OUR NETWORK

NEXT entrepreneurs are given access to internationally acclaimed faculty, entrepreneurs, C-suite executives, investors and domain experts who provide them with education, feedback and actionable insights that can be applied as they build their ventures.

NEXT Canada Faculty

NEXT Canada Faculty are a roster of internationally acclaimed faculty members from the world’s top universities, prominent business leaders, and technical experts who deliver tailored content for all NEXT Canada programs.

AJAY AGRAWAL
Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Vector Institute, NBER

AJUNG MOON
McGill University, Open Roboethics Institute, Government of Canada Advisory Council on AI

AVI GOLDFARB
Rotman School of Management

BETH PORTER
Riff Analytics, MIT Media Lab

CHRISTIAN CATALINI
Sloan School of Management, Libra, Calibra, Facebook

DAVID SHRIER

University of Oxford

FLORIAN SHKURTI
University of Toronto

GRAHAM NEUBIG
Language Technologies Institute of Carnegie Mellon University

GRAHAM TAYLOR
University of Guelph, Canada CIFAR AI Chair, Google Brain Montreal

HONG LUO
Harvard Business School

JOSHUA GANS
Rotman School of Management

KOSTA DERPANIS
Ryerson University, York University, Vector Institute, Vision: Science to Applications

MARA LEDERMAN
Rotman School of Management

MARC BUSCH
Georgetown University

MARCUS BRUBAKER
York University, University of Toronto

RAMANA NANDA
Harvard Business School

RAQUEL URTASUN
Uber ATG, Vector Institute, University of Toronto

REZA SATCHU
Alignvest Management Corp

SANDY PENTLAND
MIT

SANJA FIDLER
University of Toronto, Canada CIFAR AI Chair, NVIDIA

WEIGUANG GUAN
McMaster University

Next AI - Montréal Faculty

Next AI – Montréal Faculty are collection of internationally acclaimed faculty members from the world’s top universities who deliver tailored content for Next AI – Montréal.

ALICIA DESANTOLA
Harvard University

ANDREW MAXWELL
York University

ANN-FRANCES CAMERON
HEC Montréal

CHRISTOPHER PAL
École Polytechnique of Montreal, Canada CIFAR AI Chair

COREY PHELPS
McGill University

DENIS A. GRÉGOIRE
HEC Montréal

DENIS SCHWEIZER
Concordia University

FRANÇOIS BELLAVANCE
HEC Montréal

JACKIE CHEUNG
McGill University, Canada CIFAR AI Chair

JEAN-FRANÇOIS OUELLET
HEC Montréal

JOELLE PINEAU
McGill University, Canada CIFAR AI Chair

LAURENT CHARLIN
HEC Montréal, Canada CIFAR AI Chair

LAURENT SIMON
HEC Montréal

LOUIS HÉBERT
McGill, HEC Montréal

MATHEW PHILP
HEC Montréal

RORY M. MCDONALD
Harvard University

YOSHUA BENGIO
Université de Montréal, Mila, Canada CIFAR AI Chair, IVADO

Entrepreneurs-in-Residence

EiRs are accomplished business leaders who provide our entrepreneurs with 1:1 advice on how to launch and scale.

CHRIS HODGSON
Founder, The Pivt

DEBORAH BEATTY
Vice President Strategic Partnerships, Flybits

TONY VALLE
Founder and CEO, ELM Performance Group

Scientists-in-Residence

SiRs are PhD candidates and professionals specializing in various areas of artificial intelligence. They provide dedicated 1:1 support and guidance to entrepreneurs in the Next AI program.

BORIS KNYAZEV
University of Guelph

DR. MOHAMED NAIEL
University of Waterloo

DEVINDER KUMAR
University of Waterloo

SILVIUS PITIS
University of Toronto

MICHAEL ZHANG
University of Toronto

Investment Committee

The Investment Committee is a group of investors, venture capitalists, and NEXT Canada representatives who assess investment opportunities from NEXT Canada ventures.

PETER CARRESCIA
Chair, NEXT Canada Investment Committee; SVP Strategy and Corporate Development, Wave

KEVIN KIMSA
General Partner, ScaleUP Ventures

MATT SAUNDERS
President, Ryerson Futures

ALEXANDRA MCGREGOR
Director of Programs, NEXT Canada

JIM ORLANDO
Managing Partner, Wittington Ventures

Mentors

Mentors are seasoned entrepreneurs and accomplished industry professionals who provide dedicated ongoing assistance to select Next AI and Next 36 ventures.

ANDREW GRAHAM

CEO and Co-founder, Borrowell

BEN BALDWIN

Founder, ClearFit

BEN YOSKOVITZ

Founding Partner, Highline BETA

BRENNAN MCEACHRAN

CEO and Co-founder, Soapbox

CHRIS YE

Co-founder, Uken Games

BRUCE FAIRLEY

CEO and Founder, Narrative Group

CINDY FAGEN

COO, SAP Labs

CRAIG FOLLET

CEO and Co-founder, universe.com

HOSSEIN RAHNAMA

CEO and Founder, Flybits

IAN MCKINNON

Independent Director

IRENA BARBULOVIC-NAD

Co-founder, Kapplex

KARL MARTIN

VP Operations, integrate.ai

LAURA HANTHO

Corporate Director

LAUREN EPSTEIN

Associate, OMERS Ventures

MICHAEL MCCARTHY

President and CEO, Springer-Miller Systems

MORGAN WYATT

CEO and Founder, Greenlid Envirosciences

TED REESER

President, Celco Inc.

THIAGO CAIRES

CEO, MATR

VALERIE FOX

Chief Innovation Consultant, The Pivotal Point

Next AI - Montréal Mentors

Mentors are seasoned entrepreneurs and accomplished industry professionals who provide dedicated ongoing assistance to select Next AI – Montréal ventures.

ALEX PALMER
Former Co-founder and CEO, FilmYeti

ALEX SHEE
Head of the Office of the CEO and Director, Corporate Development, Element AI

AMÉLIE DESROCHERS
Founder & Strategic advisor, Blumbox

ANASTASIA NOVAC
Team Lead : Regional Product Intelligence, Groupe Dynamite

DANICA VIRGINIA MEREDITH
Co-Founder, Co-lab

DAVID DUFRESNE
Partner, Panache Ventures

DAVID SCIACCA
COO, LIFT session

DEBORAH HAYEK
Head of R&D, Desjardins Lab

DYLAN GROVEN
Director of Business Development, MistyWest

ELEONORA VELLA
Program Director & Principal Scientist, Tandem Launch

ERIC DAHAN
Canadian Sales Manager, NVIDIA

ESTELLE GUILLOT-TANTAY
Senior Consultant, Communication and Marketing, ID EST Communication

GEORGE KARIDIS
Chief Operations Officer, Packet Host

IRENE PYLYPENKO
Data Science Consultant, Pylypenko & Associates

JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
Managing Director, Rousseau Ventures

JOANNE WONG
Partner, REDDS Capital

JULIE HUBERT
CEO, Workland

KJELL KOLSTAD
Director of Partnerships, Corporate Development, Element AI

LOUIS-NICOLAS HAMER
VP, SolJit

MARIE-EVE BERNARD
Head of Talent, Diagram

MOHAMAD SALAMÉ
CIO, VTPayments Solutions

NOEMIE DUPUY
Co-Founder, Budge Studios

RAMY SEDRA
Partner, AI, Analytics, and Automation, PwC

SAMI AHMED
Head of Data, Analytics & AI Transformation, Bank of Montreal

TONY BLANK
Director, Community Development, SendGrid

VANESSA CHERENFANT
Managing Partner, Cogia

VYARA NDEJURU
Brand & Digital experience, Element AI

WENDY TAY
Formerly Microsoft Research Montréal

Advisors

Advisors are a volunteer network of seasoned entrepreneurs and accomplished industry professionals who provide à-la-carte assistance to ventures across all three programs.