TORONTO, September 10, 2019 - DMZ is pleased to announce the appointment of Agnes Hilkene, executive director, The George and Helen Vari Foundation, and Claude Guay, general manager, IBM Canada.
Agnes Hilkene and Claude Guay will be joining a council of distinguished leaders to provide expert advice to DMZ on matters such as strategic direction, program reviews, international growth and ensuring the continued success of high-potential Canadian tech startups that are growing their business.
“At DMZ, we’re continuing to build a dynamic advisory council by bringing together top minds to positively impact DMZ and its community of top Canadian tech startups that are prepared for global expansion,” says Abdullah Snobar, executive director, DMZ. “With DMZ at an exciting level of growth both nationally and internationally, Agnes and Claude’s experience and business acumen makes them the ideal candidates for DMZ advisory council.”
Agnes Hilkene oversees all the George and Helen Vari Foundation’s grant activities to ensure that motivated entrepreneurial students have the support in place, so they can reach their fullacademic and professional potential. In addition, Hilkene is the vice-president of Ryerson Management Ltd., a property management company, where she is responsible for property acquisition and disposal, capital improvements and more.
As the General Manager of IBM Global Business Services Canada, Claude Guay leads a team of professional consultants who provide management consulting, digital strategy, cloud application innovation, and cognitive process transformation. Guay has spent more than 35 years in IT and consulting, which includes serving as the president and CEO of two startups.
“Agnes Hilkene and Claude Guay are bringing a wealth of expertise in the business sector that will allow for more entrepreneurs to grow their business in Canada,” said Anthony Lacavera, Founder and Chairman, Globalive Holdings, and Chair of DMZ advisory council. “I look forward to working closely with both members in order to support DMZ’s vision to support more made-in-Canada startups.”
Going forward, the advisory council will work on doubling its efforts on making DMZ accelerator the go-to program for startups from around the world to develop their sales playbook in order to grow from startup to scaleup.
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About DMZ: DMZ is a leading tech accelerator headquartered in Toronto, Ontario that helps high-potential startups grow and scale to world-class businesses. Also supporting ideation and validation stage startups, DMZ’s incubator program has been ranked number one in the world by UBI Global. Since 2010, DMZ has helped 424 startups raise over $715.1 million and foster more than 3,874 jobs. For more information, please visit dmz.torontomu.ca
