Bio.

 

Super-condensed business bio:
In 1994, I graduated with a degree in Music Composition, funded by design and electronic music studio work, line cooking, and bookstore clerking. In 1995, I talked the owners of a fantastic independent bookstore into bringing their store to the web and we created the first online bookstore in Canada, bookshelf.ca, funded by Bell Sympatico. Ran an online advertising agency on the side. Bookshelf.ca was acquired by Indigo Books and Music in 1998 and I became their VP Online, launching Indigo.ca. More startups and consulting in 2000-2002 for Bell Globemedia. In 2003, I founded the not-for-profit BookNet Canada and brought together an amazing team who changed the way the Canadian publishing industry does business. Snuck in an MBA in 2008. In 2009, joined the founding exec team to launch Kobo, where we did almost $100M in revenue in our first 12 months. Acquired by Rakuten in 2012. Expanded to 24 countries. I became President in 2014, then CEO, brought together a new exec team, did a significant restructuring and turnaround, and have been having an amazing time ever since building Kobo through partnerships, acquisitions and happy readers into a Canadian tech success story and one of the largest ereading companies in the world. (And for every "I" in that story, there has been a "we" of talented friends, co-founders, partners, investors, team members, and mentors. Thanks always to all of you!)

The full LinkedIn story is here.