Board of Directors

Claude Haw | Chairman of the Board, Company Director

 

Claude is President of Venture Coaches, a venture capital and management consulting firm which he co-founded in 2000. Venture Coaches Fund invested in eleven technology companies with three M&As and two IPOs (Toronto TSX, TSX-V and NASDAQ).
 
He is a professional engineer with more than 30 years in a variety of technical, general management and venture investing roles in the high technology sector.
 
From 2009 to 2011, Claude was President and CEO of OCRI (now Invest Ottawa), Ottawa's leading member-based economic development corporation for fostering the advancement of the region's globally competitive knowledge-based institutions and industries.
 
Prior to Venture Coaches, Claude held executive positions at Newbridge, including Vice-President of Corporate Business Development. In this role he managed strategic investment in more than 20 companies. As VP and GM of the ATMnet Business Unit, the unit grew from inception to a $200-million-per-annum business.
 
Before joining Newbridge, he held senior management positions at Mitel Corporation and Leigh Instruments.
 
Claude is a charter member of TiE, a global network of entrepreneurs and professionals and past board member of the Canadian Venture Capital Association (CVCA). Claude is also a founder of Mindtrust, an exclusive networking forum for technology company CEOs, and The Ottawa Network, an entrepreneurial group in the National Capital Region.
 
Claude holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Lakehead University. He has completed the Canadian Securities Course and is a member of Professional Engineers of Ontario. He has been a guest lecturer at local universities speaking about entrepreneurship, business planning and venture investing. Claude has completed the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) Directors Education Program and has the ICD.D designation. Claude was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 for his contribution to entrepreneurship in Canada.
 

Peter Allen | President, Chief Executive Officer DragonWave Inc

Peter Allen brings 21 years of industry experience in Broadband Telecommunications. Prior to joining DragonWave as President and CEO, Peter was founder, President and CEO Innovance Networks. Prior to Innovance, Peter was the Vice-President of Business Development and General Manager of the Optoelectronics organization within Nortel Networks' Optical Networks division, where he had responsibilities for both the system and component businesses.

Peter's experience in business leadership includes heading up a 5000-employee global operation spanning R&D, manufacturing, as well as Sales & Marketing. Peter has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions and has been involved in numerous multi-billion dollar transactions, as well as establishing business partnerships in North America, Europe and Japan. Peter has also held managerial positions at Ford Motor Company and Rothmans International, and has lived and worked in North America, Europe and Africa.

Cesar Cesaratto | Company Director

Mr. Cesaratto has more than 35 years of experience in the Canadian technology industry. Mr. Cesaratto joined Nortel Networks Corporation, a communications equipment manufacturing company, in 1970 and assumed increasingly senior management roles during his 31 year career with Nortel, culminating in the role of President, Wireless Solutions for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Mr. Cesaratto retired from Nortel in 2001 and has continued to be active in the technology sector. He is currently a member of an angel investment group dedicated to the development of technology start-up companies in the Ottawa.

He was a director of Tundra Semiconductor (2007 to 2009) and Breconridge Manufacturing Solutions (2007 to 2010) and is currently chairman of the board of directors of Applied Micro Circuits Corporation. Mr. Cesaratto holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from McGill University.

Jean-Paul Cossart | Company Director

Jean-Paul Cossart is an Associate Director of Infoteria of France, a company that provides technological coaching. He has held this position since 2004. Prior to this Jean-Paul was Vice President Strategy and Marketing of Cofratel since 2002, a company that provides PBX and LAN integration for the enterprise market and was a subsidiary of France Telecom. Jean-Paul also held several positions at Alcatel. Jean-Paul‘s experience has spanned carrier, corporate and consumer markets; telephony, data/internet and broadcast services; and international development, global sales and marketing. He was also a member of the executive committee of the French chapter of the Institute of Directors, United Kingdom. Jean-Paul has been an executive advisor to DragonWave since 2007. Jean-Paul is also on the board of directors of Mitel Networks Corporation. Jean-Paul holds an electronic engineering degree from Supélec (aka Ecole Supérieure d'Electricité) in Paris.

Russell Frederick | Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Secretary DragonWave Inc

Russell brings over 20 years of financial and operational experience to the DragonWave team including raising venture capital, mergers and acquisitions transactions, and the management of small, high opportunity organizations.

Prior to joining DragonWave Russell was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Wavesat Wireless Inc. based in Montreal. Previous to Wavesat Russell was the CFO of PRIOR Data Sciences Ltd. where he played a key role in the management buy out of the company and subsequent sale. Russell was also with Digital Equipment of Canada in various financial roles.

Russell holds a Masters of Business Administration degree in Finance as well as a Bachelor of Science degree.

Tom Manley | Company Director

Mr. Manley has over 25 years of financial management and general management experience in increasingly senior positions. Most recently, he was chief financial officer of Avaya Inc., a global telecommunications leader with $5.2 billion of revenue. From 2001 to 2008, he was chief financial officer and senior vice president of administration for Cognos Inc., until it was acquired by IBM Inc. From 1983 to 2001, Mr. Manley held a breadth of progressive management positions at Nortel Networks, including chief financial officer of the High Performance Optical Component Solutions group, senior vice president finance, and general manager of the Advanced Public Access Systems Division.