2009 Speakers
Our National Conference hosts an accomplished speaker lineup from all over the world. Our speakers come from a wide spectrum of backgrounds including business, technology, entertainment and science. These speakers participate in a variety of stimulating events designed to enrich the delegates’ knowledge on entrepreneurship.
2009 Keynote Speakers
Member of Parliament
Elected on October 14 2009 as Member of Parliament for Papineau, Justin Trudeau is passionate about engaging young Canadians in politics. Capturing the attention of students from elementary school through to university, he champions liberal values, defending the causes that are dear to his heart, such as the environment and youth empowerment. During the summer of 2006, he chaired the youth taskforce of the Liberal Party Renewal Commission, generating ideas about how to engage more youth politically. More recently, Mr. Trudeau has been appointed as Official Opposition Critic for Youth and Multiculturalism.
Mr. Trudeau has also worked with numerous environmental groups dedicated to the protection our Canadian heritage, such as Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. Mr. Trudeau was Chair of Katimavik, Canada’s National Youth Service program, where he worked to help young people build a better Canada, one community at a time.
President and CMO of Airborne Mobile
Former CEO of Just For Laughs International Comedy Festival
Impact is proud to present Andy Nulman as our Opening Keynote for the 2009 National Conference. While young in spirit and snappy in dress, Andy Nulman has been creating and leading major media projects for over three decades. Prior to his role at Airborne, Andy was best known for his 15-year tenure as CEO of Montreal’s renowned Just For Laughs International Comedy Festival, the world's first and largest comedy event.
Andy is the President and CMO of Airborne Mobile, a company celebrated as a pioneer in the industry of mobile media and marketing. In 1999, Andy co-founded Airborne with Garner Bornstein, and has since provided the company with the insight and creativity necessary to successfully strengthen brands like FHM, Family Guy and the NFL through the creation of innovative mobile content and applications. In 2006, Airborne was honored as North America’s 4th-Fastest Growing Tech Company in Deloitte’s Fast 500 ranking.
Read more...President, Raeallan - Transformational Training and Speaking
Bobby has built a unique Personal Brand via a diverse career. With an undergraduate degree in Engineering and an MBA in Strategic Marketing, he has culminated his talents to lead Raeallan (www.raeallan.com). Bobby is a recognized and accomplished developer and teacher of programs designed to motivate adults and youth. He has acquired over 15 years extensive experience in leadership training through recreation and leadership programs across Canada. Most notably, Bobby served as Program Manager and Faculty of Arts & Leadership for McMaster University’s Shad Valley summer program for gifted high school youth.
While working at Bombardier as an Aerospace Design Engineer, Bobby co-founded a musical theatre company, Markham Thespian Society, where he supervised a team of over 100 people. In order to switch careers, he attended DeGroote’s MBA co-op program and use the Power of Connection to make a difference. He was President of the MBA Association, received awards in several case competitions, and graduated at the top of his class as co-valedictorian.
Read more...Vice President of e-Learning Company
Impact is privileged to have a man who exemplifies true leadership. Sunjay was a founding Vice President of an e-learning company based in Toronto that has gone on to become a multimillion-dollar company. Prior to that position he worked as an engineer for a distribution company in New York. He served as a camp director for several years with a camp that focuses on developing leadership skills in students. He started an international speaking business when he was 19; he wasn’t even old enough to rent a car. This was particularly problematic when he would travel.
As a speaker, Sunjay has traveled extensively and addressed well over half a million people throughout North America since 1995. In 2005, Sunjay became the youngest Canadian to earn his CSP (Certified Speaking Professional). The CSP is the highest Internationally recognized designation that a speaker can aspire to achieve.
Read more...Managing partner, Thunder Road Capital
Former Managing Director of eBay Canada
Jordan Banks, currently residing in Toronto, is most known for his contributions as the managing director of eBay Canada, the #1 online shopping site in Canada drawing over $44.3 billion (US) in merchandise volume in 2005. Banks, hired in 2000, helped launch eBay Canada as the second employee in the Canadian office. He is credited for building the eBay brand and Canadian community.
Read more...Panel Discussion Speakers
President, Presidents of Enterprising Organizations
Leon brings to the organization pure genius for understanding the needs and challenges of excellent leadership. He has an extraordinary ability to listen to and in time hook up executives and business owners with a roadmap for action that is unparalleled. Leon first joined PEO as a participant in 2001 when he was President and CEO of Justwhiteshirts.com. During this tenure, his leadership elevated the company from a start-up to being recognized as one of Canada’s multi-channel success stories with brand recognition of 85% among their target market. In 2004 he sold Justwhiteshirts.com, and became a significant shareholder and the President of PEO.
President, The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE)
Suresh Madan is Executive Vice President and Portfolio Manager with Excalibur Capital Management Inc. He is focused on investing in long-short equities of emerging growth companies in North America. Previously, Suresh managed money for multi-billion dollars Reichmann family for nearly ten years. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Canadian Investment Manager (CIM), MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and graduate degree in Industrial Engineering with over 25 years of international experience. Suresh won four gold medals during his outstanding academic career.
Workshop Speakers
Founder of Well.ca
Ali Asaria is the founder and CEO of Well.ca, Canada's largest online health and beauty store. Ali is a technologist who is passionate about making Well.ca run on teh most innovative software possible while simultaneously building the most friendly, compassionate company culture possible. Prior to founding Well.ca, Ali worked at Research In Motion (RIM) where he independently developed the most popular Blackberry game -- BrickBreaker is now on more than 15 million devices worldwide.
Read more...Co-founder, Campus Intercept
Andrew Au is a graduate of the Schulich School of Business and has been heavily involved in youth marketing for several years. In 2006 Au co-founded Mogul Media Group (MMG) with Shaheen Yazdani, forming a youth marketing and publishing company for their Campus Life magazine brand. MMG has worked on accounts such as General Motors, Elections Ontario, Philips Electronics, Rogers Communications and Pepsi-QTG. An entrepreneur at heart, Au led MMG’s growth from regional to provincial while balancing full-time post-secondary studies.
Read more...President & Co-founder, DailyChallenge.org
Darius currently resides as the President and Co-founder of DailyChallenge.org. Daily Challenge is an innovative social networking site that encourages its users to participate in daily activities, or 'challenges,' users can take up in the real world that will positively impact themselves and their communities. Darius attended the University of Toronto and sits on the Board of Directors for Apollo Push Inc. and the Junior Chamber International, Toronto faction. Darius was also one of the organizers of Pay It Backward Day (#pibTO) which was a fundraising event that utilized social media to inspire Canadians to reach out into their offline communities and support the SickKids Foundation by buying the person behind them a coffee/tea. In total 173 Second Cup location participated and over 20,200 Ontario residents paid it backward in a single day. This unique social media fundraiser helped raise over $15,000 in a single day for the SickKids Foundation.
Read more...President, The Lunch Lady Group
Ruthie Burd never imagined that one day she would be delivering healthy hot lunches to thousands of children at school. Growing up with a widower father, she learned to avoid the kitchen, only learning to cook when she had her own children. The day one of her boys was diagnosed with autism was the day that she started thinking of new ways to contribute to the family income. Ruthie wanted to work but she needed the afternoons free to take her son to therapies. When she learned that there were no cafeterias in most elementary schools, and that many parents found making school lunches a chore, and thus Lunch Lady concept.
Read more...Founder of Leadership Reframed
Founder of ZooCasa
Saul Colt is the Smartest Man in The World and one of Canada's best Word of Mouth Markers. Up until recently Saul lead the "magic" department at FreshBooks.com and also was the first international employee to be hired by Zipcar Inc. and he launched the company’s foray into the Canadian market. Saul is an accomplished marketing professional with more than a decade of diverse experience.
Co-creator, "Kill Shakespeare"
Anthony is co-creator of “Kill Shakespeare”, an international transmedia entertainment franchise that debuts in early 2010 in comic book and video game formats. He has served in executive roles in the music, film and television industries, produced two independent feature films and most recently assisted with the management of international pop star Nelly Furtado and her world tour.
CEO of Akoha
Austin Hill is a Canadian entrepreneur and the founder of Zero- Knowledge Systems (now called Radialpoint) and as its President helped the company raise $75 million between 1997 and 2001. In 2002 he was honored as a technology pioneer of the World Economic Forum in Davos (2002) and was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (Quebec 2001– Emerging Entrepreneur).In 1994 he was a founder of the Internet provider Infobahn Online Services which went on to become Total.Net and built its Canadian network as its Chief Technology Officer.
Read more...President, Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation
Read more...
Founder of The Involvement Practice
Tim is the founder of The Involvement Practice and the architect of Brand Involvement®. Inspired by teachers who made learning personal and practical for him, he adapted proven learning techniques to the needs of brand management, creating a proprietary new approach to brand-building. Tim’s award-winning brand management and communications career has been diverse.
Read more...Founder, Hyndman | Law
Rob is a Toronto technology business lawyer – his clients are technology companies and their customers. He is the founder of Hyndman | Law, a boutique business law practice that provides legal counsel to technology businesses on a wide variety of business law needs. He spends a lot of his time coaching early stage technology companies. He’s also a co-founder of mesh, Canada’s Web Conference.
Co-creator, "Kill Shakespeare"
Conor is co-creator of “Kill Shakespeare”, an international transmedia entertainment franchise that debuts in early 2010 in comic book and video game formats. Conor has served in both creative and business positions for film and television companies, contributed over 1,000 stories and articles for media outlets and also provided expert analysis for Canada’s Business News Network.
Co-founder & CEO of Freshbooks
Mike is the co-founder and CEO of FreshBooks, planet earth’s leading online invoicing and bookkeeping app for service oriented professionals, freelancers and teams. Back in 2003, Mike built FreshBooks for his design firm and scratched his own itch. Since launching in May 2004, FreshBooks has touched over 1,000,000 lives and Mike and his team dedicate themselves to being a great service for people who love their work, and want to focus on it – instead of focusing on their paperwork.
President of Succession Capital Corporation
Brad possesses over 15 years of experience in the financial and merchant banking community. Brad has worked on a variety of management disputes, management buyouts and next generation succession transactions. He also has a wide variety of experiences with companies ranging in size from owner-operated to public multinationals in a variety of industries. He previously held positions with Rothschild Canada Limited, Price Waterhouse, Grant Thornton and Coopers and Lybrand (IMBA Internship - Paris, France).
Read more...President and Founder, Open Space Marketing
Tuan Nguyen is a partner for www.CanadianTourismNetwork.com, www.Autocatch.com and www.Healthgenie.ca. This multi-million dollar network of Internet business directories drives millions of dollars for local businesses across Canada in tourism, automobile, health, and real estate industries. He is also the founder of Open Space Marketing, a firm focused on customer retention strategies and web technologies.
Read more...Founder of Sprouter.com
Sarah Prevette has captured attention as a passionate and pioneering web entrepreneur -- an exciting voice from inside the online community revolution. Sarah’s untraditional and multi-faceted approach to branding and business building will provide actionable insight to those looking to build communities, truly engage their clients and leverage the full power of the web. Highlighting key insights into current trends and providing tactical advice; Sarah has developed a reputation for giving fun, interactive talks with clear, actionable take-aways.
Chairman & CEO, Quarry Integrated Communications
As Chairman & CEO of Quarry Integrated Communications, Alan Quarry and his team of 100+ marketers are proud to be one of the largest independent advertising agencies in Canada. They have offices in Waterloo, Toronto, Raleigh, North Carolina and San Jose, California. Alan is a lecturer with two Canadian university business school faculties. Since 1993 he has taught the senior level and MBA Integrated Marketing Communication courses at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo and Marketing for the Executive MBA at the University of Windsor.
President, Mr. Franchise Inc.
Shawn Saraga is the President and visionary behind Mr. Franchise Inc., a firm focused on the growth and development of franchise systems in Canada. Shawn began his career as part owner of a small printing company, Rapid Print, which he grew into a small chain in downtown, Toronto, and later sold to the Printing House in 2000. With his experience in print, Continental Press recruited Shawn in 2002 to spearhead its entry into the Quick Print market with a new concept called Corporate Printing Services (CPS). After leaving CPS, Shawn became an Independent Consultant and started his company Mr. Franchise Inc., which services a number of organizations and coaches them on growth strategies.
Read more...Founder of GlobalMedic
Rahul Singh founded the David McAntony Gibson Foundation (DMGF) in 1998 to honour the memory of his best friend who tragically lost his life on February 7, 1998. In just 10 years, Singh’s tireless efforts have resulted in a globally recognized, innovative and efficient organization. He has also personally led over 25 GlobalMedic missions around the world and is the charity’s Executive Director. Singh has been a professional emergency worker since 1988.
Founder, 401 Bay Centre
Serial entrepreneur, Marnie Walker, launched her newest venture, 401 Bay Centre. Located in the heart of downtown Toronto, it offers furnished and equipped executive and team offices, meeting rooms, phone, mail and day offices for those that only need the facilities occasionally.
Marnie Walker is best known for her entrepreneurial achievement in building Student Express from a start-up in 1990 to a multi-million dollar school bus company with a fleet 250 buses. She was named Canadian Women Entrepreneur of the Year, Extraordinary Women of the Year and ranked 37th in the Profit W100 Canada’s Top Women Entrepreneurs in 2004.
A key note speaker and angel investor, Marnie holds an ICD.D Board of Director’s certification, teaches Entrepreneurship at the Schulich School of Business and is a founding director of Maple Leaf Angels investment group.