Altruistic by nature. Successful
through nurture.

Our Philosophy

The word “alacrity” means brisk and cheerful readiness. Propelled by this definition, we help existing B.C. businesses either digitize or build. Alacrity works with local and global strategic partners to connect entrepreneurs and startups in Western Canada with investors. We also invite startups from outside Canada to relocate to B.C. to further stimulate and amplify economic growth in the region.

We’re driving the Local Ecosystem

Alacrity Canada has contributed to B.C.’s technology ecosystem by offering innovative initiatives that address the ever-evolving needs of the world’s tech economy. Alacrity has collaborated with governments at all levels to empower business owners and entrepreneurs and has helped many gain recognition globally for contributions in their fields. This recognition has helped to establish B.C. as a hub for technology, research, and development on the international stage. The organization continues to focus on the fields of Internet Security, Data, Clean Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Adoption, in alignment with observed global needs and trends.

Tap into the global ecosystem

Alacrity Canada's Economic Impact

Meet Our Players

Inclusive and diverse, Alacrity relies on the ingenuity and intuition of its bright and hungry team, and encourages its players to explore ideas and opportunities that they’re passionate about. This organic approach has proven to produce unique and exceptional programming.

Alacrity’s experienced mentorship team and our extended network of business leaders around the world provide nuanced feedback to Alacrity’s incubating companies.

All

Alacrity Canada

Board

Canada Digital Adoption

Cleantech

Digital Adoption

Digital Marketing

Startup Visa

Richard Egli

CEO

As CEO, Richard manages the operation and strategic direction of the Alacrity Foundation. As a team member, he advises multiple portfolio companies by contributing to investment decisions and connecting them to potential partners and investors.

Richard is one part visionary, one part diplomat. His role requires him to turn his attention forward, in search of meaningful opportunities and partnerships. Focussing on those that add value to Alacrity’s portfolio of companies, and evolve Alacrity’s scope and goals. In parallel, Richard hones in, sourcing and working alongside the next generation of tech leaders. He has shown great success in assembling teams, and leading them into strategic alignment, through pitfalls, over hurdles, and into the light.

Over the past few years Richard has also led the effort behind the Alacrity Investor Readiness Program, which has brought more than $220M CAD of investment into the B.C. technology ecosystem; and spearheaded the initiative behind opening Alacrity’s Shanghai office, meaning cross-border opportunity and investment.

Richard holds a B.Com in Entrepreneurship from Royal Roads University and a MBA from the University of Victoria with a specialization in real estate, venture capital and finance. He has also spent 10 years involved in real estate development in various capacities: as a builder, project manager, and investor, across Western Canada and the USA. Beginning in 2005, he began managing a $40M+ budget for a 74 lot subdivision project in Kelowna, B.C. to successful completion. He continues pursuing real estate projects in Victoria by developing and providing unique work spaces to the growing local technology community.

While Richard is immensely proud of the results and impact his team has achieved in the last decade, for Richard, Alacrity is just getting started. Being an entrepreneur at heart means that he is invigorated by newness and being ahead of the game.

Alongside his work at Alacrity, Richard is a founding investor and managing partner of Cindicates Investment Fund , is on the board of Directors for Capital Investment Network, among others; and volunteers for the Power to Be Charity and Hero Work.

Chris-Massot

Program Manager - Alacrity Canada

Chris supports Alacrity’s ecosystem by advancing early stage companies, leading various projects, and enjoys going on (virtual) coffee chats. Within the organization, he assists portfolio companies with strategic planning, implementing new initiatives, and project management.

Chris’ background in program management, startup operations, business management, strategic planning, e-commerce, sales marketing and grant application, makes him the perfect lead for Alacrity’s Start-up Visa Program. One which targets aspiring foreign entrepreneurs who wish to establish new, high-growth businesses in Canada. In two short years, Chris has ironed out a roadmap for entrepreneurs to acquire visas and set up their businesses in British Columbia – all with the intention of growing B.C’s tech ecosystem.

While at Alacrity, Chris has helped secure $4M+ in funding for programs, supported 20+ startups in a “hands-on” capacity, managed and supported 5 Programs, produced tech related events, and has formed strategic partnerships with different vendors and service providers.

Prior to joining Alacrity Canada, Chris studied at the University of Victoria where he received a Bachelor of Commerce with a specialization in entrepreneurship and marketing.

Chris is dedicated to empowering and growing B.C.-based startups, Global startups, and entrepreneurs through a variety of programs and resources.

Chrystal Boyd

Office Manager

Chrystal is the first face one sees upon entering Alacrity Canada's HQ. She manages the space, supports our players and assists the accounting department.

Chrystal’s zeal for assisting and helping others perfectly aligns with Alacrity’s overall mission. Chrystal holds a vocational degree in Business Administration from The Shadd Health and Business Centre, and has spent ten years honing her people skills tending bar at some of Montreal’s coziest pubs. She found her way into Business Admin through years of hospitality work. With a strong work ethic, eye for detail, and ability to multitask, Chrystal's skillset & talents have been invaluable to our team.

Chrystal enjoys any opportunity to support portfolio companies, partners and the community. She has been a key player in many of the office’s events, from Turn the Tables, to our annual Pie-In-The-Face Fundraiser, and the Internship Search with the University of Victoria. From the moment Chrystal walked into Alacrity Canada she was drawn into the vibration of the space. Its energy, and friendly team, made her realize she couldn’t imagine not working with an enlivened community. Her time at Alacrity has instilled her with an invaluable wealth of knowledge and experience.

Burak-Evren

Program Manager - Alacrity Canada

Burak works with Alacrity’s Cleantech portfolio companies to address challenges in target markets (Mexico, Singapore, India and Northern Europe), and facilitates their marketing and business development efforts.

Burak leads our Cleantech program’s strategy, managing and overseeing all activities relating to the Cleantech portfolio. He is dedicated to turning the Cleantech industry into a field investors recognize and are excited to invest in so that environmental results and commercial results can be achieved in parallel. He has both a BA of Business Management from the University of Istanbul and a MA of Global Management from Royal Roads University. He is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of marketing, product development, and digital transformation experience.

He started his career at British American Tobacco Holland and became a brand manager for BAT in Central Asia. Through the years, he has taken on different roles in local and global organizations; working for McCann Erickson Worldgroup, Fox International Channels, Motorola and a few local giants in Turkey like Turkish Telecom, Dogan Holding and Boyner Holding. He managed to set up sales and marketing operations, stewarding projects worth over a hundred million USD and more. Under his management, Turkey’s first IPTV platform Tivibu got many rewards and achieved a healthy market share. In the last decade, he was holding senior and C-level positions in marketing and digital product development.

At Alacrity Cleantech, he has helped achieve its 2018-2020 targets which resulted in a new program that will bring in new export potential and investment to BC, and through the Program, has helped over 10 founders raise funds and grow their companies. He diligently serves entrepreneurs so they are at the cutting edge of tech, and service development for the improvement of the community environment that we all share.

Burak established a reputation as a professional and academician. He worked as a lecturer at Kadir Has University in Istanbul and teaches at Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC, on intercultural studies, digital entrepreneurship, innovation management, e-commerce & m-commerce. Burak is a keynote speaker in tech events about new media, artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and he is also one of the founders of the Turkish Digital Transformation Association.

He is currently an associate faculty at Royal Roads University, and has been teaching there for the last 2 years. He has also been a mentor at Turkish Telecom’s Acceleration Program Pilot for 3 years.

Terry Matthews

Terry Matthews - Wesley Clover International

Terry founded Alacrity with his son Owen Matthews and friend, Simon Gibbons. His experience as the founder and Chairman of Wesley Clover International, and as a founder/funder of more than 100 companies, has been indispensable in building Alacrity and its portfolio. Since 1972, Terry has founded or funded more than 100 companies. Early data networking giant Newbridge Networks and current business communications leader Mitel are highlights.

Today, Wesley Clover, his investment and holdings company, has active interests in a range of innovative cloud and SaaS technology companies, as well as in selected commercial and leisure real estate. Terry holds an Honours degree in electronics from the University of Wales, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

In 1994, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and in 2001, the Queen made him a Knight Bachelor. In 2017, Terry was also appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Justyn Maglalang

Program Manager

Justyn is a Project Manager at Alacrity and Project Lead within the organization. Most recently, he oversaw the Launch Online Grant program, where he managed relationships between the B.C Government, program partners, and Operations.

Impressed by the culture and potential opportunities within the organization, Justyn jumped at the chance to join Alacrity Canada. Justyn has over 12 years experience managing various types of projects. Prior to joining the team, Justyn spent over 5 years in the performance marketing industry where he led and coached teams in Operations, Sales, and Media Buying. After discovering his “zone of genius” within data & operations, Justyn started his own operations consulting business where he uses data and automations as his superpower. His technical skill set includes: MySQL, APIs, Salesforce, Data Analytics, and more.

Justyn is an analytical leader who enjoys harnessing the power of data in order to drive better operational decision making. He builds strong relationships both internally and externally in order to ensure projects run smoothly and that they meet their deadlines.

Golriz Fattahi

VP of Operations

As Vice President of Operations, Golriz works with internal and external stakeholders to support access to funding for programming and education. She also acts as our head recruiter, and is our culture enthusiast, providing a safe space for collaborative efforts.

Golriz holds a BA from Simon Fraser University and is a seasoned Operations Manager with over 15 years of experience in Retail, Recruitment, Research, Non for Profit, Fundraising, Small Business, and Entrepreneurship. Her areas of expertise are People Management (HR), Recruitment, Government Relations and Grant Writing. Something Alacrity Canada does a lot of in order to fund our Programs and Initiatives. Before Alacrity, Golriz worked in research within the recruitment industry as a Project Manager. Prior to that, she worked as a junior estimator in a construction company as well as a store manager for Starbucks – where she first realized how good her people skills were.

Golriz is a dedicated project manager, delivering exceptional programs through various Alacrity initiatives, including the launch and expansion of the Entreprenurship@Alacrity program in 2009. Currently, Golriz works with the Digital Marketing Bootcamp team and the BC Cleantech Initiative group on a number of program offerings, including the delivery of the Recycled Plastics Manufacturing Stimulus Fund. Golriz is also in charge of reporting to the government and funding partners for the above mentioned programs.

She is actively involved in building and growing the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion principals at Alacrity, bringing that focus to all portfolio companies, and is a member of Canadian Accelerator Incubator Network.

Sofie-Campbell

Partnerships and Engagement Manager

Sofie Campbell is Partnerships and Engagements Manager at Alacrity Canada.

Sofie brings to this role her experience with marketing, communications, and program administration for the Alacrity Cleantech program. Sofie is passionate about inter-organizational collaboration and believes in the importance of establishing and nurturing strategic partnerships and relationships with like-minded organizations. In this role, Sofie plans to build on Alacrity's tremendous track-record of supporting entrepreneurs by creating the frameworks and practices that will make it possible for Alacrity to take full advantage of the dynamic network it has cultivated.

Before coming to Alacrity, Sofie worked in Project Communications and Internal Communications at the global engineering and management consulting firm, Ramboll. She has experience working in Public Relations for companies, large and small. The thread that weaves through her 5+ years of experiences is her joy for writing and aptitude for distilling complex information into its most simple form. With a keen eye for design and a natural inclination towards collaboration, Sofie contributes to teams with energy and detail, pursuing novel promotional opportunities and engagements.

Sofie received her BA in English Literature and History from the University of Victoria and her MA in Advanced Migration Studies from the University of Copenhagen.

Sofie Campbell

Partnerships and Engagement Manager

Jennifer-Hodi

Administrative Assistant

With 15+ years in Customer Service in various industries, Jennifer’s experience & innate ability to read people’s needs, readies her to support Alacrity Canada in various capacities.

Jennifer was attracted to Alacrity because of its people, who all embody the organization’s meaning: brisk and cheerful readiness. Jennifer is solution-focused and offers her observation and organizational skills to support the Operations, Human Resources and Finance teams with administrative tasks.

Her support with creating a training program for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion has been instrumental in aiding our team in deepening their understanding and commitment to creating an inclusive workplace for all. Jennifer has also launched our HR platform to support our growing team.

Jennifer is currently enrolled in the Therapeutic Arts Practitioner program with the Canadian International Institute of Art Therapy, pursuing her interest in healing and the arts.

Galyna-Kulykova

Bookkeeper

Galyna runs our bookkeeping department facilitating payroll both in-house, and for our clients.

Galyna is bringing a fresh perspective to our Accounting and Bookkeeping department. She holds a BA in Hospitality Management and a Post-Degree Diploma in Business Administration with an accounting major. Galyna endeavors to become a fundamental piece within Alacrity’s team. One who can be the face of the Accounting Department while meeting new clients and supporting them set up their processes and procedures for their businesses.

Upon first landing on Alacrity Canada’s homepage, Galyna felt like the organization was unique. It’s goal to help entrepreneurs and the B.C. ecosystem at large was new to her, and it felt meaningful. Upon arrival, to see how engaged her colleagues are in the day-to-day operations, she realized her gut instinct had been right.

Sofia-Rizzo

Project Coordinator - Start-up Visa Program

Sofia has completed Alacrity Canada’s Digital Marketing Bootcamp and holds a BA in Administration, for both Business and Theatre Management. With her experience in Event Planning, Project Coordination, and Administration, she has fine tuned the ability to communicate and multi-task. These skills developed by managing various programs, events, shows, festivals and workshops for non-profit organizations across Canada.

Sofia helps oversee the Start-up Visa Program, supporting tech startups from around the world establish their businesses in Canada. She has assessed and supported over 100 international tech startups entering the Canadian market. She has also had the opportunity to support the Launch Online Program team in administering $42 million in grants to small businesses.

Sofia was attracted to Alacrity Canada due to its culture, work environment, its community, and how innovative she found the projects Alacrity Canada runs. She means to continue to expand her own skills and knowledge within the tech industry and support the success of Start-up Visa companies from start to finish. Her ultimate goal is to build opportunities for women in tech to succeed.

Alongside her career at Alacrity Canada, Sofia supports Power To Be by doing grant research and processing data from fundraisers and campaigns. This charity works to remove cognitive, physical and social barriers to the outdoors.

Kalyn Adams

Digital Marketing Advisor - Alacrity Digital Marketing Bootcamp

As an Advisor and Facilitator for our Digital Marketing Bootcamp, Kalyn engages students through our learning platform, thinkific, and hosts Q&A webinars.

Kalyn has a BS in Sociology and a BA in Humanities. She mastered the art of strategic Digital Marketing through her own experience as a small business entrepreneur. This led her to support small businesses as their Digital Marketing consultant, and the Kootenay Association for Science and Technology as their advisor on an ongoing basis.

For our Digital Marketing Bootcamp, Kalyn passes on her 7 years of experience by facilitating three areas of study: Email Marketing, Pinterest, and Google Analytics.

Kalyn has been motivated by the success rate of the Bootcamp, and seeing those struggling to turning their businesses on their heads, especially during the pandemic.

Todd Tessier

Board Member

Todd Tessier, CPA, CMA, is the Chief Financial Officer at Vanedge Capital. His role with Vanedge Capital is to provide financial and operational oversight of the Fund. Todd also works with financial technology, hardware, and expansion stage investment opportunities.

Todd was CFO at Recon Instruments Inc. from January 2013 until it was sold to Intel Corporation in June 2015. At Recon, he led the team's production financing and capital funding strategy. Over the past 20 years he has developed and implemented venture capital programming and institutional funds that have helped early-stage companies to access capital from both angel investors and venture capitalists.

Before his work at Recon, Todd was Vice President at BC Renaissance Capital Fund, a Crown-sponsored fund of funds in British Columbia that invested in eight venture funds with a combined $2.3 billion USD of capital under management. He held the position of Executive Director for the Investment Capital with the Province of BC for seven years. During his tenure, his team developed and implemented venture capital programming, including the BC angel tax credit program.

Todd has served on the Board of DigiBC and currently serves as a Director with the Alacrity Foundation. Alacrity’s goal is to encourage engineering graduates to form technology companies.

Peter Elkins

Board Member

Peter Elkins is an accomplished Founder, Entrepreneur and Advisor who, by the age of twenty-one, operated two businesses. The medical start-up he founded in 2000, GUTZ EMS Inc, became a thriving company, with government clients across Canada. In 2015, Peter co-founded Capital Investment Network, a non-profit angel investment group, based in Victoria, B.C. Peter acted as business model advisor to Simon Fraser University’s Community Economic Development Program (SFU CED) in 2013.

Peter led the BCom In Entrepreneurial Management Capstone Project at Royal Roads University in Victoria, B.C. from 2016-2019 and, in 2019, he designed the Impact Search Fund business model, an evolution of Grousbeck’s 1984 Stanford University's Graduate School of Business model.

Peter was a member of the Emerging Economy Taskforce (Province of B.C.), and he designed the Impact Mortgage Fund for the B.C. Construction Association (BCCA). As the Founder of Project X, a philanthropic venture launched in 2020, he is deeply committed to the enhancement of community economic development.

Peter Elkins delivers a creative, collaborative, and astute approach to challenging social and economic issues.

Mark Henderson

Board Member

Mark is a father, husband, founder, acquirer, and volunteer living in Victoria BC.

Mark’s career began 20 years ago working for Intuit as an operations leader for over a decade. In 2014 he brought that experience to Victoria where he worked 1 year as COO for local startup SaaSquatch, followed by 4 years as CEO for local collaboration software company Flow.

He is currently CEO of GetAcquired, a marketplace & brokerage located in Victoria BC. The acquirer and owner of FirstOfficer.io. Board member for the Alacrity Foundation, and active community participant within the Victoria tech community.

Simon Adnams

Controller

Simon manages Alacrity Canada’s financial and operational matters. His nine years of experience in taxation, assurance, infrastructure and energy, non-profits, and start-ups has led him to develop a wide spectrum of skills, which he contributes to Alacrity and its associated entities.

After completing a Bachelor of Commerce, specializing in Finance, at University of British Columbia, he subsequently completed a CPA designation. Previously, Simon provided financial services to large-scale infrastructure projects with assets in excess of $100M. Simon now sits as controller of the Alacrity Foundation and a number of the portfolio companies with which it is involved.

He also acts as the administrator of multi-million dollar Federal and Provincial government programs by allocating these funds to Alacrity Foundation and unrelated third parties, subject to government criteria.

Simon has found his home here at Alacrity, not only because of the interesting projects and companies which require his tactical diligence, but also because of the people with whom he gets to work with daily.

Peter Van der Gracht

Senior Advisor, Canada

Peter Van der Gracht is a senior mentor for Alacrity Canada’s Cleantech program, supporting portfolio companies with market penetration, business model development, and alternative financing solutions. Based in Canada, Peter also works closely with in-market advisors and cleantech companies pursuing opportunities in the India and Northern Europe markets.

Peter, a Master of Electrical Engineering and Applied Sciences by trade, is a powerful resource for cleantech company development. He currently serves as a member, chairman, or director of a significant number of boards and provides independent financial and management advice to multiple companies at Alacrity and through other organizations.

With more than forty years of business experience in a variety of industries ranging from natural resources to technology and telecommunications to retail and cleantech, he has a wealth of business acumen and established relationships with a diverse and expansive global network of business leaders.

Peter excels at making connections between companies, finding new customers, pitching investors, and folding in partners, connecting very valuable dots for companies both small and large. He also has experience managing operational build-outs, acquisitions, and buy-outs and has successfully led and exited multiple technology companies headquartered across North America with global footprints.

Peter works with Alacrity because he values giving back to the business community and to the environment. “Working with a not-for-profit that works to support entrepreneurs and inventors and green the planet at the same time feels like a pretty worthwhile calling to me.”

Cec Primeau

Senior Advisor, Canada

Cec Primeau is a senior mentor for the Alacrity Canada Cleantech Program. Based in Canada, Cec works closely with Federico to pursue opportunities for cleantech companies in the Mexican market. He spends his time with multiple portfolio companies to provide advice on business modeling and financial modeling, as well as market discovery and business development.

Cec currently serves as Principle of Solutions Plus Consulting in addition to his role with Alacrity Cleantech. Cec is a true business veteran, with decades of strategic information technology and financial and management experience in a vast array of industries. He has served in senior management positions such as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operations Officer, and Chief Innovation Officer in a number of sectors. In his role as an eBusiness Principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the late ’90s, he was a thought leader who helped his firm understand how the business world would be impacted by emerging internet and web-based technologies.

More recently, Cec served as CFO of a clean technology company and helped take the company from startup to profit generation within just a few years. He also oversaw the successful sale of a telecom software company as COO and CFO.

Cec’s work with Alacrity Cleantech’s portfolio companies centers primarily around providing business strategy and fundraising consultancy. He is integral to Alacrity’s ongoing work to evaluate and bring on new companies for the portfolio, as well as managing relationships with partners and Provincial and Federal Government stakeholders.

Tuck Wai Lee

Singapore/ASEAN Advisor

Tuck Wai Lee is Alacrity Cleantech’s in-market advisor for Singapore and the ASEAN region. Tuck is currently the Managing Director of Upconverge and is particularly knowledgeable about the water industry, climate adaptation, clean energy, and sustainability.

Tuck brings twenty years of technical experience involving delivering strategy, engineering studies, master planning, concept design for detailed engineering and construction projects, and operations optimization. He also has considerable business experience in client service management, business development, consulting operations, technology management, and talent development and management.

Tuck chooses to work with Alacrity Cleantech because of the broad and exciting range of technologies, services, and solutions that he gets to learn about and help improve. While the context for each portfolio company is always a little different, he finds that the work taps into his broad industry knowledge and experience, pushing him to continue thinking creatively and strategically about how to advance new technologies and businesses. He is passionate about introducing new companies to the Singapore and Southeast Asian markets and loves that his role involves both learning and teaching.

Munish Saini

India Advisor

Munish Saini is Alacrity Cleantech’s in-market advisor for India. Munish is formally educated in Electronics and Communications and has held manager and director roles at a variety of technology and electronics companies throughout his career.

Munish has played a crucial role in many technological advancements in the Indian cleantech industry, including designing and developing a variety of technologies or introducing innovations to the Indian market. His concept promotion and performance optimization skills have been key to streamlining businesses and elevating technologies of all sorts. Munish’s work on developing the world’s first Vehicle Black Box designed to safeguard vehicles from theft highlights his visionary and strategic skills.

Munish brings to Alacrity his rich history of results-driven, innovative, and strategic business development. He loves to work on improving products and services and enjoys diving into new partnerships with companies and clientele around the world. He highly values his work with Alacrity because it brings him closer to new technologies and companies as he finds ways to bring their products to new markets.

Federico Goroztieta

Mexico/Latin America Advisor

Federico Goroztieta is Alacrity Cleantech’s in-market advisor for Mexico. Federico is a Civil Engineer by trade and is interested in any industry that helps advance and improve human societies and lives. Federico has started and scaled a variety of companies over the course of his career, including a construction company, a furniture manufacturer, a data processing firm, a creative studio, and a golf academy. His guiding belief is that all failure teaches resilience and that resilience is the character trait that leads people to success.

Federico has enjoyed an influential career as a Business Advisor to institutions and corporations of all sorts, focusing on enabling them to optimize their performance as they grow and strengthen their competitive position in their market. He has honed his business diplomacy and high-level project management skills over many years of identifying emerging opportunities in diverse sectors and his intimate understanding of both Canadian and Mexican business culture and society makes him a perfect aid to any Canadian company looking to explore opportunities in Mexico or Latin America.

Federico served as Head of Economic Affairs at the Consulate General of Mexico in Vancouver, BC from 2001 to 2010 and served as CEO of TechBa Vancouver, an international business accelerator funded by the Mexican Federal Ministry of Economy, in 2010. Federico is the founder and acting president of Derivative Integrated Solutions Society and Malabar Studio. Over the course of his career, he has supported and advanced more than two hundred small to medium sized Mexican companies, more than thirty Central and South American companies, eighteen Canadian companies, five American companies, and two Spanish companies, altogether selling more than $750 million in USD.

Federico takes inspiration from the legacy of Sir Terry Matthews and appreciates Alacrity Cleantech’s focus on leveraging relationships, new and established, to connect Canadian clean technology companies with new opportunities and revenue streams.

Federico Goroztieta

Mexico/Latin America Advisor

Martijn Schouten

Northern Europe Advisor

Martijn Schouten is Alacrity Cleantech’s in-market advisor for Northern Europe. Martijn is based in Utrecht, the Netherlands and brings decades of valuable experience in business development in the marine industry.

Born on a boat and raised in a maritime family, it is perhaps unsurprising that Martijn has spent such a great deal of his career working in the marine sector. Through his work with one of the leading maritime equipment companies in the world (their work focus involves dredging, mining, offshore renewables, and oil and gas), he has gained experience organizing global shipbuilding activities and overseeing acquisitions and the launch of new offices on each continent as the company’s Director of Mergers and Acquisitions. Martijn has also served as global sales director, putting him in charge of managing half a billion dollars worth of revenue, and has served as CEO/CFO of a subsea contractor focused on renewable markets and technologies like autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and artificial intelligence (AI).

During his career, Martijn also established a dredging and offshore mining equipment company called IHC Mining. The company had offices in The Netherlands, South Africa, and Australia and brought in annual sales of 20 million euros. Through that experience, he was introduced to Canadian subsea technology companies and learned that many Canadian companies are ahead of what is available on the global market. Today, Martijn serves as CEO of a corporate start-up which he launched himself and which has developed some of the most sophisticated subsea equipment in the world.

Martijn chooses to work with Alacrity Cleantech as an advisor because he is obsessed with technology and Earth’s oceans and is convinced that technology holds the key to a better and cleaner world.

Martijn Schouten

Northern Europe Advisor

Danielle Anslow

Student Success Coordinator

As a Student Success Coordinator, Dani utilizes her 20+ years of customer service experience, data entry, and knowledge of customer relationship management tools to ensure students are sufficiently onboarded and supported throughout their Bootcamp experience.

Having transitioned through several careers due to an injury and family needs, Dani is a source for students who are navigating change. Her varied background is shown through her versatile education. She holds a Hair Design ABC Cutting Certification from Vidal Sassoon Academy, a Hair Design and Pivot Point Certification, and is also a graduate of the Alacrity Academy Digital Bootcamp. Most recently, Dani completed her Diploma in Paraeducation, graduating with Honors, at Ashworth College.

Customer service has always been an integral part of Dani’s career, starting her work with people in her first job at her family’s coffee shop, Shaw ‘N’ Finnegans. She then moved into tech, working in multiple departments within CompuSmart (previously Tesseract) and for a software solutions company before transitioning into hair design, becoming an Educator for the Kerastase and Kevin Murphy product lines.

After a forearm injury prevented her from being able to perform behind the chair, Dani pivoted back into tech, with the pandemic sending her on yet another adventure. Through homeschooling her step children, one of whom required further assistance, she took to her studies again, this time focusing on Paraeducation.

Dani cut her teeth at Alacrity Canada as the Application Coordinator for the Launch Online Program. She applied her skillset to support 5,669 funded businesses to get online and amplify their sales. Her success drew the attention of the Alacrity Academy team. As the Academy’s Student Success Coordinator, Dani is excited to assist people and businesses in receiving access to resources that prepare them for the digital marketplace.

Dani actively uses her digital knowledge in her own entrepreneurial endeavour, a podcast that’s launching soon!

Danielle Anslow

Student Success Coordinator

Mike Williams

Digital Marketing Program Director

Mike is stewarding Alacrity Academy. Having spent the last few years as a facilitator for courses in Digital Marketing and Customer Acquisition, he's paving the way for the Academy to grow.

Mike is also the CEO and cofounder of Jetstream Digital, where he leads the team, manages client relationships, and helps grow the company alongside client revenues. The agency provides digital marketing services for many of Alacrity’s portfolio companies.

Mike has experience in all facets of digital marketing, including search marketing, social media marketing, and content marketing. He focuses on developing strategies for performance-driven campaigns that drive results and help companies expand.

With nearly two decades of experience in the digital marketing field, Mike has co-founded several companies. He has a BCom in Entrepreneurial Management from Royal Roads University and a Diploma in eBusiness from Camosun College.

Currently an advisor for Sage Coins, Miks is aiding the company in overcoming challenges through coaching and development of a growth strategy.

Mike Williams

Alacrity Academy Program Director

Rory Capern

Advisor

Rory Capern has spent more than 20 years at the intersection of the Technology, Media and Communications industries, working with some of the fastest companies in the world.

Rory is currently working with a group of venture-backed Canadian technology companies evolving from start-up to scaling. Prior to his advisory roles, Rory was Vice President of Partnerships for Pelmorex Corp, the 3rd largest weather media player in the world. Prior to that he was Managing Director of Twitter Canada, where he was responsible for all aspects of Twitter’s business in Canada and a member of Twitter’s Global Leadership team.

He led Google Canada’s large partnerships function for 5 years before that, surfacing the value of Google’s major platforms (Search, DoubleClick, YouTube, Android and emerging platforms) for its largest and most strategic partners. He has served in Business Development and Strategy functions at a number of Canadian technology and media companies including Microsoft Canada, Torstar and Bell Canada.

He started his business career as a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, and holds double degrees from the Ivey Business School at Western University - undergraduate (HBA) and Masters (MBA) degrees in business. Rory’s focus on people, partnerships, revenue growth and rapid change have fuelled passions in leadership, high-performance team development, and innovation.

Devon Delarge

Cleantech Coordinator

Devon’s areas of expertise lie in entrepreneurship through team supervision and leadership, government relations, and incident command. With experience in logistics and project management, Devon handles our Cleantech Progam’s administration. This includes managing data collection and reporting, sourcing and consulting with potential Clean Tech program candidates, as well as established portfolio companies.

Devon has a Bachelor’s of Science degree from the University of Victoria with a Major in Psychology, Minor in Biology, and a Diploma of Art and Science in Psychology from Camosun College. At the beginning of his career, he applied his education to Emergency Medical Response, leading a ten person team in Mountain Rescue and First Aid. Further, Devon branched out as an entrepreneur, launching his own retail athletic company as well as a consulting and web development agency.

Devon moved into working in legislative governance where he was involved in the writing of legislation for the CleanBC program and Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day in British Columbia.

He was attracted to Alacrity because the foundation is consistently on the leading edge of environmental, social, and governance trends, enabling him to utilize his skills and drive forth more positive change.

Devon Delarge

Cleantech Coordinator

Lisa Payne

President

Lisa is evolving and unleashing Alacrity Canada’s potential. Internally nicknamed our ‘guiding light’, Lisa brings 25 years of experience optimizing operations in tech focussed companies that utilize AI, data, Iot, and information technology, to Alacrity’s table. She’s known within B.C.’s tech ecosystem for company scale-ups, reorgs, M&A, strategy, raising multiple forms of capital (equity, debt, government funding, SRED, etc), geographic expansion, and international business development. Lisa has facilitated growth in clean technology, telecom services/infrastructure, enterprise software, mining, government and telematics sectors.

Lisa’s passion is stewarding people to successfully achieve. She joined Alacrity because the organization aligns with her core values as a self-sustaining organization that brings value for the benefit of our economy and community. After spending time with Alacrity’s team, she’s realized she’s found a home rife with scalable dreams.

Teresa Brenay

AP/Payroll Admin - CDAP

Teresa is the administrator for AP and Payroll for Alacrity’s CDAP Program. She has 14 years experience in Finance, Business Operations and Accounting, spanning a collection of industries: in small to large corporations and tech start-ups. These include financial institutions, insurance, vegan/clean cosmetic start up, local natural/toxin free shop, local delivery startup, local restaurant startup.

She has worked in accounting in the marketing/tech industry and as a bookkeeper in retail, SaaS and non-profit. Teresa has worked with established companies, and has helped build others from the ground up. This has specifically been valuable in the creation of the CDAP Program’s Financial Operations.

Teresa blends numbers and data with creativity, doing her best work when she capitalizes on opportunities to intertwine these. It’s important to Terese to tackle projects from a wealthy understanding of the topic at hand. She takes every opportunity to learn, read, and research every part of the puzzle laid before her.

Teresa was drawn to Alacrity because it’s an innovative and energetic company, as well as its incredible team, some of whom she’s had the luxury of working with before. She’s humbled by Alacrity’s foresight and integrity, and how the organization invests in programs such as Cleantech and initiatives for small businesses.

Teresa Brenay

AP/Payroll Admin - CDAP

Sabine Blackburn

AP/Payroll Admin - CDAP

As the CDAP Program Manager, Sabine facilitates its operations, supports the Program Director to make design and implementation decisions, and enables the team in an effort to support the businesses and E-Commerce Advisors in the program.

With 12+ years of experience in leadership, training and development, team building and project management, Sabine has a skillset that she utilizes with the utmost precision. Having worked many years for telecom company, Shaw Communications, she learned how to provide creative solutions to improve on customer contact methods, and efficiencies for the customer service team. Sabine is someone who is always ahead of the curve. She developed a ‘Work from Home’ pilot program that included the implementation of a new chat platform, long before it was made necessary. This experience readied her to be the ultimate Manager of the many remote team players who support the CDAP Program.

Sabine started with Alacrity as a member of the Launch Your Business Online Program, first as an Application Coordinator, and then as Team Lead. The LYBO team supported and funded 5000 small businesses to improve their online presence. Sabine stayed at Alacrity due to the team, its supportive and inclusive culture, and being part of an organization that is dedicated to making small businesses thrive.

In her other life, Sabine works on being as self-sufficient as possible, growing most of her own fruit, vegetables and meat on her small farm. With the recent addition of some sheep for milk, she’ll be making homemade cheese, yogurt and ice cream.

Sabine Blackburn

Program Manager - CDAP

Karly Dore

Application Coordinator / Customer Service Representative

As the applications coordinator and customer service representative for Alacrity’s CDAP Program, Karly is dedicated to supporting small businesses to digitize and grow online.

Karly has a Health Care Assitant Diploma and a Business Administration Diploma in Human Resource Management from Okanagan College. The prominent skills learned through these programs: communication, adaptability and empathy, are valuable assets in her work for the CDAP Program and its applicants.

Karly has primarily worked in health care/community social service with a main focus on supporting adults with disabilities, spending 7 years in day programming for special needs adults. There, she developed meaningful activities for adults over 20 years old, focusing on life skills and active living.

Karly loves working for Alacrity because of its dynamism and how it continuously explores new opportunities and sectors. Alacrity balances its status as a non-profit with its commitment to supporting and sparking business in B.C. The ability to see real change in helping businesses/people in our communities excites her.

Karly Dore

Application Coordinator/Customer Service Representative

Fatoumata Bouare

Business/Student Liaison

As CDAP’s liaison for both the Business and E-Commerce Advisor streams, Fatoumata supports all aspects of the relationship between grant recipients and E-commerce Advisors, guiding them through the process, onboarding E-commerce Advisors, answering questions and ensuring that projects get completed.

She is an entrepreneur of her own accord and holds a Bachelor’s Degree Child and Youth Care (Child Protection Specialization). Her 10 years of experience in Human Resources have been spent as a Child Protection Worker, a Program Leader for children and youth, a Residential Child & Youth Worker, and a Program Coordinator for at-risk youth facilities.

Fatoumata’s passion for Digital Marketing developed when she launched her first online clothing store, driving her need to grow expertise in web development, digital marketing and social media. What drew her to Alacrity was the organization’s passion for innovation, and mission to discover and support promising entrepreneurs, locally and globally. Specifically, how Alacrity responded during and post pandemic, offering programs like Launch Online and CDAP as a resource for small entrepreneurs making their way into the digital world, or bettering their online presence.

Fatoumata is fluent in three languages: French, English and Bambara, and is a children’s book author “Princess Jamila and The Kingdom of Dreams”. Additionally, she invests her time increasing her knowledge about Digital Marketing through programming offered by the Alacrity Academy.

Fatoumata Bouare

Business/Student Liaison

Marie Soltis

Finance and Operations Project Manager

Marie is a lover of all things process. With five years experience as a certified Salesforce Admin, by Project Managing Alacrity Canada’s CDAP Program, she will streamline its business operating systems. In the future, these systems are intended to be transferable to future Alacrity endeavours, and offered to our partners to facilitate their own successes.

Marie moved into Account Management after completing a Bachelor of Arts and Sociology from the University of Victoria. After three years working closely with clients, hosting webinars, and attending international conventions, she transitioned into optimizing Account Management processes, with CRMs ranging from proprietary software, Hubspot and Salesforce. Her brilliance lies in collaborating to source pain points, and unearthing the best solutions.

Marie felt like she had to be a part of Alacrity due to its fantastic projects, its people, its culture, nimble working environment, and its goals for future initiatives. She is currently a mentor for the wonderful Circle Mentoring program, and can be found at most local Victoria tech events. If you see her, don’t be shy to say hi / ask her any business operations questions.

Marie Soltis

Finance and Operations Project Manager

Hannah

Startup Visa Program Coordinator

Hannah helps oversee the Start-Up Visa Program by supporting tech startups from around the world establish their businesses in Canada. Within the program, she assists portfolio companies with marketing initiatives, graphic design, program management and more.

Hannah has 5 years of experience primarily in Marketing, Business Development, and Customer Service. She is a creative marketing professional with experience in driving company growth through forward-thinking and innovative strategies. She’s acted as a Social Media Manager in several verticals: start-ups; non-for-profits; content education companies; and production agencies.

Her affinity for education is admirable. Hannah holds a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Sociology and minor in Business from The University of Victoria, a Humanities Certificate in Chinese Language and Cultural Proficiency also from The University of Victoria, and achieved distinction in her Associate Certificate in Marketing Management with a specialization in Public Relations from BCIT. She is continuing her studies by pursuing an Associate Certificate in UI and UX design and a Certificate in Web Technologies, through BCIT.

Hannah’s aim with Alacrity’s Startup Visa Program, is to support its portfolio companies by utilizing the myriad of her experience, and to capitalize on her Customer Service skills to nurture relationships in order to yield high-value and tailored support to each of them.

In 2018, she spent some time teaching English in Taiwan at Da-Feng Elementary school in Taipei, and hopes to return to the city once global pandemic restrictions return to “normal”.

Hannah Lambert

Startup Visa Program Coordinator

Owen Matthews

Chairman - Alacrity Canada & Alacrity Academy

Owen helps lead the vision and direction of Alacrity Canada, and is a major contributor to the local technology community in Victoria. He donates his time and resources to the multiple groups within and outside Alacrity’s portfolio.

By the time Owen was leaving his hometown of Kanata, Ottawa, it had grown from a small town into the largest technology centre in Canada. Due to this influence, Owen studied computer sciences and psychology at the University of Victoria while running a web design firm and graphic arts studio.

He founded NewHeights Software, a pioneer in enterprise unified communication products, which was acquired by CounterPath Corporation. When it was publicly listed on Nasdaq, it was valued at $110M value, and produced tens of millions in annual revenue.

Following this successful venture, Owen joined his family’s technology investment firm, Wesley Clover. As a General Partner, Owen was offered the operational support to search for new investments, but no budget. Fuelled by his entrepreneurial spirit, Owen looked at the growth white-space in the market, and that was British Columbia. He collaborated with the Government and the Province’s universities to create an educational program to nurse budding tech entrepreneurs, and Alacrity Canada was born. Over the course of his career, Owen has founded dozens of companies that have generated at least $350M in value for shareholders and driven $60M in annual sales.

Owen also sits on several technology boards, including SaaSquatch, HYAS, Pretio Interactive, Encepta, Quantotech, and Talkative.

Altruistic by nature. Successful
through nurture.

Our Philosophy

We’re driving the Local Ecosystem

Meet Our Players

Richard Egli

Chris Massot

Chrystal Boyd

Burak Evren

Terry Matthews

Justyn Maglalang

Golriz Fattahi

Sofie Campbell

Jennifer Hodi

Galyna Kulykova

Sofia Rizzo

Kalyn Adams

Todd Tessier

Peter Elkins

Mark Henderson

Simon Adnams

Peter Van der Gracht

Cec Primeau

Tuck Wai Lee

Munish Saini

Federico Goroztieta

Martijn Schouten

Danielle Anslow

Mike Williams

Rory Capern

Devon Delarge

Lisa Payne

Teresa Brenay

Sabine Blackburn

Karly Dore

Fatoumata Bouare

Marie Soltis

Owen Matthews

Altruistic by nature. Successful through nurture.

Our Philosophy

We’re driving the Local Ecosystem

Meet Our Players

Richard Egli

Chris-Massot

Chrystal Boyd

Burak-Evren

Terry Matthews

Justyn Maglalang

Golriz Fattahi

Sofie-Campbell

Jennifer-Hodi

Galyna-Kulykova

Sofia-Rizzo

Kalyn Adams

Todd Tessier

Peter Elkins

Mark Henderson

Simon Adnams

Peter Van der Gracht

Cec Primeau

Tuck Wai Lee

Munish Saini

Federico Goroztieta

Martijn Schouten

Danielle Anslow

Mike Williams

Rory Capern

Devon Delarge

Lisa Payne

Teresa Brenay

Sabine Blackburn

Karly Dore

Fatoumata Bouare

Marie Soltis

Hannah

Owen Matthews

Altruistic by nature. Successful
through nurture.