The Odlum Brown Forum Pitch Supporters

Community Panel

The Community Panel represents a diverse cross-section of industries, backgrounds, and geographies. We're grateful to have their support through this year's programming as they lend their expertise to select the Semi-Finalists and 3 Finalists.

Melissa Allen (she/her)
Executive Director, League of Innovators

Melissa Allen began her career in digital marketing and sales working for tech companies such as Torstar Digital and Google, before pivoting to an award-winning career in financial services at Desjardins.

Combining her passions for tech and finance, Melissa became an angel investor and Limited Partner in 2019. After selling her financial practice in 2020, began lending her expertise in advisory and leadership roles at several startups and venture firms before joining League of Innovators as Executive Director and LOI Venture as Venture Partner.

Lina Ismail
General Partner, The Catherine Wheel

‍Throughout her career, Lina has been focused on working with founders who lead startups at various stages of growth.

As an entrepreneur herself, Lina understands the challenges of building and scaling a business. Working with Fortune 500 companies, large enterprises, and innovative startups, Lina has launched and led new business lines and defined the strategic direction of notable brands.

Passionate about helping entrepreneurs build industry leading businesses, Lina works with founders to balance entrepreneurial vision and creativity, with strong business fundamentals and rigorous preparation to help their businesses be the leaders of tomorrow.

With her leadership and focus on developing the right teams and culture, Lina has helped transform and expand businesses into new markets while achieving exponential growth. ‍

Lina is the General Partner of The Catherine Wheel. As a seasoned innovation and growth practitioner, Lina understands the challenges that entrepreneurs face and is dedicated to working with founders and their teams to create innovative solutions that drive growth.

Lina is currently a strategic advisor with MT>Ventures and Holt Accelerator, and is also an Angel Investor and advisor to startups in the B2B fintech space. ‍

Prior to founding The Catherine Wheel, Lina was a Managing Partner of thinki3, a consulting and advisory services firm that focuses on transformation and innovation within large scale enterprises and in the process connecting them with startups to accelerate growth.

Her executive leadership positions include serving as Head of Product, Innovation and Marketing at Fundserv Inc., and Vice President of Products and Marketing and later Vice President of Client Relationship Management at Citigroup Fund Services. Lina also served in leadership roles in Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd and International Financial Data Services (IFDS) (in Europe known as State Street Bank).

Geena Jackson
Creator & Executive Producer, Bears Lair TV

Geena Jackson is a devoted advocate for Indigenous rights, self-determination, and economic development with over 25 years of experience serving First Nation communities and the industry at large.

As a proud member of the Shishalh Nation (Sechelt), she is deeply committed to strengthening Indigenous communities through strategic partnerships with industry experts and government bodies.

Having served as an Economic Development Officer for the Squamish Nation for 13 years, followed by holding executive roles in large industry corporations, Geena has gained a deep understanding of the nuances and complexities of Indigenous economic development.

Recognizing that the success of Indigenous communities is intricately linked to industry expertise, government support systems, and robust community engagement, she founded Indigenous Initiatives. This ground-breaking venture brings together a team of expert’s adept at navigating the complexities of projects aimed at bolstering Indigenous communities.

Over the years, Geena has been instrumental in helping over 550 Indigenous entrepreneurs grow their businesses and social enterprises. Her exceptional assistance in grant writing, loan access, and technical support has been transformative for many Indigenous entrepreneurs.

Further expanding her commitment to Indigenous economic growth, Geena created and is a core judge on the Bears Lair TV show on APTN. This unique platform is dedicated to supporting Indigenous entrepreneurs on a national scale, offering them exposure, guidance, and opportunities to scale their ventures and an opportunity to win a grand prize of $100,000.

Geena's passion for fostering economic development within Indigenous communities, combined with her wealth of experience and entrepreneurial spirit, makes her an impactful figure in the realm of Indigenous economic advancement. Through her initiatives, she continues to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of Indigenous economies and future Indigenous Leaders.

Nadine Spencer
Founder & CEO, BrandEQ

Nadine Spencer is the Founder and CEO of BrandEQ Group Inc., Canada’s most prominent Black- and female-owned marketing consultancy.

Her proprietary “People Matter” strategy has grabbed attention, demanded interaction, and generated long-term value for clients. She also created BrandEQ Black, the firm’s cultural sensitivity arm, to examine and address racial biases in advertising and marketing across sectors.

Logging several achievements for her work – including mention in the 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women anthology, the Harry Jerome Business Award, and The Dale Carnegie Highest Award in Public Speaking – Nadine has proven time and again that she’s a leader and expert who brings passion, skill, and mastery to every organization and initiative she touches.

Activation Committee

The Activation Committee is a passionate group of volunteers who believe in the mission of The Forum and the power of the Pitch program. The committee is comprised of board members, past program supporters, and supporters of the organization. As dedicated members of the community, they support events and fundraising that help women entrepreneurs thrive.

Amy Carruthers (she/her)

Rhogene Dadashzadeh (she/her)

Jenny De Jong (she/her)

Kate Dunstan (she/her)

Soha Lavin (she/her)

Orla O'Malley (she/her)

Nicole Parmar

Katie Peardon (she/her)

Jenn Podmore Russell (she/her)

Mentors

The program Mentors are experts in growth, investing, and accessing capital. As experienced entrepreneurs and industry leaders, they act as helpful mentors to the Semi-Finalists and Finalists as they prepare and revise their pitches throughout the program.

Danielle Graham (she/her)
Co-Founder, The Firehood

Danielle Graham is General Partner of Phoenix Fire and Co-Founder of The Firehood, an angel stage fund and network focused on women in technology. She created Fierce Founders Programs — the first women-focused accelerator and bootcamp series in Canada. Previously, she managed Ontario Centres of Innovation’s Market Readiness Fund, Principal at Sandpiper Ventures and Dream Maker Ventures and Consulting at Deloitte.

Danielle supports underrepresented founders looking to scale their tech businesses as a member of the angel community network, investment officer and advisor to tech incubators. Masters of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Wilfrid Laurier University, a Masters of Arts (M.A.) from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from Trinity College, University of Toronto.

Eva Lau (she/her)
Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Two Small Fish Ventures

Eva Lau is one of the few women in Canada to lead an early-stage investment firm. Before starting Two Small Fish Ventures, she was Wattpad’s Head of Community and Content and Director of Product Development of Brightspark Labs.

Eva currently serves as an Associate in Creative Destruction Lab at the Rotman School of Management. She is also involved in many Canadian incubators and accelerators, such as the University of Toronto’s Entrepreneurship Hatchery, Ryerson’s DMZ, University of Waterloo’s Velocity, and Techstars.

Eva has a bachelor degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Schulich School of Business.

Roxanne Leduc (she/her)
CEO, Cap Inclusive

Roxanne has spent the last decade pushing boundaries for products and services that had no launch strategy blueprint. She helped launch the first North American free-floating carsharing service, the first mobile TV app for Bell and has spent her entire career promoting the empowerment of women in leadership roles.

After raising a $100M Fund as the Operations Director of the leading pre-seed and seed fund in Canada, she launched her company Cap Inclusive, a consulting firm that audits a firm's practices to help them align Purpose, Processes and People and drive stronger engagement from all groups.

Thealzel Lee (she/her)
Founder, Director & President, e-Fund

Thealzel Lee is the co-founder and director of angel investment funds VANTEC Entrepreneurs (VCC) Fund Inc. dba eFund, Nelsa Investment (VCC) Inc. and the Montfort Capital Corporation (TSX.V:MONT) and a General Partner with Phoenix Fire Fund, an Archangel Fund.

She manages the monthly VANTEC Angel Network (VANTEC) and the Vancouver chapter of the Keiretsu Forum (Northwest Region) for the local startup community of entrepreneurs and angel investors.

Crystal Lo (she/her)
Investment Associate, InBC Investment Corp

Crystal Lo is an Investment Associate at InBC and has a deep-rooted belief in the power of capital to create a positive social impact. She has multi-faceted experience in gender-lens investing, impact investing, commercial lending and real estate development, with her professional experience spanning three continents.

Crystal holds a bachelor’s degree in global business from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and a master’s degree in real estate from The University of Hong Kong.

Amy Rae (she/her)
Partner, Vanedge Capital

Amy Rae is a Principal at Vanedge Capital, focused on investing in SaaS businesses. Prior to joining Vanedge, Amy was a Vice President with Ziplocal (USA) where she was responsible for the development of new product rollout.

Amy has experience in both the investment and startup side of the business having been on the Investment side for 11 years and the startup operational side for 7 years.

Jennifer Rhee
President, 2hemispheres Consulting Inc.

Jennifer is a CPA, CA by background and has practiced as a partner with Richter LLP, specializing as an advisor in corporate and international tax. Since 2017 Jennifer has been providing a broader range of consulting services to entrepreneurs, often as an outsourced CFO to give the opportunity to small and medium sized firms to access "C-level" skills.

Jennifer is excited to provide opportunities and resources to female entrepreneurs and has been involved with the Women Presidents Organization (WPO) since 2018 and more recently with the Forum. She loves studying businesses and wants to contribute her passion and learning to female entrepreneurs to help them excel and grow their businesses.

Nagar Rahmani

Nagar is a former Partner at Maverix Private Equity. Nagar leads fundraising, co-investment opportunities, and partnerships. She guides activities as it relates to fundraising, strategic partnerships and M&A opportunities for portfolio companies.

Nagar focuses on strengthening relationships with ecosystem participants including VC/PE, debt capital providers, corporations, academia and government. She has over a decade of experience in technology, investing, board governance and ecosystem building.

Chelsea Stanimir (she/her)
Principal, Lyra Growth Partners

Chelsea is a Principal at Lyra Growth Partners where she's involved in all aspects of the investment process including sourcing, evaluating, executing and monitoring investments.

Previously, Chelsea was with CIBC's investment banking team advising on a variety of transactions including mergers and acquisitions as well as debt and equity financing. Prior to investment banking, Chelsea worked in sales & trading with CIBC’s equity derivatives group where she supported institutional clients with their listed and OTC derivative needs.

Chelsea is a CFA Charterholder and holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University.

Sarah Willson (she/her)
Associate, Panache Ventures

Sarah is an investor at Panache Ventures, a pre-seed and seed stage VC firm supporting inspiring Canadian founders at the earliest stages of building transformational companies.

Sarah is also an active member of the Tech4SickKids advisory council, Velocity investment committee, and Schulich ExEd Pitch Deck Advisory Group.

Presentation Coach

As the three Finalists of The Forum Pitch prepare to share their business visions once more, they receive 1:1 guidance from longtime The Forum supporter Valerie Galvin, CEO of Stand and Deliver Performance Coaching.