Board of Directors & Team

Carmen S. Gicante has an extensive background in business development, technology commercialization, strategic planning, and corporate financing/investment capital. His career has encompassed senior positions in the electric utility, telecommunications and research sectors, including Director of Energy Services, Manager Marketing, and Director of Business Development – Telecom. He has led corporate initiatives in strategic planning and implementation during times of change and restructuring as well as developing and managing technology commercialization strategies and realizing new business opportunities. He successfully initiated, developed, financed and spun off several new technology businesses from an applied Research and Development Company. He has assisted ,supported and mentored CEO’s of technology companies to accelerate business growth, become investor-ready and gain access to investment capital.

He is the founder and initial Managing Director of the Southwestern Ontario Angel Group (SWOAngels), based in London Ontario and co-founder of the Windsor Essex Capital Angel Network (WECAN) based in Windsor Ontario. He serves on the Board of SWOAngels (past Chair) and is Chair of the Board of WECAN. He is an active Angel investor and serves on the boards of several of the Angel Group’s invested companies.

Carmen holds a Master of Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business, a Bachelor of Engineering Science from McMaster University and operates a consulting Business – Gicante Associates, specializing in Business Development and Strategic Planning for hi-tech companies.

Marco brings a multi-disciplinary background having worked in various fields over the past fifteen years. As an active investor in private and public companies, Marco has assisted in fundraising, investor relations, private placements and corporate branding. Previous experience includes database and CRM integration, design work and corporate creation for the development of young startups as well as project management, proposal writing, marketing and communications.

His current role is Managing Director of Field Street Consulting which provides business advisory services to select startups, high potential individuals and qualified organizations. Clients have included Invest Ottawa, Capital Angel Network, Carleton University and WEtech Alliance.

Established in 2015, Marco is also the owner of Windsor Rock Gym.

Highlights include concept to full execution of two private startup companies in 2006 that were listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. As a founding member in 2008, Marco was instrumental in the creation of the Investment & Commercialization Group at the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI). Assisting to establish a company process model and best practices for the group, the team was successful in its application to become the Regional Innovation Centre (RIC) for Ottawa and Eastern Ontario through the Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI) in 2011 operating as part of Invest Ottawa. As the Manager of the Business Acceleration team and since its inception, the group has helped generate over $100 million in private investments.

Dave has over 20 years of financial leadership experience with 14 of those years in senior CFO and CEO positions with Fortune 500 and medium sized companies in the pharmaceutical industry. He has provided strategic leadership and direction in all aspects of a business.

Dave was co-owner of a gelatin hard capsule manufacturer Pharmaphil, which supplied the nutritional and pharmaceutical hard capsule industry in Canada, USA and Mexico. He sold his business to Qualicaps, a global supplier of capsules, owned by the private equity firm, The Carlyle Group. Prior to the acquisition of Pharmaphil his career spanned progressive work experience with KPMG, Hiram Walker / Allied Domecq and Cardinal Health.

Dave has instructed for the Pre-Graduate Master of Management program for the Centre for Executive and Professional Education (CEPE) at the University of Windsor. In 2016 he held the position of Acting Director for the EPICentre at the University of Windsor. Dave obtained his MBA degree from the University of Detroit.

Deborah Livneh had co-founded an innovative medical technology company. Following her ‘exit’, she led the Canadian plant of the multinational Olympus Medical Corp.

Currently, she advises technology, medtech and start-up entrepreneurs on launching their ventures and commercializing their innovation. She serve in the role of Entrepreneur-in-Residence at WEtech Alliance, the Regional Innovation Centre Windsor, Ontario and in the role of Expert Advisor at the Life Science Innovation Hub in Calgary, AB. In addition, Deborah Livneh is a sessional business professor at the Odette School of Business at the University of Windsor, as well as, a lecturer at Leeds Business School at the University of Colorado – Boulder, CO.

Deborah helped launch the Cross-Border initiatives aiming to build a thriving health innovation cluster in the Windsor-Detroit region. She is an active member of the Michigan MedHealth Steering Committee, which collaboratively organizes annual MedHealth Summit, and brings together MedHealth innovators, hospitals and investors on both sides of the border.

Ms. Livneh is a director at the board of WECAN angel group since 2018. She serves on other community boards as well: The Board of Directors of Transform Shared Service Organization, which handles the IT and supply chain for 5 hospitals in South-western Ontario. She is a member of Board of Directors, American Technion Society in Michigan. Deborah chairs the Board of a local charity foundation, and she is a former Chair of the Board of Governors at St Clair College and a past Chair of its Audit Committee.

Deborah holds a B.Sc. in Engineering degree and an M.B.A. degree.

James Marsh is Dean of the Zekelman School of Business and Information Technology and the School of Media, Art and Design at St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario.

During his career, he has lead several businesses, and was the President of Marsh Food Services Ltd. and SCM Technologies Ltd. He was also the Director of the Industrial Gas Cylinder Business for the Worthington Cylinder Corporation.

He currently runs a real estate investment corporation. James is a past president of the Art Gallery of Windsor. He serves on a number of boards such as Enactus Canada, a learning platform for students who see business as a way to address social issues and on the Education Quality and Accountability Office of Ontario.

He holds a Law degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Windsor as well as a Master’s in Research Methodologies from the University of the West of England, Bristol.

He is married to an equestrian and has two daughters, one who is runs computer systems and the other is an architect, both living in the USA.

Michelle Teno-Wachter has been with the Windsor Essex Capital Angel Network as their administrator since 2011. She is the person behind the paperwork ensuring all details are completed and communication is accurate.

Michelle has also been the “concierge” for WEtech Alliance, a Regional Innovation Centre located in Windsor for the past 8 years. Michelle brings a wealth of Administration experience and organizational skills from her past position at The Windsor Star newspaper for 32 years where she was an admin co-ordinator.