Advisors

Candace Johnson
President, Johnson Paradigm Ventures
Co-Founder, Sophia Euro Labs, France

Candace Johnson is President of Johnson Paradigm Ventures (“JPV”), a family investment firm based in Luxembourg and the co-founder of Sophia Euro Lab, an early-stage venture capital fund based in Sophia Antipolis, France (“the Silicon Valley of Europe”).

According to CNN and Time in 2001, Candace is one of the 50 most powerful business women in Europe and was instrumental in revolutionising the European telecommunications industry. As the President of Europe OnLine and the founding member of Teleport Europe, Europe’s first independent, private trans-border satellite communications company, she has been particularly influential in advising various governments, corporations and entrepreneurs on matters related to communications convergence and innovation.

Since 1983, Candace has been a member of the board and a member of the special committee of Société Européenes des Satellites, the company which operates Astra Satellites and which commands 80% of the Direct-to-Home satellite television market in Europe. She is President of the Global Telecom Women’s Network, comprising 40 international female Directors, Vice Presidents and Presidents of communication and Internet companies. Candace helped create and became the first President of the Association of Telecommunication Network and Value added Service Providers in Germany.

Author of numerous articles published in reputable technical magazines, she has been honoured for her contributions to the European business community. Candace has received the Federal Cross for Exceptional Services in Germany and was made an Officer of the Oak Leaf Crown by the Government of Luxembourg for helping establish Luxembourg as a European New Media Centre. She was nominated Woman of Achievement by the Public Broadcasting System of America and has received the Federal Commendation for Excellence

Dave McDowell
Former Senior Vice President
Qualcomm Inc.

Since retiring from the headquarters of Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) as its Senior Vice President, Dave McDowell has remained active as an angel investor and a strategic advisor to technology companies, particularly in the area of customer and channel development and securing funding to finance their plans. Dave began his career with IBM and, over an 18 year career, worked in the areas of international strategic planning, market research and product management at IBM Canada, IBM World Trade and finally at IBM Corporate. He left IBM to lead a successful turnaround of a large franchise computer retail operation in Europe, receiving a distinguished award from its board. Dave was the President of both NovAtel and JRC North America during their successful years as wireless suppliers. He eventually joined Qualcomm and became its Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, growing Qualcomm’s consumer products business from a complete start-up in 1996 to a $3 billion annual business in 2001, prior to selling it to Kyocera and assuming responsibility for the corporation’s global mergers and acquisitions.

Dave has degrees in Economics and Political Science, and an MA degree in Economics. He attended the University of Minnesota and the Blaricum Management School in the Netherlands.

Christian Zabbal
Managing Partner
ghSmart Inc.

Christian Zabbal is the Managing Partner and Canadian country manager of ghSmart Inc., the leading management team assessment and leadership coaching firm for the private equity market. The company’s clients include leading venture capital and buyout investors, hedge fund managers, Fortune 500 senior executives, and billionaire entrepreneurs. Mr. Zabbal joined the firm in 2002 and manages all of its Canadian clients, including selected clients in New York and Minneapolis.

Prior to joining ghSMART, Mr. Zabbal was an Associate Principal at the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Company, where he led the media and airline practice in Canada and co-led several firm-wide, long-term efforts such as McKinsey’s research and publications on broadband and interactive television. As such, he advised the senior management of several top media and telecommunications companies on strategy, M&A, and operations.

Mr. Zabbal graduated from McGill University with a B.S. in Neurobiology. He led a small cancer research team for a few years working on new therapies for solid-state cancers, started a company and sold it, before earning an MBA from McGill in international finance and switching careers to management consulting.

During his tenure as a management consultant, Mr. Zabbal led most of the community work done by the McKinsey office in Canada, and, as such, has helped a number of non-profit organizations in a variety of roles, from volunteer at a rape/suicide help line to a member of the board of Leave out Violence, an organization that helps children victims of violence.

Dora Vell
Managing Partner
Vell & Associates

Dora Vell is the Managing Partner of Vell & Associates based in Boston, a leading executive search firm focused finding, assessing and recruiting top talent in the technology and IT services marketplace. She was most recently a senior partner with Heidrick & Struggles for nearly seven years. Dora has been responsible for senior level searches across most technology / services sectors and most functional roles within the senior ranks of client organizations, including numerous CIOs, CEO, COO, President, Vice President, Partners and board members. Prior to joining executive search, Dora headed up a US$120 million middleware software business for IBM. She oversaw the sales and marketing activities for database management systems, transaction systems and application development. During her career, Dora worked for the President and CEO of IBM Canada, and held a number of senior sales, marketing and development positions. She was also a senior development executive, where she successfully delivered large, high risk, high complexity projects on time and with high quality. Dora has authored seven worldwide software patents and a number of software articles. She is a featured speaker at various conferences, such as the Federated Press, the Women's Executive Network and the National Venture Capital Association. Dora served on the board of Goodwill and on the board of the Mary Center for developmentally-handicapped individuals. She has also served on the advisory board of RBC Capital Partners.

Dora received an MBA from the University of Toronto, a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo, and a Bachelor of Computer Science from Carleton University.