The Upside Foundation has launched the 150×150 campaign to grow membership to 150 companies as we celebrate Canada’s 150th Birthday
East Valley Ventures is profiling Founders of our Portfolio Companies to learn a little bit more about them. Today’s Q&A is with Mark Hemphill of ScreenScape.
Where did you grow up?
Summerside, PEI
Where did you go to school?
Three Oaks Senior High
UPEI – BBA 95
Rotman School of Business – MBA 97
Tell us about your family.
I grew up in an entrepreneurial family. My dad owned a prominent car dealership on the Island. Working at the dealership as a kid was good training for a future entrepreneur. I now live in Charlottetown with my wife, Courtenay and twin 10 year old boys, Gram and Noah.
What book are you currently reading?
Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run
What do you do for fun?
I enjoy playing/coaching/following sports (hockey, baseball, golf), playing music, and reading.
What jobs did you have before ScreenScape?
I’ve held posts as senior consultant, logistics with German software giant SAP AG™, as Manager of Supplier and Content Solutions with leading B2B eCommerce services provider Ariba Inc.™, and as Director of Integrated Services and Business Application Architecture with Canadian managed services provider Emergis™. I then brought my experience in software to the University of Prince Edward Island in 2003 where I taught, researched in new media, and founded the Business, Education and Applied Technology (BEAT) program. BEAT was an academic program and entrepreneurial development strategy that takes an applied, integrated approach to IT training at the post-graduate level and focuses specifically of bringing smart students together to work on applied software development projects.
When did you first get the idea to start ScreenScape?
Around 2005 when I was a Professor at the University of PEI. While Director of BEAT I was experimenting with building software systems designed to allow a community of users to collectively share and distribute rich media such as digital audio and video. This work inspired me to start ScreenScape in the Fall of 2007. In many ways ScreenScape took the applied work I was doing during my tenure at UPEI and married it with the knowledge and training I had in the area ofEnterprise Software and B2B ecommerce.
What advice would you give someone thinking of
starting their own company?
Live optimistically, but WORK pessimistically. Instead of envisioning ways for things to go right…look for ways they might go wrong. Prioritize the things that could stand in your way and then get to work killing those things that might lie between you and your next milestone. Repeat.
Who had the biggest influence on you and why?
That would be my father, Brian Hemphill. Retired now, he was an entrepreneur and community leader that led by example. He wasn’t afraid to take a risk and he worked harder than anyone else to ensure success. He treated people fairly and seemed to earn the respect and admiration of every one of his employees, his customers, and business partners.
Today, the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) launched its Small Business Digitization Initiative, in partnership with Savoir-faire Linux. Some 60 guests celebrated the first intake of participating students and small businesses at Microsoft Canada’s offices in Ottawa. Through funding provided in part by the Government of Ontario, ICTC and industry leaders are joining forces to provide a 24-week experiential training program (Ottawa, Toronto, and North Bay) that provides underemployed and unemployed youth with digital skills training in open source technology, innovation and entrepreneurship to enable them to solve real-world challenges that small businesses face in adopting technology.
Resson is recruiting! We will be hosting a meet & greet for Software Developers at our event on Friday April 7, 2017 from 5:00-7:30pm at Resson office in Fredericton, located at 46 Dineen Dr, in the lobby of the NRC building on UNB campus.If you have any questions or want to RSVP for the event, please do not hesitate to contact jodilynn.cote@ressontech.com directly.
Enbridge is profiling members of their Executive Leadership Team to learn a little bit more about their career, background and personal interests.
An Interview with CVCA CEO and Hockeystick advisor Mike Woollatt.
Toronto-based Mike Woollatt is the CEO of the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA).
As the voice of Canada’s venture capital and private equity industry, the CVCA is focused on broadening industry awareness through market research and networking opportunities, while also advocating on its behalf to ensure sound public policy that encourages a favourable environment for investment.
Nominations are open for the fourth annual Startup Canada Awards, the hallmark event celebrating outstanding achievement in Canada’s entrepreneurship and innovation community.
One of Canada’s largest electrical products distributors has joined a growing list of B2B supply firms using ScreenScape’s cloud-based software platform to power a digital signage network.
Gescan Electrical is using ScreenScape to promote product offers and profile vendor partners in its retail locations across the country, and also to speak more effectively with staff at its Calgary head offices.
IHEC Montréal is pleased to announce the creation of the Sales Institute, the first university-level centre in Canada in this field. The Institute will bring together professors and researchers from the School along with six partners from the private and co-operative sectors. Its goal is to create advanced expertise and foster a “sales culture” in Quebec and throughout Canada so as to achieve their full economic potential.
FCNB is working with the Start-up weekend team to raise awareness and work towards finding solutions to address financial abuse and other issues facing seniors across our province.