Ronald Dekker, Michael Hyatt, Jeff Musson, Ray Sharma, and moderator John Stackhouse
Building vs. Selling: What’s Best for Canada? What’s Best for Canadian Technology Businesses?
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The C.D. Howe Institute’s inaugural Entrepreneurs Debate Series Event will bring together industry veterans; public sector leaders; and the entrepreneur community to discuss key issues related to entrepreneurship in Canada. At the inaugural event, our esteemed panelists Ronald Dekker, Vice President, Corporate Development, Cisco Systems Canada; Michael Hyatt, Executive Chairman & Co-Founder, BlueCat; Jeff Musson, Founder, North of 41 & President, Dynamic Networks; and Ray Sharma, Founder & Executive Managing Partner, Extreme Venture Partners discussed the building and selling Canadian businesses. The panel discussed when to build v. sell; who to sell to; how to build the entrepreneurial technology space in Canada; and what to do with profits of a sold start-up. The panelists were introduced by Randall Blackwood, Vice President of BDC, and discussion was moderated by John Stackhouse.
Ronald J. Dekker is an Executive Sales and Business Development Leader at Cisco Systems Canada. Dekker also serves as a Director on several Technology Boards and Not for Profits. Before Cisco, Ron was CEO of Connex (formerly Cygnal Technologies), Canada’s leading independent provider of wired and wireless communications networks. Ron previously served as VP Alliances & Business Development for Tandberg, the #1 global video communications company where he identified and engaged new market opportunities that delivered the Company’s next generation of innovation and growth (before the Company was sold to Cisco). Prior to Tandberg, Ron founded and served as CEO and Director of OneConnect, Canada’s first and market-leading IP services provider. Prior to OneConnect, Ron was President & CEO of Ericsson Wireless Internet and before that, President of Williams Communications Canada which he grew profitably before selling to Telus. Ron has extensive global experience in telecommunications markets, specific skills in management and strategic planning, and a proven track record of delivering strong leadership and profitability. Ron is a member of the Young Presidents Organization, a charter member of the Academy of Technology CEOs, volunteered for 6 rewarding years on the Board of Directors for the Children’s Aid Foundation and currently volunteers as Event Chair for Community Rocks to raise necessary funding in support of intellectually handicapped people at Community Living Toronto. Cisco most recently appointed Dekker as Executive Lead for their Premier ICT sponsorship of the TO2015 Pan/Parapan Am Games.
Michael Hyatt is the Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Bluecat Networks and a recipient of the Top 40 Under 40™ Award. Michael is a weekly business commentator on CBC News Network and one of the new “Dragons” on CBC’s Next Gen Den – Dragon’s Den. Michael also co-founded Dyadem, a highly successful software company that was acquired by IHS (NYSE: IHS). He is also a finalist in Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award and Chairs his families’ charitable foundation.
Jeff Musson is an accomplished entrepreneur with 10 years experience in achieving corporate goals. As president of Dynamitenetwork.com, a leading software development company, specializing in the area of enterprise websites, mobile and automotive apps; Jeff has been responsible for leading the Dynamite team on a continual growth trajectory, year over year.
By leveraging his experience, Jeff has been able to demonstrate a keen ability to affect significant change through simplifying complex challenges and by motivating colleagues to meet desired business outcomes.
In addition to Dynamitenetwork.com, Jeff is the founder of the grass-roots entrepreneurial tech organization, North of 41. The goal of North of 41 is to connect tech entrepreneurs across North America. To date, there are over 12,000 North of 41 members.
Ray Sharma is a leader in the technology development and investment economy with specific expertise in mobile. Ray has shared his experiences at events worldwide including the Milken Institute Global Conference (Los Angeles), FICCI Frames (Mumbai), Mobile Games Forum (London), Scotia Captial Apps Conference (Toronto), CTIA Mobile Web & Apps (San Francisco); guest lectures at MIT Sloan School of Management, University of Toronto Rotman School of Management, Stanford Business School.
Ray has been involved as a founder in several startups of interest. Ray is the founder and Executive Managing Partner of Extreme Venture Partners. EVP is an accomplished venture capital firm, as determined by exits and investment returns. Ray is also the founder and Chairman of XMG Studio, a critically acclaimed game studio with tens of millions of fans worldwide. Ray was also a founder and former Chairman of Xtreme Labs, a World-class mobile and web application developer. At the time of its sale to private investors, Xtreme Labs was Canada’s largest mobile app developer.
Previously Ray spent over 10 years in wireless technology investment banking research. During that period Ray was the top-ranked wireless technology analyst based on Greenwich and Brendan Woods International surveys of fund managers for 5 of 8 eligible years. During his research career Ray evangelized a vision that the smartphone represents a generational shift in computing away from the PC.
Ray serves the community through appointments including: Board of Trustees, Royal Ontario Museum; Advisory Panel on Open Government, Treasury Board of Canada; National Council, CD Howe Institute; creator and leader of the Great Canadian Appathon (GCA) and Canadian Open Data Experience (CODE) national hackathon competitions.
John Stackhouse served as the editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail from 2009-2014, and holds both a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University, as well as an honorary doctorate from the University of Windsor.
Previously, John Stackhouse served as editor of Report on Business and was also the newspaper’s national editor, foreign editor, correspondent at large, and from 1992 to 1999, was the development issues correspondent based in New Delhi. He has also worked for the Financial Times, London Free Press and The Toronto Star. Mr. Stackhouse has won five national newspaper awards, a national magazine award and an Amnesty International Award for human rights reporting. He is the author of two books, “Out of Poverty” and “Timbit Nation: A Hitchhikers Guide to Canada,”, and a contributing author to “The Bre-X Fraud,” “Travels with My Laptop” and “Foreign Correspondent: Fifty Years of Reporting South Asia.”
During his career, Mr. Stackhouse has interviewed global figures such as Vladimir Putin, Kofi Annan, the Aga Khan, Al Gore, Alan Greenspan, Manmohan Singh, and Benazir Bhutto, among others.
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