Banff Venture Forum 2010 Keynote Speakers Include:
September 24, Conference Keynote Speaker
Charles Sirois
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Telesystem Ltd.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Enablis Entrepreneurial Network
Chairman of the Board, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
Founding Partner, Tandem Expansion Fund
A leading figure in the Canadian communications industry, Charles Sirois is the founder and controlling shareholder of Telesystem Ltd., and he is also the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Propulsion Ventures, which is one of four Telesystem venture capital firms that operate worldwide. Telesystem invests directly and through focused venture funds in the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) sector, and has built a portfolio of companies worldwide.
Mr. Sirois is founding partner, Chairman, President and CEO of Enablis Entrepreneurial Network, a non-profit organisation sponsored by the G8 countries at the summit held in 2002. Enablis supports entrepreneurs in developing countries by giving them access, at affordable cost, to a range of professional and financial resources.
Mr. Sirois is Chairman of the Board of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and he has been a director of this bank since 1997.
Mr. Sirois is also Founding partner of Tandem Expansion, a private investment fund focused on growth capital for high potential Canadian technology companies.
Born in Chicoutimi, Québec, in 1954, Mr. Sirois launched his business career in 1978 when he took over the family-owned paging company. Within a few years, he had established himself as the leader of the Canadian paging industry through National Pagette and National Mobile Radio Communications Inc. In 1987, these two companies merged with Bell Cellular to form BCE Mobile Communications Inc., which Mr. Sirois led from 1988 to 1990 as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
From 1992 to 2000, Charles Sirois was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Teleglobe Inc., a leading provider of long distance and broadband services operating the most extensive global Internet network.
Mr. Sirois was a founding member of Telesystem International Wireless Corporation N.V., created in September 1994, and served as its chairman until March 1997, when the company was reorganized as Telesystem International Wireless Inc. in the context of an initial public offering. Mr. Sirois served as Chairman of Telesystem International Wireless Inc. from March 1997 until July 2004. In 1995 Mr. Sirois founded Microcell Telecommunications Inc., a GSM cellular service provider in Canada and served as its chairman until 2003.
Mr. Sirois holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the Université de Sherbrooke (Québec), a master's degree in finance from Université Laval (Québec City), as well as honorary doctorates from Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), University of Ottawa, Concordia University and Laval University. Mr. Sirois received the Order of Canada in 1994 and was made a knight of the Ordre national du Québec in April 1998.
In 1995, Mr. Sirois published a book on the information highway entitled The Medium and the Muse. In his second book, published in June 2000, Organic Management: Creating a Culture of Innovation, Mr. Sirois shares his management philosophy, along with his vision of the new economy.
September 23, Lunch Keynote Speaker
Tom Jenkins
Executive Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer
Open TextTM Corporation
P. Thomas Jenkins is Executive Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer for Open Text™ Corporation (NASDAQ: OTEX, TSX: OTC) of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, the largest independent software company in Canada. Mr. Jenkins has served as a Director of Open Text since 1994 and as its Chairman since 1998. From 1994 to 2005, Mr. Jenkins was President, then Chief Executive Officer and then from 2005 to present, Chief Strategy Officer of Open Text. Mr. Jenkins has also held several executive positions with DALSA Inc., an electronic imaging manufacturer based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Prior to these positions, Mr. Jenkins was employed in technical and managerial capacities at a variety of information technology based companies in Canada.
In addition to his Open Text responsibilities, Mr. Jenkins is the Chair of the federal centre of excellence Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN). He is also an appointed member of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), past appointed member of the Government of Canada’s Competition Policy Review Panel which reported in June 2008, and past appointed member of the Province of Ontario’s Ontario Commercialization Network Review Committee (OCN) which reported in February 2009. Mr. Jenkins is also a member of the board of BMC Software, Inc. a software corporation based in Houston, Texas. He is also a member of the University of Waterloo Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council, a director of the C.D. Howe Institute, a director of the Canadian International Council (CIC) and a director of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE).
Mr. Jenkins received an M.B.A. in entrepreneurship & technology management from Schulich School of Business at York University, an M.A.Sc. in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto and a B.Eng. & Mgt. in Engineering Physics and Commerce from McMaster University.
PREVIOUS KEYNOTES INCLUDE:
- Steven Woods, Site Director, Google Canada (2009)
- Timothy C. Draper, Founder & Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (2009)
- Sir Terence Matthews, Chairman & Director, Mitel Corporation (2008)
- Robert Chiste, Chairman, CEO and President, Comverge (2007)
- Dave Caputo, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Sandvine Inc. (2006)
- Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of Research in Motion (2005)
- Steve Jurvetson of the renowned Silicon Valley VC firm Draper, Fisher, Jurvetson (2004)
- Guy Kawasaki, the former Chief Evangelist for Apple Computers and a founder of Garage Technology Ventures (2003)
- Geoffrey Moore, the acclaimed technology commercialization author (2002).