Our Team

Martin F. Katz is President and founder of Prospero Pictures, a Toronto-based film production and finance company specializing in international co-productions.

Martin has a twenty-year history in all aspects of media production and finance. Prior to founding Prospero Pictures, Martin was President and Chief Operating Officer of Grosvenor Park Film Financing Corporation. Previously, Martin served as Executive Producer at The Microsoft Network, and as a Producer and Executive Producer at Alliance Atlantis. He has also served as Head of Business Affairs at CBC Television.

Martin's feature film credits include Richard Attenborough's Closing the Ring, Nick Hurran's It's a Boy Girl Thing, Terry George's Hotel Rwanda, Philip Saville's The Gospel of John, David Cronenberg's Spider, Michael Winterbottom's The Claim and Bronwyn Hughes' Stander, which the London Observer called "the greatest heist film since Reservoir Dogs."

An internet pioneer, Martin was employee number 3 at Microsoft's MSN Canada where, as Executive Producer, he created the first episodic "web-umentary." The web-based documentary entitled Splice examined the work of Marshall McLuhan in the context of a society in transition from an analogue to a digital world. He developed and produced innovative interactive programming in collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Carol Shields, celebrated director David Cronenberg and comedians Jean-Guy Moreau and Rick Mercer. He also created the first 3-D internet experience, a Halloween special based on the successful YTV kids' series, Freaky Stories.

Martin has extensive experience as a producer of international treaty co-productions involving Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, Germany, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

Martin holds degrees in law from the Universities of Toronto and Paris and has served as professor of law at the French-language University of Moncton and Special Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law at the University of Toronto.

Stéphane Marceau is President of Ipexa Development, a Montreal-based firm specializing in new venture development and strategic consulting in tech and media. Prior to that, Stéphane was Chief Marketing Officer of Yellow Media where he led the development and marketing of digital and mobile products for the Company's various brands including Yellow Pages, RedFlagDeals.com, LesPAC, AutoTRADER and Mediative.

Stéphane has been building and growing technology and communications businesses for more than 15 years. He was co-founder and CEO of Theralive, a company specializing in mobile health applications and services. Stéphane also previously co-founded and was CEO of Mobivox, a global mobile VoIP platform. In addition to his entrepreneurial background, Stéphane served as Vice President of Bell Canada for over five years where he built and grew several new business lines, including Bell Interactive, the company's e-commerce group.

Stéphane holds a master's degree in Management of Technology from the University of Waterloo and a bachelor's degree in Finance from the Université du Québec à Montréal. He also sits on the board of several Internet start-ups.

Gail is a partner at Caley Wray Labour/Employment Lawyers where she practices labour and employment law.  She was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1991, and her experience includes an appointment as a Vice-Chair of the Ontario Labour Relations Board for seven years.   

Gail is actively involved in her community as a volunteer and long-time Board Member of the Working Women Community Centre, a Director of the Harbord Village Residents Association, a member of the Ontario Labour Relations Board Advisory Committee, and a Director of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship.

Gail has a B.A. from Wilfrid Laurier University, and an LL.B. and LL.M. from Osgoode Hall Law School.

Mark Podlasly is currently a co-founder and lead Principal at Tsayash Management Group, an Aboriginal co-venture environmental management consultancy based in Vancouver that specializes in the permitting of large-scale capital projects. He has extensive international experience in the planning, permitting and construction of multi-million dollar projects including pipeline, mining, power generation facilities and community infrastructure.

An active member of the N'laka'pamux First Nation in South Central BC, Mark is experienced in addressing Aboriginal interests in project development. He is particularly skilled in helping project proponents and local communities reach agreement around land use and development issues. His understanding of project development, Aboriginal consultation and government permitting processes allows him to offer unique and timely solutions to corporate and community challenges.

Mark returned to Canada in 2008 after 10 years in the USA where he ran a successful executive education consulting practice that developed and delivered finance, leadership and globalization programs to senior management at international multinational corporations working at the intersection of corporate strategy and public policy. His client base includes worldwide companies such as GE, Unilever, Clorox, Goldman Sachs and General Mills.

He is a board member at Ecotrust Canada, a non-profit organization that promotes innovative conservation and green community economic development among rural and First Nations communities in British Columbia and the western USA. Mark holds a Masters of Public Administration from Harvard University.

Mr. Rémillard holds degrees in philosophy and political science and a Ph.D in law, and has practised in the field of education, politics and private legal practice.

As Minister of Justice for more than five years, Mr. Rémillard presided over the reform of the Civil Code of Québec, implemented on January 1st of 1994. Since 1994, Mr. Rémillard is a professor at the école nationale d'administration publique du Québec (éNAP), and counsel for the law firm Fraser Milner Casgrain llp. He is also chairman of the Institute of International Studies in Administration of Montréal, chairman and founder of the International Economic Forum of the Americas/Conference of Montreal, the Toronto Forum for Global Cities as well as president and publisher of the economic magazine FORCES.

He has published several works and papers, of which Le fédéralisme canadien Tome I et II. Doctor Honoris Causa of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Science of the Université d'Aix-Marseille, he was awarded, in 1994, the Médaille du Mérite du Barreau du Québec, and in 2001, he received the Order of Canada. In 2004, he received the Ordre national du Québec and was honoured Knight of l’Ordre de la Légion d’honneur by the President of the French Republic.

In May 2007, he was awarded by the Barreau du Québec the honour of “Advocatus Emeritus” (Ad.E.).

Star of CBC's hit comedy, Little Mosque on The Prairie, Zaib Shaikh has worked across Canada as an actor, director and producer. Most recently he co-wrote, directed and co-produced the Gemini Award winning tv film, Othello, the Tragedy of the Moor.

His other television work includes lead or guest starring roles in Metropia, Da Vinci's City Halland The Dead Zone. Upcoming Zaib will be in Deepa Mehta's latest film, Midnight's Children, adapted from the novel by Sir Salman Rushdie. Radio listeners may have heard Zaib on CBC Radio One as he is a regular guest host for Jian Ghomeshi on Q and has been featured in Afghanada.

Currently Zaib is in development with a variety of television and film projects under the banner of his production company, Governor Films.

Zaib has had the pleasure of working with some of the largest theatre companies in Canada including Canadian Stage, National Arts Centre, Globe Theatre, Grand Theatre and the Stratford Festival of Canada.

Zaib has served as an Artistic Producer for Whistler Theatre Project, is a graduate of the joint University of Toronto/Sheridan College Acting Program and holds an MFA in Directing from the University of British Columbia.

Zaib is also a Consulting Producer for the Gemini Award nominated Little Mosque on the Prairie and has received a Leo Award for his performance as Imam Amaar Rashid. He has also served on juries and committees for Gemini Awards, ACTRA Awards, Ontario Arts Council and Theatre Ontario Youth Theatre Program. Currently Zaib is a board member for the Canadian Centre for Diversity and the Institute for Canadian Citizenship.

When not working in film, television, theatre or radio, Zaib has traveled across Canada and the world speaking on the power of Arts and The Media as a platform to greater understanding between Eastern and Western culture.

Mr. Khalil Shariff joined Aga Khan Foundation Canada as Chief Executive Officer in August 2005. He was previously with the Toronto office of McKinsey & Company, an international management consultancy, where he advised governments, financial institutions, and health care providers on strategy, organization, and operational improvement.

Khalil served on AKFC's National Committee for five years, and has cultivated his interest in international development and conflict resolution issues through a variety of activities including as: Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Harvard Negotiation Law Review; Policy Co-ordinator and Research Associate, Harvard Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research; Legal Intern, Chambers of the Vice-President, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania; Intern, Office of Under-Secretary-General, UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.  He was the youngest member ever elected as a School Trustee in 1993 for the Board of School Trustees in Richmond, B.C. 

Khalil holds a B.A. in International Relations and Economics from the University of British Columbia and a J.D. magna cum laude from the Harvard Law School.

Irfhan is a Director at Onex Corporation (TSX:OCX), one of North America’s oldest and most successful private equity firms with $14 billion of assets under management.

Prior to Onex, Irfhan was a Principal at Birch Hill Equity Partners, a Canadian mid-market private equity firm with over $2 billion of assets under management. Irfhan also has experience as a management consultant both at Accenture and McKinsey and was previously an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia where he taught business economics, finance and strategy.

Actively involved in his community, Irfhan is the Chair of the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada, Director of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship and Director of the Harvard Business School Club of Toronto. Irfhan has also previously served on the boards of Business for the Arts, the Harbourfront Centre, the Cedrus Group Support Society and many others.

Irfhan has his B.Comm. (Honours) from UBC, where he was designated a Wesbrook Scholar and an MBA (High Honours) from Harvard University where he was designated a Baker Scholar and McArthur Fellow.