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30 Years

2011 – 2012

Year in Review

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Objects of the Corporation June 1983

1. To provide a forum to act as a catalyst to attract, grow and serve the high technology industry to the mutual benefit of the industry and the community.

2. To assist in the creation of an environment conducive to the at-traction and growth of high technology industry.

3. To promote the advantages of the community for high technology industry.

4. To promote the image of high technology industry of the community.

5. To provide a forum for high technology industries for the interchange of ideas.

6. To consolidate the views of high technology industries and dia-logue with local, provincial and federal governments to facilitate mutual understanding.

7. To help educate the community of the needs and benefits of high technology industry.

8. To act as a focal point for participation in the short, medium and long term planning activity in the community.

Table Of Contents

Report From The Chair ......................................................

YTA At-A-Glance .............................................................

Membership ....................................................................

YTA as the ICT Hub ..........................................................

Peer Groups .....................................................................

Monthly Luncheons .........................................................

Keynote Luncheon Highlights ...........................................

ConstantContact ..............................................................

Branham300 Luncheon ....................................................

Deloitte TMT Predictions Luncheon ...................................

YTA Technology Leadership Awards ..................................

YTA Golf Tournament ......................................................

YTA LearningLabs ...........................................................

2011 Seminar/Bootcamp Highlights ..................................

Governance ....................................................................

Past Chairs ......................................................................

Sponsors .........................................................................

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1982 MS-DOS released with the IBM PC 1983

Apple Lisa

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Report From The Chair

It gives me great pleasure to update you on the accom-plishments of the YTA during a very productive year. In August 2010, we established the YTA’s mission: “to foster a collaborative community for technology companies to connect and grow.” Our strategy involved focusing on four core elements: Financial, Products & Delivery, Market Posi-tion & Community Prominence and Leadership & Gover-

nance. This update highlights the many strides achieved within these sectors. The YTA had an excellent year connecting and collaborating with mem-bers. Over 2000 members and guests attended a record 143 events. The diversity of activities ranged from Peer Groups and luncheons to boot camps and breakfast seminars. Quality of YTA events were significantly enhanced through hiring two experienced, full-time staff members to assist with their execution.

A strong balance sheet and income statement are cornerstones for sta-bility of any organization. YTA’s balance sheet has never been stronger with record year-end cash balances and the lowest member accounts receivable balance in YTA history. This provides an important underpin-ning as the YTA expands geographically and continues to diversify its event and service offerings.

A key board objective was to increase YTA membership. New members provide an essential connection to the community and add fresh vitality to YTA. I am pleased to report that we exceeded our new member goal and added 54 organizations. The new members represent a diverse range of organizations from a large prominent software company to small entrepreneurial service groups.

Sponsorship comprises an important source of support for YTA. We added four new sponsors this year with sponsors representing over

35% of YTA’s revenue. Sponsorship is also an integral component of YTA events. Earlier this year, the board conducted a strategic review of the program and identified areas for improvement. Based on this feedback, important changes have been made to the sponsorship program and will be implemented in the new fiscal. The enhanced program will allow sponsors to tailor their support of YTA activities to better align with their unique objectives. In addition, all YTA sponsors will be represented in the newly formed Sponsorship Committee that will provide a forum for structured feedback. Peer Groups are a unique and invaluable component of YTA membership. This year, under strong leadership by the board and YTA staff, a record 13 Peer Groups met on a monthly basis. Each Peer Group was led by two or more facilitators that hosted a record number of attendees. Of particular significance was the geographic expansion of this program through the establishment of a CEO Peer Group in downtown Toronto.

One of the YTA’s most important connections with the technology com-munity is its monthly luncheon program. Following a successful change of venue to the Richmond Hill Golf Club, we also changed the format of the luncheons to offer increased networking and speaker Q&A time. Members’ response was very positive to this change and was reflected by a 10% increase in average attendance over 2011. For many years, YTA has received excellent support from Branham, RBC and Deloitte through their annual luncheon speakers. This year was no exception as we witnessed increased attendance for all three events.

Our third annual Technology Leadership Awards focused on recognizing excellence in the tech community. The selection committee was challenged with narrowing down a record 30 nominees to three winners. Strong leadership serves as an important catalyst for the Canadian technology industry and these awards provide a valuable opportunity to recognize a few of the industry’s many leaders.

Report from the Chair Report from the Chair

1991 Internet becomes publicly available

1991 Java programing language appears on the scene.

1996 PalmPilot Professional launched

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Of note, all three CEO award winners, which included a start-up, a momen-tum company and an organization that’s been in business for 30 years, noted the challenges our members face. The pace of change has never been quicker and hiring talent continues to pose a significant challenge. However, all three winners agreed that the Canadian technology sector is vibrant and opportunities abound.

I would like to close by thanking the board for their guidance and support of our strategic plan; the operations committee that helped us accomplish the YTA goals and all the numerous volunteers who support the Peer Group program, seminars, boot camps and luncheons.

I would particularly like to thank our YTA staff. Executive Director Pat Shaw brings enthusiasm and innovation to his role, while serving as an important catalyst for YTA’s success and growth. Ryan Ellis, as the new Membership Manager, was instrumental in our membership growth and quickly embraced YTA’s values. Maria Beltran, as Event Coordinator, has helped increase luncheon and seminar attendance and elevated event execution to a new level.

The YTA has an outstanding incoming board with broad representation from across the technology community. The incoming chair, Dan Duffy, is a very capable executive and brings excellent credentials to this role. I am confident that the YTA will continue to play a pivotal role in the growth and success of the technology community.

John KitchenVice President and General Manager, Esri CanadaChair, YTA

YTA At-A-GlanceEntering our 30th year

•   Introduced 5 new Peer Groups: Downtown Tech CEO, Cloud Comput-ing, Digital Strategies, Export Development, Legal Perspectives

•   Established the YTA Partnership Program, providing opportunities for industry service providers to offer their products and services to YTA members

•   Held nearly 150 different events with over 2,000 participants

• Over 15,000 volunteer hours contributed by senior executives in our community

•   Continued to expand the YTA presence in Toronto with the Downtown Tech CEO Peer Group and involvement with Technicity

• Strengthened relationships with key Region of York stakeholders including VentureLab, York University and York Region Economic Development

•   Was among the first organizations to put hand up as a partner for Start-up Canada

•   Grew the YTA community with the addition of 54 new members

•   Partnered with Seneca College to establish The York Technology Alli-ance Endowed Scholarship

•   Expanded The Technology Leadership Awards program to celebrate 9 outstanding nominees for the three awards

•   Celebrated the contribution of past leaders of the YTA with the creation of the YTA Ambassador Program

•   Two fulltime staff have joined the YTA to ensure members receive full value for membership

Report from the Chair YTA At-A-Glance

30 Years

1998 Google founded. Internet is now searchable

1999 First BlackBerry released, changing the how and when we do business – for better or worse

8 9Membership YTA as the ICT Hub

2001 iPod puts your music library in your pocket

2004 IBM moves its head office to Markham

Membership

Over the past 30 years, YTA members have been catalysts for the growth of the tech sector in Canada. As this growth led to the development of a vigorous knowledge-based economy in Canada a corridor of technology businesses stretched across Southern Ontario. YTA members now find themselves at the heart of this tech corridor—the centre-point of Canada’s technology industry—with access and connec-tions to more than 5,000 leaders and influencers of the tech cluster in the Greater Toronto Area. The YTA had the most successful member recruitment campaign in recent years in 2011, attracting in a total of 54 new members.

YTA as the ICT Hub

2004 Amazon introduces Amazon Web Services, making cloud computing available to external customers and popularizing cloud computing

2007 iPhone released. Boom!

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Monthly Luncheons

Monthly luncheons at the YTA are a chance for members to connect with peers, clients, and top-level professional service providers. These sessions are designed to help attendees reveal success in their own organiza-tions, while keeping members current on the issues, opportunities and technological advances affecting their business and connect them with other members of the technology community.

Speakers at these events are leaders in the technology sector and share their knowledge, expertise and lessons learned with members. The ex-periences, issues and insights at these sessions are current and relevant to your business.

For 30 years the YTA has been providing members with access to the information and tools they need to grow their tech businesses. This year, the focus of the YTA Keynote Luncheon Program was continuing to source the experts that can provide relevant information that members can take back and implement in their own business right away.

Keynote Luncheon HighlightsConstantContact

The YTA celebrated small business week in October by bringing in a founder and executive of one of the world’s most popular small business tools: ConstantContact. During his presentation, Alec Stern Co-Founder and VP of Strategic Market Development, shared how ConstantContact used their own platform to move from a small start-up in the attic (liter-ally) to a “must-have” resource for small businesses.

Peer Groups

The YTA Peer Group Program is where fast-growth technology company leaders, entrepreneurs and executives come together to exchange infor-mation that will help them expand their businesses. In 2011/2012, more than 1200 people attended the monthly Peer Group meetings, building networks and learning from peers and industry leaders.

YTA Peer Groups are open to all employees of YTA member companies.

•  CFO

•  Cloud Computing

•  Digital Strategies

•  Export Development

•  HR Perspectives

•  Legal Perspectives

•  Women Leaders in Technology 

•  Leaders of Emerging Companies

•  Marketing Leadership

•  Sales Leadership

•  Technical Project Management

•  Tech CEO

•  Downtown Tech CEO

2010 Tablet computing comes of age with Apple iPad selling 3 million units during its first quarter on shelves

2011 Watson, IBM’s artificial intelligence system competes and wins on Jeopardy!

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Branham300 Luncheon

The YTA again enjoyed the opportunity to host Branham CEO Wayne Gudbranson for the Branham “Reveal” of companies from York Region and the GTA that made the Branham300 list. More than one third of the companies named to the list have head offices within the reach of the YTA, including eight of the top 25 up and comers, and an impressive 19 of the top 25 IT Multinationals.

With the generous sponsorship of KPMG, the YTA was to repeat what has become an annual marquee networking luncheon.

This year, members and guests were treated to a panel of executives from Branham300 companies with Anthony Pearlman (President & COO, Inter-tainment Media Inc.), Dror Orbach (COO, Illumiti), and Ryan Smith (CTO, Real Matters) joining Wayne Gudbranson on a panel to reveal some of the ways that their companies achieved such impressive growth in 2010/11.

Deloitte TMT Predictions Luncheon

Duncan Stewart has a good streak running with the Deloitte TMT Predic-tions. In recent years, he has called for increased tablet computing (more recently the rise of tablets in the enterprise), growth in cloud computing, the rise of 3D TV (but slow adoption), and the growth of social network advertising.

So needless to say, the audience that came out to the 2012 Predictions Luncheon had high expectations of Duncan’s crystal ball. And he deliv-ered, giving his usual energetic and informed presentation, and calling (again!) for an increased use of tablet computing—this time predicting the multi-tablet owner, the rise of television viewing on mobile devices, and a 50% increase in online advertising.

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YTA Recognizes Ray Simmons as Tech Community Builder

This year, the YTA presented its Community Builder award to Ray Simmons. Ray has been a committed member of the YTA for many years, serving on the board and building the Peer Group Program to the amazing networking, sharing and growth platform that it is today.

The Community Builder award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated significant

commitment and passion to helping build the local tech community. It is awarded strictly on merit as suitable candidates arise.

Technology Leadership Awards Technology Leadership Awards

YTA Technology Leadership Awards

Looking at a GTA tech cluster that has been around for 30 years, you see some pretty incredible companies.

The YTA Technology Leadership Awards recognizes amazingly innovative companies in the areas of Most Promising Start-Up, Momentum Company of the Year and Company of the Year. Nearly 45 nominees resulted in 9 finalists who received recognition and profile through the awards program .

The YTA recognized the following companies for their leadership in the tech sector:

Most Promising Start-UpCorefour | corefour.com

Momentum Company of the Year

Nulogy | nulogy.com

Company of the YearPCI Geomatics | pcigeomatics.com

TM

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YTA LearningLabs

In 2011, the YTA started holding LearningLab seminars and bootcamps, refocusing the popular learning models to include additional deep-dive and peer sharing opportunities.

Bootcamps

YTA LearningLab Bootcamps offer attendees an opportunity to learn the tools for growth and business improvement in a way that they can apply them right away. Designed to be content-rich and focused, Boot-camp attendance is limited so that instructors can engage everyone in the audience.

Bootcamp sessions present innovative approaches in a compressed time frame that let you quickly make a difference, with the back-up and dialogue that helps you to apply your new-found insight as soon as you are back in the office.

2011 LearningLab Bootcamps

•  Crank Up your Lead Generation•  Selling Up or Selling Out M&A Bootcamp•  Lessons from Frontline Sales Leaders

Seminars

YTA LearningLab Seminars are organized around issues that are current and vital. At these sessions, members and guests learn the ins and outs of building business, keeping business, promoting business and leading to greater business success.

YTA Learning Labs

YTA Golf Tournament

The YTA Golf Tournament is one of the organization’s most popular events. The tournament brings together tech company leaders and their partners to not just play a round of golf but to take part in a great day of networking.

The 17th Annual Golf Tournament took place at Pheasant Run, one of York Region’s best public courses. Challenge holes were included in the round of 18, testing individual skills and team skills with the “Net-working challenge” and fastest hole challenge.

Join us this year for the 18th Annual Golf Tournament, again being held at Pheasant Run Golf Club on August 23.

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2011 Seminar/Bootcamp Highlights

Merge Briefing

In this seminar run by merger and acquisition experts at Corum Group, attendees were given an overview of the strong market that is leading to an increase in M&A activity. The in-depth session included advice on how to avoid deal disasters, how to ensure a proper valuation, and how to improve your odds of a successful merger or acquisition.

Grow with Government Funding

To kick off the New Year, the YTA held a seminar with Mentorworx to reveal to members additional ways to access “free” money. During the session, Bernadeen McLeod of Mentorworx reviewed a number of grants and funding sources provided by the provincial and federal govern-ments outside of the well-known SR&ED tax credits. Attendees left with a knowledge of new pools of funds, and how to access them so that they can continue to grow their businesses.

Transforming Power Stream

With the electricity industry in Ontario in the midst of fundamental changes unlike anything experience since the electrification of the prov-ince a century ago, Power Stream is needing to adapt. Executives from Power Stream joined YTA members to discuss the opportunities brought on by the Green Energy Act and how a traditional utility company was managing a change to a service-focused organization relying heavily on technology brought on by innovations such as the Smart Grid and advanced metering infrastructures.

SR&ED Seminar

The SR&ED program is widely used among YTA members to add additional funding to their businesses. The 2012 Federal Budget brought expected changes to the program, so the YTA partnered with Ernst & Young to provide members with an update on the changes to SR&ED and where the program is heading for 2012 and beyond.

Sales Bootcamp: Lessons from Frontline Leaders

The best sales lessons are learned on the frontline. That’s where you pick up the tips that lead to big sales. In this bootcamp, led by Andrew Ford of Sales CoPilot, attendees learned from sales leaders who shared their frontline experiences in a case-based format.

M&A Bootcamp: Selling Up | Selling Out

Led by Bruce Milne, CEO and Founder of Corum Group, this bootcamp provided attendees with a deep dive into mergers and acquisitions. Top-ics covered included profiting from preparation, positioning for price, strategizing negotiation, and due diligence.

Marketing Bootcamp: Crank up your Lead Generation

Led by Marie Wiese of Marketing CoPilot and Jonathan Burns of Strategy Cube, this bootcamp provided attendees with an overview of the tech-nology tools for email marketing, web content management, SEO, and optimized press releases to help boost their lead generation.

2011 Seminar/Bootcamp Highlights 2011 Seminar/Bootcamp Highlights

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Past Chairs

2011-2012

2010-2011

2009-2010

2007-2009

2005-2007

2003-2005

2000-2003

1999-2000

1997-1999

1996-1997

1991-1996

1990-1991

1989-1990

1988-1989

1986-1988

1982-1986

John Kitchen

Marie Wiese

Kevin Tribe

Cal Haverstock

Ted Madden

Doug McIntyre

Dave Carrick

Wayne Scott

Mark Durst

Christopher Stait-Gardner & John Hunter

Christopher Stait-Gardner & Alan D Brenchley

Leslie White & Bob Reid

Bob Pritchard & Leslie White

Bob Pritchard & Monty Richardson

George Hopkins & Gordon Landon,

Honourary Chairman – Don Cousens

Don Cousens & Peter Baines,

Honourary Chairman – Anthony Roman

Past ChairsGovernance

Governance

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YTA Sustaining SponsorsGold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Service Partners

SponsorsSponsors

Sponsors

Sponsors have contributed to the growth of the sector and the sustain-ability of the YTA. Even those with nationally recognized brands, they are often the invisible enablers of the business success of the members of the tech cluster throughout the GTA.

This year YTA sponsor support provided the Board with the confidence to move ahead in our outreach and expansion plans through more, and more widely distributed, Peer2Peer series. Instrumental in that outreach in 2011/12 is the support of NRC IRAP, and their recognition of the value of community-directed peer connections as well as their commitment to help fund the efforts of the YTA in making such connections available.

In 2012 sponsor funding was the single highest segment of revenue for the organization, ensuring continued delivery of the many great YTA programs and services provided to both member companies and industry members across the GTA.

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