Are you a new entrepreneur? Are you looking to grow your business? Do you want to network with other like-minded individuals? If so, come to this afternoon's Toronto Entrepreneurs Symposium & Trade Show!
Mira Sirotic, Cpa, CMA
Master of Ceremonies & Senior Advisor Canada Entrepreneur Organization (CEO)
1:00pm - 1:30pm
By leveraging her many years of diverse career experience, her holistic business knowledge and insights, and her vast contact network across academia and industry, Mira supports… Show more CEO by providing the CEO Executive Team - and the many students / young people who participate in CEO related initiatives - with the academic, professional, and peer support needed to foster entrepreneurial ideas and help them become a reality.
Most recently, Mira was a Regional Marketing Director supporting the Gta Post-Secondary market for the Certified Management Accountants of Ontario. In her role, Mira applied strategic and creative thinking to align operational and marketing goals. Known for passionately going ‘above and beyond’ with an ongoing focus on excellent communications and customer service, she was committed to building mutually beneficial relationships with her many contacts within the academic & business communities to produce “Triple-Win” results
Feel free to contact her at Mira Max Sirotic on Facebook or via LinkedIn at http://ca.linkedin.com/in/mirasiroticcma
Ann Kaplan, CEO & President, iFinance Canada Inc.
"How to be Successful in Spite of..."
1:30pm - 2:00pm
Ann Kaplan is the CEO and President of ifici (iFinance Canada Inc). the parent company to iFinance Home Improvement, Medicard, Petcard and Dentalcard – a national consumer finance Company. Ms Kaplan is the recipient of the Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the year Award, 2000; the Peak Award of Excellence in Finance, 2001; as well as nine times on the Canada’s Profit 100 list for growth; eight times placement on the Canadian W100 list for revenue; she was also recognized as one of Canada’s most inspirational women in 2007 and more recently as one of Canada’s top three Female Business Leaders and as Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women, 2010 and 2011, 2013 Canada’s Mompreneur of The Year 2009 as well as receiving the top recognition Award for Woman in Business/International, 2009. Ms. Kaplan has a MBA, MSc, a Corporate Governance Designation (ICD.d) and is completing her PhD Thesis in Business and Doctor of Business at Henley University. She has written two books If You Don’t Laugh, You’ll Cry and “Best Practices”. She resides in Toronto.
Andrew Peek, Technology Advisor / Investor, Big Tree Capital Partners, LLC
"Entrepreneurship's Many Faces"
2:30pm - 3:00pm
With two others, Andrew co-founded Jet Cooper, one of Canada's top application design companies, as well as Atatomic, the makers of idea collaboration software, Pilot. At Jet Cooper, Andrew led the company's product management competency and engineered the Design-in-Residence Program, which brought design curriculum, mentorship, and strategy to venture-backed startups at Canada's Top 3 Accelerators.
In July 2013, both Jet Cooper and Atatomic were acquired by Shopify. Post-acquisition, Andrew charted a path for the ecommerce giant into the physical retail space as their Director of Product Labs. Prior to Jet Cooper, Andrew was the Director of Customer Development at FreshBooks where he spearheaded new, data-driven methods of customer acquisition. Presently building his next venture, Andrew maintains an advisory role with several Toronto-based startups and is an active angel investor.
Canada Entrepreneur Organization (CEO) Symposium Panel of Entrepreneurial Experts!
Our Panel of Experts is a group of Business Leaders from a variety of backgrounds. They will provide expert advice on several key issues surrounding what it takes to be successful and stay thriving as an Entrepreneur.
GET To Know Our EXPERTS!
3:30pm - 4:45pm
Josh Singer - President, Kognitive Marketing
U of T alumni and president of Kognitive Marketing, which is the fastest growing marketing company in Canada (http://www.profitguide.com/microsite/profit500/2014). He helped to launch Kognitive Marketing in 2006, which is an experiential marketing company that specializes in recruiting, training & staffing promotional representatives to execute marketing programs. The company has doubled revenue each year and secured clients such as L’Oreal, Fox Searchlight and Scotiabank
Ryan Austin – Founder and CEO, In.Acuity (Participant of The Next 36)
Throughout his career, Ryan has founded several other start-ups from a young age. A great believer that if you’re lucky enough to be successful, you have a responsibility to give back, Ryan’s interest lies in helping others – his main driving force for succeeding in business. He has been fortunate enough to have great mentors guiding him throughout his career and intends to pay it forward by helping others. After spending two years at York University and one year at The University of Western Ontario, Ryan left University to pursue his dreams. Recently, Ryan graduated from The Next Founders program which provided 50-65 hours of masters-level education taught by award winning faculty from schools including Harvard Business School, MIT and Ivey.
Susie Pan – Founder, Science Expo (Participant of The Next 36)
As a 2014 graduate of Queen’s School of Business and the CRL Certificate program, Susie Pan is a serial entrepreneur. In grade 12, Susie founded the national non-for-profit, Science Expo, an organization dedicated to empowering youth in Stem. Famous for its flagship annual conference, Science Expo has expanded to become a national organization that engages tens of thousands of high school students through multiple outreach and educational programs. Selected as one of Canada’s Next 36, the country’s premier incubator for young entrepreneurs to further Canadian prosperity, Susie co-founded Bombe, a data processing software for scientists, before joining Blynk, a fashion app that won $100K at the International Startup Festival and has been featured on Techvibes, Huffington Post, Toronto Star, Loulou Magazine, City TV, etc.
Hyunbin Lee – Co-Founder & President, DrawSplash (Participant of The Next 36)
Hyunbin Lee is a visionary entrepreneur specialized in strategic planning. His entrepreneurial career started in 2009 with his first venture, London Print Company. After seeing the frustration from university students who wanted to place custom clothing orders, Hyunbin decided to solve the problem they faced by jumping into the industry headfirst. Over time, the company grew from two co-founders hustling in a garage to one of the major suppliers to educational institutions, with its lean operations and tech forward approach. Along with finishing his business degree at Western University in 2012, he founded DrawSplash Inc. which provides a comprehensive online solution for educational institutions looking to manage their retail and custom printed merchandise operations. DrawSplash opened a new opportunity for educational institutions to control their brand and monetize their brand value while providing an intuitive interface to students ordering merchandise. Hyunbin is spontaneous, creative and gutsy in finding solutions to problems he sees, and he won’t hesitate for a moment when an opportunity arises.
Claudia Harvey – Successful Entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker and Strategic Advisor
As Co-Founder of Dig It® Apparel Inc. (www.digithandwear.com) that launched sales in 2009, Claudia and her business partner successfully struck "A Deal with the Dragon" with venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary on Season 4 of Dragons’ Den. The Dig It brand has seen considerable national retail growth, added new products to its line, and expansion into the United States. Since appearing on the show, her keen business sense, creativity and penchant for risk-taking with always-stellar results has made her a much-sought-out international motivational speaker and strategy consultant (www.ClaudiaHarvey.com). After several senior management positions in a variety of organizations such as Citibank, Liberty Health Management Solutions, and Eli Lilly, Claudia left corporate life to create and Co-Found Dig It Apparel Inc. in 2008 and then began inspiring others with her story. She has been recounted in The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The Globe and Mail Report on Business, Global News, CBC, The Lang and O’Leary Report… amongst many other key media outlets. With her 20-year experience in both publicly traded and privately held business and starting her own successful company from the ground up all the while raising a family, Claudia provides solid advice and guidance to those who are looking to emulate her success. An expert in the areas of sales, marketing, operations, finance and logistics, Claudia’s acumen has been the driving force behind her success.
Show less