Capitalize for Kids Podcast

Garrick Tiplady is the Vice President & Country Director for Meta in Canada, the company formerly known as Facebook. We discussed how his previous roles paved the way to Meta, his philanthropic work, and how Meta combatted COVID-19 misinformation and supported vaccination efforts across Canada.

Dr. Mike DeGagné is President and CEO of Indspire, an Indigenous national charity enriching Canada through Indigenous education and by inspiring achievement. Mike has been a leader in Indigenous education, first as President and Vice-Chancellor of Nipissing University and then filling the same roles at Yukon University. We discussed his educational journey and how his acquired insights will support Indspire's goal of having every Indigenous youth graduate within a generation.

Mary Deacon is the Founder and Inaugural Chair of Bell Let's Talk, an initiative that put mental health on the map and has invested over $100M to date. We discussed her significant background in philanthropy and social causes, including her position as the inaugural President of the CAMH Foundation, the future of Bell Let's Talk and her personal story of loss that motivated her passionate leadership in mental health.

Lisa Lisson is President of FedEx Express Canada. Lisa has been recognized as one of Canada’s most powerful women and received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of her achievements and work in her community. We spoke to her about navigating loss, the road she paved to success and how to strengthen your resilience muscle.

Michael Landsberg is one of the best-known personalities in Canadian broadcasting, he has been recognized for his documentary “Darkness and Hope: Depression, Sports and Me” and in 2017, received the Meritorious Service Medal (Civil Division) from the Governor General of Canada for his mental health advocacy. We spoke with him about his career journey to TSN, destigmatizing conversations around mental health, and the conversation that led to creating his not-for-profit, #SickNotWeak.

Harris Fricker is the Chief Executive Officer of GMP Capital. We spoke to him about his blue-collar upbringing, breaking in to Bay Street, founding a company with Elon Musk, and what he sees as the future of investment banking.

Michele Romanow is a Canadian tech entrepreneur, Dragon and venture capitalist. We spoke to her at the Toronto headquarters of her latest venture, Clearbanc, which is transforming how startups access growth capital.

Elmer Kim is the Chief Investment Officer and Head of the Hyatt Bangia Family Office and was previously the Vice President of Growth Equity at BDC Capital. We spoke to Elmer about his career, investing in Canada and the often secretive world of Canadian family offices. 

Bruce Croxon is a Canadian tech entrepreneur who Co-Founded Lavalife in 1988. He was a Dragon on CBC's Dragon Den and today he heads a venture capital firm in Toronto called Round 13 Capital. We spoke to him about getting Lavalife off the ground, life as a Dragon, and the tech ecosystem in Canada.

Just ten weeks before the 1992 Olympic Games, Silken Laumann, the reigning world champion in single sculls rowing, suffered a brutal accident that left her right leg shattered and useless. However, she overcame that injury to win a Bronze Medal for Canada. We spoke to her about overcoming that injury but also the less apparent mental health issues she was facing.

The Capitalize for Kids Podcast is back with a brand new season of interviews with Canadian leaders in business and philanthropy. 

On this week's episode, we speak with Paul Desmarais III. While Paul is the grandson of the Canadian business magnate who founded Power Corp, he has forged his own path forward. He acts as the Chairman and CEO of Sagard Holdings, the Executive Chairman and co-founder of Portag3 Ventures, and the Chairman and co-founder of Diagram. At the helm of Portag3 Ventures, he has built one of the biggest Canadian venture capital firms in the fintech space and invested in a number of prominent startups – most notably Wealthsimple. We spoke to Paul about carving out a role for himself at Power Corp and his views on the Canadian tech landscape.