DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS SERIES: Dr. Robert Summerby - Murray, Saint Mary's University

Entrepreneurship, discovery and innovation are being recognized at Saint Mary’s University with a significant $11 million investment from the Province of Nova Scotia. Join us and hear more on how they are...
 

Growing the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Halifax and Beyond

Vibrant and thriving entrepreneurship is increasingly recognized as a key contributor to Nova Scotia’s future prosperity. What happens when we collectively make developing and supporting entrepreneurship a priority? And what does “thriving entrepreneurship” look like in practice?
 
Join Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray, President and Vice-Chancellor of Saint Mary’s University, to hear his insight and to experience Halifax’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem first-hand. Learn how the region’s foremost business school and one of Canada’s pioneering entrepreneurship programs are leading and innovating to rise to the challenge, and see how fostering entrepreneurial mindsets can address some of the province’s most pressing issues.

Highlighted Entrepreneurs

Gregg Curwin
Founder, President & CEO

Gregg Curwin is the Founder, President & CEO of TruLeaf Sustainable Agriculture, a company developing an indoor farming system that grows fresh plants for food and medicines anywhere in the world, regardless of environment, 365 days a year. The system integrates growing technologies in a controlled environment to grow high-quality, predictable-yield, clean plants with innovative and efficient technologies.
 
Gregg is an entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in health-care innovation industries, including medical devices, biologics, and health-related retail. He has consulted hospitals and governments in the broad area of health design, with a recent focus on the role of food production in disease prevention.
 

Janet Chiang

​ChatFuel is a leading platform for creating chatbots on Facebook, and as a recent grad, Janet entered their annual competition hoping to gain some experience with her company, GoSky. Her expectations weren’t high—but to her surprise, her team ended up placing fourth for their creative chatbot design.



Ross Simmonds
Owner, Foundation Marketing BComm '09 SMU

Ross created his first blog as a second-year student at Saint Mary’s and quickly realized that the internet was changing the way people and brands connect with each other.
 
Over a decade later, he’s still telling stories and helping organizations create better content to reach their audiences online. His mindset is all about taking action and creating. In a nutshell: talk less, and create more.

Moderated by:

Dr. Robert Summerby - Murray
President, Saint Mary's University

A respected academic, award-winning educator and accomplished administrator, Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray was appointed as Saint Mary’s University’s 34th President in July 2015. 

Today he leads a vibrant, diverse community of over 7,500 faculty, staff and students and is an enthusiastic champion of Saint Mary’s unique contributions in Nova Scotia and around the globe. 

Dr. Summerby-Murray spearheaded the development of the university’s 2017-2022 strategic plan and currently leads initiatives to build on Saint Mary’s strengths of entrepreneurship and innovation, accessibility, community engagement, research achievement and global connectedness. 
 
Before joining Saint Mary’s, Dr. Summerby-Murray served as the Dean of Social Sciences at Mount Allison University (2003-2010) and as the Dean for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Dalhousie University (2010-2015).   

Originally from Christchurch, New Zealand, Dr. Summerby-Murray completed his PhD in geography from the University of Toronto in 1992. He is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. 

Dr. Summerby-Murray is active on several public and private boards, including Junior Achievement of Nova Scotia, the Business-Education Council and the advisory council for the Order of Nova Scotia. He is also the Chair-Designate of the Canadian Bureau for International Education’s board of directors.