Dana Kammersgard

Dana W. Kammersgard is a retired technology executive who currently serves as board director, advisor and angel investor in a number of seed and small cap companies in the US and Canada. He serves on the board of Imageware Systems (IWSY) and TZOA and as an advisor to companies including Open Ocean Robotics, M&G, Greencoast Media, Bright Marbles, Sequitur Labs among others. He is a member of the Campbell River Area Angel Group which is sponsoring a number of technology focused challenges that can be found at www.nexstream.is

Prior to retirement, Mr. Kammersgard was the Executive Vice President of Cloud Systems and Solutions for Seagate Technology (STX), where he was responsible for all storage systems related products and strategies. Prior to joining Seagate Systems in 2015, through the acquisition of Dot Hill Systems (HILL), Mr. Kammersgard, served as the President, CEO and a director of Dot Hill Systems Corp. ("Dot Hill") since March 2006. He served as President of Dot Hill from August 2004 to March 2006. From August 1999 to August 2004, Mr. Kammersgard served as Dot Hill's 's Chief Technical Officer. Mr. Kammersgard was a founder of Artecon and served as a director from its inception in 1984 until the company's merger with Box Hill Systems Corp. in August 1999. At Artecon, Mr. Kammersgard served in various positions since 1984, including Secretary and Senior Vice President of Engineering from March 1998 until August 1999, and as Vice President of Sales and Marketing from March 1997 until March 1998. Prior to cofounding Artecon, Mr. Kammersgard was the Director of Software Development at Calma, a division of General Electric Company. Mr. Kammersgard holds a B.A. in chemistry from the University of California, San Diego.

David Baar

David is a Physicist and Computer Scientist with extensive experience in intellectual property. He has a Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics and M.Sc. in Engineering Physics from Queen's University. He is an inventor on more than 25 granted patents, and has been responsible for more than 60 patent applications and many research publications to date.

David has had founding and senior management roles in several technology companies over the past 25 years, and is an active investor and advisor.

Prior to moving to Campbell River in 2012, David and his wife Dee had already spent significant time adventuring in the area, pursuing outdoor activities such as rock climbing, hiking, windsurfing, and camping, within and beyond Strathcona Park. The decision to relocate to such an area of natural beauty, with mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, and ocean nearby, and a friendly community, was an easy one. David continues his rock climbing, hiking, and photography activities as a local resident now, as well as being an advocate for repair and for low impact living.

Chris Nelson

Chris started his career with the Royal Bank of Canada’s investment banking arm, RBC Dominion Securities (subsequently renamed RBC Capital Markets) as an investment banking analyst based in Vancouver. While at RBC, Chris provided mergers and acquisition and corporate finance advice to a range of companies in BC. Chris transferred with RBC to New York where he was an associate providing advice to technology and telecommunications companies throughout the US. In 2001, Chris transferred to San Francisco where he joined the mergers and acquisitions group and was promoted to vice president. During Chris’ investment banking career, he advised on over $7.5 billion in merger, acquisition and financing transactions.

In February 2005, Chris left RBC to join an electronic commerce solutions provider, web site design and software development company.  Chris spent just over a year working as vice president business development.

In April 2006, Chris and his wife Stephanie joined Jason and his wife Jeanne where they pursued public and private investment opportunities in a variety of industries including Internet, hospitality and multi-family real estate.

In 2008, Chris led the angel round in Unbounce Marketing Solutions and joined the board.

In 2010, Gordon Nelson acquired a 53-unit resort, Ocean Village Beach Resort, located in beautiful Tofino, BC.  In 2015, Gordon Nelson acquired Pacific Sands, a 77-unit, 40+ acre ocean front resort also located in Tofino, BC.

In 2011, Chris sat on the City of Vancouver’s Green Building Retrofit Strategy Industry Leadership Committee.

In 2018, Gordon Nelson was amicably dissolved and Nelson Investments, Inc. started.  Nelson Investments owns Pacific Sands, 937 View Street and several technology company investments.

In 2018, Nelson Investments invested in Novarc Technologies and Chris joined the board.

In 2019, Nelson Investments acquired a minority position in Shelter Point Distillery and Tractor Foods.  In addition, Nelson Investments invested in Stable.Work and Chris joined the board.

In 2020, Nelson Investments invested in Clad Innovations (Tzoa) and Chris joined the board.

Chris was born and raised in Duncan, BC where he was an active participant as both a player and coach in amateur sports at a competitive level including both baseball and basketball. In 1993, after graduating from Cowichan Secondary School, Chris attended the University of Victoria where he completed his Bachelor of Commerce degree with a major in entrepreneurship.

Chris is married to Stephanie and together they have one young daughter and live in Vancouver. Chris enjoys fishing, surfing, skiing, cooking, music, whisky and sports cards collecting and technology.

Rick Segal

Rick is the founder of Hello Simple Technologies, a technology research group. Previously, Rick’s founded and sold Fixmo, a Canadian company focused on mobile tools and security, with investments by Samsung and other tier one venture firms. When Fixmo was acquired, Rick became a Samsung HQ Vice President, having been stationed in Korea, Vietnam, and, India primarily focused on mobile security and advanced customer credit delivery systems.

For 9 years, Rick was a venture partner at JLA Ventures and the Blackberry Partners firm in Toronto, Canada. Prior to joining JLA Ventures, Rick was President and Chief Operating Officer of Chapters Online Inc., a leading Canadian e-commerce company.

Rick is a also partner at the international firm of TMS Consulting. Rick also previously worked for Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington as Director of technical services for the Internet Customer Unit.

A published author of numerous networking books and co-author of a number of patents, Rick continues to enjoy new technology discoveries when not on the water and traveling.

Andreas Hagen

Andreas Hagen was born and raised in Campbell River. He co-founded iLab Solutions, a software-as-a-service company, that helps research facilities at universities, hospitals and research institutions make their skills, equipment and time available to researchers. More recently, he has co-founded Study-Build, a rural design studio based on Quadra Island. The goal is to collaborate with neighbours and friends to support, design and build locally inspired businesses and built-spaces that meet important challenges articulated by the community.

Prior to iLab Solutions, Andreas spent several years as a researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Department of Paediatric Oncology in Boston in the lab of Dr. Thomas Look. There, he researched genetic pathways involved in blood development and cell-death. He has published research in journals such as Cell, Blood and Developmental Cell.

Andreas is a graduate of United World College of the Adriatic and holds an A.B. from Harvard University with a focus in biology and genetics. Andreas loves riding his bike, playing music and building trails in his free time.