One of the healthy trends we've seen in Atlantic Canadian entrepreneurship is the internationalization of companies' boards -- as I pointed out in an article in the most recent issue of Progress magazine.

Companies like Halifax Biomedical of Mabou, N.S., and CarbonCure of Halifax are adding international experts to their boards of directors and/or advisers. These international advisers and directors bring an international perspective to the business. But just as important, they bring their own networks, which helps the companies break into new markets and attract capital.

Since this article was published, CarbonCure CEO Robert Niven contacted to politely dispute one point made in the article. John Huston, a principal of the Ohio TechAngel funds, said in the article that international directors drive up costs because the company has to fly them into meetings and sometimes meetings have to be rescheduled for them. Niven said his company has seen no additional costs: his international directors are unpaid and there has been no difficulty in scheduling meetings for them. He said these backers support not just his company but the whole movement for green building materials.  

The cover story in this months' Progress is a feature on the art of listening by Quentin Casey, and features such entrepreneurs as Milan Vrekic of TitanFile, Bill McMullin of ViewPoint Realty Services and Gord Dickie of Goalline Sports Administration Software.