Founder and CEO
Wendy Mayhew
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Wendy Mayhew is an author, speaker and entrepreneur, with more than 40 years’ experience successfully launching and managing businesses across Canada. She pioneered new practices in the real estate, wine and education sectors and founded the communications agency Mayhew & Associates, which grew to sales of $3 million with only one employee. Based on her own experience—and after seeing the need for practical business support for older demographics—Mayhew launched WISE: Seniors in Business, with a mission of helping and supporting entrepreneurs through panels, online resources and the 50 over 50 Awards.
Knowing that boomers and younger generations each have different but valuable skills to bring to the business table, Wendy launched CrossGen Founders. She recognized that pairing a veteran entrepreneur with a member of a different generation promotes knowledge flow between them, which can make for a successful business venture. This also allows the veteran entrepreneur to eventually exit the business with assurance that it will carry on.
Board of Advisors
Sherrod Davis
Support & Advisor
Chief Operations Officer
EcoMap
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Named one of three top executives of the year by the Baltimore Business Bureau, Sherrod Davis has extensive experience in entrepreneurship and operations. He was the co-founder of AdWap, an adtech platform focused on raising money for charities, then joined TrackOff, a cyber start-up, as Vice-President of Operations, helping grow the company and navigate it through its subsequent acquisition by Avast. Sherrod next assumed the Chief of Staff position at Protenus, a Series C healthcare analytics company, and while there he helped co-found a coalition called Baltimore Tracks, which is focused on turning Baltimore into a hub of talented and diverse tech professionals.
As the COO at EcoMap Technologies, Sherrod is primarily responsible for developing the team and supporting clients. EcoMap is a technology company focused on digitizing ecosystems to make them more effective. Sherrod is passionate about making information accessible so that outcomes become more equitable.
Julian Harcourt
Marketing
Owner
GreyAfro
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Julian Harcourt has over 30 years’ experience in multiple industries across marketing disciplines, working for and with brands like Experian, Viking Cruises, RBS, Nationwide and Brakes Foodservice in Senior Marketing roles. He launched greyafro (www.greyafro.com), a specialist marketing consultancy, to help businesses understand, target and communicate with consumers over 50.
From planning and executing communications activity to market sizing and opportunity assessment, Julian works with clients to help them communicate more effectively with older consumers. He is also a seasoned speaker and presenter for events related to longevity and customer marketing.
Priya Pandey
Executive Director
SME Institute
Canadian Chamber
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With a passion for entrepreneurship and academics, Priya Pandey brings a unique set of skills to the table. As the Entrepreneur Success Manager at Startup Canada, Priya’s role is to help entrepreneurs access the tools, community and support they need to launch and grow their business in Canada. She works alongside the Startup Canada communities and supports Canadian entrepreneurs at the grassroots level. As an entrepreneurship and supply chain professor, Priya keeps a stronghold in the academic domain as well. Her focus has been on bringing resources and entrepreneurship context to the classroom and connecting her students to the ecosystem, providing them the professional exposure and network to expand into.
With an MBA in entrepreneurship, business acumen and a research-oriented perspective, Priya actively leverages her cross-industrial networks to explore innovative solutions to business challenges.
Catherine Winckler
Intergenerational Business Advisor
Founder and CEO
MindfulGarden Digital Health
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Named one of ‘Top 80 Women in STEM’ in British Columbia, and a former PROFIT 100 ‘Top 100 Women in Business in Canada’, Catherine Winckler has a long history founding and overseeing Switch United, a multi-million dollar digital innovation company, with an international reputation for immersive interactive experiences for TV/film and other entertainment clients. Following the loss of her mother to misdiagnosis of delirium and neglect in-hospital, Catherine became interested in the potential of digital technologies to impact health outcomes, pivoting the company and incorporating MindfulGarden Digital Health in 2017.
Mark Ross
Intergenerational Business Advisor
Co-Founder and Product Director
MindfulGarden Digital Health
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Mark Ross has worked with Catherine on Switch United and MindfulGarden initiatives for over a decade. He is proficient at bridging technology, business and creativity, translating this skill to building relationships with institutional healthcare, scientific, and government partners and clients. Mark has raised over $400,000 in non-dilutive and non-recoupable funding to see MindfulGarden through initial clinical validation and paid user evaluation of the near commercial ready version of the platform.
Nicolas Shuster
Intergenerational Business Advisor
Co-Founder and Business Development &
Fundraising Director
MindfulGarden Digital Health
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An experienced start-up founder working in both the US and Canadian start-up communities, Nicolas Shuster’s previous company, FansUnite.com, was a social sports gaming platform that operated in the free-to-play gaming market. While at FansUnite, Nicolas was able to raise of $500,000, complete the BoomTown Accelerator, and grow a user base to over 100,000 users. FansUnite was acquired in September 2016 and continues to operate. Nicolas has also raised over $2 million in capital for several start-ups across multiple industries.
The CrossGen Founders digital business-friendly network is a great concept for matching up cross-generational founders from different age groups to propel new businesses or prepare existing businesses for succession.
Rick Terrien, Executive Director
Center for Ageless Entrepreneurs