No matter where he’s working, there’s one thing Patrick Gagné has always been passionate about: innovation. For over 15 years, he’s helped building a wide variety of businesses and adapt their business models to our ever-changing digital world. From developing startups (TAG Taxi) to growing national entities (TC), Patrick has been an asset to countless organizations with his skills in business and marketing strategy. Since fall of 2014, he has been involved with Alexandre Taillefer in developing Taxelco and Téo Taxi, where he is Partner and leads Product development. In 2015, he co-founded InnoCité MTL, a startup accelerator, with the Smart City Office of Montreal and Real Ventures. Patrick has won several industry awards for mobile marketing and entrepreneurship (C2-MTL Emerging entrepreneurs, Mobiz).
Stéphane Goyette is Chief Smart and Digital City Officer for the City of Montreal. Named to this position in 2014, he has since built a dynamic team of smart city specialists and launched strategic and action plans comprised of 70 projects divided into six programs. These projects were cocreated with citizens and community stakeholders on the basis of their direct impact on the population. In the course of a career spanning over twenty years, Stéphane has held senior positions with Astral Media (now Bell Canada), Cogeco, Inter.net (PSINet), Sid Lee, Medialinx (Bell Canada). One of Canada’s eBusiness pioneers, Stéphane has vast experience in the fields of digital transformation, innovations, marketing and IT.
Risa has a Master’s Degree in Media Studies from Concordia University and has worked in web and community building for 10 years: spearheading her own online arts network, helping launch an LA based social video platform, then launching Yelp in Montreal. As Yelp’s first Canadian Senior Community and Marketing Director, promoted September 2015, she helps mentor and train international community managers and develops new projects, notably the Yackathon, Yelp’s community-based hackathon exploring Yelp’s vast open data set, produced annually in Montreal. Since 2004, Yelp has taken root in 32 countries becoming the leading local guide for word-of-mouth on everything from bars to boutiques to dentists, with over 100 million reviews and counting.
Recipient of a Bachelor degree in Animation and Cultural Research, Jean Bérubé has worked in the most important recreational and touristic sites in Montreal, including Jean-Drapeau Park, La Ronde and the Old Port of Montreal as head of programming. He has also worked at The Palais de Congrès de Montreal where he is was in charge of both public and trade shows. During his 30 year career, he developed and implemented a multitude of events of all kinds ranging from small to large projects. Some of which are still in operation today such as Igloofest, a highlight of winter programming in Montreal for 10 years.
Albert is a passionate entrepreneur focused on finding simple solutions to complex problems. Prior to founding Mirego in 2007, he was CTO of Copernic, a search technology company listed on the NASDAQ. Named Quebec EY Entrepreneur of the Year in the IT category for 2015, Albert is an inspiring and genuine leader who is very involved with the local entrepreneurial community in the province of Quebec.
Marika Laforest has been an active player in the digital, web and social media world since nearly 20 years. She has worked in several areas of marketing and interactive media in the sectors of industry, retail, construction, technology, education and tourism. She now brings her expertise to Culture pour tous in the implementation of the Plan culturel numérique du Québec by ensuring the management of the Lab culturel, an incubator of innovative cultural projects, creating opportunities for exchanges on culture and digital, and orchestrating the digital tiers of the Journées de la culture. She is also a social media blogger for the Journal Métro.