Our Leadership

 

Our Canadian founder and CEO, David Y. Smith, has over 25 years experience driving change from executive positions in large companies, start-ups, non-profits, and social enterprises, in Canada, US, and internationally. He has started 4 com

panies and has consulted for many types of organizations in the private, NGO, and public sector. David has been on the Board of Advisors for 2 ecommerce startups, was with a Northern California tech startup that raised US$60 million and won best of show at CES, and has helped drive 5 emerging trends from niche to mainstream.

Putting his undergraduate degree in environmental science to use, he has helped to make companies, sectors, and value chains in North America and in their global supply chains more socially responsible and environmentally sustainable and transparent, as an employee, advisor, and a consultant.

He conceived of Elderberry.work through his own experiences and those of his peer group, knowing that they have a lot of value still to create as they age, and his enjoyment of collaborating with start-ups and businesses of all sizes.

 

Below is a quick overview of his experience. For more details, see David's LinkedIn page.

 

 

 

Our Backstory

 This short video explains the origins and intent of our social enterprise   

 

 

Elderberry.work is a Social Enterprise

We help people age 45+ and businesses as our path to making profits. We aim to create many new opportunities for both those groups, and to put/keep as much money in their pockets as we can. There are 3 elements to our social purpose:

1. We aim to be an influencer in helping businesses to overcome ageism. We engage in thoughtleadership and feature jobs from age-friendly companies. By doing this, we expect to significantly improve opportunities for age 45+ businesspeople, satisfying their respective motivations - be they purpose, activity, engagement, legacy, or financial.

2. We want to help foster a stronger entreprenuerial culture by enabling start-ups, small, and medium-sized businesses to overcome their biggest challenges. The functional expertise of our age 45+ freelancers will help breed new generations of successful entrepreneurs.

3. We also provide an excellent opportunity for age 45+ businesspeople from underserved communities and recent arrivals in Canada to market themselves to efficiently find potential business clients, and for entrepreneurs of any age from those communities to easily find the experience to help them launch and improve their businesses in Canada.