Usha Srinivasan is the Founding Director of Brampton Venture Zone at Toronto Metropolitan University. In this new role, Usha is responsible for developing and leading a new TMU-led incubator located in the downtown Brampton Innovation District supported by the City of Brampton. She also founded the BReady Talent platform that supports BIPOC and new Canadians to find meaningful employment.

A recognized leader in the Canadian innovation community, Usha Srinivasan has built some of the sector’s most unique service offerings for startups over the last 15 years. Before BVZ, she served as VP, of Partnership and Talent with Elevate Tech Fest. She has also co-founded many startups including one in the foodtech space, a main street French bakery and a vintage reggae record label. She is also a recent Angel investor and LP on a fund focused on BIPOC entrepreneurs.

An early member of the MaRS Discovery District, she rose to VP, of Venture & Talent Programs, leading teams dedicated to nurturing and developing Canadian entrepreneurs’ talents through diverse programs. Before her time with MaRS, she was a Research Manager with the global market intelligence firm Frost and Sullivan working with multinationals in the Environment, Water and Building Technologies space.

Usha is a graduate of Stanford’s LEAD Corporate Innovation program. She holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental microbiology from the University of Bristol and a PhD in environmental sciences from Abertay University in Dundee. She was an NRC postdoctoral fellow at the USEPA and an NSERC Fellow at the University of New Brunswick.