York Technology Association - Board of Directors

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The Board of Directors plans and implements YTA strategies and activities to enhance member learning, networking and information sharing opportunities. The YTA Board of Directors are busy professionals and active volunteers. They serve on the Board in a volunteer capacity, representing the interests of all members of the Alliance, advancing the business climate for the region's technology sector and the service industries that support it.

With input from members, the Board develops programs to meet your
specific needs.The Board also provides operational direction and support
for the Alliance.

As mentors, advisors and, as your peers, members of the Board provide a
wealth of technical and executive experience. Drawing upon their knowledge
you can accelerate your own business success.

Board of Directors 2010-2011:

Marie Wiese (Chair) Marketing CoPilot	David Burnett End to End Networks	Mike Kavanagh KPMG	Mario Piccinin Ernst & Young
John Kitchen (Vice Chair) ESRI Canada	Stephen Chait Town of Markham	Alex Li Soft Channel Solutions	Mauro Spagnolo RBC
Pat Shaw (Executive Director) York Technology Alliance	Stephen Chan Dapasoft	Greg Secord Open Text	Ruby Maini HR Strategix
Atin Gupta (Treasurer) Meyers Norris Penny	Steve Charikar Seneca College	Michael Stephens Atria Networks	Jinha Chung Miax
Heather Whitten (Secretary) Wilson Vukelich LLP	Don Cousens Honourary Member	Sean O’Donovan Doxim	Eamonn Flaherty Miller Thomson LLP
Kevin Tribe (Past Chair) Tequity Inc.	Johanna Delroy Compugen	Ray Simmons Cabletest	Krista LaRiviere gShift Labs
Jim Brown Colliers International	Allan Faux Deloitte	K.W Michael Siu York University	Terry Mocherniak Encelium
John Cameron Aizan	Rudy Joss Solarsoft Inc.	Janet LeClair YORKbiotech	Chris Paterson IBM

______________________________________________________________________

Marie Wiese
(Chair)

Marie Wiese, founder of Marketing CoPilot Inc., has a long history in the technology sector helping CEOs and entrepreneurs develop their marketing and sales strategies. Prior to starting her own business in 2003, she held senior positions in sales and marketing with several Canadian software firms, was Director of Strategic Marketing at Bank of Montreal, Marketing Director for the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and Press Secretary to a Federal Cabinet Minister. Marie understands the importance of a strong tech sector for Canada and the challenges in bringing products and services to market.

John Kitchen
(Vice Chair)

For the past 22 years, John Kitchen has provided senior management (CEO/COO) expertise to organizations started by innovative and technologically savvy founders.
John is Vice President & General Manager of ESRI Canada Limited, Canada’s leading geographic information systems(GIS) company. Founded in 1984, ESRI Canada is a private Canadian company with a staff of over 300 employees in 16 Canadian offices. The company provides software, consulting services, training, technical support and integrated solutions to over 8,000 private sector and government customers. ESRI Canada is the GIS standard for the majority of federal, provincial and municipal governments in Canada.

Pat Shaw
(Executive Director)

Atin Gupta
(Treasurer)

Heather Whitten
(Secretary)

As Executive Director of the YTA Pat is a community builder working to bring together members of the tech community thorughout the Greater Toronto Region in support of a strong and healthy tech ecosystem.
Pat brings a strong management background built upon the ability to balance the people and economic perspectives needed to achieve business outcomes. His ability to engage stakeholders and his passion to advocate for the issues and actions that members most value help make the YTA the centre-point for the tech cluster in the GTR.

Atin Gupta, CGA, CPA, CA is a Senior Manager in MNP's Toronto office, where he provides a range of accounting and advisory services to public companies.
Bringing over 12 years of accounting expertise to his engagements, Atin is abe to provide clients with an expert and objective opinion for auits and reviews. His experience includes managing financial statement audis for clients listed on Canadian and US stock exchanges, as well as handling more complex engagements such as performing special audit reports and "agred upon procedures".

Heather Whitten is a partner in the Business Law Group of Wilson Vukelich LLP. In addition to providing general business advice to clients, Heather has extensive expertise in negotiating and implementing commercial transactions including shareholder arrangements, acquisitions, dispositions, mergers, strategic alliances (including partnerships and joint ventures) and reorganizations. Heather has acted for entrepreneurs, private companies, public companies and institutional clients.

Kevin Tribe
(Past Chair)

Kevin brings 30 years of hands-on experience working in North American software, hardware and professional services organizations. He’s worked with multi-nationals, mid-sized firms and has been the President and CEO of several software companies. Having successfully completed acquisitions for the larger firms he worked with, he used those skills to buy 3 companies in his own software firm, and then successfully sold the company to a publicly traded firm in 2003.

Jim Brown

Jim understands the tech cluster in York Region and leverages that knowledge as a Real Estate Advisor in Markham and Richmond Hill. Jim utilizes his experience as a founder and shareholder of a software company and more than a decade as a leasing agent for office managers to help technology companies find and create office space that works.

John Cameron

David Burnett

John Cameron has been a senior level executive in the high tech sector for over 25 years. Recently, he has been involved with a number of venture capital firms focused on start up organizations and turnaround opportunities. He was CEO of Unveil Technologies, out of Boston, a company that was sold to Microsoft and Executive Vice President, responsible for world wide operations, for Voice Genie Technologies, a company recently acquired by Genesys/Alcatel.

David Burnett, Co-Founder of End to End Networks and father of 4, is a man of integrity, dedication and determination. He has contributed enormously to his local community and has made every effort to achieve both his professional and personal goals over the years. With David’s 35 years of experience specializing in operations and communications, he is responsible for the vision and long-standing relationships that benefit the growth of End to End Networks.

Stephen Chait

Stephen Chan

Stephen Chait has served as the Town of Markham’s Director of Economic Development since 1995. Under his direction, and with the leadership and support of Markham’s Mayor and Council, Markham has been awarded numerous domestic and international marketing awards for its successful “High-Tech Capital” campaign, and for its leading edge strategic plan “Markham 2020”.

Stephen is CEO of DapaSoft Inc. an IT consulting and software development firm he established and has grown to prominence with more than 75 employees focusing on the health, manufacturing and recycling verticles. Mr. Chan is an active community member and supporter of innovation and business start-ups, serving in a senior capacity in several businesses including: President and CEO of Mayer Information Technology Inc; CEO of Fetal Medicine International Inc; Board of Directors and Founder, Catalyst Health Inc; Board of Directors, CEO Fusion Centre; Board of Directors, Cleantech Angel Network.

Steve Charikar

Steve Charikar is the Chief Information Officer for Seneca College, an Institution that offers more than an education. With campuses throughout the Greater Toronto Area, Seneca’s size and diversity give students the advantage of partnerships with industry leaders, the latest in hands-on computer technology, a variety of class sizes, and full-time, part-time and continuing education options. Steve leads a division that provides a broad range of Technology services to the College's communities both internally and externally. Its key responsibilities are to provide information technology services and solutions to: Support the College's core academic mission and business processes; Enhance individual access to and control of information processes for teaching, learning, work and communication; Enable students, faculty and staff to work and learn more efficiently; Provide IT driven processes that add value in learner, stakeholders, and community relationship.

Don Cousens
(Honorary Member)

Johanna Delroy

Allan Faux

Don is one of Canada’s most successful municipal leaders having served as Mayor of the Town of Markham from 1994 to 2006, during a period of unprecedented growth. As Mayor, he was Chair of Finance of the York Regional Council, a member of the boards of the Markham Hydro Electric Utility, Powerstream, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and Markham Stouffville Hospital, among others, and Founding Honourary Chair of the York Technology Alliance. Prior to entering Municipal Politics, Don served as MPP (Progressive Conservative) for York Centre (1981-87) and Markham (1987-94). Among his roles in government he was Minister of Correctional Services and Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Citizenship and Culture. During his time as an Opposition member of the Legislature, Don served as critic for a number of portfolios, including Industry, Trade and Technology, Community and Social Services, Housing, Seniors, Environment, and Finance and Economic Affairs.

Johanna is the National Director of Marketing with Compugen, the largest privately owned Canadian IT solution and service provider. Compugen is a Richmond Hill based company that provides practical, real-world solutions and a comprehensive customer-focused portfolio of support services through 15 offices across the country.
In her current role, Johanna is responsible for development and implementation of the company’s marketing strategy and brand with a goal of increased market share. In her 14 year tenure with Compugen, Johanna has held numerous roles including Director of Corporate Sales and Director of Consulting Services providing her a broad and varied perspective on business issues.

Allan Faux is a Partner in the Telecommunications, Media and Technology (TMT) practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP.
Allan has served many companies ranging from single-facility enterprises to complex multinationals in both the private and public sector. Allan has over thirty years of experience in assisting owner managed and venture backed companies deal with the multitude of issues related to fast growing businesses. During his career with Deloitte, he has gained considerable expertise and experience in securities issues in both Canada and the United States. In addition to the depth of experience in serving a broad variety of enterprises, Allan also has substantial quality assurance responsibilities in the GTA office.

Rudy Joss

Rudy Joss graduated in Engineering from Queen’s University and worked as an Industrial Engineer for General Motors before moving to IBM Canada. Over a 15 year career with IBM he served in Product Planning, Business Development and various sales roles before becoming the Reseller Country Manager for IBM Canada. In 1986 Rudy left IBM to found CMS Manufacturing Systems and was CEO up to the merger with XKO Software in 2007 when the company was renamed Solarsoft Business Systems. Rudy currently serves as Chairman of Solarsoft and has a number of private investments which he manages under the brand Spyder Capital.

Mike Kavanagh

Alex Li

Greg Secord

As a member of the Board of Directors for York Technology Alliance (YTA), Michael seeks to support its objective of building a stronger technology sector in the region through actively engaging with industry participants to share experiences, resolve challenges, and help each other understand best practices.

Currently Alex Li is the President of SoftChannel Solutions. SoftChannel Solutions is the exclusive distributor for KINGSOFT in North America. The company provides a portable, lighter and greener alternative to the Office Software and Internet Security Software.

Greg Secord is Vice President, Investor Relations at Open Text Corporation, Canada's largest software company. Open Text is listed on both the Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange. With experience in both European and North American capital markets, Greg has managed IR through over 20 acquisitions in his career both hostile and friendly. He actively maintains relationships with investment bankers and assists Open Text in researching and qualifying acquisition opportunities.

Michael Stephens

Sean O’Donovan

A technology proficient and resourceful executive with wide ranging expertise in product management and product development, marketing, pricing, e-commerce, sales and major bid development, and channel development. Develops solutions with sophisticated technologies that meet the external customer requirements as well as the internal corporate financial and operational metrics. Has a strong track record in project development, fully utilizing resources, that has resulted in timely delivery of services to meet customer expectations. Has managed products that have experienced over 500% growth rates within a one year period. Has developed complex large enterprise customer bid responses that have resulted in over $250 Million in contracted revenue.

Sean O'Donovan is Vice President, Marketing at Doxim Inc. In this capacity, Sean leads all online and offline marketing initiatives to help Doxim grow in both size and reach. Sean has over 20 years experience in high-tech marketing. He has worked on both the hardware and software sides of the business, marketing products with values ranging from a few hundred to millions of dollars. During his career, Sean has also gained first-hand experience in a number of other high-tech roles, including sales, business development, product development, product management and general management. This all-round knowledge of how technology companies tick provides him with a unique, and deeply insightful, understanding of the technology business environment. Sean enjoys serving as a board member of the York Technology Alliance, where he is chairman of the alliance's Peer Group Subcommittee.

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Ray Simmons

Ray Simmons is a tech veteran with over 25 years of leadership experience in the sector. Ray's solid track record of business acquisition and turn-around includes managing the revival of CableTest after the tech-bubble collapse of 2001 and co-founding CRS Robotics Corporation, a company that he managed from a start-up with $20,000 to sales of $25,000,000 and 150 employees around the globe. Ray has consulted small businesses on mergers and acquisitions and served as Chairman of a national pesticide and fertilizer manufacturer.

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K.W Michael Siu Janet LeClair Mario Piccinin Mauro Spagnolo	Dr. Michael Siu is presently the Associate Vice-President of Research in Science & Technology since July 1, 2005. Michael started at York University in 1998 as Professor of Chemistry and NSERC/MDS SCIEX (now Analytical Technologies) Industrial Research Chair in Analytical Mass Spectrometry. He is the Founding Director of the Centre for Research in Mass Spectrometry, York University. A major goal of the Centre is to foster collaborative research among academics and with industries in the rapidly expanding field of mass spectrometry. He completed a two-year term on the Board of Governors at York University. Read More Janet LeClair is a senior management professional with over 18 years experience within the university; biotechnology and research sectors. As Chief Administrative Officer for YORKbiotech Inc. she is responsible for overseeing the organization, which is within Ontario’s Regional Innovation Network, to harnesses the wealth of intellectual, technical and commercial resources in York Region to foster economic development in knowledge-based industries. Read More Mario Piccinin, Partner in Ernst & Young LLP's Toronto North Office, has over 20 years of experience providing audit and business advisory services to growth-oriented companies. His practice is focused on Technology, Biotech and Life Science companies at various stages in their life cycle. He has extensive experience working with both private and public companies, domestic and multinationals, handling both Canadian and U.S. regulatory filings. Read More Mauro Spagnolo is Vice President, Commercial Financial Services – Knowledge Based Industries (KBI) for RBC. In this capacity, Mr. Spagnolo is responsible for leading the specialized KBI Commercial Financial Services teams based in Toronto, Mississauga and Kitchener-Waterloo in information technology and life sciences and healthcare services markets. Read More
Ruby Maini	Ruby established HR Strategies Consulting Inc. to focus on the revolutionary impact that high potential intellectual capital has in providing organizations with the competitive edge in the global marketplace. To accomplish this she furnishes organizations with the HR resources that can be mobilized to accomplish this objective. Read More
Jinha Chung	Jinha Chung is CEO of Miax Inc., a project management and technical solutions company based in North York, Ontario. The company specializes in flexible, cost effective solutions and delivers strategic initiatives for corporate clients in the technology and telecommunications sector. Read More
Eamonn Flaherty	Eamonn Flaherty is a partner in the Business Law Group of Miller Thomson LLP in Markham. His practice focuses on corporate and commercial law and technology related matters. He works with a broad range of clients in a variety of sectors, including networking marketing companies. He advises on matters related to financing, corporate reorganizations, purchases of businesses, joint ventures, general commercial agreements and regulatory approval. Mr. Flaherty’s extensive experience with the direct selling industry includes all aspects of compliance with relevant consumer protection and other Provincial legislation. In addition, he regularly advises multi-level marketing (MLM) clients in connection with those provisions of the Competition Act prohibiting deceptive practices and schemes of ‘pyramid selling’. Read More
Krista LaRiviere	Krista LaRiviere is the CoFounder & CEO of gShift Labs, a software company with an SEO platform that provides business intelligence for organic search strategies. gShift is Krista’s third software start up having successfully exited from the previous two, cgk Technologies and Hot Banana Software in 2006 to Lyris. Krista is an entrepreneur at heart thoroughly enjoying the thrill and risk of creating a business and software from scratch and proving its value to the world. Read More
Terry Mocherniak	Terry Mocherniak is the Chief Operating Officer, Encelium Technologies. Terry has over 16 years’ experience in the advanced lighting technology sector and has been involved in two technology start-up companies. Prior to founding Encelium, Terry was Managing Partner of Value Added Ventures Corporation, a Toronto based venture capital fund and was also CEO and co-founder of Lumion Corporation, an electronic ballast and lighting control system manufacturer. Terry holds an LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. Read More
Chris Paterson	Profile Coming Soon

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