Canada-San Diego Commercialization Advisory Group
The Canada-San Diego Commercialization Advisory Group (The Advisory Group) has been launched to support the development and execution of LEAP! Canada.
The Advisory Group will work closely with Consulate of Canada (San Diego) staff to deliver the core components of the program and will consist of private-public sector leaders within San Diego's commercialization ecosystem. The Advisory Group will be designed to work with the Consulate to identify Canadian technology suitable for commercialization readiness and support from the San Diego region.
Members of the Advisory Group have been chosen based on their respective domain expertise in Clean Technology, Defense & Security, ICT, and Life Sciences. Members have also been chosen given their depth of contacts and networks with their respective industry clusters, representing tight knit units of the larger San Diego economy.
Michael Jones
President, Profinance Associates
Chairman, The Security Network
Michael is President of ProFinance Associates, Inc. and Chairman of The Security Network. Michael studied in the U.S., Europe and Latin America and speaks five languages. He was a commercial banker for eight years, starting his career in London and ending as the equivalent of a Senior Vice President in NYC after starting and running one of the first Communications/High Tech lending groups in the U.S. In 1985 Michael founded ProFinance, a Broker-Dealer firm headquartered in San Diego since 1998. ProFinance was one of the first investment banking firms in the U.S. to focus on the security field and has provided Mergers & Acquisition Advisory and Private Placement Financing (of debt and equity) to the industry for over 20 years. Michael is a founder and Chairman of Securing New Ground in NYC, the leading conference focused on the U.S. electronic security field, and of The Security Network. Michael is an alumnus of the FBI's Citizen Academy. He lectures at San Diego State University and sits on the Boards of a number of entities.
Prashant Kantak
Former Founder of Qualcomm Ventures
Prashant Kantak founded and managed QUALCOMM Ventures, a $500M strategic venture capital fund of QUALCOMM, with operations in North America and Asia including Korea ($60M), Japan and China ($100M). He has led investments in several startup companies including Paypal (acquired by EBAY), Air Prime (acquired by SWIR), GTRAN Wireless (acquired by FLEX), Airvana, Discera and JAMDAT (IPO). Aside from his active involvement with the portfolio companies of the fund, he has created strategic linkages, co-development and business partnerships between the startup companies and QUALCOMM operating units. He continues to be responsible for various corporate development efforts including strategic alliances, partnerships and acquisitions.
Prashant has over 17 years of business and technical experience in the field of telecommunications. He has been with QUALCOMM since 1990 and has held various technical and management positions within QUALCOMM. He participated in the early definition and development of CDMA systems and thereafter developed key ASICs for their implementations. He has also designed and implemented efficient DSP architectures for mobile communications that form the core platform for QUALCOMM's commercial ASICs. Prashant has an MBA from Cornell University and a MS and BS in Electrical Engineering.
Doug Pennington
Executive Director, Private Capital Network
Doug Pennington career spans successes in banking, technology and private equity. Over 40 of the 50 largest financial institutions in the US have been his clients, along with all of the major accounting and stock brokerage firms.
In 1988, Doug moved from the corporate world to starting his own business. Utilizing his skills, he built an importation and distribution company from startup to one of the largest in the US with annual revenues exceeding $50 million. Selling his interests in 1998, Doug returned to the corporate world leading a team that developed the second most popular internet home-banking product in the nation.
Seeing a better way of connecting new companies to investors, in 2006 Doug founded Private Capital Network (PCN), an angel investor group specializing in early stage and startup businesses. PCN currently has chapters across America, Canada, Sweden and Denmark.
Doug holds degrees in Economics and Social Sciences from University of California, Irvine, and a MSA in Finance from the Paul Merage School of Business (UCI). He currently is on the Advisory boards to several US companies, one overseas firm, and the Ottawa Center for Redevelopment and Innovation (OCRI) Investment Advisory Board.
John Rodenrys
CEO and Senior Managing Partner, Leading Ventures
Mr. Rodenrys is CEO and Senior Managing Partner of Leading Ventures LLC, a seed round venture fund that provides capital, specialized expertise and network connections to early stage technologies that can be accelerated to a revenue generating entity, early outlicense or sale to an acquiring firm.
Previously, he was CEO of SafetyMate Corporation, the company that invented and distributes a portable life-saving responder device with American Red Cross and Homeland Security Protocols. Prior to joining SafetyMate, he was COO of ForHealth Technologies, where he was responsible for R&D, manufacturing, quality assurance, customer service and field operations. ForHealth develops and markets an FDA-regulated medical device that is the world’s first fully automated robot for filling syringes for IV uses in hospitals. He previously served as president of Vistant Corporation, a subsidiary of Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH), and a Fortune 50 Company.
Mr. Rodenrys holds a BS in engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), a master’s in business from U.S. International University (USIU) and an APICS CPIM (American Production & Inventory Control Society; Certified in Production & Inventory Management). He is the author of Production and Management Systems for Business, published by Prentice Hall and is a co-inventor on three patents.
