IAC members will support the Company’s business, awareness and growth strategies.
TORONTO, ON /February 9, 2021 / KABN Systems NA Holdings Corp. (CSE:KABN)(OTC PINK:TRWRF)(FRA:4T51) (the “Company“, “KABN North America” or “KABN NA“) (www.kabnsystemsna.com), a North American Fintech solutions company specializing in empowering individuals to manage, control and generate value from their biometrically-verified Self Sovereign Identity (“SSI”) through its Liquid Avatar (www.liquidavatar.com) platform, is pleased to welcome a group of leading business executives in the formation of its inaugural Industry Advisory Committee (“IAC”) which will support and advise KABN NA’s management team with its growth and business initiatives, industry awareness and strategic introductions.
With Digital Identity impacting almost every sector and potentially 100% of the addressable online market, the timing was right for KABN NA to bring together an outstanding group of executives with start-up, industry, and public market experience to support the Company.
“We are excited and honored to be able to work with such a talented, experienced and diverse group of executives who believe in Liquid Avatar and the value of digital identity,” said Ben Kessler, Senior Advisor and Chair of KABN North America’s Industry Advisory Committee. “As a group, our mandate will be to support the Company and its efforts while providing industry advice to help accelerate its growth.”
The 2021 KABN North America Inaugural Industry Advisory Committee members include:
Sheldon Inwentash, B.Comm., CA., CPA., LL.D
Sheldon is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of ThreeD Capital Inc. (CSE:IDK) and has more than 30 years of investing experience. He co-founded Visible Genetics, the first commercial pharmacogenomics company, in 1994 and exited in 2001 to Bayer. Through two decades of leading Pinetree Capital, Mr. Inwentash has created significant shareholder value through early investments in Queenston Mining (acquired by Osisko Mining Corp. for $550-million), Aurelian Resources (acquired by Kinross for $1.2-billion) and Gold Eagle Mines (acquired by Goldcorp for $1.5-billion) to name a few.
Sheldon obtained his B.Comm from the University of Toronto and is a Chartered Professional Accountant. In 2007, he was an Ontario finalist for the Ernst & Young entrepreneur of the year award. In 2012, Sheldon received an honorary degree, doctor of laws (LL.D) from the University of Toronto for his valuable leadership as an entrepreneur, his philanthropy, and inspirational commitment to making a difference in the lives of children, youth and their families.
Rob Anson
Rob Anson has served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the board at Loop Insights Inc. (CSE:MTRX) since January 2018. Rob has also served as CEO and Founder of Fobisuite Technologies Inc., a private British Columbia technology company, since October 2017. Previously he was Founder and CEO of One Team Media, a Private Vancouver-based media company with digital and TV production assets.
Neil Stiles
Before moving to the US in 2008, Neil was a Board Director of Reed Business Information (RBI), one of the world’s largest magazine publishers headquartered in the UK. He was also CEO of eMedia, an email marketing business with divisional responsibilities including a range of publications and events in multiple markets.
Neil also led sales across the whole of RBI, headed up the internal pricing consultancy and was also instrumental in developing RBI’s strategy transitioning from magazines into data which required him to relocate to Los Angeles, California.
Neil took over the Entertainment division of RBI USA which included Variety Magazine, where he was CEO and Publisher. At Variety, Neil was instrumental in the development of a wider business strategy to take the company into conferences, higher price data and syndication.
Neil also served on the board of LA’s Best after school program for schools within Los Angeles and was a Director of BritWeek. He also was on the board of BAFTA and subsequently served a term as Chairman.
After Neil orchestrated the sale of Variety, and other assets for Reed Elsevier, he retired to the Fort Lauderdale area.
Neil currently consults with a wide range of companies with focus on pricing and developing viable online business models. Neil is also on the advisory boards of EIS, 2020 Capital and three other start-ups.
For fun he owns a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu School and competes on a regular basis.
Alen Paul Silverrstieen
Alen Paul is a global serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience and is currently CEO of Imagine AR (CSE:IP). He recently founded Recruitment USA/India software firms leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to optimize job candidate sourcing. Alen Paul has also represented one of the leading Indian Post-Production Studios and contracted over 60 Hollywood movies in the past 5 years alone. Alen Paul is known as one of the pioneers of North American prepaid communications and led his company, GTS, public on the NASDAQ within 3 years while executing license deals with MLB, Marvel, NHL, Led Zeppelin, and many others.
Nicole Rodrigues
Nicole Rodrigues is the CEO and Founder of NRPR Group and the Young Dreamers Foundation. She’s an award-winning, well-rounded public relations and marketing pro. Her extensive knowledge in bridging the gap between the technology and various consumer industries makes her extremely valuable to her team and clients. She has more than 20 years of experience in PR, social media and digital marketing. Clients that have benefited from her counsel and skill include Heal, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Dialpad, Dolby, Yahoo!, MobiTV, Sony Playstation, Plantronics, Hulu, YouTube, M-GO, LA Comic Con, Demand Media (now Leaf Group), and other dominant companies. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Relations from San Jose State University and is an Executive MBA Candidate at UCLA Anderson School of Management – class of 2022.
Ruth McCartney
Ruth is a music industry veteran, communications expert and brand strategist with a strong marketing and entrepreneurial background. She’s consulted and produced for Fortune 100, corporate, high-tech, non-profit & entertainment companies. She is also a public speaker and early Bitcoin adopter.
As CEO of McCartney Multimedia, Inc, Ruth has developed working relationships with industry leaders including Capitol Records, MGM/ Mirage, Lexus, Warner Bros. & T-Mobile. Her work has ranged from new media strategies and technology consulting, to development of database management solutions and marketing programs. Currently, her Hootsuite-Certified team is handling social media content creation, strategy, deployment and reporting for 36 worldwide city destinations in 7 languages. In addition, Ruth has also served as advisor to projects for non-profit and higher education organizations including the Farrah Fawcett Foundation, The Clinton Foundation & the Linda McCartney Centre for Cancer Research. The company also handles social strategy and marketing/digital PR for clients including creating custom marketing and sales funnels using their technology McCartneyMessenger.com to target & reach people via IM and Facebook and respond in real time.
Ruth’s brainchild is the online Customer / Fan acquisition and retention, tool iFanz® iFanz.com® whose technology has provided online data mgmt., eCRM, & email broadcasting & compliance to LeAnn Rimes, Estate of Tupac Shakur, Roseanne Barr, John Cleese, Chevrolet, Paula Abdul, Edgar Winter, Texas Instruments and more. With 6.4 million members, it’s amongst the largest privately held email mgmt. systems in the USA.
Formerly, Ruth was a singer/songwriter & recording artist on BMG/Jupiter Records and has headlined tours in Russia, Lithuania, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan & Siberia. Specialties: Branding, social media, eMarketing, digital distribution, web development, eCRM, block chain solutions.
Craig Asano
Craig is the CEO and founder of NCFA, National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada. With 15+ years of experience, he is a proven marketing strategist, software technologist and start-up entrepreneur in technology, finance, and real estate sectors. Craig is a leader, community builder, advocate and development professional of alternative finance and private capital markets, fintech, blockchain, AI, interactive web, data intelligence, special projects, and new ventures.
Steven Glaser
Steven is a financial service executive with a diverse background in corporate finance, communications, and governance for both private and public companies. He is currently Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Director at Pool Safe Inc. (TSXV:POOL), a company that designs, develops and distributes globally a product known as the “PoolSafe”. In addition to his role at Pool Safe, Steven also sits on the Board of Canadian listed public companies. From 2008 through 2017, Steven worked in the corporate finance and investment banking arena focused on assisting late stage private and early stage public companies with strategic planning and capital raising. Prior to that, he spent seven years as Vice President Corporate Affairs of Azure Dynamics Corporation. He was responsible for the company’s corporate governance, domestic and international stock exchange listings, as well as the build-out of the company’s Investor Relations division. Steven holds a Bachelor of Administrative Studies degree as well as an M.B.A. in finance.
Lauren Linton
Lauren is an Executive Director of CIX Canadian Innovation Exchange, the longest-running Canadian venture conference, which curates and showcases Canada’s most innovative early and growth stage tech startups to North American investors and corporates. Previously, Lauren was an executive with the CVCA- Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, setting the strategic direction and developing the majority of the revenue programs for the association and private capital industry. She has served on boards with interests in healthcare, technology and business services and has chaired many fundraising events. Lauren holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Marketing and Finance from the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University.
Lauren is also a SheEO Activator.
Mark Pearlman
Mark is a results-driven senior operating executive with over 20+ years’ experience and success in driving corporate growth within the technology and mass retail industries. His experience and expertise is in business transformation, M&A, corporate strategy, corporate planning and sales operations. Government and public appointments at Federal and Provincial levels.
Dominic Vogel
Dominic has an established track record as a cyber security leader. He has a wide-range of experience overseeing numerous projects including security strategy development, policy development, endpoint security, and threat management in a multitude of industries including financial services, logistics, transportation, government, telecommunications, and critical infrastructure. Dominic actively participates in the local Vancouver security community and is a regular cyber security expert for Global BC (TV), CKNW (radio), News1130 (radio), and the Vancouver Sun (newspaper).
Ben Kessler – Chair
As Chair of KABN NA’s Industry Advisory Committee, Ben has over 20 years of account management, business development, marketing, and partnership experience in the financial services sector. Mr. Kessler is currently a Senior Advisor to KABN North America.
Prior to that, he was the Managing Director, Payments Solution Group – Banc of California and also served as Vice President, Global Account Management at Earthport North America. Ben also held senior roles at Mastercard Worldwide from 2006 to 2011. Ben has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandeis University and a Master of Business Administration from the New York University Stern School of Management.
Having the opportunity to consult and engage with such a diverse group of industry leaders through the Industry Advisory Committee is amazing as it will help us garner different views of our business, markets and our respective opportunities,” said David Lucatch, CEO KABN North America.
Launching in the Apple Store and Google Play on February 18, 2021, Liquid Avatar, available at no cost to consumers, makes it easy for individuals to start and maintain the process of managing their SSI/digital identity while giving users the ability to share it with their friends, family, colleagues, and others easily, safely, and cryptographically secure through biometrically enabled Self Sovereign Identity tools and services.
The Liquid Avatar platform allows users to create high quality digital icon representations of the various facets of their online personalities and identity, which can be used to easily share what they want, when they want, and with whom they want. Liquid Avatar users will also be able to create digital wallets to manage and store a wide range of verifiable identity and access credentials, and to take their conventional identity online, allowing users to prove themselves as easily and effectively as they do in the “physical world”.
As a verified platform, an individual user of Liquid Avatar can only have one account (with possibly multiple digital personas) which potentially reduces the ability for bad actors to create bots and fake accounts. Liquid Avatar users know that when they use and interact with other Liquid Avatar users, they are dealing with real, known people.
Liquid Avatar users are able to select from 1000’s of combinations of facial features to create their perfect digital representations of themselves – all at no cost. Users can also visit the Liquid Avatar Marketplace (www.liquidavatarmarketplace.com) if they are interested in purchasing custom icons from leading pop-culture, anime, and comic book artists. In the future, users will also be able to upload certain personalized images and logos to represent their avatars.
While Liquid Avatar is free to consumers and KABN and Liquid Avatar never sells or rents data, the Company believes that verified, known users can create increased value for themselves and select marketers and vendors as they look to reach real people and not fake users or bots. Through the Liquid Avatar platform and approved, permission-based communications, Liquid Avatar will offer up value-based opportunities users can select. At the same time, Liquid Avatar partners who want to reach real, known users will be willing to provide increased value as they won’t be spending money to reach fake users and bots.
KABN NA also has its KABN KASH rewards and loyalty program, with over 300 major online vendors, that will provide Liquid Avatar users with cash back incentives for purchases they make through KABN KASH. This program, together with the KABN Visa Card (initially available in Canada with the US and other regions under review), provides users with new and innovative ways to create and earn value.
KABN NA will earn potential revenues through card transaction fees, comarketing, bounties, commissions, and other fees paid by partners and vendors. The Company believes that other consumer and revenue programs will emerge as Liquid Avatar gains traction in the market.
Liquid Avatar will launch in phases, as the Company prepares and tests additional service and program offerings to make it easier for users to become familiar with the Liquid Avatar platform, Self Sovereign Identity and Verifiable Credentials.
Interested individuals can sign up for Liquid Avatar and receive information and notices on upcoming releases and services by visiting www.liquidavatar.com
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About KABN Systems NA Holdings Corp – www.kabnnaholdco.com
KABN Systems NA Holdings Corp. through its wholly owned subsidiary KABN Systems North America Inc. focuses on the verification, management and monetization of Self Sovereign Identity, empowering users to control and benefit from the use of their online identity.
Liquid Avatar is a verified Self Sovereign Identity platform that empowers users to create high quality digital icons representing their online personas. These icons allow users to manage and control their digital identity and Verifiable Access and Identity Credentials, and to use Liquid Avatars to share public and permission based private data when they want and with whom they want. www.liquidavatar.com
KABN North America has a suite of revenue generating programs that support the Liquid Avatar program, including KABN KASH a cash back and reward program that has over 300 leading online merchants and coming soon, an integrated offering engine. In Canada, KABN also has the KABN Visa Card, a “challenger banking” platform that allows users to manage and control a range of financial services for traditional and digital currencies. The Company is currently exploring expansion of the KABN Visa program to other geographic regions, including the USA.
KABN Systems NA Holdings Corp. is publicly listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) under the symbol “KABN” (CSE:KABN).
The Company also trades in the US under the symbol “TRWRF” and in Frankfurt under the symbol “4T51”
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For more information, please visit www.kabnnaholdco.com or www.kabnsystemsna.com