Jason Martin
Jason Martin is a Canadian entrepreneur from Manitoba who has lived in Toronto since 1997. He abandoned graduate studies in Anthropology of Religion to study and work in technology.
In 1998, Jason co-founded the Managed Services firm Navantis, one of the world’s first Gold Certified Microsoft Partners. Navantis became the most award-winning and respected technology firms in Canada, with offices in Toronto, Calgary, Houston and Sri Lanka. Jason was nominated for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2003 and was named in the Globe and Mail as one of Canada’s Top Forty Under Forty in 2004. Jason operated Navantis until 2013. Navantis was acquired by Colorado-based Datavail in 2017.
In addition to operating businesses, Jason has been an active angel investor and has helped numerous firms go from private to public, including Graphene 3D Labs (which he chaired), THC Biomed, and Biome Inc. He has also aided the private acquisition of several portfolio firms, including Vizibility Inc. (to Allstate Legal) and Trade-Settlement Inc. (to Virtus LLC).
In 2012, Jason left day-to-day operation of Navantis to manage iotum, an earlier angel investment. Through its rapid organic and inorganic growth, iotum was twice named to Inc Magazine’s prestigious Inc 5000 list of fastest growing companies.
Jason has been an instructor and active mentor at the University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management and Queen’s University Business. He was chair of YPO Toronto 2015-2016.
With a life-long interest in the arts, Jason has volunteered as a director of the Art Museum at the University of Toronto (2008-2013) and the Canadian Stage (2010-2013).
Jason and his wife have two adolescent children. His interests are literature, history and the arts. He is functionally bilingual with facility in French and English. He lives with his family near Ernest Hemingway’s former home in Toronto.