Peter Becke
Peter has more than 25 years of global experience as an executive in the high technology sector, as a Vice President at Nortel Networks when it was a Fortune 100 company, as CEO of venture-backed Metconnex and SiberCore Technologies, as founder and CEO of Venturing Hills Corporation, and as an active Investor, Director and Advisor to many corporate, community and university boards.
Through Venturing Hills Corporation, Peter provides advisory services to CEOs, with a focus on growth strategies, financing, human capital and M&A, often serving as an independent Director and Advisory Board member.
Most recently Peter completed a project with DragonWave Corporation assisting with the acquisition of the global microwave business of Nokia Siemens Networks.
Peter has served on the following boards; Nortel Ventures Board, Ottawa Hydro, Telecom Ottawa, Capital Angel Network (co-founder), Creation Technologies, SiberCore, Metconnex, Channelware, AceTech, OCRI, Cognilore, Wedding Republic, and advisory boards including, SMART Ventures, Learnsoft, Acerra, Vision Awards, TOP (The Ottawa Partnership), the Canadian Forces Human Resources Advisory Board, Talkswitch, Queen’s MBAst, University of Ottawa EMBA, and was a governor of Ashbury College.
Peter is a lawyer, called to the Ontario Bar in 1982, and is a graduate of Queen’s University (LL.B, MBA).
Doug Berchtold
Doug spent almost 15 years at TSX-listed Sleeman Breweries Ltd. where he was President and Chief Financial Officer and during which time the company was recognized by Deloitte’s as one of Canada’s “50 Best Managed Companies”.
Subsequent to his success at Sleeman’s, Doug was recruited as President and CEO for Brick Brewing Co. Limited, another TSX-listed brewer in southwestern Ontario. With specific experience in organizational assessment, strategic planning, financial restructuring and M&A, Doug has spent the last several years helping a variety of small to medium sized businesses across numerous industries with a variety of strategic and tactical management issues ranging from CEO coaching and acting as interim CEO, to strategic planning and M&A support.
Doug has had extensive board experience, including The Beer Store, Brick Brewing, Bird Packaging Limited, Guelph General Hospital, Active Exhaust Corporation, and the Guelph YMCA.
Jake Bushey
Jake is a Certified Public Account with over 35 years of experience in a wide range of roles and industries. He is currently CFO and sits on the Board of Vision Utility Services, a telecom and utility construction business headquartered in Rogers, Arkansas that is controlled by FMMC. He began his career as a Controller at General Dynamics, a defense contractor based in Fort Worth, Texas. He then held senior finance rolls at a number of companies in the food and manufacturing industries. From 1999 to 2002, he held the role of CFO at Delta Systems Inc., a publically traded automation equipment design and manufacturing business. From 2002 to 2007, Jake was CEO at Delta Systems and was instrumental in the company’s successful turnaround and sale to a multinational equipment manufacturer. In 2007, he founded Accounting Solutions of Northwest Arkansas, a firm that specializes in bankruptcy, business and individual tax preparation and other related services.
Jack Fraser
Over the past 15 years Jack’s global experience has had him lead some of the fastest growing e-commerce and digital media businesses in Canada, UK and USA. Jack has led both corporate and operational teams, restructured balance sheets and operations, and raised capital in various markets both privately and publicly. Jack was most recently the COO and CFO for Travelzest from 2009 to 2012 where he developed and led the successful turnaround of the company and all its subsidiaries in the UK and Canada.
Prior to assuming his responsibilities at Travelzest, Jack was the CFO for iTravel2000, the largest subsidiary, and spearheaded the evolution of the business from a predominately call center package vacation company into the online e-Commerce space with new products and dynamic packaging capabilities. Jack led the transformation of iTravel2000 to be sale ready, which resulted in the business being purchased by Travelzest in 2006 for one of the highest multiples paid for a non-risk retail travel company in Canada.
Before joining iTravel2000, Jack held senior roles with two leading internet digital media companies that pioneered audio and video distribution for the music and broadcast sectors, targeted dynamic ad insertion, electronic payment systems and development of a national ISP. Jack also spent over 10 years in corporate finance roles with two Canadian banks providing debt and quasi-debt products to mid-market companies. Jack continues to promote growth and proper governance to organizations as an advisor and director.
Steve Gesner
Steve’s career spans over 30 years during which time he has held senior roles in the automotive, financial services, telecom, consulting, and healthcare industries. He has run the business, overseen the operations, and put the technology in place for firms ranging from startups to multinationals.
His most recent role was Chief Information Officer (CIO) for PharmaTrust, a promising player in the healthcare technology space, where he led the software, development, engineering, infrastructure, operations, information security and product management teams for almost 3 years.
Prior to joining PharmaTrust, Steve was the CIO for Resolve Corporation and Meridian Credit Union, which were formed through mergers. In both cases, Steve came in to lead integration, rationalization and transformation efforts in order to support and accelerate revenue growth while driving the cost efficiencies related to the technology, people and processes of the merging firms. Steve also was on point for Resolve during the due diligence process with Davis & Henderson which acquired Resolve in July, 2009.
Steve began his career with Ford Motor Company of Canada, spending 9 years holding down roles in Finance, Treasury, Production Planning, Industrial Relations and Technology. He then moved to TD Bank Financial Group where he spent 14 years and was instrumental in establishing TD as one of the leaders in online financial services and multi-channel delivery.After ending his TD career as the firm’s global Chief Technology Officer, he spent time with Capgemini as their Canadian CTO and started the financial services vertical at TELUS.Steve has served on numerous Boards and Advisory Boards in both the public and private sectors including the Canadian Payments Association, Smart Systems for Health, JLAlbright, Hitachi Data Systems, Univeris, and Forrester Research.
Doug Grand
Doug has spent his entire career in Retail and Consumer Product Marketing and Sales, as a senior executive on both the Client and Agency side. Early in his career, he worked for companies such as Vickers & Benson Retail, IMG and Texas Instruments.
Most recently, Doug was the Owner and President of Sescolite Lighting. Sescolite is a specialty importer and retailer of decorative lighting products, with locations in Toronto, Richmond Hill and Burlington. Sescolite sells quality decorative lighting products to the Consumer and to Trade. After 20 years, Doug sold the business in 2013.
In addition to his marketing and sales expertise, Doug has a broad range of business experience including – negotiating contracts with key Manufacturers/ Suppliers, implementation of new POS/ Inventory Management Systems, constantly improving Operational Procedures/ Systems, purchasing commercial real estate for owner/ operator use and sourcing new suppliers in Europe and the U.S.
Marc Holtenhoff
Mr. Holtenhoff has over 20 years of leadership experience at growth oriented technology companies, 15 of which were in CEO role.
Mr. Holtenhoff is currently CEO of Aimetis Corp, a Waterloo-based software company backed by Covington Capital, Sprott Asset Management, and Venturelink Funds.
Prior to Aimetis, Mr. Holtenhoff was the CEO of California based 1GlobalPlace, Inc., a technology company backed by Reuters €450 million Venture Capital Fund. Mr. Holtenhoff led the company from inception to its successful acquisition by VeriSign, a $6 billion technology security and communications company in the United States.
Previously, Mr. Holtenhoff held a variety of enterprise sales and marketing management positions at the Xerox Corporation.
Mr. Holtenhoff holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Economics from the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Calven Iwata
For the past 30 years Calven has built a reputation as an effective details-focused financial and operations executive for mid-sized Canadian businesses in a variety of industries.
Most recently, Calven spent 7 years at privately-owned Sinclair Technologies, a designer of RF antennae and other RF products, where he started as Chief Restructuring Officer. Seeing value beyond the liquidation of assets, he restructured the debt, raised new capital and completely re-tooled the company to focus on more efficient and profitable operations. Within a year he was appointed as CEO and grew the company to $20 million in sales and increased profitability by $6 million, culminating in the company’s sale to TSX-listed Norsat International.
Prior to Sinclair, Calven was Chief Restructuring Officer for TSX-listed Cabletel Communications as well as musicmusicmusic Inc., both of which assignments resulted in the sale of the businesses to strategic buyers.
Prior to his roles as CRO, Calven spent 10 years at Comlink and its acquiror, TSX-listed Cygnal Technologies, a wired and wireless communications equipment company, where he was CFO of both companies. Prior CFO roles included Walling Corporation, a telecom distributor, and Sterling Health Care Canada, a nursing home chain in the Niagara region.
Calven is a CPA (Price Waterhouse), a Chartered Business Valuator, and a graduate of the University of British Columbia (B. Comm.).
Michael (Mike) R. Lambert ICD.D, CPA, CA
Mike has over 30 years of successful Executive and Board Leadership in Canadian public and private companies in various industries. He has been involved in over 200 transactions (buying, selling and financing) totalling over $5 Billion. Mike was on the management teams of the following companies: Parkland Fuel Corporation, Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadian Tire, George Weston/Loblaw group (Real Canadian Superstores), The Southam Newspaper Group (The National Post), Mark’s Work Wearhouse, and The Forzani Group (Sport Chek). He was also on the Board of several companies including Calgary Co-op, Gemini Corporation (a Coril Company), Yellow Pages Group, and Premium Brands Inc.
During his career he has been involved in a multitude of transformations. As a longtime advocate of Good Governance, he is the recipient of various Canadian awards including Best Corporate Governance, Best Investor Relations and Best Annual Report. He also was a recipient of the prestigious Canadian Dealmaker of the Year award.
Mike is an active community volunteer and currently serves on Boards or Committees of a handful of for profit and not for profit entities including Chair of the Board of The SINNEAVE FAMILY FOUNDATION (in support of Autism) and a Citizen Member of the Audit Committee of City of Calgary.
Hugh MacDiarmid
A native of Toronto, Hugh MacDiarmid has accumulated a broad range of executive and professional experience spanning his 30+ year career. His focus has been on technology-intensive businesses and transportation-related industries, with extensive exposure to international commerce.
Mr. MacDiarmid has operating executive experience in large corporations such as Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, where he served as President and CEO, Canadian Pacific Railway, where he served as Executive Vice-President Commercial, and Laidlaw International Inc., where he served as President and CEO of their student transportation business unit.
He has also worked in smaller and mid-sized enterprises, serving as President and CEO of Lumonics Inc., a Canadian manufacturer of laser systems, and, more recently, as Managing Director of Holden America LLC, a railway components supply business.
Earlier in his career, Mr. MacDiarmid was a partner with McKinsey & Company, a leading international management-consulting firm.Mr. MacDiarmid currently serves as a director of ALH Holding Inc., SeaCube Container Leasing Ltd. and is Chair of Terrestrial Energy Inc. He has also served on several boards in the high technology sector.
In the public sector, he served as Chairman of the Board of the Public Policy Forum and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ottawa General Hospital. He was also an appointee of both the Government of Canada, as Chairman of the External Advisory Committee on Smart Regulation, and the Government of Ontario, as a governor of Ortech International.
Mr. MacDiarmid obtained his Honours Business Administration degree from the Ivey Business School at Western University and currently sits on the Ivey Advisory Board. He also obtained his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he graduated as a Miller Scholar.
Mr. MacDiarmid is married and resides in Toronto. He has two grown children, and enjoys golf, fitness and tennis.
Wayne Maddever
Wayne has a broad base of experience in senior management positions in early stage technology companies in both the private and public sectors, with particular experience in start-up and turnaround situations.
He began his career with the Gas Products Division of Union Carbide (now Praxair) in both the US and Canada where he held positions in research and development, product management and sales management.
He has considerable experience in the clean-tech field having headed a division of St. Lawrence Starch, which developed and commercialized degradable plastics.
Later, he was President of Resource Plastics, one of the first and largest post-consumer plastics waste recycling facilities in North America. He served as COO at Cymat Technologies where he commercialized the technology and developed the market for Cymat’s foamed aluminum in architectural applications. He was also CEO of Plasma Environmental Technologies, and early stage hazardous waste-destruction company.
Wayne has experience with equipment manufacture having served as General Manager of Sanden Machine, a printing press manufacturer and as COO of CFN Precision, a precision machining company.
Most recently he held the position of CEO for Watson Brown HSM Ltd., a UK based venture backed company with novel rubber devulcanisation technology with operations in Germany and Canada.Dr. Maddever holds several patents and is the author of numerous technical papers in several different fields and is co-author of a textbook on degradable plastics. He sits on the Boards of several early stage technology companies.
He holds a PhD in Metallurgical and Materials Science Engineering from the University of Toronto.
Michael Marti
Since leaving a Big 4 accounting firm thirty years ago, Michael has held leadership roles in private and public companies as a COO, CFO and CEO. The businesses have ranged from single to multiple sites, had up to 1,400 employees in Canada and the USA, and covered a variety of different industries including personal protection electronic monitoring devices, contract electronics manufacturing and the engineering and manufacturing of heavy duty equipment for forestry and mining.
The growth of some of these companies included extensive M&A activity that Michael was principally responsible for. He was key or led efforts to successfully raise over $100 million of debt and equity.
For the past three years he has been consulting as a strategist and business advisor to companies providing food services and logistics, commercial printing, paper distribution, manufacturing and installation of house renovation/organization products, and female athleisure clothing.
Michael is comfortable in the boardroom, in front of customers and suppliers, bankers and other capital providers, and with his co-workers in the office or on the factory and warehouse floor.
Tim Penner
Tim spent his entire 33 year career with Procter & Gamble, most recently as President of P&G Canada from 1999 to 2011. During this 12 year period, he grew Canadian sales 2.5X and grew profit 5X, making P&G the largest consumer goods company in Canada with sales of $3 Billion and roughly 2,500 employees.
As former President of Canada’s largest media buyer, Tim brings to the FMMC Buyout Fund portfolio companies an unparalleled understanding of ROI related to sales and marketing spend across all media types.
Prior to this role, Tim moved internationally twice with P&G. He served as Vice President and General Manager of P&G’s North American Paper business, located in Cincinnati Ohio. He also served as Vice President and General Manager of P&G’s Health & Beauty Care business in Surrey, UK.
Since his retirement from P&G, Tim now serves on the Board of Intact Financial Corp, Canada’s largest P&C insurance company; he is the in-coming Chair of the YMCA of Greater Toronto; he is a Board Trustee of Sick Kids Hospital; and he serves on the Advisory Committee of the Ontario Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity.Past board assignments include GS1 Canada (Chair); Food and Consumer Products Canada (Chair); Youth Challenge Fund; Career Edge; Wilfred Laurier University Board of Governors and Dean’s Advisory Council; Schulich School of Business International Advisory Council; and the Conference Board of Canada.
Trish Saltys
Trish has more than 25 years of senior finance and leadership experience as an executive across many industries, during which time she has helped many companies achieve sustainable value through cost optimization supported by robust business processes.
Recent CFO roles include: Kraus Flooring in Kitchener-Waterloo, where she helped a private equity investor streamline the business, and optimize costs; 1-800-Got-Junk? In Vancouver, the world’s largest junk removal company with over 200 franchises and 1700 employees; and GT Group Telecom, where she led the company’s activities in raising over $1 billion in financing, including its $250 million IPO, and in acquiring Shaw Fiberlink.
Trish also spent several years as Executive Director, Strategic Planning of Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, a primary healthcare provider in the Greater Vancouver Area with over 16,000 employees, where she led the development of its first integrated long term strategic, capital, operating and service plans.
Other experience includes finance roles with Business Objects (now SAP Global) and Bruce Allen Talent & Bryan Adams Group of Companies.
Trish is a CPA, earning her professional designation with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 1990, and is a graduate of the Richard Ivey Executive Management Program.
Stephen Sorocky
Stephen Sorocky is an accomplished technology CEO and Board Director in public company and venture capital entrepreneurial environments. He has broad experience in emerging and high growth companies in the aerospace, manufacturing, instrumentation, and medical laboratory sectors.
He is President of Exigent Innovations Inc. which assists investors and Boards facing challenges in growing the value of their companies. Exigent provides strategic and operational assessments, implementation support through Board leadership and continued guidance to leadership teams.
From 2010 to 2011, Stephen was CEO of LxData Inc., a fiber optic sensor manufacturer for the oil and gas industry. He completed a reorganization and sale of the company to provide shareholders a desired exit. From 2007-2009, he was CEO of Virtek Vision International Inc., a $53M TSX-listed company producing laser systems and sold it to a strategic buyer for 275% of its 2008 market value. Mr. Sorocky was CEO of Dynacon Inc. from 2000–2007, an early stage, VC-backed company that created systems for space and medical laboratory automation.
At Spar Aerospace Ltd. (1994-1998), Stephen was VP & GM of the $130M Space Robotics Division which designed, manufactured and supported the Space Shuttle Canadarm, Space Station Canadarm and Dextre advanced space robotics. Previously, as Assistant Vice President to the CEO, he chaired a Spar-BCE joint venture in satellite-to-ground network research and held various engineering and program management roles in the Montreal satellite systems division.
Stephen has an MBA in International Business and International Finance, a BASc in Aerospace Engineering and is a Professional Engineer and Chartered Director. He is Chair, SkyTrac Systems, a Director of the Canadian Commercial Corporation (a $1.8 Billion Crown corporation) and the Ontario Telemedicine Network. He has served on many boards, including work on Audit, HR and Governance committees.
