HackMTL Judges
We are in the full swing of things here at the HackMTL HQ today, with just over one week away!
There has already been lots of social chatter around teams coming together, apps being brainstormed and prizes wanted by the hackers. If you haven’t already, get your teams and ideas together and make sure your app has LOCAL or SOCIAL built in. We have brought together an expert panel of esteemed judges, they are the only standing between you and some killer prizes, social media love and of course bragging rights.
Our esteemed HackMTL judges, and the guys you have to impress are:
JS Cournoyer
JS Cournoyer is co-founder and General Partner with Real Ventures and Montreal Startups, Montreal-based venture capital funds investing in great entrepreneurs building world-class companies. He’s also co-founder of Founderfuel, a Montreal-based accelerator for web, mobile and software startups. JS is also an entrepreneur, having co-founded a number of companies over the years in the software and Internet space. He is the proud father of 5 wonderful children.
Malik Yacoubi
Malik Yacoubi is a mobile fanatic. In 2004, he founded Mobilito, one of the first firms in Quebec to specialize in mobility. Over the last seven years, he has been an evangelist for the industry and is, among other things, Vice-President of Emerging Platforms for the IAB Québec. Today, Malik is Vice-President of Mobile Marketing at Cossette, which acquired Mobilito in June 2010, where he advises on and develops mobility for a number of Cossette clients. Thanks to his experience as an entrepreneur, Malik ensures that a mobile project can generate a real return on investment for his clients.
Phil Gauvin
Software engineer with physics background, Phil spent the last 10+ years in various roles, from software engineer to product manager, in the video games, CAD, mobile, digital signage and web industry. Competitive cyclist and runner with a few marathons under his belt, he’s also involved as organizer of ProductCamp Montreal and other events bridging the gap between universities and startups in Montreal. His past as the head of a music event production company brings a little freshness to the more traditional tech events he’s involved in. Phil brings extensive experience in product development and team management, as well as solid list of accomplishments in web marketing and analytics.
Carl Mercier
Carl Mercier is a serial technology entrepreneur and developer from Montreal, Canada. His latest venture, Defensio, has attracted significant interest from worldwide blogger and developer communities and has exhibited superior filtering performance. Defensio was acquired by Websense Inc., a publicly-traded company in January 2009. Carl also founded Montreal on Rails, a developer community group that brings together local Ruby on Rails enthusiasts for monthly gatherings. Prior to founding Defensio, Carl started Adonis Technologies, a company that built advanced management software for the tourism & recreation industry. It was acquired in 2006. Carl holds degrees in business management and sound engineering. He also pretends to be able to beat just about anyone at poker.
Paul Ryan
Paul is CTO at the Yellow Pages Group. He was appointed to this position in January 2012 and moved to Montreal from California in the middle of a snowstorm, but it’s OK, he loves hockey! He brings a long history of entrepreneurial success in his more than 25-year career as a technology and product innovator. More recently, Paul was the CTO at Overture Services, Inc. which was purchased by Yahoo! in 2003, becoming Yahoo! Search Marketing. Just prior to joining YPG, Paul was CTO for Leads 360, a U.S.-based provider of sales lead management software. Mr. Ryan is a graduate of Princeton and holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In addition, he holds a Master’s in Computer Science from The John Hopkins University and MBA from Wharton.
