Board of Advisors
Bill Biggar
Former managing director of Richardson Capital Ltd., president and chief executive officer of MI Development Inc. and executive vice president of Magna International Inc. Mr. Biggar is a director of Manitou Capital Corporation and Primaris REIT. Bill was also CFO of Cambridge Developments and a Senior Executive at Trizec Properties. Extensive experience in real estate acquisitions, development financing and management. B.Com and MBA, University of Toronto.
Richard Geurts
Richard has been a senior executive at a number of major Real Estate organizations including Oxford Development Group Inc., Lehndorff Property Management, Colliers International, Bramalea Inc. and Redcliff Realty Management Inc. While Vice President at Lehndorff, Richard was responsible for all national office leasing for a portfolio of 12 million square feet.
As a Senior Vice President at Bramalea, he oversaw management of all office, multifamily residential, hotel and industrial properties across Canada. The portfolio contained 10 million square feet of office, 5 million square feet of industrial, 15,000 rental and condominium units and 1,500 hotel suites.
Richard founded Emerald Property Services Inc. in 1995, renamed the company Redcliff in 2002 and as President grew the company into a powerhouse through a series of astute acquisitions and internal growth. The company expanded into asset management, retail property management and urban infill development.
Richard is Chair of the facilities committee and Board member of Pickering College. He has also been active in fundraising for Prostate cancer research and Cheshire House.
Michael Whelan, P. Eng.
Michael is a Senior Real Estate Executive with extensive experience through out North America in all aspects of Real Estate construction, development, operations, leasing, and asset management. During his career he has been involved with some of the largest and most complex projects and transactions in Canada. He has served as a Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager with the Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited, one of North America's largest Real Estate organizations, having direct responsibility for all aspects of the $3.5 billion Toronto Portfolio, including the TD Centre and the Toronto Eaton Centre.
While at the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board ("Teachers"), Michael was responsible for the overall asset management of Teachers' Canadian Real Estate Portfolio, a $2 billion portfolio consisting of 46 properties encompassing 13 million square feet.
Michael has also played a leading role in the development of the Toronto Railways Lands, Canada's largest urban development. As a senior executive at CN Real Estate, he had direct responsibility for commercial development of CN's holdings in Ontario.
Michael is currently the Managing Director of the Delan Group Limited, a real estate consulting organization with expertise in investment, asset, development and operational management serving top tier Real Estate organizations across Canada. He serves on the Board of Covenant House, is a member of the Property Committee at Upper Canada College and has held leadership roles in a number of Real Estate industry associations including ICSC and NAIOP where he remains active.
Josef Zankowicz
Josef Zankowicz has over 20 years experience as a business and communications strategist in technology spanning software, Internet, and medical markets. He has worked with numerous start-ups and established companies such as Apple, Alias Research (now Autodesk), ATI (now AMD), Dupont, and Symantec. During his career Zankowicz has successfully defined new product categories and grown technology concepts into leading business and consumer brands. His award-winning campaigns with products such as pcAnywhere, WinFax, and PhotoSuite achieved global awareness through substantial trade and business media coverage.
Zankowicz's work with investors and financial analysts has supported over $700 million in private placements, mergers, acquisitions, and public offerings on the TSX and the NASDAQ. He currently sits as a board member and or advisor at a number of Canadian start-ups and is active with several technology investment firms in Canada and the United Kingdom.
