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Markham, ON- ventureLAB proudly announces the addition of Paula Cruickshank, Senior Vice President of BDC’s Fund Investments in Venture Capital, to its esteemed Board of Directors. With a track record in supporting small and medium sized business and a wealth of experience in finance, Paula's appointment marks a significant step forward in ventureLAB's growth journey. Her expertise will play a pivotal role in bolstering ventureLAB's mission to build and scale globally competitive ventures, further advancing Canada's knowledge-based economy.
ventureLAB is a leading global founder community for hardware technology and enterprise software companies in Canada. Located at the heart of Ontario’s innovation corridor in York Region, ventureLAB is part of one of the biggest and most diverse tech communities in Canada. The company’s initiatives focus on raising capital, talent retention, commercializing technology and IP, and customer acquisition.
“I’m thrilled to be supporting an organization like ventureLAB that brings together the resources of the innovation ecosystem to move diverse entrepreneurs forward, ensuring that Canada remains at the forefront of technology advancement,” said Paula Cruickshank, SVP of BDC.
With more than 25 years of banking industry experience, Paula joined BDC in 2009 as Vice President, Securitization, establishing the Bank’s Indirect Financing group and managing the Canadian Secured Credit Facility. She played a key role in launching BDC’s Funding Platform for Independent Lenders in 2010 and more recently was the Senior Vice President of BC & North from 2017 to 2020. Since 2020 she has been overseeing BDC’s financing and consulting services across the 33 Business Centres in Ontario.
“On behalf of ventureLAB’s directors, I am proud to welcome Paula to our diverse and strong team. Paula’s passion for the mission of ventureLAB, skills and experience are sure to translate into invaluable contributions to the organization’s direction. I would be remiss to not thank my fellow board members for their contributions and support as we executed on a thorough recruitment process that led us to Paula’s candidacy.” said Yalda Riahi, Chairperson of ventureLAB Board of Directors. “With tremendous gratitude to our outgoing board members, Paul and Rhonda, whose many years of leadership and guidance has elevated ventureLAB to its current stature in the ecosystem; we wish them the very best and know that we have them in our corner, always.”
“We are grateful to welcome Paula to our dynamic team at ventureLAB,” said Hugh Chow, CEO of ventureLAB. “ Having known Paula for many years, I am excited to now call her a colleague and a friend. Paula brings invaluable expertise, and we look forward to her leadership that will be instrumental as we continue to expand the impact we have on our founders, scaleups, and the semiconductor ecosystem in Canada and work together towards our mission. Welcome to the team, Paula.”
About ventureLAB
ventureLAB is a leading global founder community for hardware technology and enterprise software companies in Canada. Located at the heart of Ontario’s innovation corridor in York Region, ventureLAB is part of one of the biggest and most diverse tech communities in Canada. Our initiatives focused on raising capital, talent retention, commercializing technology and IP, and customer acquisition have enabled thousands of companies to create over 6,800 jobs and raise more than $420 million in investment capital. ventureLAB is powering hardtech founders to build and scale globally competitive ventures that advance Canada's knowledge-based economy.
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