Ron Klopfer
CEO, Etalim, Inc.

Ron Klopfer is an experienced technology entrepreneur and manager, having co-founded, financed and managed three successful technology startups over the past eight years, two of which have been acquired by larger companies to generate strong returns to seed-stage venture investors. Mr. Klopfer has also consulted to various technology companies on market strategy, sales, mergers and operations. Mr. Klopfer holds an MBA in technology marketing from Queen's University, and a Bachelor of Computer Engineering from the University of British Columbia. Mr. Klopfer started mentoring Ms. Chair in Fall 2006 and has since then become a great source of inspiration and support helping her to refine her passion and ideas into a tangible product and business plan. Notably, Mr. Klopfer helped Ms. Chair prepare for her Round 2 pitch at StarsOfSience – which helped her move from top 100 to top 16 amongst 5600 candidates.

Kirk Hill
Executive Director, Career Management Centre (CMC) at Simon Fraser University

Kirk Hill is responsible for directing the career management services and programs for SFU Business graduate and undergraduate students and alumni. Mr. Hill is also the President of the Canadian Association of the Career Educators and Employers (CACEE). Mr. Hill has spent much of his career in the United Kingdom where he held a variety of business development and sales and marketing positions in executive education, venture capital and leading executive search firm for the investment banking industry. He holds an undergraduate degree from Arizona State University and a MSc from the University of London. For the past two years, Mr. Hill has been providing guidance to Ms. Chair helping her to make relevant connections to move CarrotLines forward. They often hold fruitful “brainstorming” sessions.

Richard Smith
Professor, School of Communication at Simon Fraser University

Richard Smith is a Professor in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. He is also Director of the Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology (CPROST) at SFU. Dr. Smith's research focus is social inclusion (and exclusion) brought on by the introduction of new media. He has an ongoing interest in technology for education, privacy and surveillance in public spaces, online communities, and the wireless information society. With academic training in communication and law, Dr. Smith has degrees from Carleton University (BA) and Simon Fraser University (MA and PhD). He is a member of the Canadian Communication Association, and the International Association for Management of Technology. He is also the publisher of the Canadian Journal of Communication. In 2007, Dr. Smith acted  as the academic supervisor for  Ms. Chair’s project – newly branded as “CarrotLines” – as part of the BC Innovation Council MBA Access to Commercialization Scholarship. Since then, Dr. Smith has advised Ms. Chair on the mobile media and technology aspects of the product.

George Matthews White
Associate Teaching Professor at Carnegie Mellon Qatar

George White is an associate teaching professor at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. Dr. White teaches Introduction to Entrepreneurship to undergraduate students and executives. Dr. White holds a Ph.D. in  Chemical Physics from the University of Oregon with post doctoral studies in Computer Science at Stanford University.  He has extensive experience as an entrepreneur. He has held posts at Stanford University, the Center for the Study of Language & Information Industrial Affiliates and the Institute for Infocomm Research in Singapore. His areas of research include cognitive science, corporate leadership and innovation. Dr. White came in contact with Ms. Chair through the StarsOfScience Program, where he acted as a business mentor. He since then became a great supporter of her project, CarrotLines, even to offer her sponsorship to the CMU Business Plan competition and connecting her with Vodafone Qatar. Dr. White often provides live feedback to Ms. Chair on Skype.

Sushee Perumal is the founder of Jet Direct Canada. Prior to Jet Direct Canada, he worked as an Associate Director at Bell Canada in Toronto. He is a pilot with a Commercial rating and holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Queen's School of Business and a degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering from McMaster University. Mr. Perumal is an active consultant to corporations and startups in the area of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and a mentor to many entrepreneurs. Mr. Perumal met with Ms. Chair as part of the Queen’s MBA Program in 2007. Since then, Mr. Perumal has shared some of his “hands on” entrepreneurial success and experience helping her to bridge the gap between the MBA and "real life" for her venture.