Board of Directors
Michel Brûlé
Chairman of the Board
For more than 20 years (1978-2000), Michel Brûlé has pursued two careers, in part concurrently: first, at École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) as a professor, R&D lab director, and dean of research activities, and secondly in business, as an entrepreneur and the founder of six technology companies. He sells two of his companies in 2000, including Inno Media Logic (IML) Inc., a transaction that was honored by the CVCA (Canadian Venture Capital Association) the “Best VC Deal in Canada for 2000.”
Shortly after, he launches a private VC fund, M&M Investments, and becomes a professional angel investor. Concerned by the start-up funding gap in Québec, he adds a hand in starting up the FIER Longueuil regional economic intervention fund (founding member, president of its Investment Committee) and the Québec Angel network (founding member, Board vice-chair and chair). He also serves a two-year term on the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) Board. The Québec Angel network has become the largest, by far, in Canada and the only one with a sizeable sidecar fund (Anges Québec Capital) of $85 million.
Overall, Michel Brûlé has served on numerous (>40) Boards, spanning the whole spectrum of private and public companies and community-based organizations. He is currently active on two high-tech companies’ Boards, LeddarTech (chairman) and Octasic (member, chair of two committees), on an Investment Committee (co-chair and member) of Québec Government-owned financial company Investissement Québec and Anges Québec Capital.
Early 2011, Michel Brûlé is nominated by the Québec government on its new Investissement Québec Board, a new legal entity from the merger of two institutional financial arms (banking + private equity). Mr. Brûlé chaired the Merging Committee, then served on the Board until September 2017 leaving as legacy the creation and expansion of a very dynamic group combining expertise in direct VC, PE and Fund of funds. During that same period (2011-2017), he serves on the Advisory Board of Omers Venture Capital, a fund then spanning the Canadian and US markets.
In recognition of his contribution, the National Angel Capital Organization named him “Canadian Angel of the Year” in 2010. He also received an Honorary Doctorate degree from the University of Ottawa in 2012.
Mr. Brûlé holds a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ottawa. He is also a Certified Business Administrator (ASC).
Charles Boulanger
Board member (See biography above)
Carl-Peter Forster
Board member
Carl-Peter Forster joined the LeddarTech Board of Directors in January of 2021.
Mr. Forster has an extensive senior management background in the automotive industry with brands including BMW AG, in Munich, where he held various positions in the Engineering department, notably as Vice-President. He was also Managing Director of BMW South Africa, and a member of the board of BMW AG, responsible for global manufacturing, until 2000. Between 2001 and 2009, Mr. Forster was Managing Director of Adam Opel AG, then from 2006 President and CEO of General Motors Europe and a member of GM’s Global Automotive Strategy board. From 2010 to 2011, he was Group CEO of Tata Motors (which included Jaguar Land Rover).
Since 2013, Mr. Forster has been a special advisor to the Chairman of the Geely Group, also holding board positions at Volvo Cars Group in Gothenburg (Sweden), Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. (Hong Kong), as well as CEVT (the Geely engineering center in Gothenburg) and Chairman of The London Electric Vehicle Company (formerly The London Taxi Company) until 2019.
In addition to serving as a board member for LeddarTech, Mr. Forster is currently Chairman of Chemring Plc, Chairman of the Shareholder Committee of Hella KGaA and a member of the boards of IMI Plc, Babcock Plc, The Mobility House AG, Gordon Murray Design Ltd., Kinexon GmbH, Clear Motion Ltd. and Envisics Ltd.
Mr. Forster holds a degree in economics from Bonn University and a degree in aviation and space technology from the Technical University in Munich, Germany.
Simon C. Morris
Board member
Simon Morris is a serial technology entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience, leading three technology start-ups focused on the development of innovative signal processing technologies, in particular for automotive applications. Most recently he was founder CEO for IRYStec Software from January 2016, and in that role raised both seed and series-A financing while securing multiple automotive Tier-1 and OEM design wins leading to IRYStec’s acquisition by Faurecia-Clarion in March 2020. Simon was also CEO of CogniVue Corporation, which developed a patented low-power computer vision and neural net processor technology, tools and embedded vision libraries deployed in automotive camera systems and consumer smart camera products. With its computer vision processor in production vehicles, CogniVue was then acquired by Freescale Semiconductor (now NXP) in September 2015, delivering one of the highest ROIs for its venture investors. Prior to CogniVue, Mr. Morris was Director at BDC Venture Capital and from 1995 to 2006, he held various senior and executive leadership positions at Atsana Semiconductor, which was his first start-up, and senior management positions at Texas Instruments (TI) in Dallas, Texas and Nice, France, including leading the definition and development of TI’s first 3G wireless base station chipsets.
Currently, Mr. Morris provides venture coaching to several tech entrepreneurs, primarily in the automotive market, while he considers his next venture. Mr. Morris holds an M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering and a B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada and completed Queens University Executive Business Program. He is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario and was an E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year finalist in 2014.
Peter Marks
Board member
Peter Marks joined the LeddarTech Board of Directors in October of 2018. He is the owner of Executive Consulting Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.A. Mr. Marks has extensive experience serving as a member on several Boards of Directors. He served as board member at Broadcom Inc. and is presently Executive Advisor at Gryphon Investors. He has decades of automotive industry experience, most notably in his past position as Chairman, President and CEO of Robert Bosch LLC, where his responsibilities included the Americas. In addition as Member of the Board of Management he had global responsibility for capital investment, manufacturing, environment and safety.
Mr. Marks has 35 years’ experience in industries such as automotive, technology, consumer goods and building technology, as well as in businesses serving different sales channels worldwide, including in North America, South America, Germany, Hungary, Russia, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Japan, Korea, India, China, Australia and South Africa. He has a keen interest in organizational development for leadership, strategic planning, production systems (“lean” manufacturing), engineering systems, project management and global business unit organization. Mr. Marks holds a Master’s degree in Engineering from the Fachhochschule University of Applied Sciences, Germany.
Dominique Bélanger
Board member
Dominique Bélanger is Managing Partner, Co-Investments with BDC Capital. He is also Managing Partner of Diversified Portfolio and GO Capital.
Dominique joined BDC in 2010 as a Director, Strategic Investments for BDC Venture Capital. He was promoted to Vice-President and managed the Strategic Investments & Partnerships fund. Dominique also worked as Managing Director, Fund Investments before heading the Co-Investments team in 2017.
Before joining BDC, Dominique was co-founder and President of Gamerizon Studio Inc. Previously, he was Chief Financial Officer of the venture-backed Quazal Technologies Inc. (acquired by Ubisoft). He also advised various technology companies and private investors on investments, financing, start-ups and restarts.
Dominique began his professional career as a communications officer for the Canadian Armed Forces in 1994. Then, as a senior consultant with Deloitte Consulting, he went on to carry out several IT strategy operationalization mandates for multiple Fortune 500 companies. In 2003, he joined the venture capital firm Innovatech Montreal as Investment Manager, IT and Telecom, and then continued to manage the assets once Coller Capital acquired Innovatech’s portfolio.
Dominique holds an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada, an MBA from HEC Montréal, Université de Montréal’s business school as well as a certificate in entrepreneurship from MIT.
Yann Delabrière
Board member
Yann Delabrière joined the LeddarTech Board of Directors in February of 2021.
Mr. Delabrière possesses over 30 years of experience in senior executive positions in the aerospace, identity, security and automotive industries. He is presently a Non-Executive Director of ST Microelectronics. He also currently holds the position of Chairman of the Board of IDEMIA, a global leader in augmented reality, where he previously served as President and CEO. Mr. Delabrière also acts as Lead Independent Director of Alstom S.A., an industry giant that develops and markets integrated systems that provide sustainable foundations for the future of transportation.
Mr. Delabrière’s previous senior and C-level experience in automotive is impressive. He was Chairman and CEO of Faurecia, a worldwide leader in automotive equipment, where his leadership led to the dramatic growth of the organization, particularly in North America and Asia, and restored its profitability and cash generation capabilities. Prior to Faurecia, Mr. Delabrière held the Chief Finance Officer position at PSA Peugeot Citroën, which eventually led to joining the newly created Executive Committee of the Group. In parallel to his position as CFO, Mr. Delabrière later became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PSA’s consumer finance unit.
Between 1983 and 2018, Mr. Delabrière also lent his executive experience to the aerospace, identity and security industries. From 2017 to 2018, he was Advisor to the Board then CEO of Zodiac Aerospace. During his tenure, Mr. Delabrière restructured and oversaw the company’s sale to Safran Group in 2018. At Capgemini, he also served as a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the company’s audit committee. Mr. Delabrière previously occupied the roles of Non-Executive Director at Société Générale, Group CFO for the high-end retail group Printemps (now known as Kering) and CFO for the French export credit agency Coface after a term with the French Court of Auditors and three years within the French Foreign Trade Ministry beginning in 1983.
Mr. Delabrière holds a PhD in Mathematics, having graduated from the École Normale Supérieure and the École Nationale d’Administration. He is also a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honor) and Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (Officer of the National Order of Merit).
Derek Aberle
Board member
Mr. Derek Aberle’s experience includes senior executive roles in large, global technology companies as well as the investment community.
Mr. Aberle spent 17 years at Qualcomm Incorporated, a global leader in mobile and related technologies and products, in a variety of senior executive roles. From 2014 to 2018, he served as President of Qualcomm with responsibility for all business units, including its licensing and semiconductor businesses, as well as its marketing organization and regional offices worldwide. Prior to that, Mr. Aberle served as EVP and Group President and as EVP and President of Qualcomm Technology Licensing. He was a member of Qualcomm’s executive committee for over a decade, helping to drive the company’s overall strategy. He led many of Qualcomm’s global growth initiatives, including in markets beyond smartphones as well as its expansion in China. He also led Qualcomm’s technology and IP licensing business through a period of tremendous growth and profitability, established its 4G and 5G licensing programs, and structured and negotiated Qualcomm’s major license and other strategic agreements. Since leaving Qualcomm Mr. Aberle co-founded XCOM Labs, a company focused on developing and commercializing advanced wireless technologies, where he presently serves as Executive Vice Chairman. He also is the CEO of Prospector Capital Corp., a special purpose acquisition company.
Mr. Aberle holds a B.A. in business economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law. He is a board member for XCOM Labs, Prospector Capital Corp., Jaws Juggernaut Acquisition Corp., the Alliance for SoCal Innovation and EvoNexus (a Southern California incubator).
Nick Stone
Board member
Mr. Nick Stone possesses over 20 years of experience in the investment industry and has been partner with FS Investors since 2010.
He previously served as Vice President of TPG Capital, one of the world’s largest private equity funds and an investment professional with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts Co. and Morgan Stanley. As a result, Mr. Stone brings a wealth of knowledge in finance, global markets and high-level investing. He has been involved in investments totaling $20 billion and approximately $2.5 billion in equity capital during his successful career.
Mr. Stone graduated cum laude from Harvard, was an Arjay Miller Scholar at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and resides in La Jolla, California.
