Gianni Creta

Co-Founder

Gianni is one of the founding members of Inspire and continues to participate in its efforts to help empower and inspire youth. Gianni currently holds the position of President and CEO of ENVI Network. ENVI Is a municipally owned entity in the Town of Newmarket whose goal is to build a fibre network to help service the local community. Gianni graduated from the University of Toronto Computer Engineering program and holds a Bachelor of Applied Science and Engineering.

Lawrence LaPianta

Co-Founder

Lawrence is a founding member of Inspire North. With 20 years of production location scouting experience, Lawrence took over the former 1910 Dominion Bank in the Portlands – turning it into his dream counter-service barbecue joint and named it Cherry St BBQ. Today, Lawrence competes and judges on some of the largest barbecue competitions alongside some of the world’s best – including the Kansas City Barbeque Society. Lawrence holds a BSc from the University of Toronto.

Luciano Volpe

Co-founder

Luciano is a founding member of Inspire North and contributes to much of the strategic growth for the organization. He acts as Managing Partner of SLV International which owns and manages food and non-food brands and executes national and international distribution (Latin America, Europe and Asia) at retail and food service. He also lectures at the University of Toronto with a focus on International Business and Marketing. Luciano also remains involved in the community as an active mentor to UofT and York University students in Toronto. A conceptual thinker, Luciano likes to ask questions, find a solution and ask questions again. And again.

luciano.volpe (at) inspirenorth.com

Rino Spano

Co-Founder

Rino is one of the co-founding members of Inspire North. Rino and his team of creative professionals oversee the marketing and communications on behalf of Inspire North. Rino is also active with mentoring student teams for each Inspire North speaker series event. Rino Is CEO of Casam, a group of companies specializing in creative services, real estate and development.

rino.spano (at) inspirenorth.com

Rob Grossi

Co-Founder

Rob co-founded Inspire North in 2011, with the goal of motivating youth to achieve their aspirations. Rob is the CEO of Coactuate, a healthcare focused international strategy consultancy.

Frank Colella

Co-Chair

Frank joined Inspire North as an undergraduate student where he helped launch the first University of Toronto event in 2013. Dedicated to the team’s mission, he now contributes to the development of the organization’s strategic direction. On a day-to-day basis, Frank works at RBC as a Digital Product Manager.

frank.colella (at) inspirenorth.com

James Lee Chiahan

Graphic Designer

Working closely with marketing & creative agency Casam Inc., James has helped build out much of Inspire North’s evolving visual identity over the years as well as handling its front-end web development. He is an award winning graphic designer as well as an avid fine artist and illustrator.

hi (at) jlee.ca

Christy Lundy

Illustrator

Christy Lundy is a Canadian illustrator, currently based in Toronto. With a background in designing locations for animated shows, Christy brings her love of environmental and character design to illustration. She’s inspired by printmaking, a good composition and mid-century modernism. Likes old cars, can’t drive.

hello (at) christylundy.com