District 3 High Tech Stream Lead

JD Bégin is a venture capitalist turned entrepreneur and angel investor. As High Tech Stream Lead at District 3, Bégin helps founders find product market-fit, grow their key metrics, and secure financing. Having previously worked as a growth advisor and mentor to firms such as VM6 Software Inc., Techstars and Traction Ventures, Bégin leverages more than 15 years experience to uniquely equip startups with the tools they need to grow into successful enterprises. Bégin holds an MBA from Concordia University, as well as a bachelors of Business Administration in accounting and finance from UQAM.

District 3 Bio Stream Lead

Following more than a 30-year career in life-science and biotechnology; Maggie Bywater-Ekegärd now has an extensive experience in senior management positions; creating global markets; and implementing complex commercialization projects. Her knowledge of intellectual property portfolio management, quality product development and manufacturing is key to new technology introduction. She is co-founder of Inocucor Technologies now Concentric Agriculture, where she ran and coordinated the industrialization & commercialization process. Since Inocucor she has co-founded Morphocell a regenerative medicine company based in Montreal Canada. She is an adviser to the management team and a member of the Board of Directors.

Senior Coach, District 3 Healthcare Stream Lead

With a wealth of international experience in taking ideas to market—always at the dynamic intersection of where entrepreneurship and experiential learning meet—Edna Chosack, M.Sc., MBA, is the Healthcare Stream lead and Senior Coach at District 3. 

As the co-founder and VP, Strategic Marketing at Simbionix Inc., Edna co-built the company into an international surgical-simulation leader, becoming internationally recognized as one of a few experts who leverage medical-simulation experiential learning into business success stories. 3D Systems acquired the company for $120M USD.

In Montreal, she established and served as Director of CAE’s surgical-simulation business line. She was a member of the advisory committee at McGill University’s Steinberg Centre for Simulation and Interactive Learning. She held her consultancy services for private internationals in the US, Europe & China, as well as for Canadian customers such as the Canadian National Research Council.

CEO, BEEM & Validation Coach

With over 15 years of racing experience, Kevin Ferah has developed an essential link between engineering theory and practice. Kevin cofounded BEEM, an automotive technology company, in 2014. He brings expertise in sales, commercialization, and product engineering. Along with his co-founder, they have successfully scaled their startup BEEM. BEEM is a data automation platform helping businesses unlock the power of their data. Their product Fleet is a leading loaner car management software helping car dealerships across Canada eliminate expenses and generate revenue with our proven process and technology. Kevin holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the École de Technologie supérieure.

Executive Director, District 3

Guided by his passion for advancing emerging technology, his career is rooted in strategic partnerships and community building. Proud of the incubator that he founded, District 3, and the 1000+ tech startups that have come through our doors in now 10 years. Xavier is committed to growing the bioeconomy in Quebec–which at this very second, is revolutionizing the world. Equivalent to what happened in IT 50 years ago, the same is occurring in biological engineering-“it’s going to change everything”. The next bioeconomy ventures are led by scientific entrepreneurs with deep expertise in their respective domains — fields like AI in biological engineering, healthtech, clean tech, agri-foods — are all key innovation drivers.

President, BEEM & Validation Coach

Alexandre Lataille is driven by a true passion for automotive technologies that have always pushed him to innovate. As the CEO and co-founder of BEEM, an auto tech company, he is focusing on reinventing the way we interact within the automotive ecosystem, starting with the customer, the vehicle, the dealership and the manufacturer. 

Prior to founding BEEM, Alexandre specialized in data-driven automotive product development, business processes and analytics. He managed projects to the highest industry standards, with a tenacity that saw him rise swiftly in the ranks of Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP), a leading recreational products manufacturer. Alexandre started his career as a testing engineer for the Volvo Group, where he realized his passion for a data-driven approach to problem-solving and product development, which he applies to BEEM today.

Coach, District 3 – Tech Stream

Louis has a 20+ years track record of helping emerging and growing technology and media companies propel their business to the next level. An experienced operator, Louis can help businesses meet short-term revenue targets while building longer-term growth capabilities. Louis is particularly experienced in sales management, marketing, partnerships, M&A, and general operations.

Louis started his career as a commercial attorney in a leading Canadian law firm, advising high technology and biotechnology companies in areas such as mergers and acquisitions, corporate financing, and partnerships. With this experience and an MBA, Louis made the move to business operations early on and never looked back, rapidly progressing through the ranks of established and growing international tech companies, including Open Text, Bell Canada, Softvoyage, k-eCommerce, and mdf commerce.

Louis holds a master’s in business administration (MBA) from the École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Montreal (1996), a bachelor’s degree in law (Ll.b.) from the University of Montreal (1993), and is a member of the Quebec Bar (1994).

Coach, District 3

Daniel Stoll has always strived to design and develop products that bring delightful customer experiences, to have products sell themselves. He has a track record of galvanizing innovation and creating go-to-market strategies based on a product-led growth approach, providing value to customers by shortening time to value. His work has been recognized for shortening the sales cycle significantly in complex sales. Daniel holds a Master’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the École d’ingénieurs du numérique.