 Monday, June 9, 12:30 p.m.
Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel, Nova Scotia BDC
Leonard Brody
Leonard Brody is Co-Founder and CEO of NowPublic. NowPublic is one of the pioneers in citizen-generated news and is quickly becoming one of the largest news agencies in the world, with more than 130,000 contributing reporters in 140 countries and 4,500 cities. In the last year, The Guardian in London ranked NowPublic as one of the top five news sites in the world and Time Magazine named it as one of the top 50 websites of the year
He is a highly respected entrepreneur and venture capitalist who has helped in raising millions of dollars for startup companies, been through one of the largest internet IPOs in history and has been involved in the building, financing and/or sale of five companies to date.
Much critical acclaim has followed him in his endeavours. At Onvia (where he was part of the initial executive) the company was voted Canada’s number one startup in 2000 and subsequently closed a $240 Million IPO on NASDAQ. He is also an advisor to several companies including, the Associated Press, Red Herring and Sonic Foundry. Leonard is currently a Senior Advisor to the Canadian Minister of International Trade and a Director of Canada’s largest technology association, CATA.
A highly sought-after public speaker, Leonard has lectured at universities such as Stanford, the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai and the Gordon Business School in Johannesburg. He has spoken at conferences throughout the world such as NASSCOM, the World Newspaper Congress, CEBIT and the Monaco Media Forum. His work has been featured in such publications as USA Today, Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC, El Mundo and Der Spiegel. He is co-author of the best selling books, Innovation Nation: Canadian Leadership from Jurassic Park to Java and Everything I Needed to Know About Business...I Learned from a Canadian both published by John Wiley and Sons.
Leonard holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts from Queens University, a law degree from Osgoode Hall and is a graduate of the Private Equity Course at the Harvard Business School.
Established by the Tisdall family through the Communications and Public Relations Foundation, and in partnership with the Canadian Public Relations Society, the Diana and Charles Tisdall Lecture in Communications aims to demonstrate the societal power and value of public relations/communications thinking.
Charles Tisdall was a recognized leader in public relations in Canada and the United States who died in March 2007. He established Tisdall Clark in the early 1950s. Tisdall Clark became one of the founding members of Canada News Wire and was the majority shareholder until 1986.
Charles helped to establish accreditation programs for the Canadian Public Relations Society and the Public Relations Society of America. During his career, he was named one of the world’s 40 outstanding public relations professionals by Public Relations News.
Diana and Charles Tisdall both were leaders in community service. They have been steadfast supporters and generous of their time through participation in artistic, church, community, and charitable organizations.
Charles always recognized the importance of education in public relations emphasizing goodwill in the community, and an improved understanding of the profession. He encouraged higher standards and accountability among practitioners in addition to increasing overall awareness of the contribution and role of public relations.
This lecture furthers that commitment.
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