Prior to joining the Sempa board, Leo had an extensive career in the airline and tourism industry in which he held a number of executive positions. He was the COO of Skyservice Airlines, President and CEO of the North American Leisure Group, President and CEO of Sunquest Vacations, and COO at Air Canada. He has led negotiations for the acquisition and financing of several companies in the airline and tour operator industries. Currently, Leo is providing strategic planning advice to clients in the hotel and business jet sectors.
Richard Black
Richard Black is a General Partner of The Walsingham Fund and is a seasoned venture capitalist with 17 years of experience in senior roles with two of Canada's largest VC firms: Helix Investments and RBC Capital Partners. He has an outstanding track record in the Canadian venture capital industry having led investments in such success stories as: Open Text, Architel Systems, LogicVision, CRS Robotics, ESI Entertainment, and Syndesis. He has been actively involved in a full range of growth and liquidity issues for investee companies including building management teams, arranging syndicates for first round and follow-on investments, building Boards, initiating issuer bids, and completing public issues and divestitures. Mr. Black joined Helix Investments, Canada's oldest venture capital firm, in 1991. Over the course of the next five years, Richard played a key role in growing Helix into the largest and most successful private VC firm in Canada (Architel Systems, Corel, Data Mirror, The Enfield Corporation, Geac Computer, Hummingbird Communications, Mitel, Open Text, and Veritas). In 2001, Richard joined RBC Capital Partners and he was responsible for the management of the Technology Venture Fund, a venture capital fund with $ 210 million in committed capital. Richard founded The Walsingham Fund in 2004.
Ron Dizy President, CEO
Sempa is led by Ron Dizy. A veteran of high-growth technology companies, Mr. Dizy most recently served as a partner at Celtic House Venture Partners, one of Canada's leading venture capital firms. Prior to joining Celtic House, Mr. Dizy served as a portfolio manager in the venture capital group at the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and co-founded Altera Systems, a consulting firm focused on business applications of artificial intelligence.
Malcolm Metcalfe LVO, P. Eng Founder, Chief Technical Officer
Malcolm Metcalfe is a Professional Engineer with almost forty years of experience in energy and related systems. Malcolm attended UBC between 1963 and 1970, graduating with Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Electrical Engineering, the latter specialized in Power Systems.
Malcolm worked in a variety of management positions for BC Hydro, Shell Canada and CP/Canadian Airlines. In 1999, he set up a consulting business and later was a founder of Sempa, where he is currently the CTO.
Malcolm was named in the Queen’s Birthday Honors List for 1999 and was inducted as a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in October 1999.
Khalil Maalouf Managing Director
An experienced investor, Khalil helps his portfolio companies raise capital, find key management talent, and coaches them through their various growth cycles.
Having worked with Working Ventures Canadian Fund and VenGrowth Capital Partners, two of Canada's largest private investment firms, Khalil brings considerable expertise to his role at XPV placing over $75 million in investments in small and medium sized high-growth companies. He also sat on the boards of 11 portfolio companies.
Many of the companies in Khalil's portfolio have been successfully exited through initial public offerings (IPOs) or acquisitions. Examples include: Genesis Microchip Inc. (NASDAQ:GNSS), Cognicase Inc. (COG:TSX - subsequently acquired by CGI Inc. CGI:TSX), and Simba Technologies, acquired by Pivotal Technologies Inc. (PVTL:NASDAQ).
Khalil currently serves as Director of EnviroTower Inc. and is a member of the North American Membrane Society and the American Membrane Technology Association.
Khalil holds a B.Comm. Finance with a minor in Accounting from Concordia University Business School, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Sempa Power | Board of Directors
