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 Wednesday, July 11 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 smartphones 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. Since 2010, Dr. Hamdullahpur has served as the sixth President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waterloo.
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 start-up ecosystem to punch above the region’s collective weight. Jay began his entrepreneurship journey 12 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
currently
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).