PortfolioMKB News

May 11, 2021
MKB is honoured to welcome new industry and operating advisors on its team. We are excited to be working alongside John DeVillars, Marc St-Arnaud and Mathieu Ouellet whose first-hand expertise, market insights, technical knowledge and operational success within our industries bring exceptional value to MKB and its portfolio companies. The advisors join Phil K. Ryan, who has served as a trusted advisor for several years.
John DeVillars, Senior Advisor
John DeVillars is a clean energy and environmental professional with substantial public and private sector leadership experience. Mr. DeVillars’ public service career includes serving as Secretary of the Environment for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Chair of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and Chief of Operations for Governor Michael Dukakis. He was appointed New England Administrator of the United States EPA by President Clinton in 1993 and served until 2000.
His private sector career includes founding and leading the Environmental Management practice for the national accounting firm Coopers and Lybrand (PWC); serving as Executive Vice President of Brownfields Recovery Corporation, as lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is currently the chairman and co-founder of BlueWave Solar LLC, a Boston-based developer of solar energy projects.
Mr. DeVillars serves on numerous public and private company and non-profit boards and in 2018 served as a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Center for Business and Government, focusing on the role of utilities in fighting climate change. Mr. DeVillars earned his MPA degree from Harvard University and his BA from the University of Pennsylvania.
Marc St-Arnaud, Technology & Operating Advisor
As an experienced entrepreneur, Marc has founded, operated and successfully exited several companies. Notably, his successes include GWAVA Inc., a data governance and security software company with products distributed in 60 countries to 10,000+ corporate, academic & government accounts. For 15 years, the company was grown organically with consistent year-over-year growth and profitably.
In addition, Marc has over 10 years of food broker, importer, manufacturer and distribution experience and was originally a software developer for the Montreal stock exchange. Marc currently resides in Montreal, where he is an active mentor involved in several investments and spent over 10 years as a Dobson Cup Judge and Fellow.
An accomplished marketing, strategy, and business development professional, Mathieu has 20 years of experience that spans North America, Europe, and Asia. His achievements include several major initiatives to help companies change their business models, implement innovative growth strategies, and expand intelligently.
He is a Founding Partner of Tulipe Management Consulting, having previously served as the Head of Strategic Development for Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) and VP of Business Development and Strategy for Aimia Inc. Mathieu studied international management and finance at Concordia University and holds an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management.
Image: Nikoo Asadi