Paul Desmarais III is the Chairman of Diagram, Executive Chairman of Portag3 Ventures, and also serves as Senior Vice-President of Power Corporation and Power Financial. Prior to his current position, he worked in the Risk Management Group of Great-West Lifeco. Previously, he worked in project management and corporate strategy at Imerys in France. He began his career with Goldman Sachs, in the Investment Banking Division, Investment Strategy Group, as well as in the Special Situations Group. Paul is a director of Great-West Life, Investors Group, Mackenzie, Pargesa and Groupe Bruxelles Lambert. Paul also serves as Executive Chairman of Sagard Capital, Chairman of Wealthsimple and Vice-Chairman of Imerys. Paul is the recipient of a B.A. degree in Economics from Harvard College (graduating cum laude) and he holds a MBA from INSEAD in France.
Francois is the Founder and CEO of Diagram. Prior to founding Diagram, he was a co-leader of McKinsey & Company’s Canadian technology practice, where he advised senior executives of banks and insurance companies. Prior to McKinsey, Francois was a serial entrepreneur, launching his first business at the age of 13. He then co-founded Vitres.net, which has grown to become the largest student franchise system in Quebec (now part of Residencia). Francois earned a Bachelor of Engineering from McGill University, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Marc-Antoine is the Chief Innovation Officer at Diagram. He is a serial entrepreneur having started his first company at the age of 21 and co-founded three successful companies: PasswordBox (Acquired by Intel), SoftCity and Piria (Acquired). From 2014 to 2017, he was Director, Data Engineering at Intel Security, where he built the big data team for True Key.
Marc-Antoine is very active in the Montreal tech community, personally advising several startups and mentoring companies at Founder Institute and Founder Fuel. He is also an ambassador for Centraide, having raised significant donations from the tech community.
Guillaume is the Chief Financial Officer of Diagram. Prior to joining Diagram, he was working in the investment banking division of HSBC in London, UK in its Financial Institutions Group advising global banks, insurers, asset managers, and market infrastructure providers. Prior to HSBC, Guillaume was part of the Rocket Internet ecosystem where he was CFO of Payleven, a financial technology startup based out of Berlin, Germany. Previously, he spent several years at PSP Investments in Montreal, Canada, initially in its direct private equity group and subsequently in its internal hedge fund.
Guillaume is also very active in the community having had several involvements with non-profit institutions in the fields of foreign policy, public policy, corporate governance, academics, and the arts. In addition to being a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, Guillaume holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from HEC Montreal and a Masters in Finance from London Business School.
Benoît is a marketing and communications leader with over 20 years of experience working with national and international companies in branding, communications, and customer relationship management.
He has managed multidisciplinary teams and carried out major projects for brands such as Bombardier, Telus, General Motors, Molson, Metro, and Saputo, while also leading account and strategy teams for well-known agencies like Publicis, TAXI, Nurun, KBS, and Cossette.
As Diagram’s Head of Marketing and Communications, Benoît contributes to the growth of the portfolio companies and works to guide co-founders in the management and strategy of all marketing and communications activities. He is a graduate in business administration from UQAM.
Karel is an entrepreneur, community builder, and startup advisor. At Diagram, he serves as the Director, People & Community to build world-class teams and workplaces, lead community relations, and manage people operations and PR for Diagram and its portfolio companies. Karel also works to support Portag3 Ventures to establish its market presence and reinforce the generational opportunity for financial technology in Canada. He is also the Founder of Spaces, contributor to BetaKit, and sits on the advisory boards for StartUP HERE Toronto, Venture for Canada, and Singularity University's Canada GIC.
Marie-Eve is Head of Talent at Diagram and runs all recruiting, talent, and culture at Diagram and its portfolio companies. She has over 10 years of experience with several tech companies, where her team hired 200+ employees every year. Marie-Eve is an expert in employer branding and recruiting tools and has developed analytics and metrics to screen large numbers of candidates to predict on-job success. She has hosted conferences and given training to recruiters at both startups and some of the largest banks and companies in Canada. She has a Bachelor in Computer Science and is a founding member of Young Women Leaders in Technology.
David holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a major in Finance from the University of Sherbrooke. He co-founded his first three companies while he was studying. Over the last 5 years, David developed a wide range of expertise in corporate finance, venture investing, online marketing, and startup creation.
After graduating from the Next 36, an exclusive entrepreneurial program focusing on training the next generation of Canadian leaders, David served as investment director for a number of angel investors including Daniel Robichaud, Martin-Luc Archambault, and Mike Cegelski.
David was also CFO at AmpMe, where he helped the team raise a 10M$ Series A venture financing round. Prior to joining Diagram, David was part of the investment team at 500 Startups’ Canadian fund.
At Diagram, David is part of the investment team, he provides support to Diagram’s portfolio companies and develops ideas for the launch of new ventures. David is also very involved in Montreal and Toronto’s startup communities, focusing on Fintech / Insurtech sectors.
Vlad is a Senior Technical Advisor at Diagram and a technology leader and advisor based in Silicon Valley. He has engineering leadership experience at Euclid Analytics and Addepar, as well as Quora, where he founded the machine learning team. Prior to that, he headed up high frequency trading at Graham Capital, a $10 billion AUM hedge fund. Vlad graduated from Harvard College and began PhD work at Harvard as a Presidential Scholar before leaving to join industry.
Francois is the Founder and CEO of Diagram. Prior to founding Diagram, he was a co-leader of McKinsey & Company’s Canadian technology practice, where he advised senior executives of banks and insurance companies. Prior to McKinsey, Francois was a serial entrepreneur, launching his first business at the age of 13. He then co-founded Vitres.net, which has grown to become the largest student franchise system in Quebec (now part of Residencia). Francois earned a Bachelor of Engineering from McGill University, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Paul Desmarais III is the Chairman of Diagram, Executive Chairman of Portag3 Ventures, and also serves as Senior Vice-President of Power Corporation and Power Financial. Prior to his current position, he worked in the Risk Management Group of Great-West Lifeco. Previously, he worked in project management and corporate strategy at Imerys in France. He began his career with Goldman Sachs, in the Investment Banking Division, Investment Strategy Group, as well as in the Special Situations Group. Paul is a director of Great-West Life, Investors Group, Mackenzie, Pargesa and Groupe Bruxelles Lambert. Paul also serves as Executive Chairman of Sagard Capital, Chairman of Wealthsimple and Vice-Chairman of Imerys. Paul is the recipient of a B.A. degree in Economics from Harvard College (graduating cum laude) and he holds a MBA from INSEAD in France.
Marc-Antoine is the Chief Innovation Officer at Diagram. He is a serial entrepreneur having started his first company at the age of 21 and co-founded three successful companies: PasswordBox (Acquired by Intel), SoftCity and Piria (Acquired). From 2014 to 2017, he was Director, Data Engineering at Intel Security, where he built the big data team for True Key.
Marc-Antoine is very active in the Montreal tech community, personally advising several startups and mentoring companies at Founder Institute and Founder Fuel. He is also an ambassador for Centraide, having raised significant donations from the tech community.
Guillaume is the Chief Financial Officer of Diagram. Prior to joining Diagram, he was working in the investment banking division of HSBC in London, UK in its Financial Institutions Group advising global banks, insurers, asset managers, and market infrastructure providers. Prior to HSBC, Guillaume was part of the Rocket Internet ecosystem where he was CFO of Payleven, a financial technology startup based out of Berlin, Germany. Previously, he spent several years at PSP Investments in Montreal, Canada, initially in its direct private equity group and subsequently in its internal hedge fund.
Guillaume is also very active in the community having had several involvements with non-profit institutions in the fields of foreign policy, public policy, corporate governance, academics, and the arts. In addition to being a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, Guillaume holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from HEC Montreal and a Masters in Finance from London Business School.
Benoît is a marketing and communications leader with over 20 years of experience working with national and international companies in branding, communications, and customer relationship management.
He has managed multidisciplinary teams and carried out major projects for brands such as Bombardier, Telus, General Motors, Molson, Metro, and Saputo, while also leading account and strategy teams for well-known agencies like Publicis, TAXI, Nurun, KBS, and Cossette.
As Diagram’s Head of Marketing and Communications, Benoît contributes to the growth of the portfolio companies and works to guide co-founders in the management and strategy of all marketing and communications activities. He is a graduate in business administration from UQAM.
Karel is an entrepreneur, community builder, and startup advisor. At Diagram, he serves as the Director, People & Community to build world-class teams and workplaces, lead community relations, and manage people operations and PR for Diagram and its portfolio companies. Karel also works to support Portag3 Ventures to establish its market presence and reinforce the generational opportunity for financial technology in Canada. He is also the Founder of Spaces, contributor to BetaKit, and sits on the advisory boards for StartUP HERE Toronto, Venture for Canada, and Singularity University's Canada GIC.
Marie-Eve is Head of Talent at Diagram and runs all recruiting, talent, and culture at Diagram and its portfolio companies. She has over 10 years of experience with several tech companies, where her team hired 200+ employees every year. Marie-Eve is an expert in employer branding and recruiting tools and has developed analytics and metrics to screen large numbers of candidates to predict on-job success. She has hosted conferences and given training to recruiters at both startups and some of the largest banks and companies in Canada. She has a Bachelor in Computer Science and is a founding member of Young Women Leaders in Technology.
David holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a major in Finance from the University of Sherbrooke. He co-founded his first three companies while he was studying. Over the last 5 years, David developed a wide range of expertise in corporate finance, venture investing, online marketing, and startup creation.
After graduating from the Next 36, an exclusive entrepreneurial program focusing on training the next generation of Canadian leaders, David served as investment director for a number of angel investors including Daniel Robichaud, Martin-Luc Archambault, and Mike Cegelski.
David was also CFO at AmpMe, where he helped the team raise a 10M$ Series A venture financing round. Prior to joining Diagram, David was part of the investment team at 500 Startups’ Canadian fund.
At Diagram, David is part of the investment team, he provides support to Diagram’s portfolio companies and develops ideas for the launch of new ventures. David is also very involved in Montreal and Toronto’s startup communities, focusing on Fintech / Insurtech sectors.
Vlad is a Senior Technical Advisor at Diagram and a technology leader and advisor based in Silicon Valley. He has engineering leadership experience at Euclid Analytics and Addepar, as well as Quora, where he founded the machine learning team. Prior to that, he headed up high frequency trading at Graham Capital, a $10 billion AUM hedge fund. Vlad graduated from Harvard College and began PhD work at Harvard as a Presidential Scholar before leaving to join industry.
