Information Technology Chair, Banff Venture Forum 2008
Dr. Richard Bruno
Venture Partner - MSBi Capital
CEO - Beyond IfTM Corporation
Dr. Bruno is currently a venture partner at MSBi Capital in Montreal, a member of the NRC-IRAP advisory board, a member of the Hexagram advisory board, a board member of Medical Intelligence Technologies Inc. and of Toon Boom Inc..
As CEO of Beyond If Corporation since 1989 he has provided, management consulting, technology-product-business due diligence, board administration and interim management services to several dozen Fortune 1000 international companies and international public sector organizations.
During 2004-06, Dr. Bruno was the Director of McGill’s Office of Technology Transfer where he managed industry funded research programs, technology transfer and commercialization activities.
As an entrepreneur Dr. Bruno built and sold a half a dozen multimillion-dollar high-tech companies in the US and Japan (Multimedia applications, media and imaging chipsets (MPEG, JPEG), video conferencing chipsets, broadband communications, authoring and media production toolsets, computer games applications, website-production tools and security-privacy systems).
During his career, Dr. Bruno developed and launched several dozen billion-dollar mass-market products-businesses (The Compact Disc - in several of its formats, MP3 music, MPEG video - DVD, the Minitel, video conferencing and PC based broadband conferencing, information security systems, media and internet production tools, computer games platforms, computer peripherals photovoltaic collectors, photothermal systems, HVAC controls, energy storage systems and passive energy systems). These products were developed and launched during his tenure as CTO or CEO with Philips, OptImage, PRISM Interactive, GCA, GCT, Alliance Interactive, Digital Frontiers, Beyond If Corporation and BI Informatics.
Dr. Bruno is the author of several books on solar energy systems and optical media as well as numerous publications. He speaks five languages and obtained his Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from McMaster University in 1971, an honors B.Sc. degree in Physics from McGill University in 1967, and an Executive Program MBA from Michigan University Ann Arbor in 1988.
Energy Technology Chair, Banff Venture Forum 2008
Kirk Washington 
Partner, Yaletown Venture Partners
Kirk Washington is a founding General Partner of Yaletown Venture Partners in Vancouver, and brings over 25 years of technical, operational, and transaction experience to Yaletown’s cleantech investments. Kirk currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Microstaq, NxtGEN Emission Controls, and 6N Silicon, which was named as one of the 10 hottest startups in Canada by Red Herring Magazine and to the Technology Green 15 by Deloitte & Touche.
Kirk joined Yaletown after 13 years with Ballard Power Systems where he directed numerous activities including research & development, operations, corporate administration, and special projects. Most recently, as Director of Corporate Development he analyzed target companies for strategic transactions, negotiated intellectual property licenses, formed joint development agreements and conducted post-merger integrations. While at Ballard, Kirk was a member of the investment committee of Chrysalix Energy LP, a clean-energy venture capital fund. He previously managed engineering teams and major projects at MacDonald Dettwiler in Vancouver, and several disk drive companies in the Silicon Valley. Kirk attended California State University and holds 11 patents related to his work in clean energy technology.
Life Science Technology Chair, Banff Venture Forum 2008
Peter van der Velden 
Having driven restructuring of legacy operations of the company and its current repositioning, today Peter continues to oversee the overall business operations of the firm while working closely with the senior management team to set and implement strategic direction. Peter is also active on the investment side, focusing primarily on investments in companies that have typically made, or are close to making, the transition from “development” to selling and marketing their products. With 18 years of investment and operating experience, he has participated in building companies from start-up through to expansion and has been involved not only with companies in the life science sector, but also with companies in the information technology and consumer sectors.
Peter is located in our Toronto office and joined our firm in 2005. Immediately prior to joining Lumira Capital, Peter was a founding partner at an investment banking boutique targeting the IT sector. Having participated on both sides of the value creation equation – working as a partner and as a mentor to highly successful management teams – Peter’s experience includes: partner in a buyouts partnership targeting the retail and consumer centric businesses, vice president business development for a venture capital backed drug delivery company, and an associate role at Canada’s then largest venture capital firm.
Peter holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, Toronto, Ontario, as well as an MSc in pathology and an honours BSc in life sciences – both from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.
Peter’s current board and investment responsibilities include: Skinstore.com, Alveolus Inc. and Milcom.
Founding Energy Technology Chair, Banff Venture Forum 2006 &2007
Michael Dost 
Partner, Octane Venture Partners
Michael is a founding partner at Octane Venture Partners. Octane is a venture capital fund focused on oil and gas technology investments. Prior to Octane, Michael was involved in a variety of businesses in the transportation, software, and high tech fields and was most recently a Director of Venture Capital at BDC Venture Capital. While at BDC, Michael focused on venture capital investments in leading companies including Progressive Solutions, 3ESI, Netaps and Invidi. Over the past two years Michael has invested close to $7 million with over $50 million of co-investment in Alberta. Michael was also part of the management team at AudeSi Technologies, a high tech BDC investee company. AudeSi was sold to Wind River for $70 million in April, 2000. Michael holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Calgary and an MBA from the University of British Columbia.