Chetan Mathur

Chetan Mathur is one of North America’s most successful high-tech entrepreneurs and business visionaries. Over the course of his 20-year career, he has become a trusted advisor to top executives.

Chetan is also the President of the Partner Advisory Board of Global Velocity. Previously, Chetan was the CEO of M Systems Group (M). Prior to joining M, he was the founder and CEO of Sage Information Consultants. Chetan developed Sage into an international technology integrator specializing in the Microsoft enterprise platform.

Chetan is a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and serves on the Board of Directors of LuminaTO, Canada’s pre-eminent festival of Arts & Creativity. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Toronto.

Clara Angotti

President, Next Pathway

Clara Angotti brings more than 15 years of IT consulting experience to the role of President of Next Pathway (Next).

Clara was involved in the growth of Sage Information Consultants from its inception in 1992 and was directly responsible for opening the New York Office in 1999.

In 2002 Clara founded M Systems Group (M), a consulting and managed services provider specializing in messaging and directory services. Clara’s innovative approach to marketing M was featured in the November 2004 issue of PROFIT magazine; this particular issue featured Canada’s Top Women Entrepreneurs. Clara is a three-time finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In July 2006, M Systems Group was sold to Bell Canada Enterprises. At the time of the sale, Clara had grown the company to over 180 consultants and had enterprise-wide agreements with two Canadian banks to manage their messaging and directory services infrastructure.

Clara holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto.

Mark Cohon

CFL Commissioner

Mark Cohon is a well-respected executive, entrepreneur and community leader and is the Chairman of the Next Pathway Advisory Council. In March 2007, Mark was named as the new Commissioner of the CFL. In May of 2006, Mark was a recipient of Canada’s Top 40 under 40, a prestigious national award, which annually honours 40 Canadians in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.

Until July of 2006 Mark served as President and CEO of AudienceView Software Corporation headquartered in Toronto. Mark continues to play an important role in the company as a Director on its Board.

Prior to leading AudienceView, Mark served in several prominent executive positions at Major League Baseball International, was head of International Marketing and Business Development for the National Basketball Association and Chief Development Officer at Petopia, Inc.

Premier Dalton McGuinty appointed Mark as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Ontario Science Centre in February of 2006. Mark also sits on the board Katimavik, Canada’s national youth service organization.

Mark is an avid explorer – he is a former zookeeper at the Metro Toronto Zoo, led a 30 person youth expedition to Siberia in 1990 and worked in the rain forests of Sumatra to study wild orangutans.

Tony Gagliano

Executive Chairman & CEO,
St. Joseph Communications

Tony Gagliano was born in Toronto, Ontario and graduated with a degree in Business Management from Ryerson University. In 1979, he began his rise in the print industry with his first of many positions with St. Joseph Communications. He became General Manager in 1987 and, shortly thereafter, at 29 years of age, was named President. After several years with the organization, he became Chief Executive Officer in 1995. Mr. Gagliano presently serves as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of St. Joseph Communications.

Under Mr. Gagliano’s leadership, St. Joseph Communications, founded by his parents in the basement of their home shortly after emigrating from Italy, has evolved from a small family business with a handful of associates to a national, fully integrated communications/media corporation with more than 2,100 associates from coast to coast. His commitment and dedication can be seen in all areas of the company; from his relationship with clients and company growth to the unique corporate culture at St. Joseph. In 1995, as President and CEO of Canada’s fastest growing printing company, Mr. Gagliano became a recipient of the Financial Post’s "Top 40 under 40."

Tony Gagliano is actively involved in a number of organizations. He is a member of the Young Presidents' Association as well as a Board member of the St. Michael’s Hospital Board and the St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation Board. In addition, he is a cabinet member of Ryerson University in Toronto, a Board Member and Vice President of the Art Gallery of Ontario and an honorary board member of Scouts Canada.

His personal contributions centre on education and the environment, supporting "Partners in Growth" with Scouts Canada, which since its inception has planted over 1,750,000 trees across Canada. St. Joseph was also the first Corporation in Canada to receive the prestigious Financial Post award for environmental excellence.

Tony played an important role in initiating the St. Joseph Foundation, which today provides consistent long-term direction to the charitable activities of St. Joseph Communications and allocates funds to the relief of poverty and the advancement of education.

In October of 2003, Tony Gagliano received the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for "Business to Business, Products and Services" for the Province of Ontario.

Jordan Banks

Managing Director, Facebook Canada

Jordan Banks is the managing director of Facebook Canada, responsible for leading and managing all commercial operations at the Facebook Canada office based in Toronto, Ontario.

Previously, Jordan was the managing partner at Thunder Road Capital, which he founded in 2008 to provide investment and advisory services to early stage technology companies. Jordan was also the chief executive officer of JumpTV (TSX: NLN), a leading broadcaster of sports and international television over the Internet. Hired in 2007, Jordan was a key architect of the merger in 2008 of JumpTV and NeuLion Inc., a company owned by former Computer Associates founder and CEO Charles Wang.

Prior to joining JumpTV, Jordan served as the managing director of eBay Canada. Jordan helped launch eBay Canada in 2000 and was the second employee of the Canadian office of eBay Inc.

In his role of managing director at eBay Canada, Jordan had overall responsibility for the ongoing development of eBay Canada including operations, strategy, and marketing, as well as building the eBay brand and community of users in Canada. Jordan and his team were responsible for growing the activity of Canadians on eBay to over one billion dollars in 2007 which accounted for approximately 25% of all Canadian e-commerce activity.

Before joining eBay Canada, Jordan managed the Licensing and International Business group at the National Hockey League Players’ Association. In this role, he was responsible for supervising and managing global retail product licensees, negotiating license and international event agreements, and identifying and pursuing new areas of business for the organization. A lawyer by profession, Jordan also practiced corporate law at Goodmans in Toronto.

Over the course of the past two decades, Jordan has personally championed numerous efforts relating to raising money and awareness for Alzheimer’s research and care. As part of that commitment, Jordan was the founder of both the Twitter movement called “A Million Tweets to Remember” as well as the popular fundraising event called Sportsfest. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Well.ca, Cogniciti and the Baycrest Centre, as well as sitting on the Advisory Boards of The Mark News, Polar Mobile and the Canadian Innovation Exchange. Jordan is also one of seven business leaders who form the Canadian Football League’s “Commissioner's Council", dedicated to the future growth of the CFL and he is also a member of the Globe and Mail’s Small Business Advisory Panel as well as the Corporate Advisory Committee at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Jordan is a member of the Young President’s Organization and Jordan was previously been named one of Canada's “Top 40 Under 40” honorees – a celebrated, national program that honors leaders for their achievements in leadership, vision, innovation, community involvement and contribution. Additionally. Jordan was also named one of the four inaugural winners of the Hugo Boss “Leave a Mark Award” celebrating “men of excellence” in Canada.

Gary Nobrega

VP, Finance & Operations, GestureTek

Gary is the VP, Finance & Operations with GestureTek, in his role he has full time responsibility for the company’s financial, operations, and administrative activities.

A chartered accountant, he began his career with Price Waterhouse in 1983, subsequently moving into the business side with Clarkson Gordon, then in 1987 to Metro Financial Group as Vice President of Operations for this provider of real estate products.

In 1993 Gary began an independent position as CFO for multiple clients, responsible for all varieties of financial, HR, operations, and administrative functions.

Gary holds an Honors degree from Queens University and is a member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.