Bonjour Startup Montréal, a nonprofit organization with the goal of putting Montréal’s startup ecosystem on the map, has named the member of its first board of directors.
The establishment of the board marks a key moment in the governance of the young organization, which has increased its efforts over the last year to support the city’s tech scene.
The board’s co-presidents are Alan MacIntosh and Norman Hébert.
“We are pleased to be able to ensure a solid foundation for Bonjour Startup Montréal and affirm our role in supporting and building the ecosystem in order to maximize the players’ collective impact,” said Liette Lamonde, CEO of Bonjour Startup Montréal.
“In the current context, I am particularly proud of the composition of the board of directors, which effectively represents the full diversity of our ecosystem,” Lamonde added.
The board’s co-presidents are Alan MacIntosh, partner at Real Ventures and Norman Hébert, president and CEO of Groupe Park Avenue. MacIntosh is also a co-founder of and mentor at FounderFuel, and sits on the board of local startup Bus.com.
Among the board of directors is also Deborah Chèrenfant, regional manager of women entrepreneurs in Quebec at TD Bank. Cherenfant is the founder of the creative studio Atelier Coloré and of the business blog Mots d´Elles. She is also a member of the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal.
Another board member is Amira Boutouchent, co-founder and CEO of Bridgr, a startup that aims to support manufacturing SMEs in their digital transformation. Boutouchent is a computer science engineer and has a Master of Science in management from HEC Montreal.
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Other members of Bonjour Startup Montréal’s board include:
- Isabelle Bettez, administrator, coach, and co-founder at 8D Technologies Inc.
- Alexandra Bonnefoy, consultant at BDC Capital
- Richard Chénier, managing director at Centec
- Patrick Gagné, co-founder and entrepreneur in residence at Bonjour Startup Montréal and CEO of Ecofuel
- Louis-Edgar Jean François, CEO of Groupe 3737
- Indra Kubicek, CEO of Kids Code Jeunesse
- Liette Lamonde, CEO of Bonjour Startup Montréal and managing director of Montréal Inc.
- Marina Pavolvic Rivas, CEO and co-founder of Eli Health
- Éric Phaneuf, president and CEO of Walter Capital Partners
- Philippe Telio, founder of Startupfest
Bonjour Startup Montréal was launched in 2019 after the OSMO Foundation was selected to be an official regional innovation hub by the Quebec government. OSMO created Bonjour Startup Montréal as a way to mobilize Montreal’s startups, organizations, universities, and business community with the ultimate goal to position the city in the top 20 most dynamic ecosystems in the world.
In April, Bonjour Startup Montréal partnered with Desjardins and Google Canada to launch Post-COVID, a virtual competition that identified innovative solutions to societal issues resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in Québec.
In June, Bonjour Startup Montréal created a tool that aims to centralize information on Montréal companies, investors, support organizations and to promote the city’s business and tech activity. The organization has also created an initial comprehensive portrait for startups, a startup ecosystem map, and been actively monitoring government programs and activities during the pandemic.
Image source Artur Staszewski via Flickr.
