Founder and President | GIC Merchant Bank Corp

Jonson Sun is the founder and president of GIC Merchant Bank Corp, a merchant banking firm based in Toronto, Canada that has domain expertise investing in private companies which often involves a consolidation strategy. GIC services include providing start-up and growth companies business strategy advice and capital market consulting. The company has successfully incubated and seeded companies across multiple sectors that include e-commerce, staffing, and healthcare technology. GIC has also brought a number of their investment companies public. Along with building a strong Merchant Banking business, Jonson has also led a team expanding into the international trade business.

Jonson Sun had also orchestrated the joint venture between GIC Merchant Bank Corp with Ilium Capital and Gravitas Financial under GIC Partners, a banking group headquartered in Toronto that has businesses in Canada, Israel, and China. GIC Partners is a comprehensive financial services platform that has subsidiaries covering broker dealer activities, asset management, direct investment and wealth management.

Jonson also sits on the board of Bay Talent Group, Emerge Ecommerce, Pishon Innovation Lab and Focus Point Education and is also active with philanthropic and faith based organizations around the world. He has led the development of a global platform of strategic relationships and partnerships across North America, Asia and South Africa. Jonson Sun is based in Toronto, Canada and has a Bachelor of Science from Toronto University a received a Bachelor of Science.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO FAITH DRIVEN ENTREPRENEUR

COO | Generous Giving

John Cortines serves as Chief Operating Officer at Generous Giving, a Christian nonprofit that seeks to spread the biblical message of generosity in order to grow generous givers among those entrusted with much. In his current role, he oversees general operations and strategy for the ministry. A native of North Texas, John began his career as a petroleum engineer, spending time from the sand dunes of Saudi Arabia to the offshore platforms of the Gulf of Mexico. While at Harvard Business School, John began a journey of discovery on the intersection of faith and wealth, which culminated in a decision to leave behind a lucrative post-MBA job to work, speak, and write full-time on generosity.

John is co-author of God and Money – How We Discovered True Riches at Harvard Business School, which sold 30,000 copies in its first year. John has contributed to national media outlets including Moody Radio, NY Daily News, and RELEVANT Magazine, and speaks regularly at large churches and conferences around the country. He has arranged and led generosity retreats for students at business and law programs for schools such as Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, and Yale.

John’s greatest blessing in life comes from being married to his beautiful and gracious wife, Megan, and sharing in the joy of their two young children, Jack and Anna. John holds degrees from Harvard Business School (MBA, 2015), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia (MS Geophysics, 2011), and Texas A&M University (BS Chemical Engineering, 2010).

LinkedIn

CONTRIBUTIONS TO FAITH DRIVEN ENTREPRENEUR

CEO | Record Connect

Drew is CEO of Record Connect, a leading company that provides outsourced release-of-information services to hospitals, health systems, and physician practices. Most recently, Drew was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at NextGen Growth Partners. Drew partnered with NGP with the intent to operate a tech-enabled services business in which NGP invest. This goal was completed in November 2019.

Before joining NextGen Growth Partners, Drew worked at LinkedIn, part of Microsoft, where he helped clients solve their unique talent challenges. He focused on helping organizations, including health systems, with attracting, recruiting, and retaining talent through employer branding and employee engagement.

Prior to LinkedIn, Drew worked at IBM in the Watson Group. At IBM, Drew employed machine-learning software to support enterprises in better data-driven decision making. He once also served as IBM’s data expert on a business reality-TV show. Fortunately for him, it was never aired.

Drew began his career in management at Itasca Plastics, a plastics-manufacturing business that, amongst other lines, builds wall protection products for hospitals. He still sees some of his first products in use when visiting current Record Connect clients.

Drew received a BA from Wheaton College and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

LinkedIn

CONTRIBUTIONS TO FAITH DRIVEN ENTREPRENEUR

Founding Partner | Ad Astra

Allison Long Pettine is an investor and entrepreneur passionate about redefining wealth. She recently founded Ad Astra Ventures, a fund dedicated to empowering founders of high growth startups with at least one female co-founder. She is President of Crescent Ridge Partners, Founding Partner at SEED San Diego, and co-founder of Lymber, which was sold to MindBody in 2017. Allison began her career at a New-York based venture capital company focused on cutting-edge orthopedic medical device technologies, where she worked on the venture side and as an early employee at one of their portfolio companies. Allison is a mentor at Tech Stars, sits on the advisory board of UCSD’s The Basement incubator, and is on the Board of the Long Family Foundation.

LinkedIn

CONTRIBUTIONS TO FAITH DRIVEN ENTREPRENEUR

General Partner | Route 66 Ventures

Seven years as a naval officer and nuclear engineer, and serving aboard the USS Pennsylvania, taught Ben how to operate and lead people in a complex, high-stakes environment. It crystalized for him the importance of a great team—that the contribution of each member working together magnifies the sum of its parts—which translates remarkably well to the business world. His business acumen picks up right where his naval career left off.

At Route 66, Ben works hard for our portfolio companies bringing his unique blend of leadership, strategy, and engineering skills along with deep knowledge of the FinServ and FinTech markets. His focus is on investments in private equity (PE), venture capital (VC), and project finance. Ben joined R66 in 2012.

Previously, Ben was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he advised global organizations on lean operations, strategy, product development, and organizational design. He was co-founder of the start-up, WiseChoice, an innovative, online college planning service that helps high school students, and their families, navigate the complex world of financial aid and college selection. Ben also served in senior roles at Goal Financial, a major student loan originator, and was responsible for capital market transactions, structured finance, financial analysis, and special projects.

He knows what it means to lead people, teams, and projects, having done it successfully in the Navy, as an entrepreneur, and in business. His diverse background, skillset, and professional connections can help your business succeed.

LinkedIn

CONTRIBUTIONS TO FAITH DRIVEN ENTREPRENEUR

CEO and Co-Founder | Ethical Apparel Africa

Keren is CEO and Co-Founder of Ethical Apparel Africa. Her company is a UK Limited Company that provides consultancy and sourcing support to brands wanting to develop their African manufacturing base with social and environmental impact. EAA provides intensive capacity building to factories to develop them technically and ethically to international export standards.

Links: 

• LinkedIn

• Ethical Apparel Africa

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