Invest Atlantic has announced that Nancy Mathis will chair the conference this autumn, and that it will expand its pitching series to include new classes of entrepreneurs.

Now in its sixth year, Invest Atlantic is a pan-regional conference for entrepreneurs and investors in Atlantic Canada. It will be held this year at the World Trade and Convention Centre in Halifax on Sept. 29 and 30.

And experienced entrepreneur and organizer, Nancy Mathis is the founding Executive Director of the Wallace McCain Institute at the University of New Brunswick.

“Nancy is a passionate entrepreneur and has been recognized on a national scale with awards in innovation, entrepreneurship and engineering -- as well as for supporting others in those fields,” said a statement from Invest Atlantic Founder Bob Williamson.

Beginning with her time on the New Brunswick Business Council, Mathis has been a leading advocate on collaborative initiatives for entrepreneurs in the Atlantic Area.

This will be the second time the chair of Invest Atlantic is from New Brunswick. Mariner Chairman Gerry Pond chaired the event in 2011.

Invest Atlantic this year will focus on startups and angel investors with a variety of concurrent sessions for early-to-mid stage and even late stage entrepreneurs.

“I am excited to see the scope of the conference expand,” says Mathis in the statement.

For the past few years, Invest Atlantic has kicked off with a Pitch 101 competition, in which novice entrepreneurs get one minute to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges. The idea is to give feedback to people starting out.

This year, the organizers will add Pitch201 for growth stage entrepreneurs. There will also be a Pitch301 event for “seniorpreneurs” – that is, business owners who are ready to retire and sell their business to a new operator.

“There are thousands of business owners facing growth and succession challenges in the next five years, and this is a perfect format to help these entrepreneurs make the right connections,” said Mathis.