Speakers & Mentors

Interested in speaking at Startupfest 2025?

By and large, every speaker who takes our stage doubles as a Startupfest mentor, they won’t just disappear backstage never to be seen again. We think it’s important to have more heads talking, not just talking heads. If you’d like to be considered for Startupfest 2025, we want to hear from you!

Apply to be a Speaker & Mentor for 2025!

See our 2024 Speakers & Mentors!

Sam Colby

EVP & Chief of Staff, SRTX

Andrew Cleland

Chief Investment Officer, Techstars

Emily Ross

Director of Brand Strategy , X/Twitter - Europe, Middle East & Africa

Neil Grunberg

Managing Partner, Storytime Capital

Haley Bryant

Principal, Hustle Fund

Timm Chiusano

Principal, Chiusano & Daughter

Ravi Belani

Managing Director, Alchemist Accelerator

Alison Anderson

CEO & Founder, SuccessionMatching

Harley Finkelstein

President, Shopify

Christy Canida

Senior Director, Product, Alchemist Accelerator

David Segal

Co-Founder, DAVIDsTEA, Firebelly Tea, and Mad Radish

Heather Reisman

Chief Executive Officer, Indigo Books & Music, Inc.

Dr. Kevin Kliman

CEO, Humi

Pablos Holman

Managing Partner, Deep Future

Lise Birikundavyi

Co-founder and Managing Partner, BKR Capital

Phil Cutler

Founder, Paper

Mohannad El-Barachi

CEO, Wrk.com

Elizabeth Wasserman

Founder/CEO (exited), Felix Capital Corp

Heather Anne Ritchie-Dwyer

Strategist and Marketer, Formerly StealthTest by nameless (acquired Dec 2023)

Satish Kanwar

Co-Founder, Good Future

Neha Khera

Early-stage investor

Josh Brewer

General Partner, Enjoy the Work

Kristen Hamilton

General Partner, Enjoy the Work

Jonathan Lowenhar

Founder , Enjoy the Work

Drew Moffitt

Head of Marketing, Kumospace

Lesley Ross

General Partner, Enjoy the Work

Ron J. Williams

Impactful Venture Builder, Co-Created

Sean Power

CEO, Co-Founder, SOMMS.AI

Farrah Bostic

Founder, Head of Strategy & Research, The Difference Engine

Vinay Kumar Mysore

Co-Founder, In Good Company

Jen van der Meer

Founder, Reason Street

Lida Tohidi

Advisor & Coach, Pidari

Graham Hill

Founder, CEO, The Carbonauts & Wearehappytoserveyou.com

Katy Yam

Partner, Real Ventures

Mitch Joel

President, ThinkersOne

Chris Shipley

Board Member, rocket50

Randy Smerik

President & CEO, Tarari, Inc.

Meryeme Lahmami

Principal, Pender Ventures

Harper Reed

Computer operator, Harper Rules LLC

Charlotte Murray

Chief Coaching Officer, Propel

Marvin Liao

Partner, Diaspora Ventures

Marcus Daniels

Founding Partner & CEO, Highline Beta

Jacob Lanyadoo

President, Mostly Perfect

Jade Beguelin

Co-Founder & COO, 4AM SKIN

Dennis Todisco

Creator of Outfitgrid, Former Meta/ Instagram, Nike, Twitter

Mychelle Mollot

CMO, Knak

Olivia Norton

Chief Technology & Product Officer, Sanctuary AI

Sara Anvari

Chief Information Security Officer, BDC

Michelle Scarborough

Managing Partner, Women in Technology Venture Fund and Thrive Venture Fund, Business Development Bank of Canada

Leah Nguyen

Chief Investment Officer, InBC Investment Corp.

Candice Faktor

Co-CEO, Disco / Lobby Capital

Peter Walker

Head of Insights, Carta

Béatrice Couture

Principal, Teralys Capital

Alex Norman

Partner, N49P

David Nault

General Partner, Luge Capital

Isaac Souweine

Partner, Pender Ventures

Rachel Zimmer

Co-Founder & CEO, Simple Ventures

Jordan Steiner

Co-Founder and CEO, Developer Capital

Parinaz Sobhani

Head of AI , Georgian

Kenndal McArdle

Principal, Pender Ventures

Emmanuelle Coppinger

Managing Partner, Front Row Ventures

James Povitz

Principal, NAventures, National Bank of Canada

Brady Forrest

Partner, GenLab Venture Studio

Senia Rapisarda

Managing Director, HarbourVest Partners (Canada) Limited

Whitney Rockley

Managing Partner, McRock Capital

David Dufresne

Partner, CMD Capital

Helge Seetzen

Managing Partner & CEO, TandemLaunch

Danielle Filistin

Director Strategic Fund Investments, Desjardins

Marianne Dubois

Manager, Discovery Program / Montreal, Inovia

Julia Hanmer

Vice President, QIS Client Strategist, HarbourVest Partners

John Rikhtegar

Director, Capital, RBCx

Jamie Joyce

Founder , The Society Library

Peter Kirwan

CEO & Cofounder, Mebot AI Corp

Shingai Manjengwa

Head of AI Education, ChainML

Brigham Adams

Founder/Inventor , Everileaf
Founder/Inventor , Goodly Labs
Public Editor

Haris Amiri

Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Ground News

Sandra Rodriguez

Creative Director/Producer XR+AI, Freelance artist + former lecturer at MIT HackingXR

Philippe Beaudoin

Founder and CEO, Waverly

Emily Charry Tissier

CEO, Whale Seeker

Martin Beaulieu

CEO, La Zone Bleue, Novarium

Amélie Desrochers

EVP, Novarium

Lauren McGuire

VP Banking, RBCx, Royal Bank of Canada

Paula Mendonça

Executive Director, Ocean Startup Project

Pierre Erwes

Partner & Deal flow and strategic partnerships , Blue Forward Fund

Nancy Andrews

Chief Engagement and Communications Officer, Canada's Ocean Supercluster

Ted Janulis

Founder & Principal , Investable Oceans

Jennifer LaPlante

Chief Growth & Investment Officer, Canada’s Ocean Supercluster

Ann Carpenter

CEO, Braid Theory

Kendra MacDonald

Chief Executive Officer  , Canada’s Ocean Supercluster

Barry Stevens

President, Stevens Solutions & Design Inc. 3D Wave Design

Stuart Kozlick

Founder & CEO | Fractional Executive | Partner, Kozlick Medical | CYLAD

Marc Guilbert

CEO, BXVentures

Hayden Smith

Chief Executive Officer, FeX Energy

Nicholas Nadeau

CTO, SmartOne

Mike Lee

Funding Expert, Fundica

Tim Tokarsky

Founding partner , i4 Capital

Laurence Audette-Lagueux

General Manager, Garage & co

Bertrand Nepveu

Rastaman, Triptyq Capital

Samantha Rudolph

Senior Product Lead, dcbel

Chris Neumann

General Partner, Panache Ventures

Diana Horqque Ratto

Executive Director , V1 Studio

Guillaume Bédard

VP Growth , Tangent Design Engineering Ltd
Partner, Tangible Venture Partners

Sophie Forest

Partner, Brightspark Ventures

Soula Chronopoulos

President, AquaAction

Artmiz Golkaramnay

Founder, LATYS Intelligence

Suzie Dufour

Technical Director - BioMedTech, INO

Susan Schofer

Partner, SOSV
Partner & Chief Science Officer, HAX

Richard Chénier

General Manager, Québec Tech

Nathalie Morin

President and CEO, Polystyvert Inc.

Dominic Gagnon

CEO, Connect&GO

Anne Martel

Managing Director at Keira Capital | Serial Entrepreneur | Co-founder at Element AI

Simon De Baene

CEO, Workleap

Vicky Boudreau

CEO, Heylist

Andrew Lockhead

CEO, Stay22

Pascale Audette

Co-founder, Agetech Capital

Etienne Crevier

Animator, Les Dérangeants

Amira Boutouchent

Cofounder & CEO, BRIDGR

Kalthoum Bouacida

Partner, AQC Capital

Vincent Routhier

CEO, Lü

Danielle Graham

Co-Founder, The Firehood

Claudette McGowan

Co-Founder, The Firehood

Mark Legare

Principal , Innospark Ventures

Claire Glossop Irani

Head of Investor Relations, Inovia Capital

Francois Lafortune

CEO & Co-Founder, Diagram Ventures

Maria Julia Guimaraes

CEO, Totum Tech

Jean-Simon Boucher

CEO, Cortech Sports

Sophie Silkes

Director of Strategic Engagement, COAST

Richard LaBerge

President, IMPACK CPR inc.

Sévrine Labelle

Managing Director, Thrive Lab, BDC

Melissa Allen

Founding Partner, Capital M Ventures
Executive Director, League of Innovators

Hilary Kilgour

Co-Founder & Managing Partner , Audaxa Ventures

Rodrigo Prudencio

Managing Partner, Propeller VC

Erin O'Keefe Graham

Incubator Director, Angel Investor, Emera ideaHUB, Women's Equity Lab

Raymond Chik

Chairman, HardTech Investor Network

Teija Bean

Head of Design , Forum Ventures, AI Studio

Amy Buckland

University Librarian, Concordia University

Magaly Charbonneau

Partner, Inovia Capital

Louis Delorme

Associate, Amplify Capital

Susan Hunt

Chief Innovation Officer, Oneka Technologies

Iran Karimian

Head of Accelerator & Startup Ecosystem, Google Canada

A.M. Abbassi

Founder & CEO , Shaddari Inc.

Annie Cyr

Founder & CEO, Tengiva

Frédéric Bastien

Managing Partner, Amiral Ventures

Julie Lacasse

Venture Partner , Amiral Ventures

Dr. Chris Whidden

DeepSense/COVE Digital Ocean Research Chair, Dalhousie University

Ken Paul

Principal / Owner, Pokiok Associates

Derrick Whalen

Director, Information and Technology Services, Halifax Port Authority

Simon Savard

Project Manager, Port de Montréal

Charles Lesperance

Partner - Deep Tech Venture Fund, BDC

Marianne Lépinoit, CPA

Chief Financial Officer, Polystyvert Inc.

Sylvain Carle

Investor & Advisor, CIVIC

Geneviève Grenier

Co-Founder, S&G Business Strategy

The Honorable Ethel Blondin-Andrew PC OC

Co-chair of the Board of Directors , National Indigenous Fisheries Institute

Nagar Rahmani

Venture Capital/Growth Equity

Rachel Cox

Accelerator Program Manager, COVE

Raymond Luk

Founder, Flow (acquired by Deloitte)

Kimia Shafighi

CEO, Biocene

Anna Chif

Co-founder, Dialogue

Luc Sirois

Quebec’s Chief Innovation Officer, Conseil de l'innovation du Québec

Despina Papadopoulos

Technology and Innovation Director, Banque Nationale

Annick Charbonneau

Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Accelia Capital

Pierre-Laurent Macridis

Senior Associate, Private Investments, Rally Assets

Farhad Farnia

Co-founder and CEO, Ecofilter Tek

Samson Bowen-Bronet

CEO, Altiro Energy

Vincent-Charles Hodder

CEO & Co-founder, Local Logic

Erica Barbosa Vargas

Director, Private Investments, Eclipx Family Office

Simon Olivier

Head of Cycle H2O Fund
Senior Partner, Cycle Capital

Kimberly Buffitt

Chief Operating Officer , NIFI TECH CORP

Julie Gascon

President and CEO, Port of Montreal

Dorie Clark

Author, The Long Game, Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You, and Stand Out

Ron Tite

Founder & Chief Creative Officer , Church+State

Ben Yoskovitz

Founding Partner, Highline Beta

Amy Landino

Author & Host, AmyTV

Mark Bowden

Founder, TRUTHPLANE

Alain-Olivier Desbois

Chief Finance & Impact Officer, Oneka Technologies

Daniel McGuire

CEO, MAPS

Gregory Dudek

Founder, Independent Robotics

Sophie LeDrew

Senior Advisor, Partnerships, Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute

Rémi Fournier

Partner, BDC Capital | Industry, Clean Energy & Technology Funds and Sustainability Venture Fund, BDC

Jenna Zuschlag Misener (Startup Showcase Host)

Chief Operating Officer, The Logic

Jean-Nicolas Delage (Startup Showcase Host)

Lawyer, Osler

Abdullah Snobar (Host, AcceleratorFest)

Executive Director & CEO, DMZ Ventures/ Zone Startups

Katherine Johnsen

Co-Founder/CEO, Common Ace

Philippe Telio

Founder & President, STARTUPFEST - Elevator World Tour - FWD50

Alistair Croll

Chair, STARTUPFEST - Elevator World Tour - FWD50

Lyne Landry

Co-founding Partner , Agetech Capital

Marc-André Forget

CEO and Chief Product Officer, dcbel

Alfred Burgesson

Founder & CEO , Tribe Network

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