Jan Lederman

Jan is a Co-Founder & President of Valhalla Private Equity and a Director at Genome Canada. She is a past Chair of the Board of Governors at the University of Manitoba; retired senior partner at Thompson Dorfman Sweatman, LLP; and a co-founder of Innovate Manitoba, a private sector led non-profit formed to drive innovation, accelerate startup growth, and stimulate access to capital in Manitoba. Jan is an active angel investor and a Director of a number of startups. Jan practiced business law for 30 years and retired as a partner of Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP in 2015. In practice, Jan focused on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, startups, investment, and finance. Jan was for many years named to the Best Lawyers in Canada in Mergers and Acquisitions Law and Leveraged Buy-Outs and Private Equity Law. In addition to her Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor, Jan holds a Certificate from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and a Blue Belt in Innovation Engineering. Jan was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Award in 2012 and the Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee Award in 2002 in recognition for her contributions to the community. In 2018 she was honoured with the Distinguished Alumni Award of Excellence by the University of Manitoba.