J. Kim Fennell

About J. Kim Fennell

A global tech executive who has successfully led fast growth teams at several of Silicon Valley\'s leading, iconic companies, working domestically and internationally. I’ve enjoyed 16 years experience as CEO in three companies (public and private), 24 years of Board experience, and am NACD Board Director Certified.I was CEO of deCarta, the leading independent mapping software company until our acquisition by Uber in early 2015 - where I then remained for 5 wonderful, crazy years as a Bus Dev leader. For the final 2.5 years I was Head of Business Development for US & Canada where I was fortunate to lead 8 amazing vertical teams that negotiated over 180 strategic partnerships with major brands and technology players. I left Uber in November, 2019 to pursue more board director work and Venture Capital work with startups and Growth Stage companies as a Venture Partner with True North Fund. I also speak and consult on disruption models to boards, corporations and accelerator programs. I am highly energized by the opportunity to work with such a great group of startups, CEOs, investors and fellow directors - and I recently \"came off the bench\" to excitedly jump in deeper with Robot.com (rebranded from Kiwibot) as Chief Business Officer.Skills and Passions include: Early stage \"disruption\" technology solutions and business models Strategic planning - company business opportunities and go-to-market plans Structuring, negotiating and closing high level sales and partnership deals Building, developing and managing top class, high growth teams Leading growth and goal attainment in 40 person startups to person corporate Business Units Public speaking, press, public policy interactions Raising financing and working with the Investment Community with 8 rounds and over $180M M&A experience with 5 buy-side; 4 sell-side transactions including sale of deCarta to Uber in 2015 Extensive international experience. Opened and ran subsidiaries in Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Japan with tours as VP, EMEA and VP, International.Member of NACD and ICD Corporate Director associations. NACD.DC Certified.Canadian, USA, and British passport holderCommunity: Board Director of Silicon Valley Leadership Group Foundation; Charter Member, Board of C100; Dean\'s Council, Queen\'s University, Faculty of Arts & Science Married, two children. Life-long sports player currently active in hockey, skiing, hiking, climbing, golf.

Experience

1. Venture Partner

   True North Fund

   Jan 2023 — Present

   True North Fund is a Growth Stage fund focused on the best of Canadian tech: the high-performing firms tracking to $1 billion in annual revenue with growth rates, margins and capital efficiency that match the top 1% of private tech companies in the world. Through Team True North we support these companies with a collaborative model amongst fellow founders and investment firms, using aligned Secondaries as an investment vehicle.

Education

• NACD

  Board Director Professionalism Course

  2021

• Queen's University

  B. A. Honours, Political Science

• NACD

  NACD Directorship Certified™

• Stanford University

  Executive Program (June - August 1995), Graduate School of Business

  1995 — 1995

Skills

• Integration
• Saas
• Product Marketing
• Business Strategy
• Strategic Partnerships
• Start-Ups
• Mobile Devices
• Cloud Computing
• Professional Services
• Leadership
• Telecommunications
• Enterprise Software
• Software as a Service (Saas)
• Business Development
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Strategy
• Salesforce.com
• Mobile Applications
• Product Management
• Location Based Services
• Management
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Go-to-Market Strategy