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SMB Exchange Case Study Presenters

Gerry Smith, President & CEO, CirBA, Inc. Gerry Smith assumed the role of president and CEO of CiRBA in November 2005. Prior to joining CiRBA, he served as executive vice president of IT Governance solutions at Compuware Corporation, a publicly traded company. Smith was previously CEO and a founder of Changepoint Corporation, an IT Governance software company acquired by Compuware in 2004 for $100 million. During his tenure at Changepoint, Smith raised over $40 million in venture capital and grew the business from $0 to over $30 million in revenue. He is a member of the Young Presidents Association (YPO) and was honored in 2002 as one of Canada's Top 40 under 40™. Smith graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in mechanical engineering from The University of Toronto and a Masters of Business Administration from McMaster University.

Justin Cook, President, Convurgency Inc. Convurgency Inc. is a bleeding-edge interactive marketing agency with a single mission: to show leading SMB and enterprise-sized organizations how to cost-effectively harness the online world to boost brand equity and energize revenue growth. Justin Cook is a product of the digital age. Previously he has developed and driven the digital strategy for companies such as SAS and Borderware in Canada, when he then decided to branched out on his own to form Toronto-based Convurgency Inc. Though barely past the age of 30, when it comes to the Web, Justin has seen and done it all. Tech-savvy, with astute business acumen, Cook is an expert strategist in all things digital - from creative and pragmatic site design and SEO, to social media and online reputation management. Cook has been featured in articles by the Financial Post and DirectMarketing magazine and currently, Convurgency Inc. was nominated for a 2011 Toronto Board of Trade Business Excellence Award.

Margaret Hachey, Executive Vice President, Duocom Margaret founded Duocom in Toronto in 1980. Chatelaine and Profit magazine recognized her over an 11 year period as ranking in the top 10 of the Top 100 Women business owners in Canada. Duocom specializes in helping their clients use technology to communicate, by selling or renting high-tech data/video projectors, by designing and integrating classrooms, meeting rooms, boardrooms, tactical control rooms, theatres and lecture halls, and by staging live events. Previously, Margret has been on the Steering Committee of Step Ahead, and a mentor for six years with the program, helping women entrepreneurs whose businesses were in the second stage of growth. She is also Special Advisor to Youth in Motion Education Foundation a non-profit organization to help youth gain access to higher education. As a board member for Youth in Motion, she helped launch the national program Top 20 Under 20, that recognizes outstanding achievement of young people across the country. Currently she sits on a charity board at the Vivian Medical Spa to raise funds for terminally ill cancer patients and is an Advisory Board member for the Womens' Initiative at Rotman School of Management.

Robert Burko, President CEO, Elite Email Robert Burko is the President and Founder of Elite Email, a world leader in email marketing solutions. As one of Canada's chief email marketing and digital marketing specialists, Burko has appeared on national television, radio programs, podcasts, and countless print publications across North America. He is one of two authorized speakers for the Email Experience Council in Canada. Burko was also featured in the popular CBC documentary "The Selling Game" that focused on the emerging social media industry. Under Burko's leadership, Elite Email has received many awards and accolades, including: - Business Excellence Award Winner - "Under 30" Toronto Board of Trade, 2011 - Top 50 Email Marketing Service Provider Website Magazine, 2009 - Top 300 Canadian IT Companies Branham Group (Backbone Magazine), 2007 - Top 25 Up & Coming IT Companies - Branham Group (Backbone Magazine), 2007 Burko also a founder and board member of Step by Step Africa, a nonprofit organization that provides AIDS/HIV support to several villages in Africa. In 2007 he was recognized by the Canadian House of Commons as an Outstanding Volunteer for his philanthropic service through the organization.

M. Aamir, CEO, Jugnoo Inc. For over 16 years, Mohammad Aamir ("Aamir") has successfully started and sold three technology companies, creating a record of strong returns for himself, his investors and his employees. He has continuously assembled a diverse and world-class group of visionary and strategic thinkers, industry analysts, designers, and software engineers to bring creativity and innovation to everything we do. His expertise is in building value in start-ups through developing and introducing market focused high value technologies.

Lisa Shepherd, Founder & President, The Mezzanine Group The Mezzanine Group is a Business to Business strategy and marketing firm based in Toronto. Mezzanine has been named twice to the Profit Hot 50 and twice to the Profit 100; Lisa has twice been the youngest female CEO on the Profit 100. At the age of 24 Lisa established her first business, which she sold in 1999. She went on to establish Mezzanine after serving as managing director of the Ivey Business Consulting Group at Western University for 3 years. Mezzanine has grown from a start-up to an 18-person B2B specialist that provides strategy and marketing services for executives in private, public and non-profit organizations. Mezzanine has worked with over 200 companies in over 30 industries, and is on a mission to add $1B of revenues to its client base of Canadian companies.

Rob Henderson, President, Studentawards Inc. / Uthink Rob is President of Studentawards Inc. & Uthink, Canada's largest community of young Canadians with over 2 million registered members through its various programs and online properties. Prior to taking the helm at Studentawards / Uthink, Rob held senior executive positions at Cyberplex, 80/20 Solutions, DECOSTA Marketing where he was responsible for leading digital and technology teams through high-growth periods. Rob has been a trusted digital marketing advisor for some the world's most respected brands including world renowned entertainers (Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Kevin James), leading financial institutions, and consumer packaged goods companies. As an entrepreneur, one of Rob's passions is to help build and support an entrepreneurial culture in Canada. He is currently an advisor and donor to Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE), Canada's largest student entrepreneurship program, which he is a proud alumnus and former Executive Director. Rob also co-founded the National Angel Investor Organization (NAO) with Henry Vehovec in 2002, an organization formed to solve the access to capital gap for early-stage Canadian companies. In 2007, Rob was Chairman of Peter Oyler's Race across America, an initiative that raised awareness and over $100,000 for Kids Help Phone. He has coached several championship hockey and baseball teams and when not playing the role of a proud father and husband, Rob can be found at a local ice rink, golf course, or poker game.

Virginia Poly, Founder & President, Poly Placements Poly Placements is one of Canada's fastest-growing recruitment solutions companies and has earned a lot of recognition in the past couple of years - the PROFIT HOT50, PROFIT W100, Branham300, the RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur Deloitte Startup Award 2010, and, most recently, one of the Toronto Star's '10 To Watch in 2011'. Before starting Poly in 2006, Virginia spent more than 10 years as a top-producing sales professional and trainer in IT, getting to know a wide variety of organizations from the inside out. Virginia attributes their spectacular growth to their unique approach: The ROI of Happiness. Recruiting is a fantastic opportunity - get the right people, and the whole organization benefits. Making the process more enjoyable is good for business: Happy clients, candidates and employees mean increased productivity, reduced time-to-hire, reduced recruiting costs, reduced turnover - and a better bottom line.

Maggie Fox, Founder, CEO and CMO, Social Media Group Social Media Group was established in 2006 and is one of the world's most highly respected independent agencies helping businesses navigate the socially engaged Web. Pioneers in their field, Social Media Group has helped some of the best-known brands in Europe and North America get social, including Ford Motor Company, SAP, RBC, 3M and Thomson Reuters. Maggie has been interviewed about social media by Inc. Magazine, The Washington Post, CBC Radio, The Globe and Mail, CBC News, CTV News and The Financial Post, among others. In 2009 she was named one of the Top 100 Marketers in Marketing Magazine's 100th Anniversary Edition, and in 2011 The National Post named her one of Canada's Top Innovators."

Sunny Verma, President, TutorBright Recognized as one of "Toronto's Hottest Young Entrepreneurs" by the Globe and Mail, Sunny Verma is revolutionizing education through TutorBright - one of the fastest growing supplemental education companies in Canada. Sunny's passion for helping others and mentorship fueled the growth of TutorBright, which is the only provider that creates tailored mentorship and academic plans for each of its clients. Because of its tremendous success with each client, TutorBright has earned recognition as One of the Best Education Providers by CityParent Magazine and is considered "Ahead of the Class" by Franchise Canada Magazine. TutorBright has several locations, an international presence, and has recently been commissioned to transform and supplement education systems in First Nation communities. Sunny, a holder of a Bachelor's of Commerce and a Master's of Business Entrepreneurship and Technology, has been featured in several publications including City TV, BNN and Breakfast Television. .

Harp Gahunia, Chief Financial Officer, Virgin Gaming Harp is a Chartered Accountant with over 12 years of experience since graduating from the School of Accountancy at University of Waterloo with a Masters in Accounting. In his current role of CFO at Virgin Gaming, Harp oversees the Finance, Human Resource, and Legal functions of this global web-based business. Through these responsibilities, Harp has set up corporate governance structure, executed private debt and equity financings, and lead negotiations on key company contracts with companies such as Electronic Arts and Microsoft. Virgin Gaming is the premier destination for competitive console gamers to meet, challenge and play in head-to head and tournament challenges for cash, points and prizes. With an array of proprietary features, including a Fair Play Guarantee™ (with automatic results validation), a secure payment back end, and a Community Reputation Management System, Virgin Gaming allows gamers of all skill levels from around the world to safely and easily compete in some of their favorite multiplayer games. Prior to joining Virgin Gaming, Harp started his career at Deloitte, working in the Telecommunications teams of both Toronto, Canada and Sydney Australia offices. His most recent experience was as an investment analyst at Bell New Ventures and Virgin Canada. Currently, Harp is also a mentor at Jolt, a technology accelerator dedicated to building high-growth web and mobile companies.

Farhan Thawar, VP Engineering, Xtreme Labs Inc. Named one of "Toronto's Top 25 Most Powerful People In 2010", Farhan is a well-known and respected figure in the city's tech community. Before joining the Xtreme team, Farhan held the positions of Chief Software Architect at I Love Rewards, the Head of Search & MSN Platform for Microsoft Canada and Technical Lead at Trilogy Software. In addition to being a programming and engineering guru for Xtreme Labs, Farhan also uses his wealth of industry and mobile expertise to mentor aspiring mobile and tech startups. Farhan has a degree in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo and an MBA in Financial Engineering from Rotman.