Speakers

Sirois, Charles, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Telesystem Ltd. and Enablis Entrepreneurial Network (Montréal)

A leading figure in the Canadian communications industry, Charles Sirois is the founder and controlling shareholder of Telesystem Ltd., and he is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of this private equity company. Telesystem invests directly and through focused venture funds in the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) sector, and has built a portfolio of companies worldwide.

Mr. Sirois is also Chairman and CEO of Enablis Entrepreneurial Network, a non-profit organisation sponsored by the G8. Enablis supports entrepreneurs in developing countries by giving them access, at affordable cost, to a range of professional and financial resources.

Born in Chicoutimi, Québec, in 1954, Mr. Sirois launched his business career in 1978 when he took over the family-owned paging company. Within a few years, he had established himself as the leader of the Canadian paging industry through National Pagette and National Mobile Radio Communications Inc. In 1987, these two companies merged with Bell Cellular to form BCE Mobile Communications, which Mr. Sirois led from 1988 to 1990 as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

From 1992 to 2000, Charles Sirois was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Teleglobe, a leading provider of long distance and broadband services operating the most extensive global Internet network.

Mr. Sirois was a founding member of Telesystem International Wireless Corporation N.V., created in September 1994, and served as its chairman until March 1997, when the company was reorganized as Telesystem International Wireless Inc. in the context of an initial public offering. Mr. Sirois served as Chairman of Telesystem International Wireless from March 1997 until July 2004. In 1995, Mr. Sirois founded Microcell Telecommunications, a GSM cellular service provider in Canada and served as its chairman until 2003.

He is currently a director of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and Cossette Communication Group. Mr. Sirois was also a member of the G8 Dot Force, of the National Broadband Task Force and was a founding member of the Washington-based Global Information Infrastructure Commission (GIIC).

Mr. Sirois holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the Université de Sherbrooke (Québec), a master's degree in finance from Université Laval (Québec City), as well as honorary doctorates from Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), University of Ottawa, Concordia University and Laval University. Mr. Sirois received the Order of Canada in 1994 and was made a knight of the Ordre national du Québec in April 1998.

In 1995, Mr. Sirois published a book on the information highway entitled The Medium and the Muse. In his second book, published in June 2000, Organic Management: Creating a Culture of Innovation, Mr. Sirois shares his management philosophy, along with his vision of the new economy.

telesystem is a Canadian private corporation founded in 1984 by Charles Sirois. telesystem's activities are devoted to the creation, acquisition, financing and management of companies in the field of information and communication technologies (ICTs) around the world. Over the past 20 years, telesystem and its professional teams (ID Capital, Propulsion Ventures, Argo Global Capital) made venture capital investments exceeding $1.5 billion.