Francis Shen

Francis Shen is the President of Shen Capital Corporation, a private investment company. Mr. Shen was the founder, Chairman, and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Aastra Technologies Ltd, which was sold to Mitel Networks Corporation in 2014 in a transaction that returned over $500 million to the Aastra shareholders. Aastra was founded in 1983 initially to serve the aerospace market and quickly transitioned in the 1990s to the rapidly growing telecom industry. The company was initially listed on the Alberta Stock Exchange (now TSX Venture Exchange) in 1996. In 2000, the company was listed on the TSX and later added to the S&P/TSX Composite Index. Mr. Shen led an aggressive M&A consolidation strategy which resulted in the company becoming one of the top global players in the enterprise communications market. In 2000, Mr. Shen was named Ontario’s Entrepreneur of The Year in the Technology & Communications category by Ernst & Young. He holds a Master's and Bachelor of Applied Science both from the University of Toronto. Mr. Shen is a board member of the Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation, the Toronto International Film Festival, the ROM Board of Governors, and NEXT Canada. He is also the co-chair of the Entrepreneurship Leadership Council and the founder and sponsor of Start@UTIAS at the University of Toronto.