Waterloo empowers entrepreneurs to go beyond.
Entrepreneurs are natural problem solvers. Beyond creating companies that bring innovative and world-changing ideas to the global market place, entrepreneurs are increasingly acting as community builders, industry change agents, and global disruptors. Find out why.
Join us on July 11th for a candid conversation on why entrepreneurs are stepping up to build stronger communities, both locally and globally. Hear from a successful entrepreneur leading by example, the director of a leading entrepreneurship program and Canada's most productive startup incubator, and the President and vice-chancellor of Canada’s most innovative university who counts entrepreneurship as part of the school’s DNA as they explore concepts of philanthropy, equality, and socially responsibility in today’s dynamic entrepreneur-led companies. Find out why societal benefit has become an important priority for entrepreneurs and a few suggestions for getting started.
Q&A discussion with the audience to follow.
Panelists will include:
- Feridun Hamdullahpur, president and vice-chancellor, University of Waterloo
- Sam Pasupalak, former chief executive officer and co-founder, Maluuba
- Jay Shah, director, Velocity
The panel will be moderated by Donna Litt, co-founder, vice-president and chief operating officer, Kiite.
Welcome
remarks
by Stephen
M.
Watt,
dean,
Faculty
of
Mathematics.
Open
to
students,
faculty,
staff,
alumni,
and
the
public.
Register
now!
#UWaterlooBeyond
Bios
Sam
Pasupalak
Sam Pasupalak grew up in India, moving to Canada to start his degree in computer science at the University of Waterloo. While in the Velocity Residence, Pasupalak co-founded Maluuba and the team was awarded the Velocity Venture Fund in the fall of 2011. The Canadian artificial intelligence company was based on providing an interface that provides voice-activated results based on user questions. After successful funding rounds, Maluuba opened their Waterloo headquarters in 2012. Over the next few years Maluuba launched their technology across millions of Smart Phones and Smart TVs worldwide including partnerships with Samsung, LG and Blackberry. The business expanded to Montreal in 2015 where they began working with researchers at University of Montreal to make AI more openly accessible to the global research community. In 2017, Maluuba was acquired by Microsoft for an undisclosed sum. Currently Pasupalak is travelling around the world and giving back to the communities where he built his passion.
Feridun
Hamdullahpur
Feridun
Hamdullahpur
has
been
an
engineer,
educator
and
leader
over
the
span
of
his
more
than
35
year
career
in
research
and
higher
education.
Dr.
Hamdullahpur
has
served
as
the
sixth
President
and
Vice-Chancellor
of
the
University
of
Waterloo
since
2010.
A
professor
of
mechanical
engineering,
Dr.
Hamdullahpur
holds
a
PhD
in
chemical
engineering
from
the
Technical
University
of
Nova
Scotia
after
earning
bachelor’s
and
master’s
degrees
in
mechanical
engineering
from
the
Technical
University
of
Istanbul.
As
President
of
the
University
of
Waterloo,
Dr.
Hamdullahpur
has
devoted
his
tenure
to
fostering
excellence
in
academics
and
research,
with
a
dedication
to
developing
an
innovative
culture
committed
to
experiential
education.
Through
President
Hamdullahpur’s
stewardship,
the
University
of
Waterloo
has
remained
Canada’s
most
innovative
university
for
26
consecutive
years.
Throughout
his
career,
Dr.
Hamdullahpur
has
been
an
active
researcher
in
thermo-fluids
and
energy
engineering,
a
passionate
teacher
and
an
academic
administrator.
He
has
authored
hundreds
of
scientific
and
academic
publications
and
supervised
over
50
graduate
students.
He
was
named
a
Fellow
of
the
Canadian
Academy
of
Engineering
in
2014.
He
has
served
in
various
academic
and
administrative
roles,
most
recently
as
a
Vice-President
Academic
and
Provost
at
the
University
of
Waterloo.
President
Hamdullahpur’s
central
motivation
is
ensuring
that
the
impact
of
university
education,
research
and
scholarship
on
our
broader
society
is
maximized
through
constant
reform
and
innovation
in
the
higher
education
sector.
He
is
a
leading
advocate
for
the
value
of
basic
research
and
its
relevance
to
academic
excellence,
economic
prosperity
and
societal
development.
His
current
focus
at
the
University
of
Waterloo
is
expanding
its
lead
in
innovation,
building
on
Waterloo’s
long-standing
and
emerging
strengths
in
co-operative
education,
research,
entrepreneurship
and
equity.
In
2015
President
Hamdullahpur
was
appointed
chair
of
the
new
Leadership
Council
for
Digital
Infrastructure,
an
ambitious
initiative
to
build
a
world
leading
digital
infrastructure
ecosystem
for
Canada.
He
is
also
proud
to
have
been
one
of
ten
global
university
presidents
appointed
to
the
United
Nation’s
HeforShe
Impact
10x10x10
campaign
to
engage
boys
and
men
in
the
cause
of
gender
equity.
The
President
continues
to
serve
in
many
roles
on
committees
and
boards
including
as
Chair
of
the
Waterloo
Global
Science
Initiative
since
2016,
an
active
member
of
the
Sorbonne
Université
Strategic
Orientation
Committee
since
2014,
and
as
a
member
of
the
King
Abdulaziz
University
International
Advisory
Board
since
2017.
In
acknowledgement
of
President
Hamdullahpur’s
leadership
in
education
and
innovation,
he
was
awarded
the
Queen
Elizabeth
II
Diamond
Jubilee
Medal
in
January
2013.
Jay
Shah
As the Director of Velocity, Jay advocates for entrepreneurship and provides guidance to startups to help them build successful businesses. Jay is passionate about enabling all contributors of the Waterloo-Toronto startup ecosystem to punch above the region’s collective weight. Jay began his entrepreneurship journey twelve years ago at the University of Waterloo while pursuing a degree in Mechatronics Engineering. During his studies, he co-founded BufferBox, which was ultimately acquired by Google, where Jay worked for 3.5 years before joining Velocity.
Donna
Litt
Donna is Co-Founder and COO at Kiite. After graduating from the University of Toronto with an Honours degree specializing in Archaeology, she spent a decade optimizing customer experiences and business operations in both the nonprofit and ICT sectors. As a dynamic and analytical leader, she has owned a wide array of functions - from customer development and retention, to recruiting and compliance. With her first novel due to be published in 2018, Donna is an author and STEAM evangelist with today’s youth. She invests in helping women educated in non-technology related fields find success in Canada’s growing ICT sector.
Stephen
M.
Watt
Stephen
M.
Watt is
Dean
of
the
Faculty
of
Mathematics
and
Professor
in
the
David
R.
Cheriton
School
of
Computer
Science
at
the
University
of
Waterloo.
He
previously
held
the
title
of
Distinguished
University
Professor
at
Western
University
where
he
served
for
periods
as
Chair
of
the
Department
of
Computer
Science
and
Director
of
the
Ontario
Research
Centre
for
Computer
Algebra.
Prior
to
this,
he
held
positions
at
the
IBM
T.J.
Watson
Research
Center
in
Yorktown
Heights
(USA)
and
INRIA
and
the
University
of
Nice
(France).
Professor
Watt’s
areas
of
research
include
algorithms
and
systems
for
computer
algebra,
programming
languages
and
compilers,
mathematical
handwriting
recognition
and
document
analysis.
He
was
one
of
the
original
authors
of
the
Maple
and
Axiom
computer
algebra
systems,
principal
architect
of
the
Aldor
programming
language
and
its
compiler
at
IBM
Research,
and
is
co-author
of
the
MathML
and
InkML
W3C
standards.
Watt
was
a
co-founder
of
Maplesoft
in
1988
and
served
on
its
board
of
directors
from
1998
to
2009.
He
served
on
the
board
of
directors
of
the
Descartes
Systems
Group
(TSE:DSG,
NASDAQ:DSGX)
from
2001
to
2015,
including
two
periods
as
Board
Chair.
He
presently
serves
on
the
boards
of the
Numerical
Algorithms
Group
Ltd
and
of
the
McMichael Canadian
Art
Foundation.
Professor
Watt
is
the
recipient
of
numerous
distinctions,
including
Doctor
honoris
causa
from
the
University
of
the
West
(Romania),
the
J.W.
Graham
Medal
in
Computing
and
Innovation
(Waterloo)
and
the
Outstanding
Innovation
Award
(IBM).