Award-Winning Entrepreneurship Leader Appointed to Futurpreneur’s Board

November 30, 2021

Sonia Sennik joins Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to supporting young entrepreneurs

TORONTO, Nov. 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Futurpreneur today announced the appointment of Sonia Sennik to its board of directors. A senior not-for-profit executive and entrepreneurship expert, Sennik brings demonstrated expertise in business growth, project implementation, and innovation that will contribute to Futurpreneur’s mission of supporting diverse, young entrepreneurs across Canada.

“Sonia’s deep commitment to mentorship and financing as key drivers of entrepreneurial success is firmly aligned with Futurpreneur’s support model,” said Karen Greve Young, CEO, Futurpreneur Canada. “With extensive experience leading deep-tech startup programs that have global reach and impact, we are confident that Sonia will bring new insights and ideas that will amplify the work we do to empower young entrepreneurs and contribute to Canada’s growing economy.”

“We’re delighted to welcome someone of Sonia’s calibre and experience to the Futurpreneur Board of Directors,” said David Aisenstat, Futurpreneur board chair. “Sonia’s extensive knowledge in the field, coupled with their deep passion for helping entrepreneurs turn ideas into lucrative businesses will prove valuable in their new role as a board member.”

Sennik is the executive director of the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), a not-for-profit organization that delivers a seed-stage program for massively scalable, science-based companies, founded at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Under their leadership, the program has expanded to 16 specialized streams. Today, CDL operates in four countries across 10 locations in Canada, US, UK and France.

At the height of the pandemic, Sennik led the launch and implementation of a new program that focused on workplace rapid screening to help businesses get back to work safely. The CDL Rapid Screening Consortium is an unprecedented collaboration among businesses, researchers, and government working together on a singular public-interest objective. Since then, more than 1,700 organizations have joined the consortium to support safer working environments during the pandemic.

Most recently, Sennik was honoured as a recipient of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 — an annual leadership award that recognizes exceptional achievements by 40 outstanding Canadians who are under the age of 40. Sennik was selected from hundreds of nominees by a respected and independent advisory board. Nominees were assessed on four key criteria: Vision & Innovation, Leadership, Impact & Influence, and Social Responsibility.

Among Sennik’s other honourable accomplishments is the establishment of the Sonia Sennik Resilience Fund at McMaster University to award an annual $8,000 entrance scholarship for outstanding prospective engineering students. It has since grown into the largest multidonor endowment in McMaster Engineering history as a $300,000+ endowed fund.

As Sennik joins the board, Futurpreneur extends its deep appreciation to outgoing director Michel Bergeron, Chief Strategy Officer of the Business Development Bank of Canada.

“We are immensely grateful for the extensive contributions Michel made to Futurpreneur during his board tenure. I particularly appreciate his focus on opportunities to enhance our support of young entrepreneurs while managing the organization’s risk,” said Greve Young. “With close to a decade of dedicated service as a director, audit and finance committee member and former treasurer, Michel has contributed valuable expertise, particularly leveraging his experience in the small business support ecosystem and strategy to help us continually improve our offering.”

The Futurpreneur Board of Directors includes:

  • David Aisenstat (chair), CEO, Keg Restaurants Ltd.
  • John Risley, O.C. (founding chair), president, Clearwater Fine Foods Inc.
  • Paula Cruickshank (treasurer), senior vice president, Ontario & Digital Transformation Lead, BDC
    Valerie Fox (secretary), chief innovation consultant, The Pivotal Point
  • Tania Clarke, senior vice-president and CFO, New Look Vision Group Inc.
  • Mike Dobbins, former group head, RBC ventures and corporate development, RBC
  • Cindy Goertzen, co-founder and president, Maira Group Inc.
  • Joanna Griffiths, CEO, Knix and Knixteen
  • Janelle Hinds, founder, Helping Hands
  • Derrick Hunter, president, Bluesky Equities Ltd.
  • Thor Richardson, director of marketing, Richardson International
  • Catherine Roche, chief marketing officer and head of social impact, Bank of Montreal
  • Sonia Sennik, executive director, Creative Destruction Lab and CDL Rapid Screening Consortium

Futurpreneur board members are diverse leaders across a broad variety of sectors. To read more about our Board of Directors and its demographic makeup, please visit our website.

ABOUT FUTURPRENEUR

Futurpreneur has been fuelling the entrepreneurial passions of enterprising young Canadians for over 25 years. We are the only national, non-profit organization that provides financing, mentorship and resources to aspiring business owners aged 18-39. More than 15,000 diverse, young Canadian entrepreneurs, spanning every province and territory, have successfully launched their business with Futurpreneur’s support. Their main street businesses help drive Canada’s inclusive economic prosperity in communities from coast to coast to coast. Futurpreneur is a founding member of the G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance, the Canadian member of Youth Business International, and the Canadian host of Global Entrepreneurship Week.

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MEDIA CONTACTS

Zeena Kanaan
Idea Workshop, on behalf of Futurpreneur
E: zeena@ideaworkshop.ca
T: 647-570-1060