DMZ Welcomes Two New Advisory Council Members to continue supporting Canadian Innovation in the Startup Ecosystem

TORONTO, September 10, 2019 – The DMZ is pleased to announce the appointment of Agnes Hilkene, executive director, The George and Helen Vari Foundation, and Claude Guay, general manager, IBM Canada.

Agnes Hilkene and Claude Guay will be joining a council of distinguished leaders to provide expert advice to the DMZ on matters such as strategic direction, program reviews, international growth and ensuring the continued success of high-potential Canadian tech startups that are growing their business.

“At the DMZ, we’re continuing to build a dynamic advisory council by bringing together top minds to positively impact the DMZ and its community of top Canadian tech startups that are prepared for global expansion,” says Abdullah Snobar, executive director, DMZ. “With the DMZ at an exciting level of growth both nationally and internationally, Agnes and Claude’s experience and business acumen makes them the ideal candidates for the DMZ advisory council.”

Agnes Hilkene oversees all the George and Helen Vari Foundation’s grant activities to ensure that motivated entrepreneurial students have the support in place, so they can reach their full
academic and professional potential. In addition, Hilkene is the vice-president of Ryerson Management Ltd., a property management company, where she is responsible for property acquisition and disposal, capital improvements and more.

As the General Manager of IBM Global Business Services Canada, Claude Guay leads a team of professional consultants who provide management consulting, digital strategy, cloud application innovation, and cognitive process transformation. Guay has spent more than 35 years in IT and consulting, which includes serving as the president and CEO of two startups.

“Agnes Hilkene and Claude Guay are bringing a wealth of expertise in the business sector that will allow for more entrepreneurs to grow their business in Canada,” said Anthony Lacavera, Founder and Chairman, Globalive Holdings, and Chair of the DMZ advisory council. “I look forward to working closely with both members in order to support the DMZ’s vision to support more made-in-Canada startups.”

Going forward, the advisory council will work on doubling its efforts on making the DMZ accelerator the go-to program for startups from around the world to develop their sales playbook in order to grow from startup to scaleup.

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About the DMZ: The DMZ is a leading tech accelerator headquartered in Toronto, Ontario that helps high-potential startups grow and scale to world-class businesses. Also supporting ideation and validation stage startups, the DMZ’s incubator program has been ranked number one in the world by UBI Global. Since 2010, the DMZ has helped 424 startups raise over $715.1 million and foster more than 3,874 jobs. For more information, please visit dmz.torontomu.ca