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
Our world-class faculty, supported by the Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation, is 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
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
HOSSEIN RAHNAMA
Flybits, Ryerson University, MIT Media Lab
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
Imperial College London
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
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.
AJAY AGRAWAL
Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Vector Institute, NBER
BRIAN KING
HEC Montréal

DEVINDER KUMAR
Layer 6
GABRIEL PARENT
GPSE Consulting
GOLNOOSH FARNADI
HEC – Dept. de sciences de la décision
JACKIE CHEUNG
McGill University, Canada CIFAR AI Chair
JEAN-FRANÇOIS OUELLET
HEC Montréal
JEAN-FRANÇOIS PLANTE
HEC Montréal
JOELLE PINEAU
McGill University, Canada CIFAR AI Chair
KEVIN REGAN
Google
YOSHUA BENGIO
Université de Montréal, Mila, Canada CIFAR AI Chair, IVADO, UdM – Dept. d’informatique et de recherche opérationnelle (DIRO)

MARCUS BRUBAKER
York University, Vector Institute
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.
NEXT Canada Mentors
Mentors are seasoned entrepreneurs and accomplished industry professionals who provide dedicated ongoing assistance to select NEXT 36, NEXT AI – Toronto and NEXT Founders ventures.
Next AI - Montréal Mentors
Mentors are seasoned entrepreneurs and accomplished industry professionals who provide dedicated ongoing assistance to select NEXT AI – Montréal ventures.
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.
ALEX BAKER
Partner, Relay Ventures
ALEX NORMAN
Managing Director, TechToronto and Advisor at AngelList
ALEXANDER BARCLAY
Investment Manager, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund
ANGELA TRAN
Investor, Version One Ventures
KATHERINE HOMUTH
Founder, Female Funders
DAVID SHORE
Director of Investor Relations, Canada, OurCrowd

JAMES RICKERT
Executive, Hakluyt
COLIN WEBSTER
Founder and CEO, Hero Ventures
MEG BUTTON
CEO and Co-Founder, Nuscreen Inc
KB BRINKLEY
EY Canada Business Consulting – Finance Transformation Leader
MATTHEW LEIBOWITZ
Partner, Plazacorp Ventures
MICHELLE MCBANE
Managing Director, StandUp Ventures; Senior Investment Director, MaRS IAF
NICOLE LEBLANC
VC, Startups and Strategy
MIKE SHAVER
CTO, integrate.ai
TOM REEVES
President and CEO, Interface Biologics
BRENDAN CALLAGHAN
Senior Sales Principal, Portag3
CALEB RUBIN
Co-founder and CMO, Kahuso
COREY MILLER
Principal, Definitive Growth Strategies
JASON MCDERMOTT
Senior Enterprise Software Executive
JONATHAN AGES
Startup Executive
JONATHAN LISTER
Vice President, North America Sales, Sales Solutions, LinkedIn
KATHY NEWTON
Marketing & Brand Strategy Professional
ADRIAN DE VALOIS-FRANKLIN
CEO, Castle Ridge Asset Management
MARK EVANS
Principal, ME Consulting
ROKHAM FARD
Founder, TheRedPin.com and PsychologyCompass.com
RON BENEGBI
Former President, Engage People Inc.
SARAH TRIMBLE
Senior Director, Digital Marketing at Rogers Consumer Publishing and Digital Media Group
SOMEN MONDAL
Co-Founder and CEO, Ideal
ERIN BURY
CEO and Co-founder, Willful
JIM GRAY
Senior Communications Advisor
LIVY JACOBS
Founder, Liv Public Relations
KL WONG
Engineering Leader, Digital Banking for Canada at Scotiabank
MAXWELL TEITELBAUM
WhatRunsWhere, Co-founder and COO
NAEEM LAKHANI
Co-Founder, Gallop Labs
SUMIT GUPTA
VP, HPC & AI, IBM Cognitive Systems
TOM PREDOVIC
Senior Executive Leader, Tech and Software
VIVEK KALWANI
Director, Partnerships & Data Analytics, RBC
CHRIS STEFANYK
Strategy & Business Ops Lead, Wattpad
ELI GLADSTONE
Co-founder, Speaker Labs
ERIC SILVERBERG
Co-founder, Speaker Labs
SAEED ZEINALI
Co-Founder, EdgeCollab
MANDEEP SAINI
Partner, BrightIron Consulting – CA, CPA
WILSON LEE
Partner, BrightIron Consulting – CA, CPA
BRENT LOWE
Consultant, Base Associates
DR. JOHN O’DWYER
Organizational, Team, & Individual Effectiveness Expert
TIM HEWAT
Partner, Amrop Knightsbridge
BALAJI GOPALAN
Co-founder and CEO, MedStack
CHRIS HODGSON
Founder, The Pivt
DAMODAR ARPAKOTA
Chairman, Nuvis Ventures
MIKE DOELL
President, Ross + Doell Inc
COREY PECK
Co-founder and CEO, Media One Creative
DEREK RIDER
Digital Video and Advertising Executive & Founder, Media One Creative
JOSH MCINERNEY
Manager of Design and Creative, Ryerson University
DR. LEENO KARUMANCHERY
Chief Diversity Officer, Enkidu
KEVIN MAKO
Founder and President, MAKO Design
Next AI - Montréal Experts
Alexandre Bordellier
Alexandre Le Bouthillier
Amadea Camozzi
Amanda Truscott
Amira Boutouchent
Amna Zia
Asad Lesani
Aurélie Labbé
Behnaz Saboonchi
Bruno Morency
Caroline Pelletier
Charlotte Martin
Christophe Muratet
Christopher Wells
Damien Beaufils
Deborah Cherenfant
Eryk Warren
François Menet
Francois Poirier
Graham Mann
Isaac Souweine
Iulian Serban
Jane Sommerville
Jean-François Connolly
Jean-Philippe Salvas
Jon French
Joumana Ghosn
Katia Renaud
Kendra Davey
Kevin Urbanski
Kris Isfeld
Laura Easton
Laviva Mazhar
Mathieu Hamel
Mauro Repacci
Michel Brouillette
Mike Lee
Milad Alucozai
Nicolas Feller
Paul Mallette
Paul Ortchanian
Philippe Beaudoin
Pierre Sabbagh
Raghu Bharat
Reda Mjahed
Sarah Bezeau-Gervais
Sebastien Roy
Shibl Mourad
Shingai Manjengwa
Sokmean Nou
Vaughn DiMarco
Veronika Kvon
Vincent Barberger
Academic Partners
University of Toronto (Founding)
Dalhousie University
McGill University
Queen’s University
Toronto Metropolitan University
Simon Fraser University
University of British Columbia
University of Waterloo
Western University