Meet the FFIL Fall 2023 Facilitators and Guest Speakers
The Financial Feminism Investing Lab was built by experienced angel investors, venture capitalists, and academics. But who’s actually running the show?
Introducing the facilitators and guest speakers for this fall cohort of FFIL!
Having a lineup of experienced professionals and educators from both corporate and academic worlds on board helps us deliver trustworthy, credible, and diverse content to create accessible, equitable education.
So without further ado…
Meet the Facilitators
The friendly faces guiding participants through the five modules are Danielle Gifford and George Damian.
Danielle Gifford
Executive Director, Movement51
Throughout her career, Danielle has been heavily involved in the start-up world, working with companies focused on B2B and B2C technologies in AI, AR, and cloud platforms from pre-seed to both acquisition and failure. She is currently the Executive Director at Movement51, an education platform from The51 that focuses on entrepreneurship and early-stage investing for female founders and investors.
Prior to joining Movement51, Danielle was responsible for building an AI Talent and Experimentation Accelerator, where she trained over 140 individuals, partnered with Microsoft, and developed proof-of-concept models for 70 AI use cases across diverse industries. Earlier in her career, she served as a Venture Manager and Head of Site Recruitment at the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), where she managed a portfolio of ventures across industries such as energy, agriculture, fintech, and health, contributing to over $250M in equity value creation.
George Damian
Principal, Press Play
George Damian is a design strategist working at the intersection of creative and technical fields to help founders better understand, articulate and launch their ideas. Having worked on some of the world's largest industrial projects as an energy industry executive, George pivoted into the start-up world in 2017, first as a business coach and later as co-founder of a sports supplement brand.
Today he serves as a strategic advisor to a host of deep tech founders and as an MBA instructor in the areas of entrepreneurship and innovation. Through his work with global tech incubator Creative Destruction Lab he has designed programming to help nurture promising start-ups. As an investor he seeks to champion under-represented founders, helping them scale their companies with confidence.
Meet the Guest Speakers
Joining us in Module 1 around The Capital Landscape & Knowing Where You’re Going is Shelley Kuipers. She speaks on her background in technology and her journey and robust experience as an investor.
Shelley Kuipers
Co-Founder, Co-CEO, & Chief Growth Officer, The51
Shelley Kuipers, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of The51, is an activist in business, entrepreneurship and investment, driving business models that are more equitable, diverse, corporately, and ecologically sustainable. Shelley is a co-founder of IOVIA and Adventure Capital, and previously founded crowdsourcing company, Chaordix, and was a co-founder of Stormworks, which was acquired by Solium. She is also the co-founder and an active board member of a sustainable direct-to-consumer clothing brand House Kuipers.
Shelley is a serial private investor of companies, startups and entrepreneurs who embody the type of future she wants to see across the economic universe: namely, those that are sustainable, feminist, purpose-driven, and unafraid to disrupt old systems. She has been early-stage investing for the better part of 20 years, with investment experience that started in energy, but quickly diversified into the tech sector with a focus on innovation-driven companies. Shelley is considered a global thought leader in crowdsourcing and community, and she is highly sought after as a champion and mentor for entrepreneurs from around the globe.
As an avid brand leader and marketer, Shelley believes in the power of brand, community and participation as a differentiator in newly emerging business models. Shelley has led global brands such as LEGO, IKEA, Nike and Unilever to be participative brands, companies and business models to drive insights, ideas and innovation.
Module 2: The Math That Matters, brings in Carollynn Schafer. With her background and expertise (and experience as an FFIL alumnus!), she shares her insights on the realities of angel investing, lessons she’s learned along the way, and how she got familiar with the long game of it all.
Carollynn Schafer
Angel Investor, Quintessence Investments
CEO, Accelerate Okanagan
Carollynn Schafer is an active angel investor with a background in law. She obtained her law degree from the University of Victoria and spent her first 8 years as a lawyer at a corporate firm in Winnipeg, focusing on Technology, IP and Privacy law. From there, she went in-house and worked with LemonFree.com, a start-up in the automotive marketing space, until their acquisition/merger with LotLinx in 2015.
Carollynn is currently the CEO of Accelerate Okanagan, a General Partner of OKGN WMAN, a past director and Fund Manager of the OKGN Angel Summit and acted as the investor facilitator for their 5th fund. She also is an advisor for Trellis Social Enterprises and assists other technology start-ups. Carollynn has developed her knowledge of start-ups from her involvement as a shareholder, fund manager, general partner and an advisor and this combination gives her a unique perspective into the challenges faced by start-ups.
We’re thrilled to have Alice Reimer guest speaking during Module 3 and Evaluation and Understanding the Business. If there’s anyone who can hit the topic of raising, business models, and valuations home—it’s Alice.
Alice Reimer
CEO, Fillip
Alice Reimer is a trailblazer in Alberta’s tech startup community, having helped build the innovation ecosystem in Alberta for the last two decades. Her long list of roles includes co-founder and CEO of Evoco Inc., CEO of Chaordix, and Site Lead of Creative Destruction Lab Rockies. She is also co-founder of The51, an organization pushing to raise the percentage of women-founded startups and financing for women-led startups.
She has been recognized for her work in the startup community, being named one of Canada’s Top Female Entrepreneurs by PROFIT W100, and one of Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People in 2013. She has led the boards for the A100 and Startup Calgary and acts as mentor for Venture Mentorship Service of Alberta. Alice currently serves as CEO of Fillip, a fintech startup designed to help fleet-based businesses pay for fuel and maintenance via a prepaid Visa card.
Last on our guest speaking roster is Judy Fairburn joining us for Module 4. Judy has a wealth of knowledge to share around term sheets, exits, and, as the title of the module alludes to, Protecting Yourself as an Early-Stage Investor.
Judy Fairburn
Co-Founder, Co-CEO, & Fund Managing Partner, The51
As Co-founder, Co-CEO and Fund Managing Partner, Judy is a change-maker with a proven track record of building cutting-edge business ventures.
Judy also sits on corporate and entrepreneurial boards, including women-CEO led organizations: deNova (protein technology) and Tundra Oil & Gas. She is also a mentor to numerous women-led startups and emerging women leaders in numerous corporations.
Her career includes executive roles as Chief Digital Officer, EVP Business Innovation and President Environmental Opportunity Fund. She was also the first female Board Chair of Alberta Innovates, an agency of the Alberta government that supports innovators across the health, clean energy, agriculture, and digital sectors. Judy is also a pioneer in corporate/entrepreneurial innovation, including co-founding a first-of-its-kind $100 million cleantech / digital venture fund and a multicompany environmental innovation alliance. She also participated in a unique executive exchange into the Privy Council Office of the Federal Government, gaining a rare first-hand understanding of how government works while advancing Canadian innovation and immigration policy.
Judy holds an MSc degree (Chemical Engineering), an MBA, and Institute of Corporate Directors designation. She is also an award-winning Creative Destruction Lab mentor, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and recipient of the 2020 Calgary Influential Women in Business Lifetime Achievement Award, 2021 Schulich School of Engineering Alumni Leadership Excellence Award and WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women Top 100.
But there’s still one more session—Module 5: Making it Real. In the final week of FFIL, two companies will join us to pitch their ventures, providing participants the opportunity to put into practice what they’ve learned.
Keep an eye out on our social media to see the founders who will be taking to the (Zoom room) stage. 👀
We’re so proud to have strong instructors with such impressive backgrounds guide the group through the exciting (but admittedly intimidating) world of early-stage investing.
Considering so many factors that make up angel investing being an art and a science—something we talk about extensively in the lab 😉—having professionals share their experiences adds so much colour to the course.
Feeling FOMO? Keep an eye out for upcoming FFIL dates, and join us in the next cohort!
