Activplant Board of Directors

Barry Gekiere, Chairman

Managing Director, Kirchner Transition Management

Barry has 27 years of investment and operational experience within industry, venture capital and private equity. He has served on the boards of several private and public companies, undertaken interim management roles and turnaround assignments, and worked with companies through the IPO and strategic sale process.

Prior to joining Kirchner Private Capital Group, Barry was a Partner at Ventures West, one of Canada's largest venture capital firms. For over 12 years, Barry worked closely with entrepreneurs while making early stage investments in enterprise software, IT services, communications, cleantech and medical device companies.

As an operator, Barry served as President in two turnaround situations. At an automotive after-market parts company, Barry grew the company five-fold through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions. Barry also served as President of a publicly-traded industrial holding company where he undertook the turnaround of two divisions and oversaw the strategic sale of another.

Mr. Gekiere has served on the boards of several private and public companies and has worked with organizations through the Initial Public Offering and strategic sale process. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration. 
 

Ted Anderson

Managing General Partner, Ventures West

Ted Anderson joined Ventures West in 1996 and is responsible for the overall leadership and management of the firm. He is also involved with the firm's investment activities, with a focus on IT, communications and semiconductors. Ted is a veteran of the Canadian venture capital industry with over 20 years experience in private equity investment. Ted began his career in venture financing in 1982 with Royal Bank Venture Capital and moved to BG Acorn Capital Fund in 1985.

Some of his past investments include Chantry Networks, an early stage developer of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) infrastructure products which was acquired by Siemens (NYSE: SI), InSystems Technologies Inc., a provider of document automation solutions for financial services organizations which was acquired by Standard Register (NYSE: SR), FloNetwork Inc., an application Service Provider in the online direct marketing space which was acquired by Double-Click (NASDAQ:DCLK), and Plazmic Inc., a developer of graphics and media technologies which was acquired by Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM, TSX: RIM). Ted also serves as a Director of AudienceView, Fresco Microchip, QuickPlay Media, RapidMind and Viigo. He is a past President and a current director of the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association. Ted holds a B.A. (Honours) in Economics from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University.
 

Eric Goodwin

Executive Consultant

Eric Goodwin is a senior level advisor to the executive management team at Activplant. Recently retired after acting as the Chairman of Fortiva Inc for the past two years, Eric holds a vast amount of experience in the high tech space and consults to a variety of software company leaders. Eric Goodwin was named one of Canada's Top 10 Technology CEOs by Canadian Business Magazine and received the Canadian Advanced Technology Association's award for Private Sector Leadership. In July of 2004 he retired as the CEO of Klocwork after taking the company to the next level through a venture funding round and initiating two years of rapid growth. Klocwork was the last spinout from Nortel, and provides a software development platform for improving productivity and quality of software by using deep static analysis.

Prior to joining Klocwork, Goodwin served as CEO of FloNetwork Inc. from July 1999 to July 2001 when it was sold to DoubleClick (NASDAQ: DCLK). During that period FloNetwork grew from a 25 person company to over 200, and was the acknowledged leader in email relationship management. FloNetwork was recognized in the Deloitte & Touche Fast50 as the 20th fastest growing high technology company in Canada, and the top half of the Fast500 for technology companies in North America.

Previously he had been a co-founder and CEO of Fulcrum Technologies. Goodwin was CEO while the company grew to over $60 million in revenue, and was ultimately sold to PC DOCS, now part of Hummingbird Communications (NASDAQ: HUMC).

He also sits on several other Boards and acts as an advisor to VCs and management teams on building software businesses. For more information on Eric Goodwin please visit the Activplant Executive Team page.
 

Andrew Pinkerton

Growthworks Capital

Andrew Pinkerton is a Investment Manager at GrowthWorks Capital focusing on information technology investments. Prior to joining the company, Andrew worked in the Institutional Equity Research Groups at Credit Suisse First Boston Technology Group, Deutsche Bank Technology Group and PaineWebber Technology Group in San Francisco, California. Andrew has also worked in the Investment Banking Division of Alex, Brown & Sons in Boston, Massachusetts.

Andrew graduated Cum Laude from Harvard College and also graduated with an MBA from the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto.
 

John Eckert

Founding Member, McLean Watson Capital

John has extensive experience in corporate finance, having served as a VP and Director in Corporate Finance and Capital Markets of Wood Gundy Inc. and CIBC Wood Gundy in Canada. He also served as Managing Director of CIBC Wood Gundy (Australia), a merchant bank. John is active in working with Government to improve the economic environment in Canada. He is currently a participant on the Toronto Region Research Alliance Steering Council. He speaks regularly at investment and entrepreneurial forums in Canada and abroad.

John serves on the Board of the Canadian Venture Capital Association, having previously held the positions of President (2000-2002), Chairman (2002-2003) and Director (2003-2005). He also serves on the Boards of several private and public companies, including Kyberpass, SkyWave Mobile Communications, SiteBrand.com, Fortiva and Activplant.

John holds a BA and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario.
 

Michael L. Pinette

Partner at CRG Partners

Michael L. Pinette has over 30 years of results oriented manufacturing, operations and consulting experience in various industries including automotive, manufacturing, commercial banking and food & beverage.

Currently Mr. Pinette serves Partner at CRG Partners, a leader in business improvement consulting for underperforming mid to large cap companies. Prior to CRG, Michael worked directly with customers as an industry expert focusing on continuous improvement strategies for manufacturers. For over 10 years, Mr. Pinette was widely recognized as Bain & Company's manufacturing expert where he focused on developing manufacturing strategies for Fortune 500 client companies. Michael holds an MBA from American International College, and a BS in Industrial Management from Lowell Technological Institute.