Conference Information Leadership Team

Information Technology Chair, Banff Venture Forum 2011

Mark Usher
Partner, Wellington Financial LP

Mark's career began in 1988 at Royal Bank. He joined RBC's Commercial Banking Group in 1993, and his roles have included marketing and strategy in the bank's head office, and senior account manager in the bank's high tech banking group. Mark then was recruited by Cisco Systems in 2000 to join Cisco Capital's structured finance team in Toronto where he financed the sales of Cisco equipment and services to sub-investment grade customers using a combination of debt and equity structures. Geographic responsibilities for financings included Canada and the US Eastern Seaboard. Mark returned to Royal Bank in 2001 to lead the bank's Information Technology Banking team in the Greater Toronto Area. In Mark's last role at RBC, he was the executive responsible for RBC's entire Knowledge Based Industries practice in the Ontario marketplace in addition to the Toronto Tech Banking Group. Mark has his MBA from Queen's University and is involved in a number of technology associations.

Energy Technology Chair, Banff Venture Forum 2011

Wally Hunter
Managing Director, EnerTech Capital  

Wally has been investing in energy and clean energy companies and projects for 11 years. Wally runs EnerTech's Canadian operations from Toronto. His specific areas of interest and responsibility include opportunities in alternative fuels and storage, power quality and conversion, power electronics, advanced materials, motor controls, automation and sensors.

Prior to EnerTech, Wally was with Royal Bank of Canada ("RBC"), where he was a Managing Director of the bank's private equity fund and responsible for the Energy Technology and Advanced Technology Fund. Prior to that he was in RBC's investment banking division.

In addition, Wally produced and hosted the weekly financial television show "Money Week" which featured over 200 guest interviews from Canadian and U.S. money managers over a 14 year period.

Wally currently sits on the boards of Filterboxx and Enbala Power Networks and managed our investment in Catch the Wind. He is currently the Energy Technology Chair for the Banff Venture Forum.

Wally received a BA from the University of Western Ontario and has completed a number of securities-related courses and programs including the Canadian Securities Institute (CSC program) and Canadian Investment Finance (CIF I, II &III).

Life Science Technology Chair, Banff Venture Forum 2011

 

Dave Smardon
President & CEO and Director, BioEnterprise Corporation

Dave Smardon is President & CEO and a Director of BioEnterprise Corporation, Canada's leading agricultural business accelerator. Focused on building ag-bio based businesses, the organization sees world-class innovations from the agricultural sector develop with the help of BioEnterprise's strategic know-how. Mr. Smardon is a seasoned executive with a background in establishing, growing, and financing technology-based companies. He has the insight and outlook to confidently say agri-technology is a "New Wave" of investment opportunity. 

A hugely successful entrepreneur himself, Mr. Smardon campaigns on behalf of the interests of Canadian entrepreneurs, and strives to help build a venture capital industry in Canada that is both sustainable and active. Mr. Smardon also acts as an advisor to a number of government funding programs, offers his knowledge as a volunteer for several associations, and sits actively as a Board Member of more than a half-dozen companies. 

Investing in his own ideas proved triumphant, when Mr. Smardon founded three technology businesses. He began his career as an entrepreneur in the eighties, when he established Learning Connections, an educational software company. He then founded Commcorp Technologies Inc., a spin-off company providing technology outsourcing, servicing the financial and banking communities. Later, throughout the nineties, Mr. Smardon dedicated himself to his venture capital and investment activities, establishing and growing the Nibiru group of companies, including: Nibiru Tactical Corporation, Nibiru Investments, Nibiru Capital Management Limited and Nibiru Corporate Finance Inc. These entities continue to be active today. 

Throughout his career, Mr. Smardon has been appointed to a variety of mid and senior level positions within industry leading companies, including: Texas Instruments Inc., Unisys Corporation, Meridian Technologies and Apple Computer Inc. At Apple he led the Canadian arm of Apple Computer`s venture capital group, where he invested in 35 Canadian companies delivering exceptionally high returns (43% ROI). It was during this time that Mr. Smardon developed very strong ties into the venture capital, investment banking and angel communities, in both the USA and Canada these ties remain strong today. 

Over the years Mr. Smardon has built a reputation, and has become well known within the Canadian venture capital industry and angel community. The solid partnerships he's created and prosperous investments he's made, speak to Mr. Smardon's wisdom as both a strong communicator and respected industry expert.