IGNITION SPEAKER: Leadership and Mentoring

join Connie McInnes and MarK MacDonald as they discuss the importance of leadership and offer mentoring supports

Join on zoom: https://zoom.us/j/5881766172

Connie McInnes
Connie hails from Halifax, Nova Scotia and is the creator and founder of R-STUDIOS,
Atlantic Canada’s most diverse fitness brand with 4 locations in the HRM. R Studios offers something for everyone with a multitude of group fitness classes ranging from pilates and yoga to boxing to strength and now, spin.
Connie’s passion in movement began at the early age of 2 and she began training as a national level competitive gymnast by the age of 5. She has done over 1000 hours of fitness trainings and has a deep passion for people, public relations and the world of business.
Connie has been an ambassador for Canadian athletic brand, lululemon athletica, as well as several other local companies, opened a global pop up studio in France, and was selected as a Canadian delegate for the G20 Entrepreneurial Summit in Berlin in 2017. She has received accolades as a finalist for EY’s Entrepreneur of the year and RBC’s Women of Influence, as well as being recognized by TD on an international award campaign for her efforts in business and community.

Mark MacDonald, CET, LC
While most kids ripped the packaging off toys excited to play, Mark ripped open the toy, eager to figure
out how it was built. By 16, this evolved into his first entrepreneurial endeavor, modifying XBOXs and selling them internationally from his parent’s garage. This inspired him to study electronics engineering at Yorkville University in Ontario, which quickly landed him his dream job at Nortel Networks. Six months later, the company went bankrupt after failing to respond to disruptions in the industry.
This was the only motivation Mark needed to take his future into his own hands. In 2005, he started his first business designing and installing automation systems, which he sold three years later. For the next decade, Mark honed his technical problem-solving skills to help engineers, developers and electricians design and power spaces all over Atlantic Canada. By 2016, he merged two companies to form Catalyst Sales and Marketing. In 2018, he started a renewable energy company. Today, he sits on the board as the Strategic Alliance Chair for the Atlantic Canadian chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization. He serves in an advisory role on environmental sustainability for VIDA living, a development company raising the standard of affordable rentals in North America. Over the years, the toys got bigger and the systems more complex but his approach has stayed the same: See a problem, take it apart and rebuild it for the better.