Bryan Watson has been serving in this role with CTN since the founding of CTN nearly a decade ago, acting as a valuable connector, mentor and advisor to countless Canadian cleantech companies.
He has been called an institution within the Canadian growth-company and innovation ecosystems for over 15 years, having advised and supported investors, all levels of government, NGOs, and companies at all stages of growth – from conception to successful exit.
Bryan is also a Partner at Flow Ventures, a boutique firm that has provided value-added SR&ED services to hundreds of companies across Canada for over a decade and has also invested in several companies. Furthermore, he is Chief Instigator of StartupDrinksTO and sits as a member of several growth-oriented companies’ boards.
Previously, he has served as Executive Director of the National Angel Capital Organization, the National Angel Organization-Ontario, and CEO Fusion as well as President of EP Enterprises Inc. and Board Director of Precarn Incorporated.
Bryan completed his Masters in Management, Economics and International Relations at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, on the only full Chevening Scholarship awarded in Canada and has been honoured to be selected as a Tanenbaum Fellow and one of 7 finalists for the 2015 BDC Mentorship Award.
Paul Connor, Director, Operations
Paul Connor joined CTN early in 2017 after a tour of duty with Niagara Region Economic Development as Economic Research & Analysis Manager and Foreign Trade Zone Project Quarterback.
Paul also has roots in the Canadian growth-company and innovation ecosystems going back nearly ten years. He first worked with Bryan Watson from 2008 to 2010 at the National Angel Capital Organization as Communications Manager, then was appointed Executive Director of the Network of Angel Organizations – Ontario (now Angel Investors Ontario) from 2010 to 2012, in which role he built out the corporation and team as a fully separate entity funded both federally and provincially.
Subsequent to these roles, Paul continued with NAO-Ontario from 2012 to 2014 as a senior advisor specializing in board governance reform and performance measures. He served in this role while obtaining his Master’s in the Management of Technology and Innovation at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, receiving a full entrance scholarship in 2012 and graduating in 2013.
Paul has continued his involvement in economic research and analysis in Niagara as a volunteer with Niagara Connects, the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network, Brock University’s Social Justice Research Institute, Social Enterprise Niagara, and Open Data Niagara.
As of July 2017, Paul was appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council of Ontario to a three-year term on the Council of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario.
