Francois Lafortune is a Montreal-based entrepreneur and investor with fifteen years’ experience in building businesses and the financial technology sector. He is the founder and CEO of Diagram, a venture launchpad that helps create and launch technology companies pursuing disruptive innovation in the financial and insurance sectors, and a partner of the venture capital arm of Power Financial Corporation.

Francois spent seven years at McKinsey & Company, during which time he served as co-leader of McKinsey’s Canadian Technology practice. He advised senior executives of leading North American banks and insurers on a broad range of technology-related topics, such as creating technology blueprints for digital transformations of a number of banks, and leading a multi-year transformation of the IT delivery organization of a major financial institution.

Francois launched his first business -- assembling and selling personal computers -- at the age of 13. In 1999, he became the youngest entrepreneur to join Qualité Étudiants, a franchise system delivering a suite of home services. In 2002, Francois co-founded Vitres.net, which has grown to become the largest student-run franchise system in Quebec. Today, Francois is Chairman of Residencia, the parent company, which owns six home services brands, serving more than 20,000 clients annually. Residencia’s portolio of companies have trained hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs on how to start and run their own business.

Francois earned a Bachelor of Engineering from McGill University (Honours Program, graduating with Great Distinction), and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. At McGill, Francois received the J.W. McConnell Scholarship for outstanding academic performance and John D. Thompson Prize for Entrepreneurship in Engineering.