Sean Kavanagh

Sean
LI

Bachelor of Commerce, Major in Fiance • McGill University

Bio

Sean is a dynamic management professional with several years of experience spanning venture capital, private equity, management consulting, and start-ups.

Born and raised in the Montreal area, Sean graduated from McGill University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Finance. Sean joined a young restaurant franchise post-graduation, where he was immediately exposed to the nature of start-ups and worked across several roles including operations, business development, and treasury. Sean co-led the chain’s turnaround until its acquisition two years later, at which point he moved to Toronto and joined a boutique private equity firm. In this role, Sean had the opportunity to support a mid-market portfolio company in the recycling industry.

In time, the recycling company was forced to liquidate due to the inability to secure funding. The experience convinced Sean that a critical gap continues to exist between cleantech ventures and access to capital. Sean briefly worked in management consulting, supporting clients across North America with operations implementation, before ultimately deciding to return to school in pursuit of his MScSM and foster his deep interest in impact investing. Prior to beginning his graduate studies, Sean completed an internship at Efficiency Capital, an investor and developer of retrofit projects for large buildings, where he helped the team to secure major funding with the Canada Infrastructure Bank.

Most recently, Sean completed a summer internship in 2022 with BDC Capital’s Cleantech Practice. In this role, he helped develop the fund’s impact report and collaborated on an ESG guide to assist the fund’s various portfolio companies. Sean was additionally involved with deal teams for closed transactions across the summer, while simultaneously supporting both the Fund Investments team at BDC Capital as well as Propulsion Quebec, a provincial cluster for smart and electric transportation.

Outside of school, Sean can be found playing soccer, long-distance running, or around the City of Toronto in search of his next favourite restaurant.

Sean's MScSM Internship: Cleantech Practice

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Sean's Research Poster

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