Frank Massara

Frank has played a critical role in the restructuring, growth and long-term sustainability of various entities. He has worked in senior financial and strategic positions for emerging technology and advanced manufacturing enterprises in both Canada and the US. For several clients, Frank has acted as CFO, and Director of Corporate/Business Development, and has held observer status on the Board of Directors of various companies.

Prior to his involvement with XL, Frank was a former Investment Analyst at Dundee Securities Corporation, covering Software IT, Media & Communications, and Entertainment firms for Institutional Clients. Frank covered, valued and recommended the purchase of shares in several prominent Canadian software companies (including Janna Systems Inc., purchased by Oracle; and Cognos, purchased by IBM). He then became Director of Corporate/Business Development for Niksun Inc., a private, leading Network Intrusion Detection firm based in Princeton, USA, where he was involved in preparing comprehensive business planning and strategic positioning projects, and in closing/managing several key international distributor partnerships and acquisitions. Frank then worked in Equity Origination with Manulife Capital USA out of Boston, USA, where he was instrumental in originating, and in assisting with due diligence and closing of medical device/biotech related private equity transactions. As a Senior Manager in Debt/Subordinate Debt with The Business Development Bank of Canada out of Toronto, Frank was responsible for sourcing, analyzing, and closing several private sub-debt related transactions in the retail, services and technology sectors.

Frank has been working on several simulation related projects in the area of powering sustained quality growth in corporations, and has been an instructor for online financial executive courses at INSEAD, a Paris-based, world leading business school. At INSEAD, he has also completed several case studies in Corporate Governance and Fair Process Leadership, has researched and reported on trends/insights on the performance and demographics of Corporate Boards, Chairmen and CEO's, and has written about Value Creation for Owners and Directors. Frank has incorporated his research findings, business experience and simulations into courses he delivers to European executives and MBA's. Frank has also lectured extensively in Business Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Toronto.

Frank has an MBA degree from the Schulich School of Business. He has also excelled as a York University Varsity ice-hockey player, winning back-to-back divisional championships. Frank played/coached professional hockey in France and Germany, and has black-belts in each of Goju-Ryu Karate and Yoshin-Ryu Jiu Jitsu.