Ana Misra is an experienced Angel Investor, Senior Executive, and ecosystem leader dedicated to advancing innovation and entrepreneurship. She brings a strong investment perspective grounded in finance, governance, and strategy, helping founders build scalable, sustainable, and investable businesses. Ana is Co-Chair of Angel One Network and Founder of York Angel Investors Inc., fostering deal flow, syndication, and investor engagement. She is a founding and advisory board member of ventureLAB’s HardTech Investor Network and advises founders on investor readiness, fundraising, due diligence, and financial discipline. Ana has held senior leadership, CFO, and board roles across entrepreneurial and corporate environments, contributing to strong governance and ecosystem growth.

As a passionate, creative, and resilient entrepreneur, Joshua has built, invested in, and led several successful new ventures across multiple industries. Joshua and his team at Audax Ventures works with, and invests in, technology start-up’s across a variety of industries helping them to launch, grow and exit their business. Audax provides access to resources, coaching, investment & financing, software development and other professional resources through their own portfolio of companies and established partnerships.

Gaurav Bansal is the Founder & CEO of AMG Venture Partners and a founder growth coach with 14+ years of experience across venture capital, angel investing, investment banking, and technology consulting (US$2Bn+ IPO/PE deals, 50+ angel investments, 35+ VC portfolio companies, 20,000+ decks/models reviewed, 100+ due diligences, 150+ startups mentored, 3,000+ mentoring hours, 130+ workshops, 400+ global angel syndicates).

Previously, he worked with Holt Xchange, Pentathlon Ventures, IBM, Nomura, Axis Capital, and IIFL Wealth, across VC, investment banking, wealth management, and enterprise technology. He is currently building a deep-learning AI fintech product for founders.

Gaurav holds a Bachelor’s in Electronics & Telecommunications Engineering, an MBA in Capital Markets, and an AI certificate from Kellogg School of Management. He has worked across North America, Asia, Europe, and the UK, with recent ecosystem engagements at Web Summit Portugal and Web Summit Qatar.

Leslie Hughes is a LinkedIn Profile Writer, Corporate Trainer and the Principal of PUNCH!media. Leslie has been in the digital landscape for over 20 years and founded her digital agency PUNCH!media in 2009. She has worked with companies such as Franklin Templeton Canada, Investment Planning Counsel and Guardian Life Insurance Company of America to help them optimize their professional presence and convert clients. Leslie has been called a “Social Media Guru” by CBC Radio, and has also been a guest on CTV’s “The Social” talking about “How to Manage your Digital Identity”. She is the author of “CREATE. CONNECT. CONVERT”, which is designed to help you own your value and build a powerful professional presence (without feeling like you’re bragging).

Neal Winokur is a CPA, CA and the CEO of Finance Without Borders Inc. Neal has 15 years experience advising business owners in regards to bookkeeping, accounting, finance and tax. He is passionate about ensuring business owners understand the numbers in their business, minimize their tax bills, and make great decisions in order to grow and thrive.

Jason is a transformative Finance & Operations leader that builds bridges between functions and creates industry-leading high performing teams. 

He creates stretching yet achievable plans in record time with stakeholder buy-in, and then works with leaders and the business in a hands-on fashion to ensure those shared objectives are delivered. 

Andrew is a seasoned professional with 18 years of experience in strategy, operations, technology, and product development focused on transportation and sustainability. His clients or partners include technology companies and government agencies across North America. He specializes in business strategy, technical innovation, organizational change management, and stakeholder engagement. Andrew’s data-driven approach ensures sustainable results while leading transportation and sustainability initiatives. He excels in adapting new technologies and fostering external stakeholder relationships to propel organizations forward. His effective project oversight addresses challenges and seizes opportunities, earning him a reputation as a transformative partner highly aligned with business strategy.

Founder of ontheblockchain.ca one of Canada’s fastest growing blockchain media platforms and host of one of the top ranked podcasts in the world that focuses on the Metaverse and related topics: Making the Metaverse. Full time faculty member at St. Lawrence College in the School of Applied Science and Computing. 

Titu Botos is the CEO of NeuronicWorks and has held various positions in leading organizations like Exploranium, MDA (formerly SPAR Aerospace), Vishay Precision Group (formerly KELK) and has also held teaching positions at University of Timisoara. He has over 30 years of experience in analysis, design, testing and debugging of both analog and digital systems and has a strong background in engineering research and training.

Nicole Troster is a trusted Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) and startup advisor with over 15 years of ecosystem experience in entrepreneurship education, startup and founder development, government regulations and scaling high-potential ventures. She brings a pragmatic, hands-on approach to founder support, offering tailored guidance in market validation, user research, business model refinement, and scaling operations. With a proven track record advising both tech and service-based ventures, particularly in regulated industries, she helps entrepreneurs build investor-ready, scalable businesses rooted in customer-centric design and market traction.

Ryan is a horticulture, food, and farming professional—an educator, market gardener, and agripreneur. His journey began in Thailand, studying Permaculture and Forest Gardening before pursuing an education in Horticulture Food and Farming. He has trained with industry leaders in regenerative market garden farming while building a career in agricultural education. Since managing the W. Galen Weston Centre for Food and Urban Farm at Durham College, Ryan has worked extensively with local agriculture and food organizations to promote regenerative farming, local food systems, and agri-food education. He now leads City of Greens, a 10-acre regenerative homestead and market garden in Bowmanville, Ontario. He is also the founder of the Horticulture Food and Farming Company where he is dedicated to advancing small-scale regenerative farming, fostering agro-ecological entrepreneurship, and strengthening local food systems.

Radhika Kapoor is the Founder & Creative Director of Moon Rabbit Strategy, a branding-first creative agency that helps businesses stand out, tell powerful stories, and scale with purpose. With 15+ years shaping B2B and B2C brands, she brings strategic insight and creative spark to every project. Radhika thrives on working with changemakers across industries, from retail to non-profit, and serves as a trusted mentor, subject matter expert, and fractional executive with leading business accelerators and community organizations.

Robert Onley is a corporate lawyer and technology founder who advises entrepreneurs on the legal and strategic decisions that shape a growing company. He is the founder and General Counsel of NotaryPro.ca, where he built and scaled Canada’s first online commissioning and notary services platform from a one-person startup into a national network spanning more than 300 locations, launching an AI-powered legal document creator along the way. That founder-side experience is what sets his advice apart: he has sat in the same seat as the entrepreneurs he works with.

Through his legal practice, Onley Law Professional Corporation, Robert acts as fractional General Counsel to a wide range of fintech and SaaS companies, helping founders navigate shareholder agreements, employee equity and option plans, NDAs, commercial contracts, privacy, and AI governance as they scale. Earlier in his career he served as legal counsel at Payments Canada, advising a regulated national organization on privacy, cybersecurity, and vendor agreements, and he practised commercial litigation. He holds a J.D. from the University of Windsor, and lives in Hampton, Ontario with his wife and five amazing kids.

Not all connections are visible and not all opportunities reveal themselves easily. Cathy Ireland is known for recognizing both early and helping bring them into motion.

With more than 25 years of experience, Cathy works at the intersection of people, ideas, and opportunity, supporting founders, partners, and communities throughout the entrepreneurial journey. She helps navigate complexity, creating clarity and momentum by identifying and activating meaningful connections before they are fully apparent.

Her approach combines thoughtful relationship-building with practical action, creating introductions, partnerships, pilot opportunities, and collaborations that turn ideas into measurable impact. Grounded in experience and intuition, she is committed to inclusive engagement, sustainable growth, and creating opportunities that deliver lasting value.

Cathy began her career with Procter & Gamble before working in international business development in Washington, D.C., where she helped organize Canada’s first women’s business event at the Canadian Embassy. Having lived and worked internationally, as well as in Toronto and Ottawa, she now calls Northumberland County home, connecting regional strengths with national and global opportunities.

Christiane Husemann is the Founder and Managing Partner of SI Consulting, helping organizations cut through operational complexity and build the leadership and productivity systems required for sustainable growth. With over a decade in performance and operations leadership within a global aviation group, she designed enterprise planning models, established KPI frameworks and governance structures, led cross-continental teams, and translated complex data into strategic direction. Today, she works with organizations to reveal hidden capacity, strengthen execution, and align culture with growth – combining analytical precision with agile operational thinking.

Melissa Manzone is the CEO of Fundmate, a grant writing company that helps businesses secure government investment to drive business growth. Melissa has almost 20 years of experience securing grants for non-profit organizations and for-profit corporations in Canada and the U.S., and her career includes notable roles as a Consultant for Flow, a Deloitte Company, and a Manager at Grant Thornton. Since 2019, under her company, Fundmate, she has helped businesses win over $10 million in new grant funding to grow exports, launch new products and services, hire new employees, and expand operations. Melissa has a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from The Ohio State University and completed a grant training program from The Grantsmanship Center. When not working, you can find Melissa watching cartoons with her son, writing books about warrior princesses in far-off lands, and trying (yet failing) to make pizza from scratch.