Justin has an authentic passion for technology as a dynamic marketing executive. With a vision that is global in nature, having worked or studied across North America, Europe & Asia, Justin has found success in a wide range of capacities and organizations; from multinational corporations such as Samsung, to a boutique consulting firm such as Pack, where he currently leads the Technology & Marketing Strategy practice. He is known as an enterprise stalwart that understands how to build from the ground up and instill meaningful change in organizations to achieve results, which he applies towards the start-ups that he advises. Justin has his bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto, an entrepreneurship certificate from UCLA Anderson School of Management, and is currently pursuing dual MBAs degrees through the Rotman-SDA Bocconi Global Executive MBA program. His personal passions include travel where he can scuba dive, and various sports including volleyball, golf, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Jim Slotta
My research is conducted collaboratively with PhD students and colleagues from several disciplines. We are trying to develop a new model of scaffolded collaborative inquiry that is blended within a knowledge community. The model is grounded in learning theory and has implications for the design and implementation of engaging curriculum experiences (n our case, for secondary science classrooms). One exciting new direction of work is the development of an open source smart classroom. Using the NSF-funded Scalable Architecture for Interactive Learning (SAIL), we have launched a new open source project to support the development of highly interactive, community-oriented activities that specify roles, goals and materials for all members of the learning community. There are implications for incorporating new devices and new forms of human computer interaction, as well as for continued research of the model.
Mahdi Hosseini
Mahdi S. Hosseini received the B.Sc. “cum laude”, the M.Sc., M.A.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from University of Tabriz, University of Tehran, University of Waterloo, and University of Toronto in 2004, 2007, 2010, and 2016, respectively. He is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto (UofT) and research scientist at Huron Digital Pathology in St. Jacobs, Ontario, Canada. His research is primarily focused on understanding and developing robust computational imaging and machine learning techniques for analyzing images from medical imaging platforms in digital pathology both from applied and theoretical perspectives. He leads a research team of UofT students for R&D development of the image analysis pipelines required for digital and computational pathology. Dr. Hosseini has served as a reviewer for the IEEE transaction on Image Processing, the IEEE transaction on Signal Processing and IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology.
Chris Golda
I invest in and advise early–stage startups on product vision and execution, team and company building,fundraising and M&A, product management, marketing, and more.
Natalia Lizon
Go-to-Market and Global Productivity and Sales Tools within Google’s fastest-growing multi-billion dollar Platforms/ DoubleClick business. MBA and management engineer with 9+ years international business experience,specializing in strategy and operations. ~10% internal coaching @ Google.
Teresa Ascencao
In addition to my core practice as a Multimedia Artist, I am involved in teaching and organizing community projects. I thrive on facilitating team efforts towards creative solutions in the areas of art, photography and design. My strengths are in leading projects from research to fruition, on time and on budget. My past work includes the creation and exhibition of artworks; management of collaborative art and design projects; facilitation of photography workshops to economically & geographically disadvantaged youth; leading university student projects in the areas of accessibility and sustainability; providing community organizations with photography, videography and design services; and spearheading citizen events towards sustainable and community-oriented goals.
Piyush Gaur
A thought leader, with 10 years of experience in Product Management and Product Development. I have launched more than twenty products in the global consumer and enterprise market.
Recently, I have been focusing on Conversational Interfaces, understanding drivers, user behaviors, AI & ML capability, launching internal and consumer products. Managing 1M Capex and 4M Opex budget.
I have explored new products based on design thinking and technologies such as IoT, Blockchain, Digital, AR/VR, ML and AI (Stanford university cont.), Neural Networks (Geoffrey Hinton). I have consulted clients on high visibility complex business problems using strengths in strategic planning, technical feasibility, customer validation, financial modeling, and business process improvement.
I am a marathoner and enjoy playing badminton. I am a Peace Ambassador and also support a primary school in India.
Siddharth Srivastava
Siddharth Srivastava is a Vice President of McRock Capital, a venture capital firm focused exclusively on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). He has extensive experience advising technology companies on M&A transactions and helping entrepreneurs raise financing from venture capital and private equity investors.
Prior to joining McRock, Siddharth worked in investment banking in Mumbai and London for independent advisors such as EY and Rothschild. He managed the full lifecycle of sourcing, execution and closure for transactions in the India and global technology space. His areas of focus extended across traditional and emerging areas of the technology spectrum – from IT and BPO Services to consumer internet, digital media, fintech and analytics.
Siddharth was drawn to venture investments because of his passion for start-ups and often found himself as a sounding board for entrepreneurs on strategy and growth, while advising on transactions. Through his work on cross-border transactions, he brings a deep global network and outlook to portfolio companies.
Siddharth earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Grinnell College, a liberal arts school in the United States and holds a Master of Science degree in Finance from the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom.
Sharon Barney
Sharon Barney was born in Toronto and completed degrees at the University of Toronto (B.A. (hons.),
English) and the University of Windsor (B.Com and MBA). Upon graduation, Sharon began her career in
the construction sector where she continued for more than 25 years. She has owned and operated
construction companies both in general contracting and building automation. She has experience
installing Siemens MRI and CAT scan equipment, financing construction projects and consulting on
commercial and residential development opportunities. Sharon is interested in the new technologies,
smart cities and AI. Her interest in technology includes increasing the presence of women in technology.
Currently she consults on diversity, respect and inclusion in construction and engineering. In her current
project she wrote an online course about working in a respectful and inclusive construction workplace
which has been widely adopted and is now a mandatory course.
Cartik Sharma
Cartik is the CTO of Neuromorph, a CDL graduate from the Rotman School of Management and have entrepreunership experience as a technie with several medical device startups which have raised significant venture capital over the years. He has formal experience in quantum machine learning and machine learning and several years of experience in healthcare and medical device imaging based technologies as well as surgical robotics.