Our Featured Guest for Sunday, May 4, 2025 is Louis Belanger-Martin
Imagine how boring air travel would be if we there were no entertainment options! Meet the man who solved this problem we once had! Louis Belanger-Martin the visionary co-founder of DTI Software who helped transform the flying experience by pioneering in-flight entertainment as we know it. From the first flicker of a boring flight to Washington D.C., Louis saw an opportunity where others saw nothing and turned it into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Hear how it all started with one frustrating flight, why it took eight years to convince airlines to care, and how Louis now backs the next generation of founders through purpose-driven investing.
Louis is a pragmatic and decisive C-level executive and Board Member with 18+ years of leadership experience building highly successful multimillion dollar organization from concept, directing substantial growth, and streamlining operations.
He is also the co-founder of Group W Investments, a private equity fund based in Montreal, Canada. The firm is run by entrepreneurs, investing in other entrepreneurs. A significant portion of W Investments’ capital was invested by the five founders, which provides a true alignment of interests with their investors. They leverage their extensive network to create opportunities and support our portfolio companies. The firm targets minority positions in businesses with at least $30M in enterprise value. invests in mainly two asset classes: private equity and real estate. They diversify in two asset classes – namely, in private equity, they target traditional, industrial, and manufacturing companies just as much as technology companies. In real estate, they seek to participate in residential, commercial, and industrial projects while also aiming for geographical diversification.
He is currently the CFO of Smilze & Dream, an ice cream brand founded by his wife Tyra Banks. Smilze is the ice cream with a hidden, yummy SMiZE Surpize inside every cup & cone.
As a strategic and calculated risk taker, he has demonstrated success in financial analysis, business development, market penetration, operations management, product design/development, and sales/license contract negotiations. Louis is known as a strategic and visionary leader with an ability to adapt to uncertainty and change achieving established corporate goals and objectives. Read more at: https://winvestments.ca/ and at https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-b-martin-cpa-08a83b1/
OUR ENTREPRENEUR PRESENTERS:
Matthew Cifelli is a Physical Therapist and the founder of Attain Physical Therapy, the national leader in rehab services partnering in senior housing communities & outpatient locations, serving New York, New Jersey and Florida. Attain PT is a professional private practice offering an array of services including: physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, home care and partner with assisted living facilities to provide services directly in-house. Blending the expertise and experience of leading therapists in the industry with state-of-the-art equipment and the latest treatment protocols, Attain ensures that every patient feels valued, confident and involved on their road to recovery. Matthew and Attain were recently named one of New Jersey’s Businesses of the Year by NJ Biz Newspaper.
The Attain Management partnership program offers Physical Therapists access to a team of professional who specialize in establishing new clinics from the ground-up. Their program gives Physical Therapists access to the tools necessary to setup their own brand-new state-of-the-art practice. Attain Management conducts a full market analysis in ensuring that realistic goals are set in place. Attain Management will oversee all aspects of the new site including architectural review, construction, medical supply setup and compliance. Once you partner with Attain your relationship with your team manager will continue to grow as you expand on additional sites and recruit new staff. Read more at: https://www.attain-pt.com/
Tanya Taylor is a Financial Coach, Author, TEDx Speaker, and the founder and CEO of Grow Your Wealth, a financial education platform which help women achieve confidence managing their finances so that they can build wealth and retire worry-free. Tanya infuses her knowledge from learning and teaching about wealth building, with her 24 years on Wall Street in the banking and insurance industries in accounting and risk, bringing together perspectives and insights from a variety of roles, working for organizations such as Deloitte, Goldman Sachs, Moody’s Investor Service, New York Life and The Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Tanya specializes in speaking on a range of impactful topics, including personal finance, empowerment, and inspiration, as well as navigating long-term disability. In her recent TEDx talk, Dreams to Disability: How to Financially Prepare for the Unexpected, she addressed the critical but often-overlooked need for financial preparedness in the face of sudden disability. This presentation highlights her commitment to helping individuals overcome challenges and build resilience, combining practical strategies with empowering messages to inspire meaningful action. It has garnered over 500k views in the past 7 months which is a testament to the need to have these discussions.
Tanya has been featured in publications such as Business Insider and Black Enterprise, sharing her story from an undocumented immigrant as an impoverished Jamaican traveling to the U.S. alone at 16 to capitalizing on the opportunity to build wealth and changing the trajectory of her and her family’s lives. Read more at: https://growyourwealth10x.com/