Yaletown’s Special Limited Partners have founded, built, and financed many of the companies at the core of our region’s technology and cleantech clusters. They are close strategic advisors to the General Partners and their experience and networks are available to each of the Fund’s portfolio companies.

Glenn Bindley

CEO, Redlen

Co-founder, PMC- Sierra (past)

Glenn was a co-founder and senior executive of PMC-Sierra (NASDAQ: PMCS). As General Manager of its largest division, Glenn helped grow PMC-Sierra into a global semiconductor leader. Currently, Glenn is CEO of Yaletown portfolio company Redlen Technologies, a maker of semiconductor materials used in medical imaging and solar energy applications. Under Glenn’s leadership, Redlen has transitioned from R&D to commercial production and sales with a customer list that includes GE, Siemens, Spectrum Dynamics and First Solar. An engineer/MBA, Glenn began his career in technical, product management and business development roles with Nortel and MPR Teltech.

Haig Farris

President, Fractal Capital

Co-founder & Partner, Ventures West (past)

A pioneer of the venture capital industry in Canada, Haig co-founded Ventures West in 1968 and spent twenty-five years working to establish the venture capital industry in Canada. Since retiring from the firm he founded, Haig has become one of the most active and successful technology angel investors on the West Coast. He has been instrumental in the creation, growth, and success of dozens of technology companies and careers spanning four decades. Haig has served as co-founder, chair, and director of many high-profile companies, university and industry associations, and has been honoured by the Science Council of BC and the BC Technology Industries Association with awards for lifetime achievement and contribution to technology on Canada’s West Coast.

Greg Peet

CEO. A.L.I. Technologies (acquired by McKesson, 2002)

Greg is an accomplished business leader, entrepreneur, angel investor and corporate director. Until 2004, he was VP and General Manager of the McKesson Medical Imaging Group, a role he assumed following McKesson’s (NYSE:MKE) acquisition of A.L.I. Technologies in 2002 for over $500 million. As CEO, Greg spent a decade directing the growth of A.L.I., from an R&D organization into a market leader in the digital medical imaging segment with over 400 employees. Greg was recognized as the Ernst & Young’s Pacific Entrepreneur of the Year in 2002, and B.C. Technology Industry Association’s “Person of the Year” for 2007. Prior to ALI, Greg was CEO of Enterprise Technologies and Norsat. He began his career in the financial services industry. Greg currently serves on a number of company boards, and is Co-Chair of the B.C. Premier's Technology Council.

Werner (Vern) Paulus

Founder and Chairman, Polygon Group of Companies

A highly successful financier and entrepreneur, Vern is an active investor in emerging technology companies throughout the Pacific Northwest. Vern’s extensive business and investment experience spans more than 45 years, bridging multiple industries and several continents from Polygon’s base in Washington State. Polygon is a diversified, professionally-managed investment firm with active current portfolios in technology, resources, agriculture, and real estate. Vern serves on numerous not-for-profit and company boards, including educational software vendor ePALS, managed hosting provider Peer 1 Network, and Yaletown cleantech portfolio company Microstaq. An active environmental steward and philanthropist, Vern chairs the board of the Wild Salmon Center where he has been active for the past eight years.

John Seminerio

Partner, Magellan Partners

Co-founder & CEO, OctigaBay (acquired by Cray, 2004)

Co-founder & CEO, Abatis (acquired by Redback, 1999)

John is an entrepreneur with an impressive track record in communications, networking, and high-performance computing. John co-founded super-computer company OctigaBay Systems, which was acquired by Cray (NASDAQ:CRAY) in 2004 in a transaction that was recognized as “Deal of the Year” by the Canadian venture capital industry. John earlier co-founded Abatis Systems, which was purchased by Redback (NASDAQ:RDBK) for over C$1 billion, generating one of the highest returns in Canadian venture capital history. With his two co-founding partners from Abatis and OctigaBay, John is currently a Partner of Magellan Partners, a venture development company that provides angel capital and hands-on mentorship to BC information technology companies. An electrical engineer, John honed his sales and leadership skills at Nortel and DSC. He has received the Engineering Alumni Achievement Medal from the University of Waterloo and has been honoured as “Person of the Year” by the BC Technology Industries Association.

Dr. Ken Spencer

Co-Founder & (retired) CEO, Creo (Nasdaq IPOm 1999;
acquired by Kodak, 2005)

Ken Spencer co-founded Creo in 1983. Creo grew to be British Columbia's largest technology company with over 4000 employees in BC, the United States, Europe and Israel. Ken retired as CEO in 1995, remaining active on Creo’s board through its Nasdaq IPO and until its acquisition by Kodak for over $1 billion in 2005. For over a decade, Ken has been an active angel investor in BC and has served as co-founder, chair or director of numerous technology companies, educational associations, and institutions in BC. He is currently on the boards of emerging companies Bycast and Sirius Genomics, is a member of the Board of the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), is chair of UBC's Electrical and Computer Engineering Advisory Committee, and is on the Council for UBC's University Liaison Office.

Ignition

Martin Tobias

Founder & CEO, Kashless

Chairman & CEO (past), Imperium Renewables

Founder & CEO, Loudeye (Nasdaq IPO, 1999)

Martin is a serial entrepreneur with impressive credentials in cleantech and digital media technologies. He is currently CEO of Kashless, Inc. which develops software to enable reuse marketplaces. Previously, Martin was CEO of Seattle-based Imperium Renewables, an pioneer in bio-diesel production, and founding CEO of Loudeye Technologies, a provider of audio and video enabling solutions for the Internet which is now a division of Nokia. In addition to working with Yaletown, Martin serves on the Venture Council of Industry Ventures, and is a director of Cloudmark. As a former Venture Partner at Ignition Parterns, and a co-founder of the Northwest Energy Angels, Martin has financed over two dozen technology start-ups and served on the boards of numerous companies in WA, OR, and BC.

Ralph Turfus

Founder & CEO, Class Software (acquired by Active Network, 2004)

Ralph is an accomplished technology entrepreneur who has spent three decades in the IT sector. Most recently, he was founder and CEO of Class Software, a leading developer of software for municipal government. In 2004, Class was acquired by California-based Active Network in a private equity-financed transaction. An engineer/MBA, Ralph’s passion is developing the marketing and sales capabilities of entrepreneurial technologists. He is a highly-regarded speaker on the topic and is a hand-on angel investor and mentor who is active with the founders of numerous next-generation technology companies emerging on Canada’s west coast. In recognition of his business success and industry contributions he was named the B.C. Technology Industry Association’s “Person of the Year” in 2006.

Laurie Wallace

Executive Chair, PartnerPedia

Co-Founder & President, FlyOver Entertainment
(acquired by Vivendi, 2006)

Co-founder & CEO, Datum (acquired by PMC-Sierra, 2000)

Laurie is a serial entrepreneur who has, to date, launched and led two successful technology companies in the digital media and wireless sectors. Currently, Laurie is Executive Chair of PartnerPedia, a provider of web-based channel enablement solutions. Previously, Laurie co-founded and led online casual game developer FlyOver which was acquired by Vivendi Games in 2006, and co-founded Datum Telegraphic, a designer of semiconductors for the wireless data base station market. Acquired by PMC-Sierra for over $200 million in 2000 generating one of the highest returns ever in BC for an angel-backed company, Datum became PMC-Sierra’s wireless products division. Laurie led PMC-Sierra’s wireless marketing initiatives throughout Asia, Europe and North America until his departure in 2003. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Laurie worked in systems engineering, sales and executive management with industry leaders MPR Teltech, IBM and Apple.