Propel, the Atlantic Canadian ITC accelerator, has named veteran entrepreneurs Derek Latham and Gordon McArthur to its stable of entrepreneurs-in-residence.

The company released a press release last week saying Latham and McArthur have joined Charlotte Murray and Richard Jones as EIRs. The EIRs help develop and deliver programming for Propel’s Incite accelerator, as well as working directly with founders and startups supported by Propel in Atlantic Canada. Both McArthur and Latham are based in Halifax. 

“We are very happy to have Derek and Gordon join our team,” said Propel CEO Barry Bisson in the statement.  “While their backgrounds are different, their knowledge and experience are equally impressive.  And, perhaps more importantly, they are both extremely passionate and driven to help the founders in Incite further their companies.”

Just two years ago, Latham was a participant in a Propel accelerator: “A Propel alumni myself, I am excited to work with the talented startup founders to achieve product-market fit and grow their businesses here in Atlantic Canada.”

Latham has a background in business development and marketing. He’s worked with Nestle Canada, the Royal Canadian Mint, and Starbucks Coffee Canada.

McArthur is the former President of Dartmouth-based Eosense, an environmental gas measurement tech company, and has skills in cleantech, ICT, and hardware.

"There are a lot of places to go wrong when starting a business and what Propel is doing, getting businesses off on the right foot by focusing them intensely on the problem they are solving, is going to have huge reverberations in Atlantic Canada and beyond,” said McArthur. “I'm fortunate to be a part of that.”

Much of Lathan and McArthur’s role will be working in Propel’s Incite accelerator, a 12-month program focused on developing early stage technology companies by delivering curriculum online. The program runs in two phases. Phase 1 runs for three months and focuses on problem validation and solution fit. Phase 2 runs the remaining seven months and focuses on building a sales engine.

Disclosure: Propel is a client of Entrevestor.