Jason Della Rocca
Executive Director
International Game Developers Association IGDA

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Jason Della Rocca > keynote speaker

Jason is the executive director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), a professional society committed to advancing thecareers and enhancing the lives of game developers. Jason and the IGDA focus on connecting developers with their peers, promoting professional development, and advocating on issues that affect the developer community -- such as quality of life, creative freedoms, workforce diversity and credit standards. In 2008, Jason was honored with the inaugural Ambassador Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards.

As the spokesperson for the IGDA, Jason has appeared in countless newsoutlets (e.g., Wired, Nightline, LA Times, NPR, Wall Street Journal,G4, etc) and has spoken at conferences around the world (e.g., GDC, E3,TGS, SIGGRAPH, ChinaJoy, DiGRA, etc). Jason has been a member of the game development community for over a decade, and has spent time at Matrox Graphics, Quazal and Silicon Graphics. 

Alan Anderson
Project Manager
CONCERT

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Allan Anderson

Jeff Chesebrough
Executive Director
nGen

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Jeff Chesebrough

As the Executive Director of nGen – Niagara’s interactive media generator, Jeff is responsible for leading the implementation of the recently created incubator into a steady-state operation of programs and components.  Prior to joining nGen, Jeff was a Partner and VicePresident of Operations, of Innivity Marketing group, where they awarded an Outstanding Business Excellence Award in 2005 from theSarnia Chamber of Commerce and were named in 2006 by Profitmag as oneof the Top 50 Emerging Growth Companies in Canada. In his previous consulting roles he was responsible for completing organizational reviews, system reviews and various other projects for both the public and private sector.  Jeff has helped numerous organizations implement ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems, which directly involve the review of business processes to facilitate continuous improvement.  

Jeff has been the recipient of many prestigious awards in Niagara.  In 2006 and 2007, he was recognized as one of the emerging entrepreneurs in the Niagara Region at the Niagara Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.  In 2005, Jeff was presented with a 40 under 40 Business Achievement Award for his contributions to both business and community in Niagara.  

With a strong commitment to community, Jeff has been actively involved involunteer and sports activities in Niagara.  Jeff is a member of theGovernment and Economic Affairs Committee of the St. Catharines Chamber of Commerce, and is a Past-President of the St. Catharines Jaycees (current member).  He has also has been involved in Big Brothers of St. Catharines, as well as coaching hockey, soccer, baseball and basketball in St. Catharines.

Rob DePetris
VP Finance, Silicon Knights (and Chair, Ontario Games Committee)

Rob DePetris

Rob DePetris is Vice-President of Silicon Knights,Inc. Silicon Knights is the largest game developer in Ontario with over150 employees. It has made games for personal computers, the Sony PlayStation, the Nintendo Game Cube and is currently working on two nextgeneration projects. One of the projects is the Too Human trilogy forMicrosoft which is being developed for the Xbox 360 console. The other project is an unannounced game for Sega.

Rob has an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration in Co-op Accounting from Brock University. He is also a graduate of University of Toronto Law School and was called to the Bar in 1994. He has previously worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Toronto.

He is the chair of the Games Committee of Interactive Ontario. As well, he chairs the Ontario games industry's effort in partnership with theOntario government and academia to create an industry action plan. He is a member of the business advisory board for Women's Place, a shelter for abused women in St. Catharines, and on the board of directors of the United Way of St. Catharines and the St. Catharines Chamber ofCommerce.

Steve Engels
Lecturer
University of Toronto

Steve Engels

Steve Engels is a Senior Lecturer in the Computer Science department at the University of Toronto. In addition to teaching hundreds of computer science and engineering students each year, he has developed the department's video game design courses, both for first- and fourth-year students.

Steve's research explores the technical areas of video game design, with particular emphasis on artificial intelligence and tools for video game development.

Trevor Fencott
CEO
Bedlam Games

Trevor Fencott

Trevor brings seven years of game industry experience to the Bedlamteam. Prior to joining Bedlam, he built the video game practice at thelaw firm Goodmans LLP and Goodmans Venture Group, where he adviseddevelopers, publishers and the investment community on licensing, gamedevelopment and financing.

He currently sits on the business committeeof the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). Trevor received his Honours BA from Queen's University and his LLB from theUniversity of Western Ontario. 

Nathon Gunn
CEO
Bitcasters (ON - Canada)

Nathon Gunn

Nathon has developed one ofCanada’s first Serious Games with the History Canada Game and has justlaunched an action-based 3D MMORPG for kids based on the globalanimated hit show StormHawks.

The primary focus of Nathon’s current work is social gaming and to this end he is preparing the beta launch this fall of Social Game Universe, a connected universe ofsocial games in which media industry titans Michael Cohl, Moses Znaimer and Clive Smith have invested.

Nathon is a graduate of RyersonUniversity with a double major in Film/Photography and Computer Animation and has won awards for various films and music videos.

Laura Jo Gunter
Dean
Information Arts and Technology, Seneca College

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Laura Jo Gunter

Laura Jo Gunter has 15 years in the high technology and entertainment industries. She is currently Seneca College’s Dean of Information Arts& Technology, and is a co-founder and C.E.O of Condition30 Inc., aninteractive software and content company. Ms. Gunter’s previous positions include Vice- President, Creative, Technical and Communityfor User Friendly Media, Vice-President, Programming, Special Projects and Industry Partnerships for the Vancouver Film School, Executive Director and former Board member of New Media BC, and Director, AppliedSciences Continuing Education at Simon Fraser University. Ms. Gunter has an MBA from Queen’s University and a Bachelor of Journalism from Carleton University.

Keith Makse
President
Cerebral Vortex Games

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Keith Makse

Keith Makse is the President and co-founder of Cerebral Vortex Games.

Keith has been an active member of the video game industry for over 10 years, serving as a Designer and Producer while simultaneously establishing and operating GetGames.ca, an online video game rental service. Keith has also taught at the VideoGame Design and Development program at the International Academy of Design & Technology.

With hit titles such as Ice Cream Dee-Lites and Word Burst, Cerebral Vortex Games aims to make great games for the casual audience that engage and entertain players while expanding their minds. In 2006, Cerebral Vortex Games won acclaim by placing as a finalist in Telefilm Canada’s Great Canadian Video Game Competition with their premiere title, Ambush! Trivia.

Rick Segal
JLA Ventures

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Rick Segal

Bob Seguin
Assistant Deputy Minister
Ontario Ministry of Economic Development

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Bob Seguin

Robert Shoniker
Principal
Courage Capital

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Robert Shoniker

Over the past eighteen years as President of R.G. Shoniker & Associates Inc. and Courage Capital Corporation, Mr. Shoniker has arranged more than $800 million of financings, mergers, acquisitions and transactions.  From 1985 to 1987 he was Director, Emerging GrowthInvestments at McCarthy Securities Limited.  In 1980 he co-founded and became Chief Executive Officer of formerly TSE listed AccugraphCorporation.

Prior to this, he founded two consulting companies, Management Resource Group and R.G. Shoniker & Associates Inc. From 1970 to 1975 he was Senior Investment Analyst with Burns Brothers & Denton Limited.  Mr. Shoniker graduated from Queen's University with a B.Comm and an M.B.A. He currently serves on the board of PARTEQ Innovations and Mondial Energy.  He is also the Chairman of Bedlam Games, a Toronto based video game software developer.

Dr. Gerri Sinclair
Executive Director
Masters of Digital Media Program
Great Northern Way Campus

Dr. Gerri Sinclair

Gerri Sinclair is currently the Executive Director of the Masters of Digital Media Program at Great Northern Way Campus, a collaborative partnership between the University of B.C., Simon Fraser University, Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design, and the B.C. Institute of Technology. Most recently she was the Chair of the Canadian Federal Government’s Telecom Policy Review Panel, advising the Federal Government on the future policy and regulatory environment required to support an advanced telecommunications framework. She was also the General Manager of MSN Canada and a senior member of the Microsoft executive team, as well as the founder and CEO of NCompass Labs, an Internet content management company acquired by Microsoft in 2001.

A former visiting scientist at IBM Research, Dr. Sinclair was also the president of the British Columbia Government Premier’s Technology Council, and the founding director of the ExCITE lab at Simon Fraser University, the first multimedia educational technology centre in Canada.  She has served on several government and corporate boards including Telus Corporation and BC Telecom, and is currently a director of the Toronto Stock Exchange, Ballard Power, Genome B.C., the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Canadian Communications Research Council.

She is the recipient of the YWCA Woman of Distinction award, the Canadian Women in Communications’ Woman of the Year award, the Canadian Women in New Media Pioneer award, the Influential Woman in Business award, the Sarah Kirke award for the most outstanding Canadian woman in High Tech,the 2005 Canadian Consumer Choice Award for Business Woman of the Year,and most recently the 2008 Canadian Public Policy Forum TestimonialAward. She holds a Ph.D. in Renaissance drama as well as an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of British Columbia.
 

Damir Slogar
CEO
Big Blue Bubble

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Damir Slogar

With over 20 years spent in the game industry and credited for over 40 games across 10 different platforms, Damir is one of the most experienced industry professionals in Canada. Born in Croatia, hestarted his career in the mid 80's as a programmer creating proprietarygames for the MSX and Commodore Amiga. He spent the next couple ofyears in broadcasting; producing and hosting a live TV show devoted tovideo games and computer technology. In 1995, he started a video game magazine where he worked as the editor. In 1999, he moved to Canada andc ontinued his professional career as a lead programmer, first in Sandbox Studios and later in Digital Illusions Canada. In 2004, he established Big Blue Bubble, which quickly became one of the best known and highest rated wireless and handheld game developers in North America.

Julian Spillane
CEO
Frozen North Productions

Julian Spillane

Julian attended the University of Waterloo for Software Engineering and has taken a great interest in applying principles of engineering design to software development in the games industry.

Julian is also the founder and Chair of the Toronto Independent Games Conference.

Karen Thorne-Stone
President & CEO
Ontario Media Development Corporation

Karen Thorne-Stone

Karen Thorne-Stone was appointment President and CEO of the Ontario Media Development Corporation in July 2007.

The OMDC is a provincial agency which supports economic development in Ontario’s cultural media industries.  In this capacity, Karen is responsible to promote growth and investment in the province’s entertainment and creative industries including:  film and television, interactive digital media, music, book and magazine publishing.

Previously Karen was with the city of Toronto, where, for over 18 years, she served in a variety of roles, including film commissioner and executive director of economic development.  As film commissioner, Thorne-Stone supported successful negotiations for a new state-of-the-art film studio complex on Toronto’s waterfront, developed an innovative economic development strategy for the screen-based sector and workedwith the OMDC on the development of a new brand positioning and marketing materials to promote film and television production.

Paul Woolford
Tax Partner
KPMG

Paul Woolford

Paul Woolford is a tax partner at KPMG, with over 14 years experience in the tax area.
His present practice is focused in the firm’s Enterprise Group, which is dedicated to assisting entrepreneurial clients with all facets of the financial issues surrounding their businesses.

Paul’s practice ranges from small owner managed businesses to large privately-owned multinationals.  He advises on matters such as compensation planning, tax-efficient structures, acquisitions and divestitures, income splitting and estate planning, and providing integrated tax advice for owner-managers of Canadian controlled private corporations. He also assists many clients to maximize the benefits associated with the Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credit program.

For several years, Paul has been a group leader of the group study and in-residence programs of the In-Depth Tax Course of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. 

Paul is a member of The Canada Institute of Chartered Accountants, The Certified General Accountants of Canada and The Canadian Tax Foundation.

Lisa Woznica, Associate Principal, SECOR

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Lisa Woznica, Associate Principal, SECOR

Lisa is a senior strategy consultant with over eight years of consulting experience in strategic planning & analysis, growth option development & evaluation, analytical problem solving and large-scale project management.  She has advised major Canadian corporations across multiple sectors, including media & telecommunications, financial services, retail, and the public sector.  Lisa is also a recognized researcher in the area of merger & acquisition effectiveness.

Before joining SECOR, Lisa’s experience included corporate strategy development and implementation for the global consulting firms of CapGemini and Ernst & Young, as well as work with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health & Long-Term Care in Ontario.
 

Bill Kapralos, Assistant Professor, University of Ontario Institute of Technology

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Bill Kapralos, Assistant Professor, University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Bill Kapralos is an Assistant Professor in the Game Development and Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.  Bill received his BSc (first class, with distinction), MSc, and Ph.D from York University (Department of Computer Science and Engineering). Bill Kapralos' current research interests include: acoustical modeling and 3D (spatial) sound generation for virtual environments and video games, multi-modal virtual environments/reality, the perception of auditory events, and the application of video games (“serious games") to education and training.  He is currently involved in a number of projects that involve the application of video game technologies for the training of accountants, community health nurses, critical care providers, and orthopedic surgeons.  He is also an adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Graduate Studies (Computer Science and Engineering), York University. 

GameON: Finance speakers

David Edery
Worldwide Games Portfolio Planner
Xbox Live Arcade, Microsoft

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David Edery > keynote speaker

Worldwide Games Portfolio Planner for Xbox Live Arcade and author, David Edery will be a keynote speaker at GameON: Finance, taking placeOctober 28th and 29th in Toronto.

Edery is a research affiliate of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program (CMS) and the author ofthe upcoming book, Changing the Game: How Video Games are Transformingthe Business World which examines how to use video games to drive innovation, customer engagement, employee commitment, and profit.

Jason Della Rocca
Executive Director
International Game Developers Association IGDA

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Jason Della Rocca

Jason is the executive director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), a professional society committed to advancing thecareers and enhancing the lives of game developers. Jason and the IGDA focus on connecting developers with their peers, promoting professional development, and advocating on issues that affect the developer community -- such as quality of life, creative freedoms, workforce diversity and credit standards. In 2008, Jason was honored with theinaugural Ambassador Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards.

As the spokesperson for the IGDA, Jason has appeared in countless news outlets (e.g., Wired, Nightline, LA Times, NPR, Wall Street Journal,G4, etc) and has spoken at conferences around the world (e.g., GDC, E3,TGS, SIGGRAPH, ChinaJoy, DiGRA, etc). Jason has been a member of thegame development community for over a decade, and has spent time at Matrox Graphics, Quazal and Silicon Graphics. 

Shiraz Akmal
Managing Director
GCube Ventures

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Shiraz Akmal

Shiraz Akmal co-founded GCube after parting from THQ as Vice President of Operations - Product Development. At THQ Akmal managed more than 500 staff who comprised the central divisions of THQ's product development organization including; the outsourcing division (XDG), Motion Capture, Quality Assurance, Localization, Customer Service, Music, Engineering and Voice and Sound.

Most recently, in his role as founder of THQ XDG, his team was instrumental in streamlining and growing the company's global product development capabilities through outsourcing and expanding THQ's footprint into Asia.

In addition to his 9 years as an executive at THQ, Shiraz brings 20 years of creative, technical, and operational experience to GCube. Shiraz has directed a string of multi-million selling video game titles including Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles, Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants, and Warner's Scooby-Doo!

He was also involved in programming several genre-defining products such as, You Don't Know Jack and the After Dark screen saver. His first videogame was published at age 17.

Steve Bocska
Industry Analyst & President
Pug Pharm Productions

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Steve Bocska

Steve Bocska possesses extensive business planning and operations management experience as well as award-winning strategic planning skills. He has advised and consulted for more than 100 business startups, organizations, partnerships, and sole proprietorships in theroles of business planner, strategic planner, market analyst, and operations consultant. He has led projects for Hewlett-Packard, RoyalRoads University, Industry Canada, and several other municipalities, companies, and government agencies.

Steve also has over 8 yearsof direct experience in the video game industry, having worked for Disney Interactive, Black Box (E.A.), and Radical Entertainment. His contributions have come through his roles as lead designer, producer, and executive producer. In 2006, he became the founding President andCEO of Hothead Games, winner of the Canadian New Media Association’s award for “Most Promising New Company of 2007.”

Warren Currell
President
Sherpa Games

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Warren Currell

Warren Currell is a respected game agent and president of Sherpa Games Inc., a company that represents dozens of developers and studios in their efforts to license games to publishers. He has brokered deals with most of the major publishers including Microsoft, Atari, Sega, Take-Two, and EA. Warren has broad connectionsin the publishing and development community and possesses a background on the technical side of game development providing him an understanding of how games are actually made.

Warren is a member of the International Game Developers Association, authoring the white paper for the IGDA on how to pitch games to publishers. He has appeared on numerous television news segments as a subject matter expert on the games industry and has conducted presentations and moderated dozens of panel discussions about the games industry. He has been involved twice with the sale of game development studios and the establishment of a next-gen, multi platform development studio in NewYork City.

Warren has also worked on behalf of film and television companies, pitching their properties for licensing of interactive content. He has also successfully pitched two Microsoft Xbox LIVE! Arcade titles. Other notable comments: He has been actively involved with the Serious Games side of the business, successfully delivering two projects over the past 3 years; one for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and one for DARPA.

Nathon Gunn
CEO
Bitcasters (ON - Canada)

Nathon Gunn

Nathon has developed one of Canada’s first Serious Games with the History Canada Game and has just launched an action-based 3D MMORPG for kids based on the global animated hit show StormHawks.

The primary focus of Nathon’s current work is social gaming and to this end he is preparing the beta launch this fall of Social Game Universe, a connected universe of social games in which media industry titans Michael Cohl, Moses Znaimer and Clive Smith have invested.

Nathon is a graduate of Ryerson University with a double major in Film/Photography and Computer Animation and has won awards for various films and music videos.

Marc Jackson
Managing Partner,
Video Game Finance Inc. 

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Marc Jackson

Marc Jackson is Video Game Finance’s principal and currently the driving force behind VGF's multi-project AAA game slate funding initiative. Marc has 20 years experience in the broader entertainment industry, 15 of which he gained in senior management roles in new media and interactive entertainment, and has 5 years as CEO of video game companies.

Marc began his career working in project management for the Walt Disney Imagineering group on its Paris theme park, and pursued his MBA in Europe where he developed his passion for digital entertainment businesses. In the early 1990’s at the dawn of'multimedia'/CD-ROM and online entertainment, he helped to chart newmedia strategy for two of Europe’s largest TV companies, Canal+ andTF1. He then entered the video game realm, first with the Atari–Infogrames group in 1995 where he lead product acquisitions and development in North America, and then as CEO of console game developer Player 1 from 1997-2001 where he directed publishing partnerships withMidway, Interplay, and Sega. While at Player 1 in the late 1990s, Marcpioneered the use of film financing techniques for video game projects.

In 2000 Marc began advising investors and companies during the 'Web 1.0'phase of online gaming. In early 2002 Marc returned to alternative finance, and has  become an innovator and promoter of film-style production finance and risk management techniques in video games and interactive entertainment. Marc has worked as an expert financial advisor for clients such as: Warner Bros Interactive; Deutsche Bank/HVB(game funding consortium); Film Finances Inc (the completion guarantor, where he headed the interactive division from 2004-2006 and assisted in arranging and managing risk on $75M in game production financing); and the Eidos Interactive group.

Marc is dual citizen of the US &France, holds an MBA cum laude from the HEC School of Management in Paris and a Bachelors degree from University of Michigan.

Sean Kauppinen
Founder & CEO
International Digital Entertainment Agency

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Sean Kauppinen

Sean Kauppinen is the founder and CEO of the International Digital Entertainment Agency, and has more than 13 years of strategic communications and business development expertise in the interactive entertaiment space. Considered a marketing and business development thought leader in the games industry, Kauppinen has an innate ability to bring companies together and provide strategic guidance that leads to business growth.

Prior to founding the International Digital Entertainment Agency, Kauppinen was the vice president of an interactive entertainment PR firm. Responsible for the company's global operations and client relations, he led the charge in new business efforts and grew the organization from six employees to 30 while increasing revenues by more than 300% during his three and a half year tenure.

Kauppinen currently holds advisory board positions with the GC Developers Conference and GC Asia Conference as well as several start-up and venture stage companies, and is a regular contributor to Gamers Magazine, writing about industry events and trends. He is a sought-after speaker at high-profile industry events around the world, where he has delivered keynote speeches and led interactive sessions on topics including marketing, strategic communications, community development, funding and bringing original IPs to market.

Kauppinen has spent his career planning and executing strategic communications programs for industry giants and start-ups from both corporate and agency positions. During this time he has launched more than 400 titles on all major platforms, ranging from big budget blockbusters to value games. Earlier in his career, Kauppinen was head of international product PR for Sony Online Entertainment and held PR and marketing management positions with Ubi Soft, bleem!, and 3dfx. He spent the first five years of his career on the agency side, working for global PR agency GolinHarris and investor relations firm Morgen-Walke Associates.

Wojtek Kawczynski
SVP and General Manager
SilverBirch Studios

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Wojtek Kawcynski

Pierre Le Lann
Co-CEO
Tribal Nova

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Pierre Le Lann

Tribal Nova specializes in producing and operating children online gaming and VOD services as well as virtual worlds in partnership withBroadcasters such as PBS, as well as Internet Service Providers and Portals such as AOL, Orange and Bell Canada. Tribal Nova also develops online games in partnership with leading television producers such asDecode Entertainment, Cookie Jar Entertainment, Nelvana, or Marathon for both the European and North American markets.

Pierre started in kids interactive in 1995, when he built Periodica Multimedia, a division responsible for marketing children edutainmentPC games. He went on to create and run PTM kids, a studio developing children interactive games that counted Disney and Ubisoft among its clients. Then Pierre joined Radio-Canada/CBC as director of business development first of the New Media division and then of the Merchandising division. He then founded Tribal Nova with long term friend and colleague Guillaume Aniorte. Pierre Le Lann holds a Master's degree in marketing from Texas A&M University.

Jane Pinckard
Business Development Analyst
Foundation 9 Entertainment

Jane Pinckard

Wanda Meloni
President and Senior Technology Analyst
DFC Intelligence

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Wanda Meloni

As President and Senior Technology Analyst of DFC Intelligence, Wanda Meloni reports on the trends in digital media and entertainment. Ms. Meloni is widely recognized as a leading analyst in the field and is particularly focused on emerging trends and technologies.  

Ms. Meloni has spent the last ten years providing strategic market development support for many of the top gaming and entertainment companies to assist them with their product positioning and investment criteria. Prior to joining DFC Intelligence, Ms. Meloni was President of M2 Research, a market research firm focused on digital media technologies used for 3D graphics, video editing and audio production. She has published numerous market studies on the tools used by the creative community for game development, film and post-production, broadcast, CAD, and simulation.

Ms. Meloni holds an MBA in International Business and speaks several languages. She frequently contributes articles to various trade publications, speaks at industry events, and is quoted in numerous publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Globe and Mail, Fortune Magazine and Computer Graphics World.

She can be reached at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Daniel Mothersill
President
National Angel Organization

Daniel Mothersill

Daniel Mothersill is a serial entrepreneur and a serial Angel investor, keynote speaker, and lecturer with hands-on experience in industries ranging from telecommunications, to green technologies, to resources, to IT. In the last decade, he has founded and financed seven companies and spun off three of these as profitable enterprises.

Jenna Seguin
Loan Officer
Aver Media

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Jenna Seguin

Jenna has been with Aver Media since its inception in the summer of 2006. As a loan officer with Aver, Jenna has successfully assisted a wide variety of clients with their production financing needs on projects including feature films, television series, documentaries and animation productions. She brings a wide and diverse range of skills to her position.

Prior to joining Aver, Jenna was an associate lawyer at Goodmans LLP working primarily in their corporate/commercial litigation group. Originally from Vancouver Island, Jenna obtained her Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from Simon Fraser University in 1998and later graduated with distinction from McGill University, where she received both her Bachelor of Common Law and Civil Law in 2002.

Robert Shoniker
Principal
Courage Capital

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Robert Shoniker

Over the past eighteen years as President of R.G. Shoniker &Associates Inc. and Courage Capital Corporation, Mr. Shoniker has arranged more than $800 million of financings, mergers, acquisitions and transactions.  From 1985 to 1987 he was Director, Emerging Growth Investments at McCarthy Securities Limited.  In 1980 he co-founded and became Chief Executive Officer of formerly TSE listed Accugraph Corporation.

Prior to this, he founded two consulting companies, Management Resource Group and R.G. Shoniker & Associates Inc. From1970 to 1975 he was Senior Investment Analyst with Burns Brothers & Denton Limited.  Mr. Shoniker graduated from Queen's University with a B.Comm and an M.B.A. He currently serves on the board of PARTEQInnovations and Mondial Energy.  He is also the Chairman of Bedlam Games, a Toronto based video game software developer.

Julian Spillane
CEO
Frozen North Productions

Julian Spillane

Julian attended the University of Waterloofor Software Engineering and has taken a great interest in applyingprinciples of engineering design to software development in the games industry.

Julian is also the founder and Chair of the Toronto Independent Games Conference.

Sheldon Stevens
CFO
Fuel Industries

Sheldon Stevens

As Chief Financial Officer for Fuel Industries, Sheldon Stevens provides sound strategy and economic direction for one of North America’s most advanced digital studios.  He  graduated from St. Francis Xavier University with a degree in Business Administration and is also a qualified Chartered Accountant and Certified Management Consultant.

Sheldon worked with Ernst & Young’s accounting and management consulting groups before joining Husky Injection Molding Systems where he implemented an EVATM based incentive compensation system. In 1995, he joined Deloitte Consulting where he managed projects within both the Value Based Management and Change Leadership service lines.  Mr. Stevens has also held the position of CFO with LuxurySquare.com, an Internet retailer, and with DNA Genotek., a world leader in DNA sample collection. Sheldon has sat on the board of HireTopTalent Inc, an Internet-based resource for displaced technology workers worldwide and Network Planning Systems, an Ottawa based software company.

Currently, along with his efforts at Fuel, Mr. Stevens is the CFO for several technology and biotech companies, leading the efforts in the areas of financing and building the business infrastructure necessary for growth. 

Tom Sweeney
Co-Founder
Garage Technology Ventures Canada LP

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Tom Sweeney

Tom Sweeney is the co-founder and a general partner of Garage Technology Ventures Canada, a Canadian-based, early-stage venture capital fund that is the strategic affiliate of Garage Technology Ventures in Palo Alto and the Band of Angels in Menlo Park, California.

Mr. Sweeney has over 25 years of international experience working with technology companies, intellectual property, competitive strategy and innovation. His professional career includes leading two technology companies as CEO, management consulting from the Silicon Valley region, an IPO as the head of marketing for a networking company, classified work evaluating emerging technologies, and serving as an F-18 fighter pilot.

After graduating summa cum laude and Cadet Wing Commander from Canada’s Royal Military College, Mr. Sweeney flew fighters in Europe. During his military career he served as the Canadian representative to a U.S. intelligence organization and a NATO-certified tactical evaluation officer and force package leader for air wing operations. Mr. Sweeney earned several international commendations for his work with airborne avionics and weapon systems, the results of which were successfully used in the Gulf War.

Mr. Sweeney was the CEO and Founder of Abilon Inc., a pioneering software company that was amongst the first companies in North America to develop business-to-business Web applications that securely accessed databases over IP networks. Abilon’s platform won best-in-class distinction for B2B innovation from the Gartner Group, prior to the company being acquired.

As the President & CEO of Classwave Wireless Inc, an international company that launched the first server platform for delivering voice and data to mobile devices through wireless access points, Mr. Sweeney was selected as a finalist for the Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2000.

Prior to co-founding Garage Canada, Mr. Sweeney was the Managing Director of Accel Ventures LP, a strategic consulting firm focused on the IT, Internet, medical device, clean technology and advanced materials sectors.

Mr. Sweeney is a frequent international speaker on the subjects of innovation, competitive strategy and intellectual property. He is an advisor to Garage Technology Ventures in Palo Alto, one of Silicon Valley’s top performing venture funds, and is the Chairman of the Venture Capital and Intellectual Property Working Group of the Canada-California Strategic Innovation Partnership Program.

Jeff Tremblay
VP Business Development
Frima Studio

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Jeff Tremblay

Evan Van Zelfden
Journalist

Evan Van Zelfden

As a journalist, Mr Van Zelfden has written about the international business of videogames and technology for numerous magazines, websites, and trades, from the Reuters news agency to The Economist.

Agnes Zak
Regional Director, Business Development (interim) Regional Executive, New Media - Telefilm

Agnes Zak, Regional Director, Business Development (interim) Regional Executive, New Media - Telefilm

Agnes Zak currently holds the position of Regional Director, Business Development (Interim) and Regional Executive, New Media - Telefilm.

Ms.Zak possesses impressive experience in both the high-tech and start-upsectors. She honed her digital media expertise at ExtendMedia Inc., asoftware and media services company. Her hands on experience oftechnical and creative aspects of digital media created a perfect matchfor Telefilm’s Canada New Media Fund, which she joined as an Analyst in2001.

Since then Agnes has held the positions of Analyst,Television and New Media, and Analyst, Feature Film before beingappointed to lead and manage New Media Unit. In her role of RegionalExecutive, New Media Agnes is responsible for making financingdecisions for English-language new media concepts from the Ontarioregion.

As the Regional Director, Business Development Ms.Zak’s plays a key role in helping to achieve Telefilm’s vision:“Canadian talent, creating Canadian content that engages Canadians andthe world.” Her focus is on regional business development, whichincludes building and strengthening relations with stakeholders andcontributors, identifying special programs, events and initiatives tostimulate the project pipeline, build local talent and improve clientcapacity to succeed in a multiplatform environment.