Guy Kawasaki
Author and entrepreneur
Guy Kawasaki is a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm and a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine. Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. Guy is the author of eight books including The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. He has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.
Nairn Nerland
Chief Operating Officer, Veer
Nairn Nerland is the Chief Operating Officer of Veer. He brings 20 years of extensive finance and business experience in mergers and acquisitions, as well as in international publicly traded companies in both Canada and the United States. Nerland has held senior executive positions at several successful technology companies in Calgary.
As CFO of four high-tech companies--RenoWorks Software Inc , EyeWire Inc. , Harbor Systems Management Ltd. and Zi Corporation—Nerland was in charge of financial planning, public reporting, tax planning, financing, and assisting the CEOs in strategic direction. Nerland held the position of VP Finance of Wi-LAN Inc., a TSE publicly listed technology company.
Nerland also held the position of President at RenoWorks, a public company on the TSX Venture Exchange where he remains a Director. He is also presently a Director of Corridor Interactive Technologies, a private software technology company. He also held the position of President and COO of Zi Corporation, an international, public software company selling Chinese language software technology. In this role, he oversaw worldwide software development operations, sales and marketing, and finance and administrative functions. Nerland was Corporate Controller and Assistant Secretary of Nowsco Well Service, a TSE and NASDAQ listed oil and gas well servicing company.
Nerland received his Chartered Accountant designation while with KPMG and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Calgary.
Geoff Lyon
CEO, CoolIt Systems Inc.
Mr. Lyon's career has been marked with proven results and a track record of success for driving the worldwide sales of tech start-up companies. His first start-up experience was in the medical field and recently, he led the sales and marketing efforts for Harmony Remote for its entire three years of existence, driving the strategy from product inception right up to the recent sale of Intrigue to Logitech International. With a unique ability to cost-effectively recruit and drive the sales of new product offerings through existing sales channels and partnerships together with his hands on experience with early stage companies, Mr. Lyon has led CoolIT through its inaugural product introductions and together with the founding partners and executive team, continue to establish CoolIT Systems as the premier liquid cooling technology company in the world servicing the high performance cooling needs of Dell, Alienware, Velocity Micro and AMD. Geoff graduated in 1992 from Carleton University with a degree in Aerospace Engineering.
Kerri Lee Knull
Manager, Calgary Innovation Centre, CTI
Kerri Knull is the current manager of the Calgary Innovation Centre, a unique mentoring service established to help early stage technology companies grow revenue, address immediate business problems, and understand which financing options are available to them. Kerri's work in helping technology entrepreneurs grow their business and navigate the venture capital environment has gained her significant trust and recognition within the industry.
Prior to joining Calgary Technologies Kerri spent 6 years in Venture Capital with BDC Venture Capital's software team in Vancouver where she sharpened her eye for identifying and developing compelling investment opportunities across a broad range of technology sectors, particularly those software-related. Kerri uses a straightforward and sincere approach to help clients identify innovative opportunities, jumpstart new concepts, and realize their potential.
Bruce Livingstone
Senior Vice President, Consumer, Senior Vice President Technology and CEO iStockphoto
Bruce Livingstone serves as Getty Images' senior vice president consumer, senior vice president technology and CEO of iStockphoto. Livingstone founded iStockphoto in 1998, inventing the micropayment phenomenon for licensing imagery. Getty Images was the first to recognize micropayment as the next evolution in the industry, and acquired iStockphoto in February 2006.
As SVP of technology, Bruce is responsible for the company's overall technology strategy and development. With his innovative technology expertise, Livingstone is shaping the direction and implementation of the company's digital media vision. Livingstone also leads the upcoming consumer offering, a brand new growth opportunity for the company.
He is a former graphic designer and lifelong entrepreneur who has started several businesses, including Evolvs Media, a design firm; PaperThinWalls.com, an independent music website; and Webcore Labs, which offers professional Linux Web hosting. PaperThinWalls.com and Evolvs Media were purchased by Getty Images in 2007.
Ravi Sood
Director of Brand Experience for Worldwide Gaming, HP (VoodooPC)
An MBA and CMA, Sood works as a marketing executive with HP. He has over 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur. Before assuming his role as CEO at VoodooPC in 1999, Sood managed a Canadian real estate project comprising 1,200+ acres of raw development land and asset base of about $12M.
When Ravi assumed leadership of VoodooPC, he boosted revenues by 40% within one year, and took the company from a little known entity to an award-winning world leader in premium PC design with margins more than double the industry average, before getting acquired by Hewlett Packard. He enjoys analyzing and recommending aggressive strategies and solutions to launch growing companies towards their full potential.
Allan MacKenzie
Tech investor and entrepreneur
Partner with Octane Venture Partners and active angel investor. Joined the management team of one of his investments, Quack.com, as the Vice- President, Finance from 1999 to 2000; Quack.com was later purchased by America Online. Allan is Chair of Tynt – a stealth mode Calgary startup.
Chairs the investment committee of the ROI fund, an Ontario based sub-debt fund. Holds a BSc in Engineering from Stanford University, a BA in Economics from Stanford University and an MBA from the Ivy School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.