Sponsors

Shobhit Shanker, Principal

M. Eng., P. Eng, MBA

Shobhit is an entrepreneur and an investor in Small Medium Businesses (SMBs). He and his wife and business partner Renee acquired North American Decal Inc. (NAD) in March 2023 as a 100% shares transaction from the previous ownership family. Shobhit has former experience of 15 years as a Professional Engineer and a Senior Project Manager at Kinectrics Inc., which is a privately held market leader in specialized engineering, machining, testing, project management, and high value consulting services to nuclear power generators globally.

  • Coming from a strong technical and operational background, Shobhit augmented his experience with an MBA to gain a better appreciation for the key business drivers that influence decision making in any company. With this increased breadth of knowledge, he can confidently connect the day-to-day operational decisions to higher level business drivers seamlessly.

    Shobhit lives in Toronto with Renee, their 4-year-old son, and dog. Outside of work, he enjoys the outdoors, reading, sports (running, hiking, yoga, basketball, tennis), Zen meditation and spending time with friends and family.

Renee Willmon, Principal

M.Sc.

Renee is a strategic consultant with a passion for making complex ideas clear and actionable. With technical roots in real-world evidence (RWE), patient-generated data, and digital health innovation, her last corporate role was serving as the Senior Director, RWE at Alira Health, a Top 10 Forbes’ World’s Best Management Consulting Firms in Life Sciences and Pharma. She now applies her unique blend of scientific rigor and human-centered insight as the Founder and Principal consultant of Emberlyn.

  • Renee has experience on both the sell-side and buy-side of acquisitions of businesses ranging in maturity from technology start-ups to multi-generational companies in established industries. She has expertise in the development of partnerships amongst diverse stakeholders to unlock ecosystem value, and she has delivered programs and projects in multiple languages and regulatory environments spanning North America and Europe.

    A former forensic anthropologist and investigator, Renee specialized in the application of medical imaging technology to identify human remains in the context of evolutionary health research and solving crimes. This background offers her a unique lens to creatively identify key enabling characteristics within people and processes across diverse businesses.

    Born in Calgary, Renee now lives in Toronto with her husband and business partner, Shobhit, their 4-yr-old son, and Australian Shepherd. In addition to her business pursuits, she enjoys playing the flute and piccolo in the Hart House Orchestra and other community ensembles, riding horses, gardening, baking sourdough, and spending time in the mountains every chance she gets.

John Seiffer, Advisor

B.A. Leadership & Motivation

John Seiffer is a serial entrepreneur and seasoned CEO coach who has founded, operated, and advised multiple companies since 1979. Drawing on decades of firsthand experience building and scaling organizations, he focuses on helping business owners develop the leadership systems and management discipline required for sustainable growth.

A founding member and past president of the International Coach Federation (ICF), John has been coaching entrepreneurs and CEOs since 1994. His approach integrates strategic clarity with operational rigor. This enables leaders to create companies that perform reliably without depending on any single individual.

Shashank Sharma,
Operator in Residence

P. Eng

Shashank is a Professional Engineer (P.Eng) with a multidisciplinary background spanning design engineering, project controls, and process improvement across the nuclear, energy, and manufacturing sectors. He joined North American Decal Inc. (NAD) in 2025 as Director of Business Services and Chief of Staff, where he applies analytical and systems-driven methods to optimize corporate operations, production efficiency, and product pricing. Prior to joining NAD, Shashank spent over five years at Kinectrics Inc., advancing through technical and leadership roles in project controls, procurement engineering, and medical isotope facility design for complex nuclear projects supporting Bruce Power.

  • His experience at Kinectrics strengthened his ability to integrate engineering rigor, regulatory compliance, and financial oversight in high-stakes industrial environments.

    At Same Sky Capital, Shashank embodies the firm’s operations-first philosophy—combining the precision of an engineer with the entrepreneurial curiosity of a builder. His focus on scalable systems and disciplined execution helps position NAD for sustainable, long-term growth as a world-class manufacturing platform.

    Shashank lives in the Greater Toronto Area and enjoys exploring new technologies, continuous learning, and spending time with family and friends.

Thishan Sivaneswaran, Investment & Operations Intern

B.Com Student,
Rotman School of Management,
University of Toronto

Thishan supports Same Sky Capital’s investment and operating activities across sourcing, valuation, and due diligence of prospective acquisitions. Thishan has led valuation and financial modelling for small and medium-sized business acquisitions. He has developed lender-ready materials, recast financials, and built a comprehensive target list of 400+ North American companies using AI-driven sourcing tools.

He also contributes to the ongoing growth of North American Decal Inc., the firm’s first platform company, by advancing digital and commercial initiatives that strengthen operational scalability.