INC Past Speakers
Our National Conference has hosted a high accomplished speaker lineup from all over the world. Our speakers have 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.
Past Keynote Speakers
Michael Lee-Chin
Chairman, Portland Holdings Inc.
Micheal is widely regarded as a visionary entrepreneur whose philosophy of "doing well and doing good" has resulted in phenomenal success and inspiring philanthropic initiatives.
Craig Kielburger
Founder, Free the Children
Craig is the creator of the world's largest network of children helping children through education. The organization has received many prestigious awards such as the World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child (also known as the Children's Nobel Prize) and the Human Rights Award from the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations.
Frank O’Dea
Founder, The Second Cup
Frank O'Dea has triumphed over adversity to become one of Canada's very successful and celebrated entrepreneurs. He is an Officer to the Order of Canada and has been involved in founding several ventures.
Harry Rosen
Executive Chairman, Harry Rosen Inc.
Harry Rosen is the man behind the name, the Executive Chairman of Harry Rosen Inc., which operates a chain of better menswear stores across Canada. Founded in 1954, Harry Rosen Inc. claims a 33% share of the market. Harry has won numerous marketing awards over the years, including the first Retail Marketer of the Year Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award, both from the Retail Council of Canada. His business has been featured as a case study in several marketing textbooks.
Kendra Todd
The Apprentice Winner
Donald Trump's Season 3 Apprentice.
Kendra is an ambitious and highly successful real estate entrepreneur. After completing her degree in linguistics from the University of Florida, Kendra went on to obtain her real estate license, and incorporated her media expertise into the development of My House Real Estate Inc. an innovative real estate marketing company specializing in condo conversions and land acquisitions. My House Real Estate Inc.'s marketing strategies are virtually unparalleled, and have generated involvement in some of Florida's most sought after real estate.
Gregory Brill
Chief Executive Officer, Infusion Development
Gregory Brill is the founder and CEO of Infusion Development Corporation, a technology training and consulting firm that specializes in architecting securities trading and analytic systems for several of the world’s largest investment banks.
Dave Howlett
Leader, Motivator, and Teacher
Dave Howlett is widely known as a leader, motivator and teacher. In a 25-year career that has included scuba-diving instructor, Canadian naval officer, pharmaceutical sales manager and corporate executive, Dave Howlett has trained and inspired thousands of people and is a role model for people who find it hard to set and meet goals (he has completed 14 marathons and is training for his 5th Ironman competition).
William Tatham
“Canada’s most innovative entrepreneur”
William Tatham was the founder, chairman and CEO of Janna Systems which he started in his basement in 1990 and sold 10 years later to Siebel Systems for a Canadian record $1.76 billion. Janna was the world leader in enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software for financial services. Tatham was awarded the Ernst & Young 2001 Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Software and Information Systems, and received a special citation for Outstanding Business Strategy. He is now the CEO and Managing General Partner of NexJ Partners, Inc., which he started in 2001.
Ian Portsmouth
Editor, PROFIT Magazine
Ian Portsmouth is the editor of PROFIT: Your Guide to Business Success. Profit magazine has been serving Canada’s entrepreneurial business community for over 20 years and has earned a position of prominence with growth companies, the successful entrepreneurs who run them and the businesses eager to serve them. Portsmouth has won several awards for his business writing, including three National Magazine Award nominations. He is also the editor of Marketing Masters: The Best Ideas of Canada’s Savviest Marketers and is a frequent media commentator on the management issues and best practices of Canadian growth companies.
Dr. Brian Little
3M Teaching Fellow & Professor
Harvard University and Carleton University
He now holds joint appointments at Harvard University and at Carleton University where he holds the rank of Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus. He has published widely in the areas of human personality and flourishing. Dr. Little has won major awards for both his research and his teachings. He received the 3M Fellowship, referred to by MacLean’s magazine as the Nobel prize of University teaching. He was also the first recipient of the Royal Bank Faculty Fellowship in University Teaching at McGill University. For each of the past three years he has been voted by the graduating classes as one of the favorite professors at Harvard.
Albert Lai
Founder, Bubbleshare
Albert Lai is the Founder of BubbleShare, an online website to share photos and tell stories. Users can immediately create slideshows or albums without registration and narrate their photos with their own voice right inside their Web browser. He has been involved in founding and launching various start-up companies over his career in the field of educational software, electronic marketing, online publishing, e-commerce, peer-to-peer software, and commercialization of alien technologies.