Investors
Anthony Durkacz
Mr. Durkacz has previously held the roles of President of Capital Ideas Investor Relations and CFO of Snipp Interactive Inc. (ticker SPN on TSXV). He was instrumental in the financing and public listing of the mobile marketing company with operations in Canada, the USA, Mexico and India.
Mr. Durkacz is also the owner and president of Fortius Research & Trading Corp., which provides financial and investor relations consulting services to micro and small cap companies in various sectors, and develops investment strategies for high net worth individuals. From 2006 to 2009, he served as COO and CFO of MKU Canada Inc. and engaged in mergers and acquisitions globally, and from 2002 to 2006 served as the CFO of Astris Energi Inc., a dually listed public company in the US and Canada which was acquired by an international conglomerate. He began his career at TD Securities on the capital markets trading floor.
Mr. Durkacz holds an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration from Brock University with a major in both Accounting and Finance
Boris Novansky
Boris is a seasoned M&A advisor with over 20 years of transactional experience across a broad range of industry sectors. Boris has advised on well-over $60 billion in successful corporate transactions, including some of the most complex transactions completed in North America.
Most recently Boris was the managing director of M&A at CIBC World Markets, the capital markets subsidiary of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, with responsibility for all origination and execution activity in the Diversified Industries sector. Prior to CIBC, Boris was senior partner and head of M&A at Cormark Securities, one of the leading independent investment dealers in Canada. Prior to Cormark, Boris was managing director of M&A at TD Securities, the capital markets arm of Toronto-Dominion Bank, which he joined through TD’s acquisition of Newcrest Capital, a leading Canadian independent dealer where he had been vice president.
Boris earned his MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, and his B.Comm from the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary.
Jack Bensimon
Jack is a seasoned securities law / banking law professional in the securities industry. He advises banks, broker-dealers, fixed income dealers, MSBs, ATS, regulators, trust and insurance companies, Portfolio Managers, EMDs, IFMs, mutual funds, energy companies, and issuers.
Jack chairs the Technion Canada Endowment Fund with investment returns funding innovative lab projects, co-hosts a radio show focusing on Securities Law/Banking Law issues for investors, and is a regular speaker at leading conferences speaking on securities law and fund management issues. Jack teaches Business Law/Advanced Business Law/ Securities Law at the York University School of Administrative Studies.
Jack is a graduate of the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, Master of Laws (LLM) in Business Law, and completed both his General LLM and Securities Law LLM at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. Jack is also a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School of Business in a graduate program in investment management. He completed his B.A. (Hon), Economics/Math at the University of Toronto.
John Fitzgerald
John is the president of Toronto-based 11 Asset Management and co-founder of Stope Capital Advisors, is a senior investment banker and investor. John has sourced and executed a wide variety of transactions across multiple industries, including the healthcare, digital media and natural resources sectors. He worked in a senior banking capacity for 20+ years in New York and London at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers International where he won multiple “Deal of the Year” awards. Mr. Fitzgerald has significant expertise in capital markets, acquisition finance, structured finance, and securitization.
In addition to his investment banking activities, Mr. Fitzgerald has served as a valued advisor to, and member of, the Board of Directors of numerous technology businesses. Mr. Fitzgerald is a Director of Epcylon Technologies and previously served as Board Member and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Daystar Technologies (NASDAQ-listed solar panel manufacturer), Director and Interim CEO of Harvest Wind (wind turbine manufacturer), Advisor to iSense Corporation (medical device manufacturer), Director and Interim President of BostonPoly (medical polymer manufacturer) and Advisor and Board Observer for Trustwater plc (water filtration for industrial and medical application).
Mr. Fitzgerald received a B.A. with Distinction from Bowdoin College, an MSc.(Econ) from The London School of Economics and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Fitzgerald lives in Toronto and Ketchum, Idaho.
Phillip Shum
Phillip currently holds the role of Vice-president at Smallcappower.com, an investment portal that focuses on publicly traded small cap equities, where he is responsible for business development, marketing, and client relations. Smallcappower.com is a subsidiary of Gravitas Financial, a financial services holding company.
Prior to his current role, Phillip has held various sales and marketing roles at technology firms such as PayPal Canada; CPNI Inc, a mobile payments and banking software start-up, AMD, and a few more. Phillip is also an active investor in the small-cap space.
Aaron Meckler
Aaron Meckler is a seasoned investor and corporate finance professional with deep experience in Canadian public markets. He currently runs a boutique investment banking firm with a focus on Fractional CFO engagements, public listing advisory, M&A transaction advisory, and financings. The principals of the firm are invested across a wide range of sectors, giving Mr. Meckler has a unique perspective of the markets. Aaron has assembled and raised institutional & high-net-worth retail capital for several projects and is able to diligently underwrite deals with speed and precision given his hands-on experience on both buy-side and sell-side mandates. Mr. Meckler is currently a CFO and board member to multiple reporting issuers.
Aaron holds a BCom from York University, the Chartered Investment Manager (CIM) designation and the Fellow of CSI (FCSI) designation.
Steve Misener
Steve brings over 3O years of experience in investment management and has worked as a fund manager for top Canadian Investment management firms. He was the lead manager at firms including C.I. Investments, Sentry Select, and BPI Financial.
Steve specialized in small capitalization Canadian companies and was voted as the #1 Canadian Small Cap Fund manager by the Globe and Mail for many years. Currently Steve actively invests in North American small cap public and private companies and also provides highly sought after advice to companies on capital market strategies.
A graduate of the University of Guelph (BA, Management and Economics), Steve also completed his MBA at McMaster University and holds the chartered financial analyst designation.
Rob Saltsman
Rob is an independent consultant and has held various executive appointments in public and private enterprises.
He was responsible for various M&A transactions like Titan Medical, which grew from a $5 million valuation to over $250 million at its high.
Additionally, Rob owns and manages MTCC 724, a 300 unit condominium building, and is the president of Compel Capital. He is highly connected on the institutional side and has raised millions of dollars over the years.
Martin Bernholtz
Martin has thirty-five years of experience in Finance & Accounting. He is the Chief Financial Officer for the Kerbel Group (since 1987), an integrated real estate developer, property owner and constructor.
In addition he has served on several public, private and institutional Boards during the past twenty-five years in the capacity as a Director, Chairman, Audit Chair, Governance Chair, Compensation Committee Chair, and as a Member and Chair of various special committees. Mr. Bernholtz is a founding Trustee of Centurion Real Estate Investment Trust and Chairman of the Centurion Real Estate Opportunity Trust.
His extensive experience spans Real Estate, Bio-Technology & Education. He graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration from York University in 1981 and became a Chartered Accountant (Ontario) in 1983. Early in his career his practice focused on Business Valuation and Litigation Support Services.
