Kathryn leads Amplify Capital, formerly MaRS Catalyst Fund, an impact venture fund based in Toronto and focused on investing in Canadian ventures solving social and environmental challenges through technology and business.  The Fund has a focus on generating outsize returns from early stage impact venture investing.  The Fund targets investments in clean energy, healthcare and education markets with quantified impact outcome targets for each sector.  Catalyst Fund investors include Richard Branson’s Virgin Unite Foundation, family offices, a pension fund and high net worth individuals.

Kathryn started her career in investment banking then quickly moved to in venture capital and private equity where she saw the opportunity to make a long term investment and be part of building value and growth.   In Toronto, Kathryn spent time at CIBC Capital Partners, BMO Capital and Lynx Equity, a succession fund. In New York, Kathryn actively invested and managed a portfolio of early stage media technology companies with Constellation Ventures, a Bear Stearns-sponsored venture capital fund. Kathryn also actively invested and managed strategic insurance technology investments for MetLife, the largest life insurer in the United States, and subsequently joined its corporate development team to create new products and services.

Kathryn has held a number of board roles and participated in a number of exits, including strategic acquisitions, follow-on financings and IPOs for portfolio companies she managed directly.  In 2012, Kathryn jumped to a CEO role and managed operations through Toronto-based search fund Crest Capital.   Her passion for social finance was born a decade ago when she joined Social Venture Partners NYC and then subsequently founded Social Venture Partners Toronto. Kathryn was born and raised in Toronto and has an undergraduate degree from the University of Western Ontario and an MBA from Columbia University in New York.

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Dr. Douville is Managing Partner and Co-founder of AmorChem, a Québec-based seed venture fund dedicated to financing and commercializing university-based life sciences technologies.  Launched in 2011 with a capital of $41,25M, the AmorChem fund model uniquely combines access to financial resources with a virtual incubator structure that enables the rapid development and commercialization of life science technologies.  The first fund successfully built a portfolio of 24 technologies, leveraged its initial capital to close to $76M with non-dilutive sources, transacted three pharma exits and spun out six biotech companies.  The AmorChem II fund was launched in September of 2017 and now has $53.7M in capital under management with a mandate to invest in both the provinces of Québec and Ontario.

Elizabeth brings to AmorChem a deep and long-standing experience in venture capital investing having been General Partner of GeneChem, a leading North American life sciences venture capital fund manager.  She joined GeneChem in 1997, moving rapidly from Manager to Partner with the different funds under management.  Elizabeth is very involved and active in the life sciences industry, providing guidance and leadership on the boards of several companies and organizations.  In addition to her participation on the boards of portfolio companies Mperia Therapeutics, Corbin Therapeutics, SemaThera and Fairhaven Pharma, she has recently been appointed Chair of Genome Canada; a not-for-profit organization funded by the Canadian Federal Government to support applied genomics.  She is also an active board member of BioCanRx, a Networks of Centers of Excellence for Bio-Therapeutics for Cancer Treatment and is a Member of the CFI, the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Elizabeth trained as a biochemist, obtaining her PhD from the University of Ottawa and a post-doctoral fellow from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London, UK. She also has a business degree from CIREM/HEC.

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Natty Nashman is the co-founder and Managing Partner of INcapital Ventures, a Canadian Venture Capital fund dedicated to investing in early growth stage Israeli technology companies in sectors such as: data engineering, fintech, cyber security, IoT and artificial intelligence.  At INcapital, Natty leads a team of successful technology entrepreneurs, with strong relationships within the Israeli start up eco-system and a successful track record of investments.

Previously, Natty was a principal at MBN Capital, a private family vehicle which focused on early stage B2B software companies. At MBN Capital, she evaluated investment opportunities, mentored and provided scaling opportunities to her portfolio companies.  Prior to MBN Capital, Natty was part of the corporate strategy team and an active board member at Clarity Systems.  Clarity was the global leading independent vendor for corporate performance management solutions, prior to its acquisition by IBM in 2010.

Natty is also the acting chair of the Innovation Hub at Mount Sinai Hospital where she is working to establish an accelerator for early stage companies in the healthcare field, in collaboration with the hospital and the Lunenfeld-Tenenbaum Research Institute.

Natty holds a Bachelor of Science form Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business, Western University.

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Sam has over 20 years of entrepreneurial, technology and venture capital experience. He founded iGan Partners in 2013 and iGan is now the largest healthcare VC investor in Canada. As Managing Director, Sam is involved in the evaluation, structuring, execution, and support of iGan’s investments. Sam is a leader in the commercialization of innovative healthcare technologies in both the medical device and healthcare IT sectors. Currently, Sam is Chairman of eSight and MolecuLight and sits on the board of seven other MedTech companies and has helped oversee six exits. Prior to founding iGan Partners, Sam co-founded and exited several companies including Visualsonics, Tri-Link Technologies and Brighter Minds. Sam started his career as a strategy consultant with Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman) where he advised Fortune 500 companies on corporate strategy. Sam holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from McGill University and an MBA from The John Molson School of Business.

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Tom Kennedy is the founder of Kensington Capital Partners and Chair of the Investment Committee. Tom serves on the Advisory Boards of several private equity funds and private companies and has been an active supporter of the Private Equity and Venture Capital business in Canada. His public service and philanthropic work has been a longstanding, and focused on education and healthcare.

Tom’s previous experience includes 10 years in operational and management positions with Consolidation Coal Co. and Alberta Energy Company. He has investment banking experience as a senior executive with Bunting Warburg, Lancaster and TD Securities.

Tom holds a B.Sc.Eng. (Mining) from Queen’s University and a D.B.A. from the University of Edinburgh and is a professional engineer.

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Tech titan Michele Romanow is an engineer and a serial entrepreneur who started five companies before her 33rd birthday. Michele is the co-founder of Clearbanc, which invested more than $150 million in 500 companies in 2018 with plans to invest $1 billion this year. She previously co-founded SnapSaves, which was acquired by American tech giant, Groupon in 2014. Michele was also the co-Founder of Buytopia.ca, which acquired ten competitors including Shop.ca and WagJag and was ranked #3 on the Profit Hot 50 list of fastest growing companies. She’s ranked in WXN’s “100 Most Powerful in Canada” and listed as the only Canadian on Forbes magazine’s “Millennial on a Mission” list.

Michele is a prolific angel investor and the winner of Angel Investor of the Year award. She co-founded the Canadian Entrepreneurship Initiative with Richard Branson to encourage entrepreneurship.

Michele has created digital solutions for many of the world’s leading brands, including P&G, Netflix, Starbucks, and Cirque du Soleil. She began her career as the Director of Strategy for Sears, where she led apparel growth  — a $2.5 billion category at the time.

In the media, Michele’s work has been profiled in Forbes, Canadian Business, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, and Chatelaine.

During her Civil Engineering undergrad at Queen’s University, Michele founded The Tea Room, the first zero-consumer-waste coffee shop. At Queen’s, she was given the Queen’s Tricolour — the highest honor awarded by the university — and, after completing her Queen’s MBA, she founded Evandale Caviar, a vertically integrated commercial fishery.

Michele is a director for Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN), Freshii (TSX: FRII), League of Innovators, Queen’s School of Business and Shad International –  a transformational program that develops the entrepreneurial potential of exceptional Canadian youth.

Michele is a Calgary native and currently splits her time between Toronto and San Francisco.

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André is a corporate partner in Osler’s Toronto Office. His practice focuses on M&A, startups and venture capital financing. André advises a broad range of foreign and Canadian clients operating in various industries, including software, digital media, online commerce, financial services, retail, food & beverage and renewable energy. André represents emerging and growth stage businesses, and strategic and financial investors in and acquirers of such businesses, and he is involved in numerous local and national innovation, incubator and business accelerator initiatives. André regularly advises foreign companies investing in or establishing Canadian ventures and helps structure, negotiate and implement a variety of complex commercial contracts involving the development, licensing and acquisition of intellectual property and technology.

He has developed expertise in international joint venture transactions and has assisted clients in incorporating and investing in new ventures and related governance matters. André represents several domestic and international investment funds in connection with their Canadian activities. André’s M&A practice has a particular industry focus on (i) media, technology, and e-commerce, (ii) alternative asset funds and wealth management, and (iii) retail and consumer products.

André provides legal services to a broad range of entrepreneurs, media and technology start-ups and leading academics commercializing ground-breaking IP. He has been at the centre of some of the largest and most strategic M&A activity in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) space and has acted for several leading academics in machine learning and AI transactions with global consumer internet companies and research institutes.

Andre also plays a central role in Osler’s efforts in Rotman’s Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), Next Canada (Next AI, Next 36 & Next Founders), Peerscale & the League of Innovators.

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Chad practises corporate and securities law with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and corporate/commercial matters in the technology sector. He advises clients in connection with a variety of transactions including acquisitions and divestitures, venture capital, growth equity and private equity financings, joint ventures, strategic alliances and initial public offerings. As a founder and Co-Chair of Osler’s Emerging and High Growth Companies Practice Group, he advises various emerging  and high growth companies operating in the information technology, biotechnology, cleantech and industrial technology sectors, the venture capital funds and investors that finance them and the strategic acquirors who buy them.

Chad has a wide range of industry-related experience in the information technology sector. He was seconded to the legal department of the Canadian subsidiary of a major computer hardware supplier. Further, before becoming a lawyer, he worked as both a software and hardware designer and also founded his own software design and consulting company.

Chad leverages his industry-related experience and computer engineering education to provide tailored advice to technology sector companies in connection with their M&A opportunities, investors in connection with their technology sector investment opportunities and emerging technology companies in connection with their day-to-day activities.

He is prominent figure in the Canadian technology ecosystem and plays a central role in Osler’s efforts with Rotman’s Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), Next Canada (Next AI, Next 36 & Next Founders), Peerscale, the League of Innovators, C100 & CIX.

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Maria Pacella joined Pender in January 2017. She has been investing in emerging growth companies, with a focus on technology businesses since 2001. She spent 11 years with one of Canada’s largest venture capital firms where she invested in multiple early-stage ventures and served on a variety of boards, mostly in the areas of enterprise software, e-commerce and med-tech. Prior to that she worked at a digital media firm assisting the company in operational activities and strategic initiatives. She also worked in financial and technology M & A for the Canadian subsidiary of an international investment firm.

Maria’s experience includes operational roles at early‐stage companies, serving on boards, facilitating M & A’s and leading financings. She has built an extensive technology network across North America, notably in Silicon Valley, and has been a member of C100. She is currently a director on the board of Clarius Mobile Health and BasicGov and an observer on the board of Tantalus Systems. She is also on the SFU Beedie School of Business Advisory Board.

She holds a BBA from Simon Fraser University, is a CFA charterholder and an active member and a past President of CFA Society Vancouver.

As an investor in the rapidly changing world of early stage technology, Maria invests in exceptional entrepreneurs and teams that excel at identifying business opportunities, develop world-class products and are dedicated to building great companies.

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