Circle of Wisdom June 18/09 - Speaker Bios

Michelle Scarborough

Michelle Scarborough is an experienced entrepreneur with a track record of business achievement spanning more than 15 years. Currently Vice President, Investment and Commercialization at the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation, she has been responsible for building a team of business leaders and seasoned investment professionals who help start up and emerging companies across the knowledge based industries achieve global business success through mentorship, market intelligence and direct access to capital.

She has held a cross section of senior management roles in public and private sector organizations, including CEO, Scarborough & Associates where she outsourced her expertise to private industry and non-governmental agencies in the areas of financing and corporate restructuring including holding several positions such as acting CEO for organizations like Junior Achievement of BC. Through her company, she also acted on behalf of VC investors on due diligence and restructuring of several VC funded portfolio companies including Solflex Energy (Director, Corporate Development), Wildly Sophisticated (Investor), and The Portables (Director).

An active member of the Angel investment community, she has participated as a founder and principal seed investor in several capital pool companies and publicly traded businesses in a range of industry sectors, including Palmarejo Silver and Gold (TSX Venture Exchange), purchased by Coeur d'Alene Mines in a $1billion transaction.

Ms. Scarborough graduated from the University of Calgary with dual bachelor designations in Science and Communications. She was recently honored as a 2008 Top 40 Under 40 Award Recipient and is a participant in The Leadership Forum Series at Ottawa University. She is also a regular guest of CTV's TechNow, reporting on investment trends in technology in Canada on a quarterly basis.Ms. Scarborough is a guest lecturer at the eMBA program at the University of Ottawa on venture capital and entrepreneurship, and she currently sits on the board of the National Angel Organization.