Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of Research In Motion

At RIM, Jim is responsible for driving corporate strategy, business development, marketing, sales, and finance.

A native of Peterborough Ontario, Jim earned a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Harvard University, and is a Chartered Accountant.

The success of RIM and its flagship BlackBerry® wireless solution has provided Jim with the opportunity to give back to both his community and his country. In 2002, he announced a major endowment gift to establish the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), a non-profit, non-partisan research institution based in Waterloo dedicated to improving approaches to transnational policy issues in the new global economy. This new institute is today becoming a world center for research, scholarship and outreach.

In addition to his commitment to the new Institute, Jim is a founding donor of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and a patron of the Grand River Hospital where his leadership gift helped establish a new cancer care center. He is a major donor to RIM Park in the City of Waterloo and principal benefactor for the Balsillie Collection of Roy Studio Images in his native Peterborough. Most recently, Jim helped establish the Waterloo Regional Children's Museum, a unique facility where art and technology meet to stimulate creativity and motivate learning.

Jim's commitment to the community and innovation in business leadership is widely recognized. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and Dalhousie University, and was also elected a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario (FCA), the highest designation that the Institute confers.

Kevin Talbot, Vice President & Managing Director

Kevin is Vice President, Royal Bank of Canada, and Managing Director of the RBC Venture Partners group where he oversees North American venture capital and growth equity investments in information technology and financial services made on behalf of RBC.

Kevin has a long track record as an entrepreneur and operator in the information technology industry in both Canada and the USA where he developed extensive start-up, growth and turn-around experience. He has held a number of executive positions including Chairman, CEO, CIO, and VP Operations, Business Development, Marketing and Corporate Development. He has founded or been part of the management teams of four venture-backed start-ups including a web-based financial services technology company based in Boston that was incubated by RBC. Kevin began his career as an associate with a leading chartered accounting and management consulting firm.

Kevin sits on the boards of Brickstream, Lumeta, Tacit, Tricipher and IGLOO. He also served on the boards of Thor Technologies (acquired by Oracle), iPhrase Technologies (acquired by IBM) and Inea Corp. (acquired by Cartesis), Infobright Inc. and CashEdge. He is Chairman of the Financial Services Venture Capital Alliance and is a Trustee of Toronto Montessori Schools.

In addition to actively managing a venture capital portfolio, Kevin holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at the Schulich School of Business (York University) in Toronto.

Kevin holds the ICD.D designation and is a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors' Corporate Governance College (Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto). He obtained his MBA, with distinction, from York University. He also holds a BA degree in Strategic Studies.

Email: kevin.talbot@rbc.com

Dan Latendre, CEO

Dan Latendre has been a senior-level technology executive for the past 18 years, working with pioneering organizations such as MKS, Delrina and Open Text Corporation. Over the last 15 years, Mr. Latendre has taken an entrepreneurial approach in the development and marketing of some of the most leading edge internet-based technologies and applications.

In 1993, Mr. Latendre and his team developed one of the first wireless internet access packages called Internet Anywhere in partnership with Research in Motion (RIM). In 1995, he joined Open Text Corporation where he played a strategic role in the release of the first commercial search engine for the web called the Open Text Index. This breakthrough search technology would later evolve into powering the Yahoo! search site.

During his 10 years as an executive with Open Text, Mr. Latendre played many strategic roles; implementing a branding strategy to raise corporate and product brand exposure to a global level; transforming the corporate web presence into an interactive online e-commerce community; and developing web-based content management and collaboration solutions for numerous Global 1000 companies, including Motorola, CARE International, ISO and Pfizer. His most notable contribution was spearheading the launch of the first web-based intranet application, Livelink®. This award winning application is used by thousands of leading corporations around the world for intranet, extranet, portal and online library solutions.

In 1997, Mr. Latendre created Open Text's global partner program and developed strategic alliances with systems integrators, consultants, and developers to augment and extend Open Text products and services. Today, this program has grown to include over 125 partners worldwide.

Before leaving Open Text in 2004, Mr. Latendre led an initiative to deliver Open Text products and solutions using what is now commonly known as software as a service (SaaS) model.

From 2004 to 2007 he served as Chief Information and Technology Officer for the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada managing the technology, information and communications strategy for the centre. During his tenure, Mr. Latendre and his team created an innovative online global network to facilitate knowledge exchange between individuals and organizations studying, working or advising on global issues. Today he sits on the Advisory Council for this global network.

Mr. Latendre has a joint Honours degree from the University of Waterloo and a Wilfrid Laurier University. He has lived in Kitchener-Waterloo for over 20 years and currently resides with his wife and two children in Kitchener, Ontario.

Email: dlatendre@igloosoftware.com