Ask The Expert

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Ask The Expert

Through the Ask The Expert program, small business owners can have access to experts in the fields of accounting and bookkeeping, legal, social media, human resources, accessibility support and business strategy. To be eligible, the business must be registered as a Sole proprietor, General Partnership or Corporation with 1 to 5 employees. The business needs to be currently operating with a physical business address in the Kingston area.

Eligible inquiries will be referred to a local expert for advice at no charge.

Angela Brown

Legal

Angela K. Brown
Templeman LLP

Angela Brown is a partner at Templeman LLP and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Angela practices primarily in the areas of corporate/commercial law and real estate.  Angela regularly advises clients on their business needs, including incorporations, shareholder agreements, purchase and sale of businesses, contracts, intellectual property, and real estate purchases, sales and leases.

A native of the Kingston area, Angela obtained her BA from Queen’s University, LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School, and MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona. Prior to joining Templeman in 2008, Angela spent seven years in the financial sector working for Goldman Sachs, RBC Capital Markets, and Scotiabank.

Templeman LLP is a leading regional law firm that offers a full suite of legal services to private and public sector clients, from local start-ups and SMEs to large insurance and municipal clients across Ontario.  A local firm with established roots in Eastern Ontario, the team at Templeman LLP is deeply committed to the economic growth of the region and the long-term success of local businesses.

Justen Roy

Accounting

Justen Roy
JR’s Tax & Bookkeeping

Justen Roy has a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration, but the core of his educational background includes an Advanced Diploma in Business Administration Accounting. After graduating, he gained invaluable experience while working at a few accounting firms around the Kingston area. He was given the opportunity to work in different departments that relate to the accounting process. While at these firms, he performed many accounting tasks ranging from processing payroll, to preparing financial statements, and performing various data entry.

Since then, Justen has started his own tax and bookkeeping business, JR’s Tax & Bookkeeping, and works as a Tax Manager/Accountant. He has been working as a entrepreneur for over 10 years. His goal is to provide tax and bookkeeping services with a customized one-on-one approach that provides a personal touch not offered by larger corporations. Throughout his time in his career, he has also cultivated a unique network of business owners and professionals within and outside his industry.

Talent and Human Resources

Brenda E. Palmer
Palmer & Associates

Palmer and Associates is a Full-Service Human Resources firm that has been operating in the Kingston area, and across Canada for over twenty-years. They offer expertise in Executive Search, Career Transition and Leadership coaching services.

Brenda E. Palmer has over 35 years of experience in Human Resource Management, Executive Search, Career Transition, and Executive Coaching. Following a successful early HR career in the manufacturing industry, she advanced to senior management roles with two Ottawa search firms. Over twenty years ago she started Palmer & Associates in Kingston. Her clients range from large multinational corporations, small entrepreneurial organizations, to public and not-for-profits. In her role she guides and mentors clients to achieve their goals and connect candidates to perfect career opportunities.

Accessibility

Natalie Shearer & Sarina Cormier
Two Canes Consulting

Natalie and Sarina both live in Kingston and through their business, Two Canes Consulting, offer customized accessibility-focused training, assessments, and solutions to organizations in Southern Ontario in order to help them make their spaces, services, and programs more inclusive of all needs and abilities. Two Canes has led workshops, joined podcasts and radio shows, spoken at conferences, and taken on extensive research projects over the last three (3) years to share their vision of a more accessible world and empower organizations to help bring that vision to life.

Sales

Geoff Josey
Josey & Associates

With over 28 years of experience as a Sales Executive and Sales Leader in the marketing and advertising industry, Geoff has a deep understanding of the media buying ecosystem and values the importance of establishing an authentic brand within his industry. One of his greatest strengths is his ability to set up sales organizations and structures from scratch and help startups reach their full potential. He has excelled at all stages of the sales process, consistently exceeding sales targets and leading sales organizations to success. With his expertise in 360 media planning, he has a strong understanding of how marketing channels fit into a marketing strategy. He understands the role corporate marketers, advertising agencies, and local managers play in the media buying process, which is crucial to success in the industry.

Angela

Patent

Angela Lyon
Queen’s Partnerships & Innovation

Angela Lyon, MSc, is a registered patent agent in the Canadian and the U.S. patent offices who works at Queen’s Partnerships and Innovation (QPI).  She primarily works on chemical patent applications that are owned by Queen’s University.  Angela and Stephen Scribner are able to assist local innovators with general questions in the area of intellectual property through a Queen’s University program that is government funded. Angela lives in South Frontenac County with her partner and three sons. She volunteers for Queen’s Women’s Network and La Salle Secondary School Athletics.

Publishing, Editing and Copyrighting

Frank B. Edwards
Editor, Author and Publisher

Frank B. Edwards is a local author, editor and publisher who started out in the magazine business before launching Camden House Books for Harrowsmith Magazine. Eventually he started his own full-time children’s book publishing company (Bungalo Books/Pokeweed Press) with illustrator John Bianchi. Together they created 38 kids’ books with sales of two million copies.

As the Canadian book publishing faded, Frank found innovative ways to keep his backlist alive and stay creative by “figuring out stuff himself.” He has toured Canadian schools extensively, created interactive ebooks for kids and adults with Apple, packaged books for institutional clients, wrote features for The Globe & Mail and used his creative/editorial expertise to develop education outreach plans for museums and other government agencies. This year he launched his first online bookstore.

Frank can offer advice on creative partnerships, editorial processes, printing, distribution and marketing – and other aspects of innovative book publishing.

Judith

Financial Management, Strategy and Succession Planning

Judith Pineault
Judith Pineault Consulting

Judith is the former CEO & Co-Founder of Eastern Fluid Power Inc, she successfully sold her business of thirty years in 2019, and is the current principal at Judith Pineault Consulting.

Judith Pineault Consulting specializes in helping businesses achieve their goals. With over 30 years experience as an entrepreneur, Judith have seen just about everything that can go right or wrong in business.

Exporting

Abdul Razak Jendi
Kingston Economic Development Corporation

Abdul Razak is a seasoned international business development professional with expertise in international trade and FDI in North America, Europe & Asia. He also serves on the SWITCH Board of Directors. Throughout his career, Abdul Razak gained experience working in organizations that are publicly traded, privately held, family-owned, and non-profit.

Before joining the Kingston Economic Development team, Abdul Razak held the position of Economic Development Manager at ROI, a Montreal based consulting firm, playing a pivotal role in managing and delivering lead generation programs, in-market representation, and industry analysis for domestic and international clients in Canada, the USA, and Europe. In the United Arab Emirates, he managed over 100 contracts worth $6.5 billion while working with National Central Cooling Co PJSC (DFM:TABREED). Working in the steel industry, Abdul Razak closed several deals including a landmark steel pipes deal from Turkey to India worth $14 million to build a chemical processing plant. Abdul Razak also served as the Deputy Director for the Global New York Canada Office assisting companies to expand and grow in the State of New York, as well as supporting New York based companies enter the Canadian market.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Nour Mazloum
Kingston Economic Development Corporation

Nour is the Marketing & Communications Manager, in her role, she leads the development, writing and production of business collaterals, media strategies and public relations. Nour is also a Director at the Economic Developers Council of Ontario’s (EDCO) Board of Directors and the Chair of its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. Nour is the recipient of the 2021 EDCO’s President Award for her commitment to the profession.

Prior to her role at Kingston Economic Development, Nour worked as a Project Intern at Queen’s University and as a Communications Associate for Queen’s IT Services. Nour was the Chair of the Policy Committee at Sexual Assault Centre Kingston and had served on its Board of Directors for two years and was also a Director and Secretary on the Sustainable Kingston Board.