Damian Cristiani
Damian
was President of Jack of all Games Canada Inc, a division of Take-Two
Interactive Software, Inc., a NASDAQ-listed US company. Take-Two
Interactive is involved in the publishing, development and worldwide
distribution of interactive entertainment software and video games.
Prior to Jack of all Games, Damian was one of the founding partners of
Triad Distributors. Triad, currently known as Jack of all Games Canada,
was established in 1993 and became a successful software distribution
company through sales to all of the major retailers in Canada. In 1995,
Damian founded Global Star Software, a company that specialized in
publishing software. In 1999 both companies were sold to Take-Two
Interactive Software Inc. and Damian continued to oversee the growth of
both companies, including serving as President of Take-Two Interactive
Software, Inc. in Canada up to 2004.
Anthony DeCristofaro
Anthony DeCristofaro is President and Chief Executive Officer
of iseemedia inc., a company specialized in digital image content management for
the Internet. He is a 25-year veteran in the computer industry.
Prior to establishing iseemedia, Anthony was President and Chief
Executive Officer of MGI Software, which he co-founded in December 1995. Prior
to MGI Software, he was a founding board member of Delrina Corp., which was
subsequently purchased by Symantec. From 1991 to 1995, Anthony was Vice
President and General Manager of AST Canada, a computer hardware company. From
1987 to 1991, Mr. DeCristofaro worked as General Manager at NEC Canada, a
computer hardware company. Mr. DeCristofaro holds an Advanced Business
Administration degree from York University.
Vikas Gupta
Prior to joining TransGaming, Vikas was the founder and
President of InterLogic Systems, a telephony consulting and systems integration
firm dedicated to delivering innovative and creative enterprise solutions to
Fortune 1000 clients in the areas of Computer Telephony Integration, Interactive
Voice Response Systems, and fax processing systems. Under his leadership
InterLogic grew to include offices in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal with a
prestigious North American wide client base. In 1998, InterLogic was acquired by
Prima Telematic and Vikas served as President of Prima Canada and Executive Vice
President of Prima Telematic. During Vikas' tenure, he expanded the client base
and doubled company revenues.
Vikas is a frequent speaker and lecturer at the University of
Toronto Rotman School of Business and Ryerson University's Business and
Technology program and also advises a number of start-up enterprises. He has
served as Chairperson of a not-for-profit corporation where he advised on
educational policies and youth program development. Vikas is a graduate of the
University of Waterloo, Ontario.
Kerry Munro
Kerry Munro joined Yahoo Canada as General Manager in 2005 after more than
20 years of executive management experience in the technology products and
services sectors. In his role at Yahoo! Canada he is responsible for the
company's overall operation and strategic growth, and in the latter capacity
he has significantly increased the size and influence of Yahoo!'s presence in
Canada by expanding the operational staff, increasing revenue and making
Yahoo! Canada one of the fastest growing Yahoo! business units worldwide.
His previous experience includes both corporate and entrepreneurial
leadership positions such as leading new ventures, alliances and
applications as a Senior Director at Bell Canada, and prior to that as
founder and President of KBM Marketing which provided market analysis and
business unit turnaround strategy for numerous Canadian corporations.
He has also held executive marketing positions at leading technology
companies including ACC TelEnterprises and Allstream. Mr. Munro is a
graduate of the University of Toronto and has an MBA from Queen's University.
He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and an in-demand media
interview on the business of the Internet. He is also a member of the Young
Presidents Organization (YPO) and was recently appointed to the
Board of Directors of the Duke of Edinburgh's Awards program.
John Nemanic
John
Nemanic is the Chairman of the Board of Hostopia.com, an award-winning
wholesale provider of web, e-mail and e-commerce hosting solutions.
Prior to Hostopia, John co-founded and served as CEO of TUCOWS
Interactive Inc., a popular Internet software site, and I.D. Internet
Direct (now Look Communications), the largest publicly traded,
independent internet service provider in Canada. In May 1999, a
majority of TUCOWS was sold to the Steinmetz Group. His companies have
won several awards including Profit Magazine's 7th fastest growing
company in Canada (1997), Profit Magazine's 2nd fastest growing company
in Canada (1998), and PC Magazine top 100 sites (1995 - 1999). John was
also a final nominee for E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year in 1998.
Gavriel State
As
Founder and CTO of TransGaming, Gavriel (Gav) brings exceptional
technical expertise in the areas of portability technologies and
significant engineering management experience. Prior to founding
TransGaming, Gav founded and led Corel's Linux Applications Development
team, and later served as its Software Architect. Gav was also
responsible for Corel's use of the Open Source Wine project as a
solution for moving Windows applications such as WordPerfect Office
2000 and CorelDRAW to Linux. Prior to his involvement with Linux, Gav
led the CorelDRAW for Macintosh development team. In addition to
portability technology and graphics, he has also worked on development
tools at both Microsoft and Metrowerks, as well as on network
distributed virtual reality systems at the University of Waterloo.
Sean Wise , Chairman
Sean Wise is currently Managing Director of Wise Mentor
Capital and Chairman of the Board of TransGaming Technologies. He helped found
Ernst & Young's Venture Capital Advisory Group in Canada and now undertakes
selective engagements from young technology companies looking for strategic
guidance on capital raising and growth.
According to the December issue of Canadian Business
magazine, Sean is one of Canada's leading experts on raising Venture
Capital. Over the last 6 years, he has lectured at more than 70
bootcamps, financing forums and industry conferences. He has trained
dozens of CEOs who have collectively raised more than 800 million dollars from a wide
variety of investment sources. Sean sits on the boards of several young
technology companies, as well as on the board of the Toronto Venture
Group. He is the Chair of the 2005 Canadian Venture Forum selection
committee and a member of both the Canadian Venture Capital Association
and the Law Society of Upper Canada.
Sean contributes a monthly column for the Globe and
Mail. He studied Engineering and Economics at Carleton University
before going on to get his Law and MBA degrees from the University of
Ottawa.
