Margo Crawford is a Canadian thought leader on small and mid-sized enterprises (SME), including SME leadership, succession and strategy. She values knowledge sharing and often speaks both as a key note speaker and panelist for national events.

As the founder and CEO of the Business Sherpa Group (BSG), a business management solutions company, she has grown BSG to support over 400 small and mid-sized businesses throughout Canada and internationally by building a team of strategic and operational professionals who provide flexible consulting services in HR, finance leadership, bookkeeping, managed recruitment, executive search and strategic leadership/governance.

Prior to BSG, Margo was co-founder of Meriton Networks, an optical telecom start-up, and was instrumental in building a company with locations around the world, raising over $75M in equity financing and expansion strategies through M&A. She currently sits on the Boards of Digital Opportunity Trust, the Ottawa Network for Education and the Canadian Museum of Nature Foundation. She is a member of the ICD Executive Committee – Ottawa Chapter, the Venture Development Committee of Invest Ottawa and the Ottawa Board of Trade SME Council. She mentors several business peer groups and individual CEOs’ who are scaling and transitioning their businesses. Margo was named Business Woman of the Year, Women’s Business Network and HR Professional of the Year by the HR Vision Awards.

Expertise

• Business Strategy
• Organization Design
• HR Strategy
• Business Insights Planning
• Succession Planning
• Leadership Mentoring & Effectiveness
• Team Development

Education and Certifications

• Institute of Corporate Directors, ICD.D
• Directors Education Program – Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
• Masters of Business Administration (MBA) – Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa
• Bachelor of Arts (Honours) – Carleton University

Board Activities

• Board Member, Digital Opportunity Trust (Co-chair of Governance & HR Committee)
• Board Member, Ottawa Network for Education (ONFE) (Chair of Governance Committee)
• Board Member, Canadian Museum of Nature Foundation (founding Director)
• Member, Invest Ottawa’s Venture Development Committee
• Corporate Secretary, Meriton Networks
• Steering Committee Member, WCT – Catalyst Protégé Project
• Board Member and President, Nakkertok Nordic Cross Country Ski Club
• Board Member, NECTAR Foundation

Awards

• Business Woman of the Year Award, Entrepreneur Category, Women’s Business Network, Ottawa
• Human Resources Professional of the Year, Vision Awards, Ottawa
• Ottawa University Hugette Labelle Public Policy Forum, Academic Research Paper Award