Board of Directors

John Albright

Managing Partner, JLA Ventures,
Co-Managing Partner, BlackBerry Partners Fund™

John Albright is the Managing Partner of JLA Ventures and Co-Managing Partner of the BlackBerry Partners Fund™.  Mr. Albright has held senior positions with several private equity and venture capital firms. During his tenure in the private equity and venture capital business Mr. Albright gained extensive experience assisting entrepreneurs and managers to shape their vision and capital plans into successful long term growth programs which typically involve an aggressive acquisition and financing strategy. Mr. Albright has a history of assisting entrepreneurial companies through significant growth and eventually to the public markets. His ability to work with and advise senior management of investee companies as well as his skills in filling supporting roles where existing management lack the experience or skill set, has been vital to the success of past investments.

Mr. Albright is a Chartered Financial Analyst and received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Schulich School of Business at York University.

Mr. Albright serves as a director of Q9 Networks Inc., ZipLocal Inc., First Coverage, Shoplogix Inc., I Love Rewards, Sirit Technologies Inc. and the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) and is an advisory board member of the North American Venture Capital Association.

Edward G. (Ted) Anderson

Partner, Ventures West

Mr. Anderson is the Managing General Partner of Ventures West Management Inc. a Canadian venture capital management firm. Founded in 1968, and having offices in Vancouver and Toronto, Ventures West is Canada’s largest institutional venture fund management company with over C$700 million of capital under management. The focus of Ventures West’s business is the management and investment of venture funds which are targeted at early stage technology companies.

Mr. Anderson is well known in the venture capital and investment communities in Canada and internationally. Mr. Anderson is a past President and Director of the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association and has served on the Board of Directors of a number of public and private companies in Canada and the United States. He currently serves on the Boards of Fresco Microchip, RapidMind Inc.and Viigo Inc.  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), Triversity Inc. a provider of retail POS software which was acquired by SAP (NYSE: SAP) and Plazmic Inc., a developer of graphics and media technologies which was acquired by Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM, TSX: RIM).

Mr. Anderson has worked with the International Finance Corporation on initiatives relating to the establishment of venture capital funds in Africa and has participated in projects in east Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) and in Ethiopia.  Ted also currently sits on the Advisory Boards of the Aureos Southern Africa Fund and the Aureos Western Africa Fund - two investment funds focusing on small and medium sized business investments in southern and western Africa respectively.

Mr. Anderson earned a BA (Economics) from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and a MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University.

Raja Khanna

Co-Founder, QuickPlay Media Inc., Co-CEO GlassBOX Television Inc.

Raja Khanna's outstanding reputation and expertise in the Canadian media industry have been instrumental in launching QuickPlay Media into its leadership position in the field of mobile media. Prior to founding QuickPlay Media with Wayne Purboo, Khanna was President of the premiere interactive production company Snap Media. Currently, Khanna is Co-CEO of GlassBOX Television Inc.

Khanna is an advisor and director to several other boards including: National Screen Institute, Ontario Media Development Corporation, Innoversity, NextMedia Festival, International New Media Festival, and new media programs at Sheridan and George Brown Colleges.

Considered a leading expert in his field, Khanna is often asked to speak on issues related to cross-platform media, interactivity, community technologies, and mobile media. His diverse educational background includes a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Philosophy and Genetics from the University of Toronto.

Greg Kiessling

President, Up Capital

Greg Kiessling is the founder of Up Capital Ltd., a private investment firm that provides financial and advisory support to businesses including Bullfrog Power that are committed to a double bottom line. Previously, Kiessling spent 18 years in the private sector, where he gained significant experience leading high-growth, entrepreneurial organizations. Kiessling was co-founder, chairman and CEO of Sitraka Inc., which became Canada's largest self-financed software company. Sitraka Inc. was recognized as one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies six times and was also named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers.

Kiessling was previously chairman of the development committee of the ground breaking Regent Park Community Health Centre's Pathways to Education program. Pathways is a highly successful initiative designed to help Regent Park's high school students graduate at the same rate as Ontario students overall. Greg also serves on the advisory board of the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto, and is a founding member of Emagine.

Kiessling is currently an advisor to Investeco Capital and Wellington Financial.