Advisory Committee
Explora is supported by a group of external investors and advisors made up of some of Canada’s top entrepreneurs, business leaders and investors.
Don Morrison
Independent Director and Former Country Head, Canada at OMERS Private Equity
Don is an independent director and was Senior Managing Director and Country Head, Canada, for OMERS Private Equity. Prior to OMERS, he was senior vice-president, and member of the senior management, investment committees at Working Ventures Canadian Fund, where he also led the Portfolio Management Group. As well, Don spent several years at PwC, in corporate finance, focusing on restructurings and turnarounds. Don’s board experience includes current membership on the boards of Give & Go Prepared Foods, Canadian Business Growth Fund, CBRE Caledon (Co-Chair Advisory Board), Mount Pleasant Group and Spark Power, as well as past service on over 20 boards, ranging from early stage technology companies to large retailers/manufacturers. Don has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto and holds CPA, CA, Chartered Insolvency and Restructuring Practitioner and Professional Director (Institute of Corporate Directors ICD.D) designations.
Andrew Macdonald
Senior Vice President, Mobility and Business Operations, Uber
Andrew Macdonald is the Senior Vice President for Uber’s Mobility and Business Operations. Prior to this role, he served as Senior Vice President, Global Rides & Platform.
Uber is a continuation of Andrew’s start-up ambitions, as he founded 2 start-ups in the years before his time at Uber. Prior to entrepreneurial pursuits, Andrew was a management consultant with Bain & Company, covering clients in technology, financial services, and manufacturing.
Originally from Toronto, Andrew is passionate about giving back to the local tech community. He sits on the Advisory Council of Ryerson DMZ, Canada's top university business incubator, and advises a number of other local start-ups.
Zoe Krislock
CEO, Miniluxe
Zoe Krislock took the helm as the CEO of MiniLuxe in October 2018, to oversee all of MiniLuxe's day-to-day operations and drive the strategic direction of the company's next phase of growth. She joined MiniLuxe following an impressive career in retail management, growing and scaling several lifestyle brands, including Gap, Nordstrom, and Nike. Zoe spent over 14 years at Nike, most recently leading all of Canada and US Midwest markets, holding overall P&L responsibility across retail, wholesale commerce, brand management, and supply chain distribution. She first joined Nike to expand the NikeWomen service model to grow the business into new women markets, focusing on experiential, community brand building. She later held various senior leadership positions of Nike Retail and Nike Factory Stores across Europe, Asia, and North America.
Zoe began her career as a merchandise manager, buyer, and department manager at Nordstrom, and later spent seven years at Gap during its most important growth phase. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Marketing from San Jose State University.
Dan Park
CEO, Clutch
Dan is currently CEO of Clutch, a Toronto-based startup transforming car buying and ownership for consumers.
Previously, Dan was the General Manager and Head of Uber Eats Canada where he led the extraordinary growth of Uber's food delivery platform in Canada, which now services hundreds of thousands of customers in over 50 cities across the country.
Prior to Uber Eats, Dan was a Venture Partner at Azure Capital Partners and led the firm’s Canadian investment efforts. He served as a Board Member for Kissmetrics and FanXchange, and Board Observer for Ranovus and The Bouqs. Dan also worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions group at Deutsche Bank Securities in New York focusing on technology, media & telecommunications and at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto.
Dan received an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Honors Economics & Finance (First Class Honors) from McGill University.
Omar Dhalla
Investor, Venture Partner, Former SVP, Element AI
Omar Dhalla is a seasoned investor and operating leader who has developed and deployed multiple investment vehicles, participated as a board director, scaled and managed go-to-market and raised multiple rounds of venture capital.
Omar was the first person on the ground in Ontario for both Element AI and Real Ventures. In his previous role with Element AI as SVP Solutions, Strategy and Corporate Development, he was focused on delivering AI-driven strategies and solutions to enterprise partners while establishing the company's global market facing presence. At Real Ventures, he established the fund’s Ontario ecosystem operations and led multiple deals with a focus on artificial intelligence, internet-of-things, and financial technology. Omar started his career with Accenture and McKinsey, then co-founded and operated early-stage ventures in both the packaged goods and media industries. He holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western Ontario and a B.Comm (Finance) from the University of British Columbia.
Andrew Farncomb
Principal, Cairn Merchant Partners
Andrew Farncomb is founder of Cairn Merchant Partners LP, a merchant bank focused on advisory and principal investing; a founder and director of Cairn Memory Care Fund GP, a fund that invests in residential dementia care operations and the underlying real estate; and, a founder and director of Contact Gold Corp., an advanced stage Nevada gold exploration and development company. Prior to forming Cairn, Andrew was a Partner at Paradigm Capital, a Canadian investment bank focused on small to medium-sized companies.
Andrew is on the Board of Directors for several Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange listed companies. Andrew is a Board of Director and chairs the Investment Committee at the Flavelle Family Foundation and is Cabinet Member for the Alzheimer’s Society of Toronto’s Unforgettable Gala Fundraising Event.
Andrew graduated from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University with a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) degree and received the Merrill Lynch Scholarship.
Steve Lau
Co-Founder & Co-CEO, AutoLeap
Steve is Co-CEO at AutoLeap, a leading provider of cloud-based auto repair shop management software.
Previously, he was co-CEO of FieldEdge, a service management software provider for the home contractor market that he acquired in 2015. In three years, Steve scaled FieldEdge from 25 to 200 employees, transformed the business from server-based to cloud-based, and sold the company to Advent International. Early in his career, Steve spent several years with CPPIB where he completed $11B in private equity transactions. He also worked in investment banking at TD Securities.
In 2018, Steve received an EY Entrepreneur of the Year award and in 2019, he was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. Steve has a BBA from the University of Toronto, where he is now a Lecturer in the Management program, and an MBA from Wharton Business School.
William (Bill) Dalton
Retired Executive Director, HSBC Holdings plc
William (Bill) Dalton was an Executive Director of HSBC Holdings plc and Global Head of Personal Financial Services for the HSBC Group up until his retirement May 31st, 2004. Until 1 January 2004, he was Chief Executive of HSBC Bank plc.
He was a Director of MasterCard International Incorporated and, until May 2008, Swiss Re GB plc. Mr. Dalton served on the board of TUI Travel plc., and Talisman Energy Inc. He also served as a Director of HSBC North America Holding Inc. until April 2016 and Associated Electric and Gas Insurance Services (AEGIS) until October 2016. Mr. Dalton was Chairman of the Board of AEGIS Managing Agency for Lloyds of London Syndicate 1225 until 2019. He is currently a Director of United States Cold Storage, a wholly owned subsidiary of John Swire & Sons Inc.
He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia where he majored in Finance and Economics. In February 2001, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Birmingham City University in Birmingham, U.K. Mr. Dalton is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (U K), and a Fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers.
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