Janice McDonald

Janice McDonald is a sought-after speaker, advisor and leadership expert. An award-winning serial entrepreneur, she has expertise in the music industry,  apparel/accessories and start-ups. She has Leadership training from Harvard and INSEAD and she was appointed to Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard Kennedy School. She has many career achievements including driving the financial turnaround and re-branding of Women in Communications and Technology as Board chair 2013 to 2015. She was Chair of International Women’s Forum Canada Ottawa Chapter and its global foundation board, was a Board director with Futurpreneur, Ashbury College and Ottawa Senators Foundation and an independent director with Vista Radio. She was  Startup Canada’s Ambassador for women entrepreneurs fir two consecutive years.  She is the co-author of three important studies on women entrepreneurs in Canada, released in 2016, 2018, and soon to be released in 2020 with a focus on export. WXN recognized Janice as Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 and she was inducted into the WXN Hall of Fame. She was awarded the World of Difference 100 Award in Washington from The International Alliance for Women, a National Leadership Award from Canadian Women in Communications and WCT’s Chairs Award of Distinction in 2016. Women in Trade–Los Angeles awarded her Global Trade Ambassador for Canada in 2017, and in 2018 she received an Inspiring Fifty women in tech Canada award.

Some of her recent keynotes include: Milken Global Conference 2018, keynote presentations at APEC related meetings in PNG, Vietnam and Australia, Silicon Valley Tech keynote at Microsoft, among others. She has a B.A. in Communications, M.A. in Canadian Studies, her ICD.D designation, certification in conflict resolution from CICR and an MFA. Her latest start up is: www.calo.ai. She is CEO and founder of The Beacon Agency, a boutique advisory firm that works with innovative companies and offers customized breakthrough insights in entrepreneurship, business strategy and leadership training. She was an Advisor for Cornell Queens EMBA program and works with international executives on New Venture/Management Consulting Projects. She was an advisor for Sprott School of Business Carleton University and is the creator and host of the popular Fearless Women Podcast and author of the recently released bestselling book: Fearless. Girls with Dreams, Women with Vision.