Rogers Wavefront Innovation Mentorship Program

Rogers Wavefront and Rogers present a national development program designed to provide early stage wireless technology companies in Canada with comprehensive support, coaching and resources positioning them for long-term commercial success. [+]

Entrepreneurship at Wavefront
Twelve great early-stage B.C. wireless companies were chosen for 2nd annual 12-month program; Receiving Wavefront office space & access to Wavefront's expert advisory, training, testing & market linkage services. [Check Out Winners]

Wireless Startups: Looking for Incubator Space?

Wavefront Accelerator CentreThe Wavefront Accelerator Centre in downtown Vancouver is actively seeking innovative wireless start-ups to join its talented family of wireless entrepreneurs; now 2x capacity @14,000 sq ft. Rental packages start from $250/mo. Spots going fast, so APPLY TODAY.

Wavefront Accelerated Program with NRC-IRAP

Canadian MoneyProviding wireless and new media developers with financial assistance for easier access to Wavefront's commercialization resources: strategic assessment, technical preparation/consulting and biz dev support. [+]

 
 
 

The Team

ABOUT
THE TEAM
James Maynard : President & CEO
Brian Roberts : Vice President, Business Development & Strategy
Alan Swain : Vice President, Technology & Operations
Hélène Joncas : Vice President, Eastern Region
Tiffany Chester: Director, Marketing
Brad Lowe : Wireless Accelerator Architect
Shannon Kaustinen : Director, Finance & Administration
Lesley Weir : Executive Administrator
Patty Lee : Marketing Manager
Izabella Bachmanek : Events Manager
Tracey Maynard : Marketing and Communications Coordinator
Geoff Ledingham : Sales Operations Manager
Nathan Robinson : Business Development Manager
Patrick Hennessy : Business Development Manager
Greg Toews : Wireless Lab Engineer
Hazim Sharaf eldin : Program Manager

JAMES MAYNARD / PRESIDENT & CEO

As President & CEO of Wavefront, Jim is responsible to lead the teams that are charged with accelerating the growth and success of wireless companies in Canada by engaging them with critical resources, partners and opportunities. In doing this, Wavefront is positioned to drive economic and social benefits for Canada.

He brings more than 20 years of innovative business practices and solid experience in the technology sector, to this role. As a Founder of VST Canada (Canada’s largest digital narrow-casting network) and responsible for business development for VST International, he was a part of the team that concluded the joint venture with Daktronics to form Fuelcast Media Networks.

Prior to VST, Jim worked with Sun Microsystems and established Sapient Technologies Group – a successful business strategy consulting firm for early to mid-stage technology companies.

Jim holds a Bachelor of Administration (with Distinction) from the University of Regina (SK) and is a graduate of the Executive Graduate Program at Queen’s University (Kingston ON). Recognized as a Canadian business leader, he was recruited by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada to participate in their new Foreign Investment Promotion Strategy and is recognized as an Investment Champion, in the program. Jim is a Director in both CWTA (Chair, Trade Member Council) and DigiBC.

BRIAN ROBERTS / VICE PRESIDENT, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & STRATEGY

With more than 16 years experience in the wireless industry Brian Roberts has a long history of accelerating and expanding the sales results of wireless carriers. Prior to joining Wavefront Brian was General Manager, Business Sales at Bell Mobility where he was a key architect behind an accelerated growth strategy in British Columbia. Prior to Bell, Brian launched and developed the sales distribution network across western Canada as Director of Sales for Fido, a new Canadian wireless carrier. Brian started his wireless career with Rogers Wireless in a variety of roles culminating in his position as Director of Enterprise Sales. In addition to his wireless experience Brian has experience as VP of Sales and Marketing for an internet payment company doing business development in North America, Asia and Europe.

Brian has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Victoria and has completed additional executive programs at the Richard Ivey School of Business.

 

Alan SwainALAN SWAIN, P. ENG. / VICE PRESIDENT, TECHNOLOGY & OPERATIONS

Alan has over twenty years of experience in the wireless industry.  Prior to joining Wavefront, Alan was Director of Professional Services at Sierra Wireless where he led a team of project managers, integration engineers, RF engineers and hardware engineers that provided technical assistance, professional services and accredited UE testing services globally to OEMs.

Previous to Sierra Wireless, Alan served as part of the management team of Soft Tracks Enterprises Inc., a provider of innovative wireless payment solutions, where he held the position of Vice President responsible for research, product development and IP portfolio management. IP Applications acquired Soft Tracks in 2004.

Alan started his career in the wireless industry at Motorola, working there for fifteen years. While at Motorola, he held various senior management, sales and engineering positions focusing on the wireless data business. During his later years at Motorola, Alan was responsible for direct sales and business development of the company’s wireless packet data networks throughout much of South East Asia and Greater China.

Alan has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Calgary.

 

Brad LoweBRAD LOWE / WIRELESS ACCELERATOR ARCHITECT

Brad Lowe has been active in the Vancouver technology community for 20 years, working in management positions at Nokia, Redback Networks, Abatis, and MacDonald Dettwiler. Most recently, Brad was Director of Research and Development and Head of Nokia's Program Centre in Vancouver, BC. He also served as the chair of Nokia's Canadian Management team. At the Vancouver R&D facility, Brad led Nokia's efforts in building Nokia's new business portfolio including devices like the Nokia N96 and N91, as well as services like Nokia's music and gaming solutions.

While at Nokia, Brad drove the integration of Nokia into the greater Canadian wireless community, working with academia and industry associations to build up the industry ecosystem of developers and researchers. Brad developed the Nokia University Relations program which provided research topics, equipment, course material, funding and an opportunity for collaboration between Canadian universities and the wireless industry. Brad also served on the board of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association and WINBC. He has lectured at BC universities and has also spoken at numerous industry and academic conferences.

 

Shannon KaustinenSHANNON KAUSTINEN, B. MGT, CGA / DIRECTOR, FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION

Shannon has over 15 years of accounting, finance and human resources experience in both private and public companies. She has extensive experience in overseeing all aspects of financial services, including operational accounting, auditing, reporting and budgeting. She has also been involved in corporate financings, vertical amalgamations and corporate reorganizations.  Her portfolio of work has largely been in the bio tech sector, including companies like ID Biomedical, Xenon Genetics, Protiva Biotheraputics Inc. and iCo Therapeutics Inc.

In addition to her CGA designation, she also holds a public practice licence and a Bachelor of Management degree from the University of Lethbridge, majoring in Human Resources and Marketing. She is also in the Executive Leadership program at CGA (BC).  Shannon is a passionate volunteer and very active in the community. She holds a National Certificate in Fund Raising Management (with distinction) and her many volunteer roles include mentoring new Canadians and students.

 

LESLEY WEIR / EXECUTIVE ADMINISTRATOR

Prior to joining Wavefront in February 2008 as the Executive Administrator, Lesley held the position of Executive Assistant for Spectrum Signal Processing a developer of digital signal processing systems for wireless communications. Ms. Weir was with Spectrum for 8 years and prior to that time worked in administrative roles for various other companies after emigrating from Australia in 1989.

 

PATTY LEE / MARKETING MANAGER

Patty Lee is a motivated and experienced B2B marketing self-starter with proven track record of strategizing and executing highly effective marketing communications campaigns that have captured thought leadership and increased sales. With over nine years of marketing experience in global marketing, brand positioning, promotions, public relations, building websites, Ms. Lee's broad experience fits perfectly to help Wavefront accelerate the growth of Canada's growing wireless community.

Prior to Wavefront, Ms. Lee was in charge of corporate marketing at ClearForest, a high tech company providing business solutions enabled by text analytics, supplying the analytical bridge between text and enterprise data. In addition, Ms. Lee played an integral role at launching a new Digilab, a spin-off life science instrumentation company from Bio-Rad Laboratories. Ms. Lee successfully developed marketing programs for Digilab's core products as well as handling its new strategic partnership with Hitachi which included establishing a joint brand and support for an additional network of direct, indirect sales and channel partners. In her spare time, Ms. Lee is a certified salesforce.com implementation partner.

Ms. Lee has a Bachelor of Science degree from MIT Sloan School of Management in Management Science-Market Research with a Minor in Music Performance.

 

GEOFF LEDINGHAM / SALES OPERATIONS MANAGER

Geoff Ledingham is a seasoned marketing professional with 10 years of combined Product and Project Management experience in the telecommunications industry. He has managed high tech services targeted at both the B2B and B2C markets and has successfully led cross-functional teams through the product development cycle from idea generation to market launch. Prior to joining Wavefront, Mr. Ledingham was responsible for the product development of a mobile application and VoIP service at EQO Communications. He has also managed a suite of IP-based networking services at two national telecommunications companies: Bell Canada and Allstream.

Mr. Ledingham has a Bachelor of Applied Science degree from the University of Guelph and has completed many management programs at the Richard Ivey School of Business (University of Western Ontario) and the Schulich School of Business (York University).

 

Greg ToewsGREG TOEWS / WIRELESS LAB ENGINEER

Greg Toews has over eight years in the wireless telecommunications industry. Previous to Wavefront, Greg was a Senior QA Engineer at EQO communications, a company providing an application that brings VOIP services such as instant messaging, calling and texting to your mobile phone. Greg gained experience coding in several scripting languages and became an accomplished database administrator. Prior to EQO, Greg spent six years in mobile infrastructure at Telos Technology where he was involved in everything from the design, to the operation of carrier class cellular networks that spanned all technologies, from 2 to 3G. Greg worked on some unique applications including the installation of base stations on cruise ships or mounting base stations on autonomous aircrafts flying over battlefields.

Greg has a Bachelors of Engineering degree from the University of Victoria specializing in Communications Engineering.

 

Tiffany ChesterTIFFANY CHESTER / DIRECTOR OF MARKETING

Tiffany Chester brings 16 years of sales and marketing experience to her role as the Director of Marketing at Wavefront. Prior to joining Wavefront, Tiffany led the marketing team at Tagga Media, a mobile marketing company providing technology and services globally. She was also a member of the team that launched Lat49, an online ad network that was an early entrant and innovator in the “mapvertising” (location-based advertising) space. Other experience includes: IDELIX Software, a UI company whose IP sold in 2008; HollyWords Publicity, a PR firm that was one of the first to produce electronic press kits for film industry clients; and Medistaff, an international recruitment firm that was acquired in 1998.

Tiffany has an MBA from Royal Roads University (specialization in Management Consulting) and Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia

 

Hazim Sharaf eldinHAZIM SHARAF ELDIN / PROGRAM MANAGER

Hazim has over ten years of telecom, content portals, and value added services technologies (both web and mobile) experience including stakeholder management, project management, business and market analysis and process design.

Prior to joining Wavefront, Hazim was the Content & Third Party Services Delivery Manager at du, an Emirates Integrated Telecommunication company, where he was key in growing du's content delivery services and platforms. Prior to du, Hazim was part of the Vodafone Global professional services team that developed, managed, and launched Vodafone Live with several operators across Europe and Middle east. He has also held various positions with Vodafone Egypt and Vodafone UK.

Hazim has a Bachelor of Computer Science and a Masters of Computer Science from the American University in Cairo, minor in Economics, a project management diploma from Cambridge University, and is currently working on MBA at Simon Frasier University.

 

Nathan RobinsonNATHAN ROBINSON / BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Nathan brings over 14 years of business development and technology evangelizing experience to Wavefront, with over 10 of those in the wireless space. Prior to joining the team at Wavefront Nathan was COO at a medical device start-up where he spearheaded the launch of both wholesale and direct sales channels. Nathan’s wireless experience began with Research in Motion, where his business development and partnering efforts secured Tier 1 wireless carriers in Canada and the U.S. Nathan held various roles of increasing responsibility while at RIM, concluding at Director of CDMA Business, Marketing & Operations. After RIM, Nathan successfully launched a Bluetooth business at Gennum Corporation in his role as Director of Business Development, and subsequently led the spin out of the business unit out to a European concern.

Nathan has a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree from Queen’s University, Kingston Ontario.

 

Patrick HennessyPATRICK HENNESSY / BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

With 20 years experience in the telecommunications industry, Patrick Hennessy has a history of leading top performing sales teams in complex, competitive and changing industries. Prior to joining Wavefront, Patrick was the BC Enterprise Sales Manager at Bell Mobility. Prior to Bell, Patrick had sales leadership roles at Call-Net Enterprises, Sprint Canada, Bell Nexxia and 360 Networks. In addition to his telecommunications background Patrick has experience as VP of Sales and Marketing for workforce management software organization which focused staff scheduling and optimization solutions for healthcare organizations throughout North America.

Patrick has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario, a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from Carleton University and has completed additional programs at the Richard Ivey School of Business.

 

Tracey MaynardTRACEY MAYNARD / MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR

Tracey Maynard is the Marketing and Communications Coordinator at Wavefront. Before joining the Wavefront team in 2008, Tracey spent one year working in Stockholm, Sweden. Over the last 6 years, Tracey has held marketing roles at various high-tech companies including Sun Microsystems and Stockgroup Information Systems.

Tracey completed her Bachelor of Arts in History and a Certificate in Sustainable Community Development at Simon Fraser University.

 

Izabella BachmanekIZABELLA BACHMANEK / EVENTS MANAGER

Izabella brings enthusiasm, creativity and excellent organizational skills to her role as Events Manager at Wavefront. She has over 6 years of experience planning business events for major companies in the professional services, health care and travel industries. Prior to joining the Wavefront marketing team, Izabella was a member of the National Events Management department at KPMG in Toronto where she planned national and local conferences, training and marketing events. She is happy to now be living on the west coast and enjoys getting outdoors in her spare time. Izabella majored in Psychology at the University of Maine and Brock University and completed several Event Management courses at Ryerson University.

 

Helene JoncasHÉLÈNE JONCAS / VP, EASTERN REGION

As VP of Wavefront’s Eastern Region, Hélène is responsible to instill and carry out its mandate there - by working with our partners to help Canadian innovators overcome major go-to-market hurdles - offering them global market linkages, cost-effective testing and validation services, business and technical training, and advisory services.

She brings more than 20 years of experience in innovation driven organizations in the private and not-for-profit sectors having founded two start-ups in the wireless space, imGenie and SIPquest (now CounterPath). During her time at Nortel, she held senior roles in the Wireless line of business, having responsibility for the Nortel-Microsoft relationship, as well as leading the development of Unified Communications solutions for the Carrier market.

Prior to Wavefront, Hélène was Chief Strategy Officer at CANARIE where she conceived and fostered the development of a cloud initiative aimed at accelerating innovation and commercialization among small and medium tech companies.

Hélène is fluently bilingual (English & French), holds both an Honours BA in psychology and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Ottawa and is the recipient of the Trudeau Medal from the Telfer School of Management – its highest alumni honour.

 

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