PRESENTING SPONSORS
RBC Royal Bank of CanadaMNP LLP

Meet Our Mentors

Michelle StanfordMICHELLE STANFORD

  1. Where do you live?
    • Oakville
  2. One line description of your current job
    • Michelle holds diverse roles as executive management consultant, specializing in Sales and Marketing excellence, relationship coach and ordained priest in the Anglican Church
  3. Why did you choose to be a mentor?
    • I chose to be a mentor to share my experience and insights to support others’ success
  4. What have you gotten out of mentoring?
    • I very much enjoy the dynamic of collaborating, coaching and encouraging my mentees. Their enthusiasm and commitment is inspiring and their appreciation of my support is wonderful.

Alyson WoodbridgeALYSON WOODBRIDGE

  1. Where do you live?
    • Live in south west Mississauga and have always been involved with the Oakville and Burlington communities throughout my career.
  2. One line description of your current job
    • Owner of Tarla Graphics, Print Consultant
  3. Why did you choose to be a mentor?
    • Simple, after 30 years of experience, it was time to give back!!  And since mentoring is a process that involves communication and is relationship based, it was a perfect fit for me.
  4. What have you gotten out of mentoring?
    • Often mentorship is a relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person.  However, this has not been the case.  I have had the privilege of working with a very skilled candidate. The difference between the two of us is straightforward; the mentor is not emotionally invested in the product.  Therefore, it makes it almost effortless to be objective.
    • On a more personal note, I have been truly blessed to have met and worked with Nicole Mortimer.  Laifa Baby was a top candidate from the very start; I sensed it and asked to mentor Nicole and her innovative baby sleeper.  Through our interactions, formal and informal, we created an immediate bond.  We have forged through endless pitches, met each other’s children, share recipes and family antics.
    • This has been an incredible experience for me both personally and professionally. There is so much to gain by being a part of Python’s Pit!

TAVISTavis Valentine VALENTINE

  1. Where do you live?
    • Port Credit, Ontario
  2. One line description of your current job:
    • Business Development & Supply Chain Consultant, helping business achieve their objectives, grow sales and improve operational efficiency through strategy development, execution and process improvement.
  3. Why did you choose to be a mentor?
    • I have been grateful for the support of many mentors throughout my career. I really enjoy the opportunity to work with entrepreneurs and share my experiences in both Fortune 500 corporations and start-up organizations, to help them achieve their business goals. Python’s Pit is a wonderful initiative and allows me the opportunity to give back to the local community, meet many incredible students and business owners and help them better understand some of the challenges and opportunities when creating a business
  4. What have you gotten out of mentoring?
    • I have met some wonderful people, both the mentees (students and businesses) and also networking with other mentors. I am grateful for the opportunity to share my expertise with those who can benefit from it and it is satisfying to see the business ideas, and confidence of the entrepreneurs grow through the process.

Dana PeeverDANA PEEVER

  1. Where do you live?
    • Oakville, Ontario
  2. One line description of your current job:
    • A Human Resources professional, with corporate and entrepreneurial backgrounds. Also a certified life coach, Your Decision Coach, with a 5 Step System to help make tough decisions quickly
  3. Why did you choose to be a mentor?
    • I had the good fortune of having many mentors in my life, ones who were there to answer questions as I was growing in my career. I figure I’ve amassed all of that wonderful knowledge from them, combined with me own learnings, it was time for me to pay it forward and share with others
  4. What have you gotten out of mentoring?
    • What you get out of mentoring with Pythons’ Pit is immeasurable and not something you could put a finger on at the outset.
      1. There is obviously a satisfaction with helping your mentees build their pitch and see them succeed
      2. You learn more about your own business and what you could be doing better
      3. You build a network of new colleagues to reach out to when needed
      4. You gain an instilled sense of optimism that the world is a great place with new ideas everyday. I marvel at the ingenuity of the applicants and their drive to move forward.

Raj & Joti VallabhRAJ AND JOTI VALLABH

  1. Where do you live?
    • My business partner/wife and I currently reside in sunny Oakville Ontario.  The capital of the Universe. 🙂
  2. One line description of your current job
    • I am a Partner at Positive Accounting who aside from the accounting aspect of life have the roles and responsibilities of introducing and integrating accounting technology into our practice allowing us to partner with global firms by means of paperless transmission.
  3. Why did you choose to be a mentor?
    • When I was in High school they ran a mentorship program with global companies dedicating their time.  My mentor was Larry Gerber (that’s right I still remember his name) The CFO of Ghiradelli chocolate.  The volume of learnership that I acquired in that program was phenomenal.   Attending board meeting and shadowing him was an amazing experience.  It allowed me to understand the world I wanted to go into and had made a significant impact on the choice I made to becoming an Entrepreneur.  If I could impact someone’s life positively that alone is reason enough to become a mentor.
  4. What have you gotten out of mentoring?
    • Mentoring is also learning for me.  It allows me to understand the visions of the younger generation.  Where they want to go and what they want to achieve in business. It has given me the ability to keep my business young, ever-changing and dynamic like the new entrepreneurs that come out into the world today.

Rod CraigROD CRAIG

  1. Where do you live?
    • Oakville
  2. One line description of your current job
    • Virtual CFO – I provide support to small and medium sized organizations who cannot afford a full time CPA
  3. Why did you choose to be a mentor?
    • I enjoyed being a PP mentor last year – it’s great to be part of this local competition
  4. What have you gotten out of mentoring?
    1. I has been fun and interesting to listen to, and discuss ideas with, new and aspiring local entrepreneurs
    2. I have learned a lot myself from the pitch camp
    3. Pizza!

mark fornasieroMARK FORNASIERO

  1. Where do you live?
    • Oakville
  2. One line description of your current job
    • Strategy consultant to private enterprise
  3. Why did you choose to be a mentor?
    • I really enjoy facilitating, mentoring and teaching in all aspects of my life whether it’s in business, sports, charity or volunteer work.
  4. What have you gotten out of mentoring?
    • So much. It has reinforced to me again how important empathy is in a teaching or mentoring context. Start-ups, in particular, can be in such a vulnerable place energetically so you need to add value and offer advice in a non-judgemental way. I learn as much from the mentees as they (hopefully) learn from me in terms of new product or market intelligence; new technologies; business process; selling, the list goes on.
Skills

Posted on

May 25, 2016