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A leading global team with deep
fintech knowledge and operational experience.

Paul desmarais iii@2x
Paul Desmarais III

Executive Chairman

Adam felesky@2x
Adam Felesky

Chief Executive Officer

Samuel robinson@2x
Samuel Robinson

President

Stephan klee@2x
Stephan Klee

Chief Financial Officer

Stephanie choo@2x
Stephanie Choo

Partner, Head of Investments

Sacha haque@2x
Sacha Haque

Partner, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer & Secretary

Ben harrison@2x
Ben Harrison

Partner, Head of Partnerships & Policy

Helene falchier@2x
Hélène Falchier

Partner

Nick hungerford@2x
Nick Hungerford

Partner

Adam vigna@2x
Adam Vigna

Chief Investment Officer, Sagard Holdings

Francois lafortune@2x
François Lafortune

Partner, CEO of Diagram Ventures

Kris hansen@2x
Kris Hansen

Chief Technology Officer

Janice woo@2x
Janice Woo

Head of Investor Relations

Amer javed@2x
Amer Javed

Vice-President of Finance

Junaid subhan@2x
Junaid Subhan

Senior Legal Counsel

Melissa gasser@2x
Melissa Gasser

Principal

Sinath kim@2x
Sinath Kim

Principal, Partnerships

Brendan callaghan@2x
Brendan Callaghan

Senior Sales Principal

Ricky lai@2x
Ricky Lai

Senior Associate

Karel vuong@2x
Karel Vuong

Associate

Martin van den hoeven@2x
Martin van den Hoeven

Senior Controller

Djiffa dogbe@2x
Djiffa Gabriel Dogbé

Legal Counsel

Andre masse@2x
Andre Masse

Analyst

Mylene charron@2x
Mylène Charron

Controller

Ron close@2x
Ron Close

Leadership Advisor

Daniel robichaud@2x
Daniel Robichaud

Advisor

Sheel mohnot@2x
Sheel Mohnot

Advisor

Discover our portfolio companies

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Paul desmarais iii@2x

Paul Desmarais III

Executive Chairman

Paul Desmarais III is the Executive Chairman of Portag3 Ventures and is based in Montreal. He is also the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sagard Holdings and a Senior Vice-President of Power Financial and Power Corporation, as well as Chairman of Wealthsimple and Peak Achievement Athletics, and Vice-Chairman of Imerys.

Previously, Paul was Assistant Vice-President in the Risk Management Group of Great-West Lifeco beginning in 2012. He worked in project management and corporate strategy at Imerys in France. He began his career in 2004, working for five years with Goldman Sachs in the United States, in the Investment Banking and Investment Strategy Groups, as well as in the Special Situations Group.

Paul holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Harvard College (graduating cum laude) and a Master in Business Administration from INSEAD in France.

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Adam felesky@2x

Adam Felesky

Chief Executive Officer

Adam joined Portag3 Ventures as Chief Executive Officer. He is the Founder and former CEO of Horizons Exchange Traded Funds, a director and founding investor of BetaShares Exchange Traded Funds in Australia and also led the launch of an ETF platform in Colombia.

Previously, Adam worked in JPMorgan Derivative's group in New York, where he co-led the coverage for many top tier corporate clients amongst the oil & gas and power & utility sectors. Adam began his career in investment banking at JPMorgan Canada and CIBC World Markets respectively.

Adam is a current member of the Fintech Advisory Committee for the Finance Minister of Ontario as well as the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC). He also supports numerous charities and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Immigration Access Fund.

Adam is the recipient of a B.Eng. in Civil Engineering and a B.A. in Political Science from McMaster University.

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Samuel robinson@2x

Samuel Robinson

President

Samuel is the President of Portag3 Ventures and also serves as President of Sagard Capital and Vice-President of Power Corporation. Samuel joined Sagard and Power in 2016 after an 18 year career at Goldman Sachs, during which he lived and worked in the United States, Asia, Australia and Europe.

He served in a variety of positions at Goldman Sachs, including CAO and Head of strategy for the global Investment Banking Division, COO of the firm’s emerging markets businesses, Asia Regional Chief of Staff and Chief of Staff to the firm’s President. Earlier, he trained as a financial institutions investment banker, worked in venture capital and was involved for many years in corporate strategy and investor relations at Goldman Sachs.

Samuel was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He also holds a M.A. in English and a M. Phil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies. He serves on the Development Board of Christ Church and on the U.S. Board of the Cambodian Childrens’ Fund.

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Stephan klee@2x

Stephan Klee

Chief Financial Officer

Stephan Klee is the Chief Financial Officer at Portag3 Ventures. Previously, he served as the Chief Financial Officer for SoFi’s Banking Division, which was created through the merger of Zenbanx Holding and SoFi, a strategic transaction between two of the world’s leading Fintech companies. Stephan was instrumental in architecting and completing this business combination. As CFO, Stephan has been able to create significant value for both customers and shareholders by establishing Finance as a strategic partner to the business, progressively optimizing the company’s capital structure and leading the operational planning process within a customer-centric and mobile-first framework.

Stephan holds a Bachelor’s degree in business from Wilfrid Laurier University and earned his Masters of Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business. He is also an AMP graduate of the Harvard Business School. Stephan is a licensed CPA in the State of Delaware. Furthermore, he is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and has served on the Board of ING’s Asset Management and Mutual Funds companies.

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Stephanie choo@2x

Stephanie Choo

Partner, Head of Investments

Stephanie is a Partner, Head of Investments at Portag3 Ventures. She leads new fintech investments for the fund — in the wealth management, banking and insurance verticals. Prior to joining Portag3, she helped the world’s leading banks and insurance companies build and launch innovative fintech products from the ground-up, as a Fintech Lead at BCG Digital Ventures. Stephanie was also a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, focused on technology and digital strategies in the retail banking, wealth management and asset management spaces. Prior to that, she led operations for an early stage payments startup.

Stephanie is a graduate of Queen’s University (B.Comm) and the University of Toronto Schools.

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Sacha haque@2x

Sacha Haque

Partner, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer & Secretary

Sacha is Partner, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary at Portag3 Ventures, and also serves as General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary of Sagard Holdings. Before joining in 2017, she served as Assistant General Counsel & Assistant Secretary of Power Corporation and Power Financial. Sacha has fifteen years of experience in the legal field, including over nine years with the Power group. Prior to Power, Sacha was an Associate in Corporate / M&A at Dentons LLP, a global law firm.

Sacha holds Civil Law (LL.L) and Common Law (LL.B) degrees from the University of Ottawa, and is a member of the bar in Ontario and Quebec.  She serves on the boards of the McGill University Health Centre and Royal Victoria Hospital Foundations. She has previously served as a Director or Chair of a number of not-for-profit governance, community and fundraising initiatives.

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Ben harrison@2x

Ben Harrison

Partner, Head of Partnerships & Policy

Ben is a Partner and the Head of Partnerships & Policy at Portag3 Ventures.

Prior to joining in 2018, Ben spent over 15 years at Great-West Life/London Life/Canada Life in several strategy, product development and marketing roles across the organization, most recently as the Head of Innovation for Canada. He has been an active and valued participant in the Portag3 ecosystem since the fund’s inception helping to establish a number of portfolio partnerships with Great-West and acting as an advisor to several of the portfolio companies.

Ben is a graduate of the Business Administration program (BBA) from Wilfrid Laurier University and is a past Chair of the GWL/LL/CL United Way campaign.

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Helene falchier@2x

Hélène Falchier

Partner

Hélène Falchier is a Partner at Portag3 Ventures based in Paris, France. Hélène joined Portag3 from CNP Assurances (“CNP”) where she served as CEO of its corporate venture program, Open CNP. Prior to Open CNP, Hélène was CNP’s Head of Private Equity, managing a portfolio of €7.5bn AUM with investments in Europe and the US. Before joining CNP, she served as the Head of Investments in real estate, private equity and stocks for Ecureuil Vie. Hélène is also the Chairman of the AFIC LPs club (French Association for Investors for Growth). Hélène holds a master’s degree in economics and an Executive MBA from HEC Paris.

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Nick hungerford@2x

Nick Hungerford

Partner

Nick is the founder of Nutmeg, Europe's leading online investment management service and led the company from an idea through development and $100M of funding. Nick is a digital ambassador for the UK Department of International Trade, a member of the European Power 50 and recipient of Spears Entrepreneur of the year award.

He previously worked at Barclays in areas of product, trading and wealth management and was a Divisional Director at Brewin Dolphin PLC. Nick is a non-executive Director of Innovate Finance, the association representing the UK’s global FinTech community and an advisor to and investor in a number of technology-led startups.

Nick obtained an Undergraduate degree from Exeter University in the UK and holds an MBA from Stanford University. He is a Fellow of the Securities Institute and a member of the Global Entrepreneur Program. Nick is a volunteer teacher at a number of UK universities in the subjects of behaviour finance and entrepreneurship.

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Adam vigna@2x

Adam Vigna

Chief Investment Officer, Sagard Holdings

Adam Vigna is Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Sagard Holdings and Sagard Credit Partners, and is based in Toronto. He also serves as Vice-President of Power Corporation of Canada. Prior to this role, he was Managing Director at CPPIB. Adam was responsible for leading CPPIB's Global Principal Credit Investments Group (“PCI”) with approximately CAD 20 billion of AUM. Prior to joining CPPIB, Adam was Vice-President at Goldman Sachs in the Special Situations Group (“SSG”) in New York and Toronto. In 2006, he moved to Toronto from New York to become one of the three founding members of the Canadian Special Situations Group (“CSSG”). Before joining SSG, Adam worked in Goldman's Investment Banking Division in New York where he was a part of their Financial Institutions Group (“FIG”). Adam currently serves on the board of Peak Achievement Athletics and previously served on the boards of Antares Holding (Chair), Antares Capital, Teine Energy, Laricina Energy, Long Point Energy, and Blackhawk Mining (Observer).

Adam has led the entire SCP team for a number of years at a different investing organization.

Adam holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.

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Francois lafortune@2x

François Lafortune

Partner, CEO of Diagram Ventures

François Lafortune is a Partner at Portag3 Ventures and the Founder and CEO of Diagram Ventures. Prior to his current role, François spent eight years at McKinsey & Company, where he co-led the Canadian Business Technology practice. François also worked at Tandem Expansion, a growth equity fund focused on Canadian technology companies.

François launched his first business at the age of 13, assembling and selling white boxes personal computers. In 1999, he was the youngest entrepreneur to join Qualité Étudiants, a home services franchise system. In 2002, François co-founded Vitres.net, which has since grown to become the largest student franchise system in Quebec. He is now the Chairman of the Board of Residencia, the parent company, which owns six home services brands and serves more than 20,000 clients annually.

François is the recipient of a B.Eng. degree from McGill University (Honours Program, graduating with Great Distinction), and holds a MBA from Stanford’s GSB.

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Kris hansen@2x

Kris Hansen

Chief Technology Officer

Kris Hansen has over 20 years of experience in providing technology solutions for the financial services industry. Throughout his career, he has led teams in architecture design, executed successful core banking transformation projects, and designed and developed commercial software. Recognized as a visionary in the industry, Kris has helped organizations develop innovative solutions that tackle today’s issues while strengthening them for the challenges ahead.

He is the former chief architect at ATB Financial and former head of solution architect at the Royal Bank of Canada. He began his career as a system administrator and software developer, started one of the first internet provider companies in Canada and built a successful software services company in the Hawaiian Islands.

Kris has received a Master of Business Administration and an undergraduate degree in applied studies from Athabasca University.

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Janice woo@2x

Janice Woo

Head of Investor Relations

Janice Woo is the Head of Investor Relations at Portag3 Ventures and Sagard Holdings, and is based in New York. Prior to this role, she was a Director at CommonBond, a fintech consumer lending platform where she managed the company's capital and strategic partnerships. Before that, Janice was a Vice President in Commodities at J.P. Morgan, focusing on structuring and sales. She began her career as an investment banking analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in both New York and Calgary.

Janice holds a Bachelor of Commerce (with Distinction) from the University of Calgary.

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Amer javed@2x

Amer Javed

Vice-President of Finance

Amer is the Vice-President of Finance at Portag3 Ventures. Prior to joining Sagard, Amer served as the Vice-President of Finance at Tangerine Bank (formerly ING Bank of Canada) and as the Chief Financial Officer of Tangerine Investment Management Inc. and Tangerine Investment Funds Limited. Amer brings deep expertise in designing, building and implementing effective, efficient and scalable Finance department work-flow procedures, controls, policies and systems. Amer is an alumni of KPMG and graduated from the University of Toronto with a bachelor of commerce degree with a specialization in accounting and a major in economics.

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Junaid subhan@2x

Junaid Subhan

Senior Legal Counsel

Junaid is Senior Legal Counsel at Portag3 Ventures and also serves as Senior Legal Counsel at Sagard Holdings. Before joining in 2019, Junaid served as General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer & Corporate Secretary at CoPower Inc., a fintech start-up. Prior to CoPower, Junaid advised on a variety of corporate and securities law matters, including public and private offerings, M&A, corporate governance and securities regulatory compliance for a wide range of market participants at the Toronto offices of Stikeman Elliott LLP. Junaid began his career in the Emerging Companies and Venture Capital group of a prominent New York-based law firm.

Junaid is called to the bars of Ontario and New York and holds degrees in common law and civil law from McGill University and an undergraduate degree in science and finance from McGill University. Junaid was honoured as the “Young Lawyer of the Year 2016” by the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers.

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Melissa gasser@2x

Melissa Gasser

Principal

Melissa Gasser is a Principal at Portag3 Ventures and also serves as Principal at Sagard Holdings based in Montreal. Prior to this role, she worked as a Senior Analyst in the Financial Services group at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), where she provided in-depth research and investment analysis to the Global and Canadian equity portfolio managers and additional support to the Private Equity and Fixed Income teams.

Melissa earned a BComm in Finance and Economics from the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University.

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Sinath kim@2x

Sinath Kim

Principal, Partnerships

Sinath is a Principal on the Partnerships team at Portag3 Ventures. Prior to joining Portag3, she was responsible for identifying and facilitating fintech partnerships, delivering insights on fintech trends, and leading the implementation of the partnerships framework as Director, Innovation Engagement at CIBC. Sinath also has in-depth knowledge and experience in risk and compliance through her time at BMO Financial Group.

Sinath has an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University and an MLIS from the University of Western Ontario.

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Brendan callaghan@2x

Brendan Callaghan

Senior Sales Principal

Brendan will be responsible for helping our portfolio companies build their inside sales capabilities and be helping develop/coach sales teams to be more scalable.

Before joining Portag3, Brendan has had a career working with some of Toronto’s most notable start up’s Honeycomb Worldwide, Varicent Software, Field ID, and Leonardo. Brendan’s last role before joining Portag3 was as the Global Sales leader for OrangeHRM where he was responsible for all aspects of sales for the company.

Brendan is accustomed to starting a sales team from scratch or taking over an existing team and bringing in process and accountability within the sales organization. Brendan is also a former Co-President of the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals and an admitted Sales Geek.

Brendan graduated with a BA in Honours Business studies at the University of Huddersfield.

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Ricky lai@2x

Ricky Lai

Senior Associate

Ricky is a Senior Associate at Portag3 Ventures. Prior to joining Portag3, Ricky worked at a Canadian startup focused on simplifying responsible consumer lending in the US. Ricky also spent time as an Associate at Mithril360, the analytics and portfolio management affiliate of Mithril Capital Management. Prior to that, Ricky was a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions advisory practice for KPMG Canada, where he focused on strategic and financial investments in software and healthcare companies.

Ricky received a BSc and a MAcc from the University of Waterloo, specializing in Biotechnology and Accounting. Ricky is a chartered professional accountant (CPA, CA).

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Karel vuong@2x

Karel Vuong

Associate

Karel Vuong is an Associate at Portag3 Ventures and is based in Toronto. In his role, Karel leads branding, communications, and ecosystem building initiatives, and supports the platform's investment, investor relations, and engagement teams. Prior to joining Portag3 Ventures, Karel established a new $30M fintech-focused fund and incubator, and built new ventures from the ground-up as the first employee and General Manager at Diagram. He began his career in software development, product, and design in Toronto, Waterloo, and the San Francisco Bay Area. A passionate community builder and connector in the Canadian innovation and fintech ecosystem, Karel serves on the advisory board for the Canada Fintech Forum, Holt Fintech Accelerator, and Venture for Canada. Karel is a university dropout from the University of Toronto - Trinity College.

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Martin van den hoeven@2x

Martin van den Hoeven

Senior Controller

Martin joined Portag3 Ventures as Senior Controller with more than 20 years of experience in asset management. He most recently served as the Chief Financial Officer at a real estate fund manager as well as Head of Finance at an alternative investment manager in the institutional Fund of Hedge Funds space. Martin’s previous work experience includes working as a manager at Citco Fund Services both in Canada as well as in Europe as well as key internal control roles in corporate finance.

Martin is a chartered professional accountant (CPA, CA) and holds his Bachelor's degree from Concordia University in Montreal.

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Djiffa dogbe@2x

Djiffa Gabriel Dogbé

Legal Counsel

Djiffa is Legal Counsel at Portag3 Ventures and also serves as Legal Counsel of Sagard Holdings. Before joining in 2018, Djiffa was an Associate in the Corporate / M&A practice group at Stikeman Elliott LLP where his practice focused on mergers and acquisitions, private equity and project finance, with a particular focus on cross-border transactions.

Djiffa holds law degrees in Civil Law (B.C.L.) and Common Law (LL.B.) from McGill University, and is a member of the Quebec Bar.

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Andre masse@2x

Andre Masse

Analyst

Andre is an Investment Analyst at Portag3 Ventures. Prior to joining Portag3, Andre worked as an Associate at the Boston Consulting Group in Montreal, where he helped develop digital strategy in the Retail sector and worked in the Technology and Telecommunications practice on pricing & promo analysis. Prior to that, he interned in Sales & Trading with National Bank of Canada’s Structured Products team and in Statistics at SOM Surveys & Studies.

Andre is the recipient of a B.B.A. in Finance from HEC Montreal (Honour Roll).

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Mylene charron@2x

Mylène Charron

Controller

Mylène joined Portag3 Ventures as Controller with more than 9 years of experience in auditing and fund administration. She most recently served as the Chief Financial Officer of an investment manager focused on bulk electricity (power and commodity) trading. Mylène’s previous work experience also includes working as a Senior Fund Accountant at UBS Fund Services. She serves on the board of the International Association of Machinists-Center for Administering Rehabilitation and Employment Services (AIM-CROIT).

Mylène is a chartered professional accountant (CPA, CA) with a specialized graduate diploma and received her B.B.A. from HEC Montreal.

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Ron close@2x

Ron Close

Leadership Advisor

Ron Close is a Leadership Advisor at Portag3 Ventures. Concurrently he is also a director or trustee of Maple Leaf Food Inc., Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company and MaRS Discovery District. He has previously served as CEO of Pelmorex Media Inc. (The Weather Network) and as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at The Ivey School of Business.

Ron’s other previous executive positions span from start-ups (CEO/co-founder of NetCom Canada, Inc.) to large corporations (President of BCE’s Bell New Ventures unit). His previous directorships include Pelmorex, The Globe and Mail, Canada Media Fund, CTVglobemedia and MaRS Innovation.

Ron’s non-profit activities include past chairmanship of the Toronto chapter of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and current membership in the World Presidents Organization (WPO).

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Daniel robichaud@2x

Daniel Robichaud

Advisor

Dan is a serial entrepreneur and an angel investor. He sold his first company in 2006 to a Fortune 500 company. He then went on to start and exit five other technology companies. His latest venture is PasswordBox, which was acquired by Intel Security in 2014. Dan is also an active investor in many promising technology start-ups.

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Sheel mohnot@2x

Sheel Mohnot

Advisor

Sheel is the founding partner of the 500 startups FinTech Fund, which he has run for the past 3 years. His own startup experience includes 2 successful FinTech exits – a payments company (FeeFighters) and a high-stakes auction company (Innovative Auctions). He's invested into over 80 companies in the past 5 years, mostly in the fintech space. He also created the startup podcast called The Pitch (acquired by Gimlet media) and started a food company, Thistle. He formerly worked as a financial services consultant at BCG and started his FinTech career at the non-profit p2p lender Kiva. He lives in San Francisco and enjoys travel.

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