Francis Shen

Francis Shen General Information

Biography

Mr. Francis Shen is the Founder of Start@UTIAS. He serves as a Partner at Shen Capital Partners. Mr. Shen served as Co-Chief Executive Officer at Aastra Technologies. He was appointed to the Mitel® board of directors upon the Mitel merger with Aastra Technologies Ltd. in January 2014. he brings more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunication industry. He is a co-founding shareholder of Aastra and led the company and its predecessor aerospace and defense business since its inception in 1983. In 1996, when Aastra became a public company, he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, a position he held until 2005 when he became Co-Chief Executive Officer, leading the company with Anthony Shen. He was named Ontario's 2000 Entrepreneur of the Year in the Technology & Communications category by Ernst & Young Canada. Under the co-leadership of him and Anthony Shen, Aastra was recognized as part of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 in Canada in 1999-2002 as well as in 2006. He holds a Master of Applied Science (Aerospace Engineering) granted in 1983 and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Engineering Science) granted in 1981, both from the University of Toronto, Canada.