Ryan Holmes

A serial entrepreneur, Ryan Holmes started his first business in high school and quickly opened a string of ventures, from a pizza restaurant to a digital media agency, before founding Hootsuite in 2008. As CEO he has helped to grow Hootsuite into the world’s most widely used social relationship platform, with 15-million-plus users, including more than 800 Fortune 1000 companies. Holmes is an active investor and advisor, whose Maple Syrup Mafia syndicate is dedicated to accelerating Canadian startups. A future enthusiast (with a love of VR) and the inventor of a low-cost standing desk, he’s a hacker at heart: always looking for easier, better and more efficient ways to solve problems. As a supporter of socially conscious ventures, Holmes is proud to have steered Hootsuite to B-Corp status, a distinction awarded to leading for-profit companies with a social and environmental mission. Through his foundation, The Next Big Thing, he also offers fellowships and mentoring to tomorrow’s brightest entrepreneurs. He is widely recognized as an authority on digital transformation, entrepreneurship and social media. His insights are shared in publications such as Fortune, Fast Company and the Wall Street Journal. Holmes ranks as one of the top 20 global Influencers on LinkedIn and a leading CEO influencer on Facebook and Twitter.