Robert Simon
Managing Partner, IT Venture Fund
Calgary
Phone: (403) 292-4253
Contact by email

Robert Simon joined BDC Venture Capital in 2011 as Managing Partner in the IT Venture Fund.

He is responsible for overseeing the IT Venture Fund investments and maximizing value creation across the portfolio.

Mr. Simon brings over 25 years of experience as a successful serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist in the field of Information Technology.

He began his career as co-founder of T/Maker Graphics, a developer of Macintosh and IBM PC graphics and desktop publishing products. After founding and co-funding other high tech businesses, in 1997, he moved into venture capital as a partner with Sierra Ventures, where he identified, sourced and evaluated business opportunities in the internet e-commerce and enterprise software sectors. During this time, he also founded DotBank, a direct competitor to PayPal, where he negotiated partnerships and sale to Yahoo for over $100 million.

In 2000, Mr. Simon became General Partner with Alta Partners, with an investment focus in internet infrastructure, enterprise software, network security and wireless. More recently, he has been the Managing Director/Venture Partner with Saints Dakota/Saints Capital, a portfolio of companies purchased from Safeguard Scientifics.

Mr. Simon holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.

Steven Abrams
Partner, IT Venture Fund
Montréal
Phone: (514) 283-0411
Contact by email

Steven Abrams is a partner in the IT Venture Fund. He joined the BDC in 2001, after almost nine years in investment banking with Scotia McLeod and two years as CFO of an interactive advertising agency. As a director in corporate finance, he participated in many IPO's, privatizations, M&A advisory mandates, and equity and debt financings for companies in sectors including technology, transportation and telecommunications. For an Internet company, he raised a first round of venture capital, did three acquisitions, two start-ups, and helped grow the company from 20 people to 145.

Mr. Abrams holds an MBA in Finance from Cornell University and Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Computer Science from McGill University.

Andrew Lugsdin
Partner, IT Venture Fund
Vancouver
Phone: (604) 666-7812
Contact by email

Andrew Lugsdin is a partner in the IT Venture Fund. He joined BDC Venture Capital in 2001 and is based out of Vancouver, BC. He has over 18 years' experience in the IT and telecom sectors. Prior to joining BDC Venture Capital, Mr. Lugsdin was the founder and president of a consulting firm for early-stage high-tech companies, providing business planning and development services. Previously, as Vice President of Sales and Client Strategy, he helped transform a Vancouver-based professional Web services firm into a Canadian leader. Mr. Lugsdin also worked for a number of years as a software engineer at Nortel and as a consultant for the DMR Group.

Mr. Lugsdin holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics and in Computer Science from McGill University.

Ron Warburton
Partner, IT Venture Fund
Ottawa
Phone: (613) 592-0562
Contact by email

Ron Warburton is a partner in the IT Venture Fund and joined BDC Venture Capital in 2000. Mr. Warburton is an experienced senior executive with a proven record of building successful software companies over the past 26 years. During the early part of his career, he held progressively senior positions in engineering, product management, software sales and marketing. In 1991, Mr. Warburton became President and CEO of Simetra Inc. after leading a management buyout. Over the following nine years, he grew Simetra's software business across Canada and the U.S. and successfully sold it in 2000. In the process, he co-founded a second software business which he helped build and eventually sold. Mr. Warburton has actively participated on the board of directors of a number of IT companies.

Mr. Warburton is a registered professional engineer and holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Queen's University and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario.

Roger Wilson
Partner, IT Venture Fund
Toronto
Phone: (416) 973-0035
Contact by email

Roger Wilson is a partner in the IT Venture Fund. He has been in the venture capital business for over 20 years, joining BDC Venture Capital in 1993 and concentrating on the IT sector since 2000. Leveraging his prior entrepreneurial experience, he has assisted many technology growth companies over the years in software, IT services, electronics manufacturing and life sciences. Roger has been involved in the financing, growth and exits of several BDC investments including Opalis (Microsoft), Grantium (CSDC), TrialStat (Clinsys), Intelligauge (NCR), PPTI (Altus), JetNet (Bell), Brainhunter (Treklogic), CME Telemetrix (public), GeneScape (SignalGene) and Cadsoft (Rand). He actively served on the Board of Directors of these companies, in some cases as observer, as well as those of Avokia, Glycodesign (Inflazyme) and Strataflex (AirBorn), and current portfolio companies Blueprint and Moda Solutions.

He served as Vice President of the Canadian Venture Capital Association (CVCA) and Chair of the CVCA's Professional Development Committee, where he continues to play an active role as a committee member.

Mr. Wilson holds a BBA from Acadia University and an MBA from Concordia University.