solar photovoltaic systems on residential homes in Ontario. Prior to Pure Energies, Bernie spent a decade investing in early stage companies with venture capital funds based in Montreal and New York City. He is currently an advisor to Dealuxe.ca and Playground Sessions and a board member of the Centre for Social Innovation. Bernie holds an Honours Bachelors of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University. Brian IlerBrian practises co-op and non-profit law, corporate and commercial law, transactions, wills and estates, construction law, employment law as well as acting as general counsel. Brian is an active director with a number of groups, including those working for environmental protection and promoting co-operative and democratic forms of organization. Carolyn Hicks and Morgan Skowronki                   Carolyn Hicks and Morgan Skowronki are part of the Metrolinx Investment Strategy & Project Evaluation team. Metrolinx is the regional transportation authority for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area that has developed the Regional Transportation Plan, "The Big Move". Morgan and Carolyn work towards ensuring that the best value for money is achieved through benefit-cost analysis on transit projects, contributing to a transparent and responsible decision making process and are developing a sustainable funding model that will support the implementation of the $50 billion transportation investment across the GTHA. Chilion Benedict              Chilion Benedict runs Penguin Perspective, a communications company that helps organizations present world-changing ideas. Prior to Penguin Perspective, Chilion helped launch Ethos, a practice within global advertising agency JWT that helps forward-thinking companies advance social issues.                                        Christine KoenigAs a founder and entrepreneur Christine has personally experienced the rise and fall of great ideas, potential markets, and partnerships. She has brought this wealth of experience to Koenig & Consultants Inc., which enables her to adopt her client’s perspective and empathize with them.  Christine graduated from Goettingen University with a PhD in biochemistry and in her post-doctoral work she gained long-time experience in research and development. She has been awarded a number of prizes and gained high recognition for her entrepreneurial work and a patent in the biotechnology branch. Dave de Sylva    Dave works at Del Ridge, a company that works on “net-zero” and “net-positive” buildings and adheres to a philosophy of offering incomparable standards. Del Ridge’s most recent project is GreenLife Condominiums in Milton, Ontario, featuring geothermal, PV under FIT and net metered, solar parking lights, ERV on MUA, remote wind energy production from a wind farm, and enhanced ICF throughout.      Elanor WaslanderElanor Waslander has been working in the Environmental Education sector for the past 10 years. She has a keen interest in student engagement, ecological literacy and outdoor experiential education. Her education has supported her passions in the environment and as an educator with a Master’s degree in Environmental studies and a B.Ed in Outdoor Ecological and Experiential Education.                                               Eric Squair           Eric has over 10 years of communications and campaigning experience, working with organizations ranging from political parties to international NGOs to small advocacy groups. His consulting work focuses on helping not-for-profit and independent business clients with their online communications: email broadcasts, website redesigns, online campaigns and capacity building through workshops.  Recent clients include Greenpeace Canada, Amnesty International Canada and Environmental Defence Canada;  recent workshops have been on effective email broadcasts at the Social Tech Training in Toronto, online advocacy at My Charity Connects and Sheridan College/UofT and website analytics.                                               Felix Tang           Felix Tang is an intellectual property and business lawyer with an extensive work and educational background in computer and electrical engineering. He was at Gowlings in the intellectual property group, where he worked on prosecution and litigation matters related to patents, trademarks, and copyright. His technology expertise is in the areas of multimedia, graphics, networking and real-time embedded systems. Specifically, he worked on multimedia co-processor's for mobile phones, machine vision cameras, calculators, wireless networking and satellite digital video. James ChilcottJames has spent the last 12 years consulting on branding, web development and web marketing as Senior Partner with Advoca. As a pro-human focused boutique agency, Advoca has a dedicated interest in solutions that facilitate a more social, responsible and progressive tomorrow. Joel Sachs           Joel is a computer scientist working in biodiversity informatics, citizen science, and web science. He likes to promote scientific literacy by blending science research and education, and did this as project manager for the NSF-funded SPIRE project, and as interoperability lead for the NASA-funded Virtual Telescopes in Education. He is currently working on integrating student observations with background scientific knowledge in order to understand environmental response to climate change.                                                Kier BrownstoneKeir Brownstone is the General Manager of GLOBE Inc. a subsidiary or Social Housing Services Corporation. GLOBE has a mandate as a social enterprise to act as a catalyst in transforming primarily the social housing sector into a green sustainable culture through the development and delivery of technical, training and education services.  Prior to joining GLOBE, Keir was the Green Plan Manager for Toronto Community Housing  where he was responsible for coordination and implementation of an ambitious program that included energy efficiency, water conservation, waste reduction and diversion, education and training, procurement policies and green spaces renewal. Kristen Scott      bhutancanada.org                           Marina MannMarina is a digital marketing strategist and technologist with cross-functional leadership experience in business and operations for complex multi-channel brands including Virgin Mobile, Apple Inc., Ontario Lotteries, Bell Globe Media, RBC, ING Direct, Symantec, Corus Entertainment and Astral Media.  Her expertise is in social media strategy development, community set-up + management and Marina has extensive experience in eCommerce strategy and execution. Sector experience includes: Advertising, Telecommunications (MVNO), Consumer Products, Media & Entertainment, Publishing, Retail, Product Marketing.Mary GeorgiaMary  is a marketing strategist  and instigator, and founder and publisher of Ecocentricguide.ca, Canada's discovery guide for the ethical consumer. Specializing in small and ethical business, Mary leverages her 20 years in the MARCOM industry working with top tier brands on both the client side and marketing agency side. A highly strategic, passionate and results-oriented consultant , Mary is obsessed with unlocking consumer and industry insights in order to build brands. Monica KuhnMonica is a Toronto architect and her firm, established in 1994, specializes in residential, sustainable, and greenroof design. She is a permaculture instructor, has written and lectured widely on urban greening and environmental design, and has been awarded the Cabbagetown Preservation Association’s Restoration award for home renovation project twice in the past five years. Monica was one of the founding members of Toronto's Rooftop Gardens Resource Group, a past board member of the Canada Trust Friends of the Environment and has been a board member and consultant for The Greenroofs for Healthy Cities Coalition. Morgan McDonaldMorgan has spent his entire career working on issues related to energy, environment, and greenhouse gas emissions. His work has included education and advocacy for appropriate technologies, renewable energy system design, carbon finance, and green building retrofits, which is his current focus as Director of Operations with Ledcor RENEW. He was a founding director of the BC Sustainable Energy Association and he volunteers on the Environment Committee for the Vancouver Foundation. Richard SungRichard is the founder of Boreal Solar, a firm specializing in the brokerage of Ontario-content solar equipment and FIT projects. Richard previously was an Equity Analyst with boutique investment bank Genuity Capital Markets in Toronto, specializing in researching Canadian technology firms. Richard holds an International MBA degree from York University's Schulich School of Business and a BASc in Electrical Engineering from theUniversity of Toronto. Sacha Kumar      Sacha is the Co-Founder and Business Development Officer of BizInc, an on-campus business incubator for student entrepreneurs at the University of Western Ontario and Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. He worked at the Deshpande Center for Social Entrepreneurship in Hubli, India as a Junior Fellow, where he delivered interactive, customized financial training sessions to existing and prospective social entrepreneurs in Northern Karnataka. He was also elected as the Vice President of Finance for the University Students' Council at the University of Western Ontario, where he oversaw the annual budget and provided strategic guidance to the Board of Directors regarding the long term capital strategy of the company.               Sharon Magor         Sharon is the founder of B Positive Communications, a marketing communications consulting firm that focuses on the not-for-profit sector. To help their clients communicate more effectively, the firm uses proven marketing principles, new technology and a caring approach. The firm values work that involve internal and external communications, strategy development, client retention and engagement planning, technology related projects, policy advisory and creative assignments.  We believe in Practical Intelligence: knowing what to say, to whom, knowing when to say it and knowing how to say it formaximum effect. Stephanie Thorsonvikingstrategies.ca Subhi Alsayed   Subhi has over 15 years of experience in all aspects of building systems design, project management and construction. Subhi is a Professional Engineer, LEED Accredited Professional, Certified Energy Manager, Innovation Manager at Tridel and Project Director at TowerLabs @MaRS. As Innovation Manager, Subhi’s responsibilities include establishing core research priorities across all design and construction disciplines, with a primary focus on Energy Efficiency, Green and Renewable Technologies and Construction Innovation. As Project Director, Subhi’s role focuses on facilitating in-situ testing, piloting and demonstration projects in highrise buildings. Subhi also works directly with product developers/manufacturers and real estate owners and developers to accelerate the adoption of innovative green building technologies. Susan McLennanSusan helms Babble On Communications Inc., a boutique public relations and creative firm with a solid reputation for engaging the world in the stories and causes of socially responsible people, organizations, projects and causes. She frequently works with some of the top media outlets in the world, including The Today Show, Canada AM, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, The View, Ellen, and The National, along with local media across North America. She is adept at video production, website creation, sponsorship, has created, produced and/or written for award-winning television shows and is skilled at online communications and digital project management.  Additionally, she has produced signature live events and tours reaching hundreds of thousands of people, and has mentored emerging Canadian leaders who are working hard to make the world better.                                               Vicki SaundersVicki has co-founded and run four ventures in Europe, Toronto and Silicon Valley including Zazengo (an online platform for consumer and employee engagement focused on sustainability), The NRG Group (which went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2000) and Impactanation, a global consulting firm focused on engaging youth to tackle the grand challenges we are facing. In 2001, Vicki was selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum. She speaks regularly at events around the world including The World Economic Forum in Davos, Women of Influence Series in Canada, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs events and the Tallberg Forum.