TON Tuesday - Focus on Innovation
January 26, 2010 5:30-7:30 pm
hosted by bitHeads Inc.
1309 Carling Avenue
(entrance at east end of Westgate Shopping Centre)

Innovation is the engine driving Ottawa’s economy. Come hear and interact with our distinguished panel on various aspects of innovation. What is the role of innovation in the business context and economy? What management structures and behaviours are needed to establish and sustain it, and what characteristics constitute the individual innovator. Finally, thoughts on Ottawa’s prognosis for continuing to be a centre of innovation.

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Claude Haw, President and CEO OCRI

Claude leads OCRI, Ottawa’s lead economic development agency. Prior to OCRI, Claude was Managing Partner and founder of Venture Coaches, a venture capital firm which invested in thirteen technology companies.

Claude has been actively involved with more than 30 tech companies over two decades from start-up to acquisition and IPO. With more than 30 years of experience in a variety of technical, management and venture investing roles in the technology sector Claude has been instrumental in the success of many Ottawa-based companies including Venture Coaches, DragonWave, Newbridge Networks and Mitel Corporation.

He is a director of the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, a charter member of TiE Ottawa, and a past board member of the Canadian Venture Capital Association (CVCA). Claude is also a founder of The Ottawa Network and of Mindtrust, and served as a long-standing member of the annual Ottawa Venture and Technology Summit (OVTS) organizing committee.

As VP of Corporate Business Development at Newbridge, he managed strategic investment programs, from start-up to exit, in more than 20 companies. As VP and GM of the Newbridge ATMnet Business Unit, Claude grew the unit from inception to a $200-million-per-annum business. Also at Newbridge, Claude managed the Severn Bridge Investments fund, investing in 12 companies and returning more than triple the invested capital. He also held senior management positions at Mitel Corporation and Leigh Instruments.

Claude holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Lakehead University, has completed the Canadian Securities Course and is a member of Professional Engineers of Ontario. He has been a guest lecturer at universities on entrepreneurship, business planning and venture investing.

Tom Duxbury, Sprott School of Business

Tom is a new technology specialist who has been creating products, building teams and launching ventures for thirty years. He has held founding and senior executive roles in many entrepreneurial ventures, including DragonWave, Gridpoint, Newbridge/Alcatel, Mitel, and Pika Technologies. A widely patented inventor, Tom currently teaches innovation management at Carleton’s Sprott School of Business while completing his PhD there.

David Hudson, Director of Lead to Win

David V. Hudson is the Director of the Lead to Win program and is a student in the doctoral program at Carleton University¹s Eric Sprott School of Business. Until December 2008, Mr. Hudson was Nortel¹s Vice President for Advanced Research and Technology Labs. Since 1988, he held increasingly responsible management positions in Nortel both in engineering and product line management. Mr. Hudson worked in all of Nortel Networks¹ product lines, including enterprise, mobility and metro. He has held the Nortel seat on a number of university advisory boards. Mr. Hudson received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Ontario.

He graduated from the Systems Design program at the University of Waterloo and his graduate work focused on pattern recognition and signal processing applied to earth resources imagery.

Moderator: Walter Knitl, The Ottawa Network

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TON Tuesday - Interactive Entertainment
November 24, 2009, 5:30-7:30 pm
hosted by bitHeads Inc.
1309 Carling Avenue
(entrance at east end of Westgate Shopping Centre)

Focus on Interactive Entertainment - Definition, Wikipedia - The phrase Interactive Entertainment also known as video games refers to the business of producing and distributing products and services, or the products and services, of which the entertainment value (or outcomes) can be influenced by users through direct feedback.  Come hear our distinguished speakers talk about interactive entertainment, their role in it, what it takes to run a successful business, and Ottawa’s strong play in this industry. Also, does it go beyond the definition as entertainment, and what value does it bring as a tool to life’s other endeavours including business influence, education and training?  Come join us for what should prove to be an interactive discussion!!

Scott Simpson, CEO & Co-founder, Playbrains - Scott is the co-founder and CEO of Playbrains, an emerging development studio in Ottawa, Canada. Playbrains released its first game title to critical acclaim on console and PC this summer and is dedicated to digitally-distributed fun, blurring the lines between downloadable and retail games. Scott is also the CEO of the award-winning services company bitHeads and is a member of the board of directors for ITAC and Interactive Ontario. Scott is a contributor and advisor to many of Ottawa’s tech start-up success stories.

Nick Iannitti - Director of Communications, Fuel Industries - Nick is responsible for developing and implementing strategies for evangelizing the Fuel Industries brand to media and to industry. An avid member of the digital community, he has written and researched extensively on the subject of social media, gaming and marketing, and the role of agencies and creative studios in the changing media landscape.Nick also manages Fuel’s social media services division-in this capacity, he has developed and implemented online strategies for a number of international brands, including HBO, Microsoft, Fox Home Entertainment, Ubisoft and others. Over the course of his career, Nick has worked as a PR specialist, advertising writer and strategist, and as manager of communications and development for a national non-profit organization.He has recently spoken at the CMA’s Digital Marketing and nextMEDIA conferences in Toronto, as well as at the 2009 Television Animation Conference on the subject of Branded Entertainment. Nick holds a degree in Mass Communications from Carleton University in Ottawa.

Kenton White, Adjunct Professor, Carleton University - Kenton has over 20 years experience in media and telecommunications. In the late 80’s, Kenton worked in Los Angeles on numerous feature films and television properties (some you may have even heard of!). Through the 90’s he made the transition to digital media and the internet age, working first for DARPA and later joining Nortel here in Ottawa. Most recently Kenton was the founder and CTO of DISTIL Interactive, an award winning creator of eLearning and serious games. Kenton has a PhD in Physics & Applied Mathematics from the University of Arizona.

Joshua Ostrowalker - Chief Technology Officer, Magmic Games - Joshua has worked on leading edge technology products since 1995. After completing a degree in Computer Science at Carleton University, he was one of the first members of the Java Research and Development team at Corel. Upon joining Beduin Communications in 1998, he developed a personal information manager as part of a suite of applications for Java-enabled devices. Joshua went on to work for Sun Microsystems after Sun acquired Beduin, and helped to build an XHTML Basic browser and MIDP 2.0. In his role as VP of Technology at Magmic Games, Joshua continues to drive innovation and growth in all areas of development.
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Tuesday, October 13, 2009 5:30-7:30pm
Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP 160 Elgin Street, Suite 2600

Starting your Start-Up: Words from the Wise

Gowlings is very pleased to host “Starting Your Start-Up”, The Ottawa Network monthly event stream that combines a quality networking opportunity with practical advice and insights from industry leaders and subject matter experts.  Starting Your Start-Up focuses on the business basics including financing, team formation, product development, and sales and marketing, that are the foundation for launching and building a successful start-up in these promising and challenging times.

Thomas Prowse, a Partner in the Gowlings Kanata Technology Law Office, will moderate an informal session with two veteran entrepreneurs who will share their stories including their top “do’s” and top “don’ts” for starting a start-up.

Come hear our distinguished speakers

John Shannon
John Shannon is one of Ottawa’s quintessential entrepreneurs. Early in his career he worked in Canada and Europe developing low-level software, systems and mobile networks with Bell Northern Research and then Nortel. In 2000 he left Nortel to be CTO and co-founder of the company that became Bill Me Later, ultimately acquired by eBay in 2008. John has also been a co-founder and early contributor to at least half a dozen other Ottawa startups and one of Ottawa’s active Angel investors. Besides helping raise significant venture capital for several companies, he’s orchestrated millions of dollars of angel investment and government programs. In addition to his experience applying technology to business opportunities, John is an expert at early stage financing and business development.

Michael Wakim – Founder & CEO, Fidus Systems Inc.
Michael Wakim is the founder and CEO of Fidus Systems, an electronic product development company with design groups in Ottawa, Toronto, Santa Clara, California, and Beirut Lebanon. Mike has over 20 years of proven leadership with experience in engineering and electronic design services. He is known for cultivating strong employee loyalty and long-term customer relationships. Prior to founding Fidus Systems, Michael launched two other successful technology companies: Wann Connection Devices, an electronic product company, and Westport Engineering, a design services firm. After selling both businesses, Michael was appointed Director of Operations for the Ottawa design branch of Cadence Design Systems. Michael has invested in a number of start-up companies and serves as a mentor and advisor for several technology entrepreneurs.

Register for free here.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
5:30-7:30pm
Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP
160 Elgin Street, Suite 2600

While Starting Your Start-Up is a free event we ask that you register here

Wednesday, May 27, 6:00 to 8:00 pm
Algonquin College, Woodroffe Campus just south of Baseline,
Building T, Room T130 (campus map below)

Cutting Edge focus on Social Media for Business

Social Media – its here, now, and ubiquitous – but how can you use it effectively in the business context.

Learn about the  role of social media in driving market conversations to understand the voice of the customer, and how a Social Media Press Release differentiates from a traditional Press Release. When it comes to implementation, you will also learn how to build your own enterprise social network using new social networking open source web applications.

Come hear our distinguished speaker:

Chris Biber – President & CEO, SearchingWorks
Chris Biber is an award-winning marketer with over 20 years experience in international sales, business development and senior marketing roles. As the founder of SearchingWorks, Chris advises clients throughout North America on the successful implementation of cost-effective Internet marketing strategies.

Chris has won a series of marketing awards such as the Cisco “Growing With Technology Award” and has also been featured in industry publications such as MarketingSherpa. Prior to founding SearchingWorks, Chris was Director of Marketing at Pronexus Inc. He also held senior positions at Corel Corporation, Databeacon and others.

Rick Radko – President, R-Cubed
Rick is an entrepreneur and consultant with 18 years experience in hardware, software and web application design.  Since developing his first his first web application in 1998, he has gained extensive experience customizing, integrating, and extending open source web applications such as Joomla, WordPress, and MediaWiki. As founder of R-Cubed, he develops custom web applications, social networking and team collaboration solutions for businesses.

Natasha D’Souza, Digital Media Strategist and founder, Virtual EyeSee
Natasha D’Souza is founder of Virtual EyeSee, a Social Media consulting agency serving North America.
Being creative, a visionary and a trend spotter, Natasha helps key decision makers understand new trends and technologies in online social spaces and how web 2.0 or social media principles can enable them to connect with their customers, thus increasing their bottom line.

Natasha has over 13 years of hi-tech experience working for fortune 500, mid-sized and startup companies. Her experience in the private and public sectors has given her the opportunity to work in marketing, project management, business development and sales.

Campus map: http://www.algonquincollege.com/main/yourAlgonquinTab/directions/woodroffeMap.htm

Free parking in lot 8 after 5:30 pm

Startup, Dropin - Social Media and Web Aggregation Businesses
Offices of LaBarge Weinstein