Jean-Francois Gagnon

Jean-François Gagnon is an experienced entrepreneur, engaged citizen and a (uber) proud father of two. In the late '90s, Jean-Francois began his career as an executive working for several market-leading North American telecom, media technology and digital entertainment companies. He played an instrumental role in the transitions of the entertainment industries toward internet-based business strategies and the required core enabling products. In 2003, he founded LVL, a company creating products and solutions for the digital entertainment and telecommunications industries. He grew LVL from a small local startup to a global leader in the advanced television market, including global direct-to-consumer video streaming services. In addition, he built and maintained LVL's international client roster that includes many top-tier Telecommunications (TELUS, Bell, AT&T) and Media & Entertainment companies (Disney, Fox and Pandora). In late 2019, after 25 years in Tech, Jean-Francois started his exploration of ventures addressing food sovereignty, permanent crop and nature-based climate solutions. He has founded The Christieville House, the harbour for the Family-funded ventures. The "House" focuses on supporting scalable purpose-driven agriculture, climate and supply chain startups. Since then, he has overseen the execution of the strategy that aims to expand and accelerate natural carbon sequestration through permanent land use of high-value crops. Jean-Francois has studied at Harvard Business School and the University of Cambridge to expand his knowledge of sustainable business strategies, the science of climate change and impact venture management. In addition, he holds a degree in Biochemistry (B.Sc) from the University of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.