Meet the team

Elle AyoubZadeh, President

Elle brings to ArtAnywhere a wealth of experience in Angel investing, business development and international business. She was the Assistant Managing Director of Maple Leaf Angels, one of the oldest Angel investment networks in Canada. Previously, she was Principal at State Street Global Advisors, Ltd. (Canada), one of the worlds largest money managers where she was responsible for relationship management, business development and marketing of SSgA’s offerings to institutional investors in Canada and multinationals.

You can reach Elle at 647-500-2755 or elle@artanywhere.com

Raymond Luk, Founder

Raymond is the co-founder and Managing Director of Year One Labs, a startup accelerator. He is also the founder of Flow Ventures, a technology consultancy working with high-growth software companies. An active Angel investor, Raymond is a member of the board of Anges Quebec. He is the founder of StartupDrinks Canada, the largest monthly tech meetup in the country and is an advisor to Project Olympus (Carnegie Mellon University), Lead to Win (Carlton University, Ottawa) as well as the Entrepreneurs Roundtable (New York).

You can reach Raymond at 514-240-5368 or raymond@artanywhere.com.

Gillian Hewitt Smith

Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer / Directrice générale et Chef de la direction
Institute for Canadian Citizenship / Institut pour la citoyenneté canadienne

Gillian Hewitt Smith is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship. The Institute for Canadian Citizenship is a national, non-profit organization that engages Canadians in citizenship through innovative programs, campaigns and partnerships designed to ensure new citizens are welcomed and included as equals, to create meaningful connections among all Canadian citizens and to foster a culture of active, engaged citizens. 

Prior to joining the ICC, Gillian spent more than a dozen years working in corporate communications and corporate affairs, most recently with the Royal Bank of Canada as Senior Advisor, Corporate Affairs and Head of Communications for RBC’s Group Head, Strategy, Treasury and Corporate Services. Her other mandates have included media and stakeholder relations, crisis and issues management and corporate social responsibility for companies including RBC Capital Markets, Aeroplan, Parmalat Canada, Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and Pfizer Canada.