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Mark Cahsens
Great Circle Works
Mark Cahsens is a math major turned entrepreneur, with degrees from UWO and MIT and global work experience at Fortune 500 companies. Cahsens, a multi-lingual native of Montreal, currently lives in Toronto and runs Great Circle Works. Great Circle Works is an innovative producer and marketer of toys, sporting goods and other playful and uniquely designed products. Cahsens directs all aspects of the company's operations with his keen attention to detail, passion for design, and love of living life in the moment.
The company's flagship product, the Zipfy Mini Luge snow sled, went from product design and development to best-selling outdoor winter sport item in North America in just 3 years. Designed highly efficiently and using an outsource model that allows for flexibility and responsiveness to the market, Great Circle Works now averages just under $2M revenues per employee.
Cahsens was recently nominated by Ernst & Young as Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year 2010 and also gained wide acclaim by achieving the ranking of #1 fastest growing emerging business in Canada by Profit Magazine's annual Profit Hot 50 listing.
Cahsens' prior entrepreneurial achievements with various start-ups have been featured in The Industry Standard, Profit Magazine, IBM's Annual Report, ASCII Magazine (Japan), Fox News and others. |
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Cybele Negris
President & Co-Founder of Webnames.ca
MCybele Negris is President & Co-Founder of Webnames.ca, Canada’s original .CA Registrar and one of the country’s leading Internet solutions companies. Services include a full range of domain extensions, domain portfolio management, domain privacy, web hosting, Web Builder, email, SSL certificates and a range of other online solutions. In 2009 the company launched the .TEL technology and developed “Hornet” (www.hornethub.com) a .TEL address book application for the Blackberry smartphone. With the acquisition of Ripe B2B Inc. Webnames.ca now provides software and systems development and has also launched a Search Engine Optimization Consultation service and a WordPress Web Development Program integrated with Social Media called “Essentials”. The multi-million dollar company has an impressive client list including many of Canada’s largest brands as well as Global Fortune 500 companies.
Cybele is Vice-Chair of the Board of Small Business BC. She also serves on the Board of the Small Business Roundtable of British Columbia chaired by Colin Hansen, Minister of Finance, Deputy Premier and Minister Responsible for Small Business. She is also on the Board of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, and served as Chair of the FWE e-series Program (entrepreneurial training for high growth businesses) for the past few years. She is also on the Board of the Vancouver Economic Development Commission and was member of the 2010 Taskforce and Innovasion Conference Taskforce. Cybele is a mentor through the Vancouver Wired Woman Mentorship Program, Co-Chairs the Vancouver Canary Derby and acts as a judge for the Small Business BC Successful You Awards (www.successfulyou.ca), Profit Magazine’s Innovations@Work Contest (www.innovationsatwork.ca) and Business in Vancouver’s Influential Women in Business Awards (www.biv.com/iwib/index.asp). She was past President of Wired Woman Vancouver (www.wiredwoman.com), a not-for-profit organization providing education, networking and mentorship to women in the technology sector. Cybele speaks at over a dozen entrepreneurship and technology conferences or events each year.
Awards include: Business in Vancouver Influential Women in Business Award 2010, PROFIT W100 - Canada's Top Women Entrepreneurs, (2004 to 2010), Canada’s Top 50 Mompreneurs (2010), Finalist, YWCA Women of Distinction (2006), Finalist, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Pacific (2005); and Business in Vancouver’s Top 40 Under 40 (2003). |
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Lidija Marusic
Senior Advisor, Business Ventures
Dr. Lidija Marusic is a senior advisor with the mentoring team at Innovacorp, providing advice and guidance to early stage technology entrepreneurs through Innovacorp’s High Performance Incubation (HPi)™ business model.
Lidija has extensive experience in the commercialization of life sciences technologies, along with a solid background in business, academic research, and innovation.
Prior to joining Innovacorp, Lidija was an independent consultant providing technology assessment and business development services to the local life sciences industry. She was also previously an investment analyst with MedInnova Partners Inc., a seed fund focusing on commercializing biomedical discoveries. Lidija established MedInnova’s Halifax office, assessed investment opportunities, negotiated investment agreements, and worked with investees to develop R&D plans, manage intellectual property, and plan for the next stage of business growth.
Concurrent to her work with MedInnova, Lidija was a lead investment analyst in neurosciences for MDS Capital Corp. (now Lumira Capital) in Toronto. She completed market, scientific and financial due diligence for MDS Capital investment groups related to investment opportunities typically in later stages of the commercialization cycle.
Lidija holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Zagreb in Croatia, a PhD in molecular genetics from the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, and an MBA from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. She serves on the Proof of Principle Peer Review Committee of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, and she is an ad hoc reviewer for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Lidija is also a member of the board of directors of DementiaGuide Inc. |
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Andrew McNabb
President and CEO, MetaFLO Technologies Inc.
MetaFLO develops, manufactures and markets technologies for the treatment of liquid waste streams with a disruptive new technology which provides better performance at lower cost.
Andrew has over 20 years of entrepreneurial and executive-level management experience in a variety of industries throughout Canada. He has a track record of improving operational processes to achieve significant revenue and profitability results and also has considerable experience in the waste-management industry, specifically from his recent work at Safety-Kleen Canada where he held the position of International Business Director, Canada. Andrew received his BA from the University of Western Ontario in 1984. |
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Ian Portsmouth
Editor and Associate Publisher of PROFIT
Ian Portsmouth is the Editor and Associate Publisher of PROFIT, Canada’s best-read publication for the owners and senior managers of small and mid-sized businesses. In 2008, the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors named PROFIT Canada’s Magazine of the Year in its circulation category.
Ian is also a popular public speaker on the management issues and best practices of Canadian growth companies, host of the BMO Business Coach podcast, and a director of the Innovators Alliance, the association for Ontario’s leading growth companies.
In 2009, Ian conceived and developed the Canada Export Achievement Awards, a national program presented by PROFIT and Export Development Canada. He is a three-time finalist of the National Magazine Awards, and the editor of Marketing Masters: The Best Ideas of Canada's Savviest Marketeers. |
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