Articles

Meet Exploriem's Mentors

Dr.Bruce M. Firestone, B. Eng. (Civil), M. Eng.-Sci., PhD. Exploriem.org Co-Founder and Executive Director,

Dr. Bruce M. Firestone is perhaps best known as Founder of the Ottawa Senators and Scotiabank Place. In May of 2006, Dr. Firestone joined the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management as its first Entrepreneur-in-Residence. In addition, Dr. Firestone is a licensed Real Estate Broker and Mortgage Broker with Century 21 Explorer Realty Inc, focused on commercial and residential real estate in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario.

Dr. Firestone is also known for his work as Executive Director of Exploriem.org, a Canadian Registered Not-For-Profit Corporation focused on educating and mentoring entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs in Canada and around the world.

Dr. Firestone advises clients on real estate, business modeling, self-financing, smart marketing, differentiated value, harnessing the Internet and other issues related to entrepreneurial companies and organizations. Dr. Firestone advises organizations on how to own their own real estate and achieve the highest and best use for their properties, which coincidentally produces the highest returns as well as producing urban spaces that are more interesting, more diversified, more sustainable and also make best use of a scarce resource—land. Dr. Firestone has experience in developing land projects both large and small such as the original plan for West Terrace and the Ottawa Palladium (now known as the Kanata West Concept Plan and Scotiabank Place), Briarbrook, Robertson Mews, Dunrobin Lake, Trails of Dunrobin and many others.

Dr. Firestone received his Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree from McGill University in Montréal; his Master of Engineering-Science (Traffic and Transportation) from the University of New South Wales in Sydney and his PhD in Urban Economics from the Australian National University in Canberra.

Mr. Claude Haw, P.Eng.

Claude Haw is President of Venture Coaches, a private consulting and investment company which he founded in 2000. From 2009 to 2011, he was also President and CEO of OCRI, Ottawa’s lead economic development agency, a not-for-profit corporation.

Claude has more than 30 years of experience in a variety of technical, general management and venture investing roles in the technology sector including DragonWave, Newbridge Networks and Mitel Corporation. He currently serves as a Director of DragonWave Inc (TSX:DWI and NASDAQ:DRWI) and Mxi Technologies (private).

Claude holds a Bachelor of Engineering from Lakehead University, has completed the Canadian Securities Course, is a member of Professional Engineers of Ontario and a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors. 

Mr. James Bowen, PhD, PMP

At age 21 and while still in undergraduate university James co-founded a software company. Over the next 20 years he and his co-founders grew an international client base. His management experience has covered all aspects of an organization including operations, business development, product development, project delivery and strategy. His technology experience included software development and consulting with a broad range of technologies. His customer experience included government, military, industry, nonprofit and educational institutions throughout North America and in some parts of the rest of the world.

Dr. Bowen has been interviewed on the internet, radio, magazine, T.V. and newspaper both in North America and Europe. He has given presentations or seminars on technology and business insights. He was the sole author of two books discussing the creation and growth of high-tech product companies. He recently published his third book “The Entrepreneurial Effect” (www.entrepreneurialeffect.com), which drew upon his wide network of entrepreneurs in a collaborative approach, focused on lessons learned from entrepreneurs and investors. The second in the series is underway is expected to be published in 2011. He is now working on his next book which develops a new way to understand start-up companies.

He is associated with 9 universities including 3 in Europe where he teaches MBAs technology, leadership, marketing, supply chain management, project management, entrepreneurship and strategy.  In the last decade, he has taught over 110 courses to over 5000 students.

His volunteer work includes being a member of the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance’s (CATA) governing council and the initiator and leader of CATA’s Action Committee on Entrepreneurship and his city’s technology industry development agency’s Innovation Leadership Team. He wrote, for three years, the monthly theme article discussing the technology industry and its management issues for a technology industry newspaper.

He is active with technology companies and investors and regularly provides advice to technology companies.

He is the inventor of an underwater localization system using passive sonar, a task management system and an archaeological object localization system that uses ultrasonic and infrared.

Mr. Larry Poirier, CEO of Nitro Microsystems and LW Capital Pool, Exploriem.org Director

Mr. Poirier is a founder and the CEO of Nitro Microsystems. Nitro is an information technology services provider with annual sales exceeding $20 million per year and offices in Ottawa and Toronto. Mr. Poirier was also a founder of N-able Technologies Inc. in 1999, a firm which continues to develop and sell remote management software for computer networks. An entrepreneurial specialist, Mr. Poirier has been an early stage investor with startups such as BuyStream Inc. and Innovance Networks; he has acted in an advisory role with a number of other start-up technology companies. Mr. Poirier is currently advising several start ups and serves on the board of directors of the Canadian IT Providers Association (citpa.ca). Mr. Poirier has served as Canadian Chairman of the VentureTech Network and was voted the Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Ottawa in 1999 and is a winner of the Ottawa Business Journal Top 40 under Forty award. Mr. Poirier is a Queen's University MBA Candidate with the required courses complete and the degree is to be granted in May 2010.

Mr.Poirier is on the Board of Directors at Exploriem.org and Chief Executive Officer, President and Director of LW Capital Pool. The Directors of the LW Capital Pool Inc have come together to address a fundamental need for investment capital for technology firms. We have assembled a unique team which can deliver on a promise to help technology firms reach the next level.

Mr. Todd Jamieson, Co-Founder Exploriem.org and Director, CEO of Envision Online Media

Todd Jamieson is president and CEO of Envision Online Media Inc., an Ottawa based web development firm. Todd is a project manager and Internet strategist and has worked on over 400 web site projects for mid-sized companies and associations. For more information on how Todd and his company can help you with web application development, e-commerce or content management solutions, please visit : www.envisiononline.ca or call 613-594-2804 or twitter Todd at twitter.com/envisiontodd

Mr. Robert Thompson, 

“Freedom-55 is a dream; entrepreneurship is a lifetime of freedom.”

Robert Thompson returned to Ottawa in 2006 after starting, managing or advising start-up or early stage technology companies in New England, California and Canada, including serving CEO of a publically-traded enterprise software company in New York.

A Ryerson graduate in Radio and Television Arts, he partnered in the first independent video production company in the capital region, and Ottawa’s largest full service ad agency.  Client Cognos provided a chance to move into high tech --  where he held various marketing positions in Canada, US and Europe, before joining a start-up on Long Island that IPOed.

Since the sale of video gaming company Distil Interactive in 2009 Robert has focused on politics, consulting, and board and advisory roles.

Mr. Hicham Adra, President of Ardan Fitzroy Enterprises

Hicham Adra is President of Ardan Fitzroy Enterprises, an information technology and business services firm.  He lives in Ottawa and is a business and community leader.

He has served as Senior Vice-President and General Manager for CGI’s business operations in the National Capital Region, A tlantic Canada, and Western Canada , and as a member of CGI's global Management Committee.  He has served as a member of the Board and Chair of the Human Resources committee of Innovapost, a joint venture between CGI and Canada Post Corporation.   

He served as the 2005 Chair of the United Way / Centraide fund-raising campaign in the Ottawa-Carleton Region, a campaign that raised over $25 million. He's co- chair of Hire Immigrants Ottawa's Employer Council of Champions.  

He is the past-Chair of the Board of the Ottawa Hospital Foundation and is also a member of the Board of the Institute on Governance.  

Mr. Matthew Davis, President of Virtustructure, Exploriem.org Director

Why is VirtuStructure different? We run websites, we create mobile apps, we even run Digital Media campaigns, but what we provide that other businesses do not, is our ability to be your Tech Centric Business Advisor. Our key products and services are our people and an IT centric approach to business models. We pride ourselves on our innovative business model practices that allow us to get involved in passion projects within the Non-Profit realm. VirtuStructure CEO, Matt Davis, is the Vice-Chair on the Learning Disabilities Association of Ottawa board and uses his skills to improve services for students. VirtuStructure is a fast adapting company that proactively monitors the latest in IT trends, allowing us to provide our clients with the best of the best. We provide solutions that not only meet the needs of our clients, but also help their business grow. We ensure quality by providing our clients with personally used and tested solutions. If it does not meet our quality standards, it is not good enough for our clients. We don’t believe in boxed solutions; each client has their own set of goals, needs and expectations that we want to help them achieve.

Mr. Mark Lafreniere, 

Mr. Kyle Braatz, CEO of Netgen

A Telfer School of Management Graduate specializing in marketing, Kyle brings extensive experience in digital marketing, social media communications and web/mobile application project management. Kyle’s young age belies his strong technical fluency and rich experience with creating unique campaigns and bringing digital experiences to life. Before founding Netgen, Kyle co-founded the not-for-profit organization Typically Canadian, which has raised more than$122,000 since 2008 to fund awareness campaigns about occupational cancer in firefighters. 

Kyle has cycled across Canada, conducts motivational workshops and participates as a motivational speaker at many corporate, networking and student-run events each year, using his knowledge of the digital world and social media to educate others. His life experiences create a rich mix of corporate and creative experience that allows him to assist in producing breathtaking digital experiences.

Mr. Trevor Graeme Wilkins, CEO - Holis Associates Inc. Keynote Speaker and Change Leader

Trevor’s spent 35 years successfully influencing people to ‘buy’ - in the army and in business. Since 2001, he’s debunked the myths and fears of sales at companies large and small. In his time, he’s started a software house ‘in his garage’, been a political organiser, run global sales channels and been a Director at a NASDAQ startup. A graduate of Cranfield University, Ashridge Business School and Sandhurst, he’s a Master Practitioner of NLP and a CAPS member. He’s always succeeded by ‘Creating a Desire to Buy’, not ‘exerting sales pressure’.

Graeme Barlow,CEO Rocket Owl Inc 

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Mr. Scott Williams, President / CEO EyeVero Marketing Communications Group

Mr. Peter Hauderowicz, Franchise Owner of PODS Ottawa and Halifax & FrogBox Ottawa. Exploriem.org Director

Mr. John Fielding, Regional Director, Business Development Eastern and Northern Ontario, Ontario Centres of Excellence

Exploriem.org's Pitch Coach

Mr. Cory Darby