BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Leo Lax
Chairman
Leo co-founded Skypoint Capital Corporation in 1998. He has been the company's CEO since its inception and a principal of Fund I and Fund II. Prior to launching Skypoint, Leo established and managed Newbridge Network Corporation's Affiliates Program. From the program's start in 1992 and until his departure six years later, Leo was instrumental in assisting entrepreneurs in the launching of 16 Newbridge affiliates and was involved in numerous M&A activities on behalf of the company in Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel, and the United States.
During this period Leo also gained hands-on experience organizing and managing a venture fund as founder and president of Severn Bridge Investments L. P., which was started to provide employees an opportunity to invest in Newbridge affiliates. Prior to Newbridge, Leo worked as a line manager and executive in R&D, marketing and sales, and business development, including nine years at Mitel Corporation, where he became Assistant Vice-President responsible for emerging businesses. Leo holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from McGill University and a Master's of Engineering from Royal Military College. He is a member of Professional Engineers of Ontario and sits on the board of directors of the Canadian Venture Capital Association.
Roch Charbonneau
Director
Roch has an impressive list of achievements and has built an enviable reputation in the global telecommunication industry during his 20 plus years at Nortel Networks. His early experience was in research and development, manufacturing, and market management functions. He went on to lead and expand Nortel's formidable systems engineering group and later, as Vice President, Business and Network Planning, he built a global team of business and technology consultants.
He was instrumental in shaping Nortel Network's market development strategy by working directly with service providers and enterprises to define the technical and business rationale for adopting new technology. As Vice President, Cross Portfolio Solutions in the office of the CTO, he developed new network service revenue concepts and network evolution strategies for key accounts. Roch currently represents BDC on the Board.
Jim Arseneault
CEO & President
Mr. Arseneault has over 26 years telecoms experience, most recently as an EIR for Skypoint Capital culminating in the formation of Gridpoint. Prior to Skypoint he was a founding CEO of wireless startup DragonWave, leading the Company to 1st customers & $4M/yr revenue within 3 years. Prior to DragonWave, he was EVP & GM, Internetworking at Newbridge Networks. His background includes senior roles in Business Management, Marketing, Product Management, and Business Development.
Brian Smith
CTO & VP, R&D
Mr. Smith has 24 years experience leading innovative technical teams in designing first to market products in the field of Ethernet services & provisioning systems. Formerly CTO at Diatem Networks, Senior VP R&D at Syndesis, and AVP R&D at Newbridge Networks, he has delivered over 16 products to the telco market from 8 product families.