Growing Beyond Borders: Google's export engine for Canada
Managing Director
Google Canada
Lunch and Program: 12 - 2:00 p.m.
Sam Sebastian
Google is a search engine, but it's also a growth engine, creating opportunities through its platforms for Canadian businesses to reach beyond our borders into markets across the world.
Thanks to the Internet and the emergence of new online tools, even the smallest company can adopt technology that would have been the envy of a large corporation a few short years ago. Now, more than ever, companies of all sizes can compete in the global economy, but doing so often means overcoming long-standing anxieties, aversions and risk.
Newly at the helm of Google Canada, Sam Sebastian will share the experience of his first year in Canada and decade of work at Google. He will explore the lessons he's learned inside one of the world's most compelling companies, from making moonshots to dealing with disruption, and looking ahead to the incredible potential for Canada – and innovative Canadian companies – on the global stage.
About the Speaker
As Managing Director of Google Canada, Sam's mission is to lead Google to earn the love of Canadian users, advertisers, and partners. Working with Canadian businesses of all sizes, Sam and the team at Google Canada provide digital solutions to help businesses reach their audiences, build their brands and realize the economic potential of the web.
Together with his wife, Kathy, and their two children, Sophie and Will, Sam moved to Oakville in May 2014 to lead Google Canada following eight years in Chicago, where he was responsible for leading Google's Local and Government Markets sales and operations organizations for North America. Sam was recognized in Crain's Chicago "40 Under 40" professionals in 2009, B2B Magazine's "Who's Who in B2B" in 2011, and among the real estate industry's "Top 100 Most Influential Leaders" by Inman News.
A graduate of The Ohio State University (BA Accounting) and Northwestern's Kellogg Graduate School of Management (MBA), Sam began his career as a consultant with Arthur Andersen LLP and came to Google from Classified Ventures LLC, an online joint venture of major U.S. newspaper companies, where he was the General Manager at Homescape.com and SVP Sales & Marketing at HomeGain.
Presenting Sponsor:
Supporting Sponsor:
