Toronto Global

Building Real Business Connections: A Focus on Michael Keoshkerian

Michael Keoshkerian — Fri, 03 May 2024 14:52:35 +0000

Recently awarded as one of The Peak‘s 2024 Emerging Leaders, we sat down with our 2023 Employee Recognition Award winner, Michael Keoshkerian, to learn more about his role and business practices.

Michael, tell us about yourself and your role at Toronto Global.

My role at Toronto Global is Senior Advisor on the investment attraction team. I work primarily with U.S. companies to help them learn more about Canada and Toronto and ultimately help them expand here.

I have been in this role for over six years and have helped over 30 companies expand their operations in Toronto including Recursion, Cerebras, Ripple and Roku. It’s extremely rewarding to work with a company from the beginning of its incorporation to the point where they are flourishing here.

What do you love most about your job?

I like to say that this is the most challenging job I’ve ever had, and it’s certainly the most rewarding. I have the opportunity to learn more about so many different companies and industries. I get to meet people with so many different backgrounds and experiences and see the business world through their eyes.

By working with so many different companies, the challenging aspect is trying to understand what their needs are and how to best help them succeed.

I’d say my favourite part is the relationship building. Because we are not-for-profit, the nature of what we do doesn’t rely on selling, but instead on building trust and maintaining a connection with the person, company, or team.

I enjoy the process of getting to know someone on a personal and professional level. It depends on the company, but a lot of the time I think of it as more of a friendship than a transactional relationship.

Maybe it’s idealistic, but a friend is someone who is there for you when you need them, and we try to maintain that level of individualized connection with each client. I always say that we never close a door, even if a company isn’t ready for expansion or they have already expanded and no longer require advisory services, I make it clear to the people that I work with that I am still available in the quiet periods.

Can you walk us through your process of helping a business expand?

It all starts with outreach, most of our successes come from us proactively reaching out to companies.

Take Recursion for example. I set up a meeting with Recursion during my first ever trip to Salt Lake City – and last trip before Covid. Recursion was my last meeting of that trip before I turned back, and I’m not sure it can even be considered a meeting.

I met with the Chief People Officer at the time at a conference, but the conference was ending so I walked back with her to her office, I had my backpack with my passport in it and everything. Our meeting ended up consisting of us just walking and talking about nothing in particular, which led to a massive deal down the line when Recursion opened its 28,000-square-foot R&D centre in Toronto last June.

Recursion wasn’t ready to expand at the time, and of course, Covid added some hurdles as well. But ultimately, it’s a great example of how a friendly conversation and staying in touch can snowball.

Every company has different needs and plans for how they want to expand to the Toronto Region, so there is no one-size-fits-all approach. My number one rule for building and maintaining professional relationships with companies is to remain authentic. That’s something I learned from my director, Liana Hovakimyan.

Ultimately, I do everything I do because of Liana, I am so lucky to have one of the best leaders to learn from and model myself after. At the same time, she gives me so much latitude to do my work individually. I feel that it’s because of her humble leadership that I have been able to grow in this role.

Michael Keoshkerian and Liana Hovakimyan at the Snowflake office expansion event in 2024.

What is your approach to bridging cultural differences with international companies?

There aren’t many cultural differences because I work with US companies. The similarities between the U.S. and Canada are often a major reason why they want to do business here.

Still, as we have conversations about working and living in Toronto, diversity is a standout factor. The cultural and ethnic diversity in the Toronto Region is unlike anywhere else, so it’s visible to people who have spent most of their lives in less diverse regions. It’s such a norm for people who have spent a lot of time here, it’s easy to forget that not everyone is used to it like we are.

In the end, companies are excited about the opportunity to work with a diverse workforce and access Canadian talent.

Where/what is your favourite place/memory in the Toronto Region, and why?

On weekends, my family enjoys driving to different neighbourhoods in Toronto and walking around. When the weather is nice, it’s a great way to get outside and experience different communities within Toronto.

My daughter is five years old and she loves window shopping, so my most recent favourite area is probably Roncesvalles because there are so many small shops and cafes for her to look at.

Even in the winter, where I live around Yonge and Sheppard, there are cool winter festivals and stuff to check out along Yonge Street. There’s always something happening in Toronto.

Appreciating the city and region plays into my job as well. When companies expand to our region, they often move their executive employees here permanently, so part of my job is helping them move their lives and families here.

In the case of one company I am working with, an executive is moving here and her husband is a math teacher while her young daughter is in school. So, it is up to me to make sure that her husband can work here and help find areas with the best schools. That’s why there is no one-size-fits-all all approach, every company has different priorities because its people have different lives.

What’s your personal mantra or favourite quote?

It may sound cheesy, but I think “be yourself” is a pretty good philosophy. Being real with the people you work with is so important – and I want that back as well. I want people to be themselves when working with me because the process of expanding can be pretty involved. Maintaining that level of authenticity adds to the trust aspect, which ultimately results in a better and more fun process for everyone.

Contact us to gain expert insights and leadership in your business expansion in the Toronto Region.

How Proterra’s Electric Buses are Picking Up Speed in the Toronto RegionProterraHow Proterra’s Electric Buses are Picking Up Speed in the Toronto Region

Michael Keoshkerian — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 20:03:00 +0000

We’re excited to share our next entry in our blog series on EVs and public transit, in the form of a question and answer from one of the top electric vehicle bus manufacturers in North America, Proterra, Inc.

Proterra is one of several companies engaged with the TTC on a public transit pilot project, and embodies the scale of opportunity within the Toronto Region and Canada in terms of electric vehicles and public transit. We’ve greatly enjoyed supporting Proterra’s efforts in the Toronto Region, and John Walsh, Senior Vice President at Proterra kindly took the time to share his thoughts – enjoy!

From a market perspective, over the past couple years the momentum on electric buses seems to be gaining speed, with an increasing number of North American transit agencies running pilot projects and putting electric buses into service. Why do you think electric buses are having a moment and gaining traction in public transit systems in the U.S. and Canada?

New technology is making the promise of fully-electric fleets a reality. Today, transitioning to clean transportation is no longer just the right thing to do for our health and environment, it’s also the smart thing to do for our communities.

Every time a Proterra battery- electric bus with zero tailpipe emissions replaces a diesel bus, 230,000 pounds of greenhouse gases are avoided along with other emissions known to harm human health. Battery-electric buses offer a greater total cost of ownership, the lowest operating costs, and the least cost volatility when compared to internal combustion engines.

Take Edmonton as an example. This summer, Proterra along with our partners Edmonton Transit Service, or ETS, unveiled the first 21 Proterra battery-electric buses, one of the largest purchases of electric buses in Canadian history. It represented the first deployment to implement in-depot overhead charging in North America, along with having the most energy storage on any 40-foot electric bus. The ETS deployment showcases just how we can successfully implement an electric bus fleet and charging infrastructure for current fleet needs, as well as plan for expansion in the near future.

We are excited to partner with leading transit agencies from Edmonton to Toronto to accelerate the transition to 100 percent clean transportation for all.

Aside from electric buses, we know that a great deal of infrastructure that supports these vehicles needs to be modified and in many cases, built entirely new. What do you see as critical pieces of technology and infrastructure that accompany electric buses?

As more cities, states, schools, airports, and private commercial operators move to zero-emission transportation, reliable, affordable high-power charging infrastructure is critical to help power our electric vehicle fleets of tomorrow. That’s why at Proterra, we’re investing in charging infrastructure and energy fleet solutions today that play such a critical role in achieving these important electrification goals.

Proterra recently introduced our next generation charging infrastructure solution, providing transit agencies’ fleet operators with a comprehensive set of charging solutions they need to scale their fleets of electric vehicles. For large fleets of vehicles, where customers need to address the challenge of charging dozens or hundreds of vehicles in a single fleet yard, our new charging systems can be configured with up to 1.5 megawatts to power up to 20 vehicles simultaneously.

Fleet electrification is a complex challenge for many transit agencies. We’ve built a team of experts dedicated to taking customers through the process of installing charging infrastructure and working with their local utility, with extensive experience building our charging system for electric vehicle fleets. Proterra ensures that the infrastructure installation plans also take into consideration the need to serve a growing electric bus fleet, in order to reduce the future cost of charging infrastructure as the customer scales their zero-emission fleet. Demand charges for power consumption from utilities can also cause a customer’s electricity bill to increase significantly. Proterra works with the customer’s utility to get the best rates for the customer, and more utilities are introducing special rates specifically to eliminate demand charges for EV fleets.

Through next-generation charging infrastructure smart energy management, we can flatten the demand curve for customers and help communities in Canada and across North America power 100 percent clean transportation fleets.

Looking north to the Toronto Region, being one of the largest metro regions in North America, public transit is critical to our continued growth. How do you see the public transit infrastructure in Toronto and other Canadian urban centres, and the opportunities for Proterra and other international electric bus companies to further engage in this market?

Canada is a leading example of the transition to 100 percent clean transportation. Proterra is proud to support the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), which maintains the largest fleet of electric buses in North America. Building on the innovative spirit and leadership of agencies like TTC, Canada is aiming to retain 5,000 battery-electric buses over the next five years and have all new buses by electric by 2040; and cities like Montreal and Vancouver are aiming to achieve 100 percent zero-emission transportation fleets by 2040 and 2050, respectively.

Just a few short years ago, the question many were asking was whether the transit market will even move toward electrification. That question has been answered. The transition is underway.

Proterra’s battery and bus manufacturing is currently focused in the United States. With your growing international ambitions, what elements do you envision as essential to support Proterra’s future production needs (i.e. skilled workforce, resilient supply chain, proximity to strategic transit markets)?

What started a decade ago with the delivery of the first Proterra battery-electric transit buses has grown into a new-era for zero-emission transportation as communities switch to 100 percent clean, zero-emission fleets. Canada is poised to be a global leader in this emerging market, bringing the next wave of transit innovation directly to communities. At Proterra, we look forward to delivering clean, quiet transportation to communities across the country.

As large transit agencies like the Toronto Transit Commission scale their electric bus fleets, do you see advanced technologies supporting the deployment, operation, and lifecycle of such a large number of vehicles (i.e. autonomous / connected tech, new software opportunities, different vehicle models, and battery recycling)?

Building battery-electric vehicles is hard work. With more than 500 Proterra vehicles on the road and 16 million miles driven by our fleet of buses, we’ve come a long way in our journey to provide clean, quiet transportation for all.

We’ve also gained valuable insights along the way and we’re applying these learnings to better serve our customers today and tomorrow. This includes introducing new products to help our customers meet their current needs and plan for the future.

In September, Proterra launched our newest (and fifth-generation) battery-electric transit bus, which was built from the ground-up to be electric and informed by our learnings from the past decade of deliveries. Designed for full-fleet electrification, the Proterra ZX5 battery-electric transit bus offers unmatched drive range, faster acceleration and greater horsepower, and industry-leading hill-climbing abilities to tackle steep terrain.

About Proterra’s Electric Buses

Successfully transitioning to 100 percent battery-electric buses and commercial fleets also requires a safe, reliable, and high-performing battery. That’s why we’re introducing new battery packs featuring next-generation battery cell technology, which will improve on Proterra’s industry-leading energy systems with greater energy storage capacity and higher power density to enable increased range and faster charge times. Since 2016, the Proterra and LG engineering teams have been collaborating to maximize cell performance to meet the stringent requirements of commercial vehicle markets. Proterra’s new battery-electric transit vehicle, the Proterra ZX5, can now be equipped with 675 kWh of energy, the most energy storage of any 40-foot electric bus available in the market today.

Thank you, John for the conversation! We look forward to following Proterra’s continued growth in Canada!

Stay tuned for more conversations on this topic and opportunities to invest and expand your business within the Toronto Region.

Introducing the 2021 PropTech in Canada Report

Michael Keoshkerian — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 19:59:00 +0000

“Toronto PropTech has the most cranes in the sky than any other city in North America” is a line you may have heard floating around the past couple years. For those outside of the construction and real estate industry, this might seem far-fetched. “What about Chicago, Los Angeles, or even New York City?” is a common response. Well, it’s true. The Toronto Region has and continues to be home to the highest number of cranes at 124, almost a third of the total amount in North America.

This number is just the first indicator of a broad sector that often flies underneath the radar of other, flashier industries – PropTech. While the Toronto Region has long been known as a centre of finance, software development, and even mining, the Prop Tech sector is less obvious.

It (property technology) is a sector that focuses on the intersection of real estate and technology. It encompasses software platforms that inform property managers on the status of physical buildings and assets, hardware devices that can offer safety and security to tenants, and even cross over onto segments like renewable energy, climate change, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.

Yet this is something that is beginning to change, and Toronto and Canada’s strengths in our talent, diversity, open immigration, and innovation are bringing forward property technology to even greater prominence and its booming with opportunity.

The inaugural 2021 PropTech in Canada Report is an exciting demonstration of the sector’s increasing recognition and importance. Created by the Canadian property technology Collective, this report examines the landscape via interviews with key players, an analysis of emerging trends, and shares insights into the Canadian real estate industry.

The 2021 PropTech in Canada Report highlights three trends.

First, Canada has a growing tech and property technology ecosystem via our globally recognized academic institutions, our venture capital and affiliated incubators and accelerators, and significantly by Toronto’s status as a massive hub of traditional real estate and construction companies.

Second, we are not just growing our own property technology startups, but serving as a landing pad for international companies attracted by our diverse talent, growth, and market size.

Third, despite Canada’s tendency for our traditional industries to adopt change a little more slowly than our southern neighbour, the strong opportunity for disruption is enabling PropTech business models to thrive.
The growth and impact of the property technology sector is leading the way toward a promising and exciting future in a post-COVID Canada. In collaboration with allies at Proptech Collective, Alate Partners, Colliers Proptech Accelerator, and other Canadian champions, Toronto Global is ready to support and welcome new companies in choosing Toronto as a place to expand and thrive.

About PropTech

Similar to the Toronto Region’s motto of “This is Big,” when people think of North America, and even globally, about which major cities are leading the PropTech industry, we can confidently say that what we’re building here is bigger than all the rest.

Read the full report here.