Deborah Hayek is the program lead of Foundry, an initiative from Desjardins Open Innovation dedicated to supporting, orienting and connecting entrepreneurs in their initial phases to increase their chances of sustainable growth. With a special focus on alumni from the Coopérathon and participants in Desjardins’ Startup in Residence program, Foundry helps turn entrepreneurs into founders through offering help with prototyping, beta testing, and specialized training.

An experienced entrepreneur and intrapreneur in social and technology projects, Deborah has taken on several roles over her career, including founder, cofounder, salesperson, internal promoter, operations manager, R&D manager and marketer. With an academic background in Anthropology, Community Economic Development and Management (EMBA in progress), her strength is taking early stage ideas and helping teams get organized and set up to launch. She has a strong interest in emerging tech, and is adept in several hardware and software technologies.