Jean-François Gagné

Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Honoree
2018

Co-Founder & CEO
Element AI

Jean-François Gagné is a veteran AI entrepreneur and former Chief Product Officer and Chief Innovation Officer at JDA Software, where he was the youngest global C-Level Executive of a top-20 Enterprise Software company. He has founded and successfully exited two companies, represented Canada as a Technology Investment Champion Speaker for Global Affairs, and is a sought-after expert for educating top-level management about the impact of AI on industry. In October 2016, Jean-François co-founded Element AI. Born out of an AI research lab connected to the world’s top academic institutions, Element AI is an artificial intelligence company that turns cutting-edge research into scalable solutions that make businesses safer, stronger, and more agile. In June 2017, JF spearheaded Element AI’s Series A fundraising round of $102M USD, the largest Series A for any AI startup to date, just seven months after launching. In less than two years, the company has grown from an 8-person operation to over 350 employees located in 5 hubs (Montreal, Toronto, London, Seoul, and Singapore). Jean-François is an outspoken advocate of AI for Good and is a thought leader on the implications of AI's impact on business, people, and society. He acts as an advisor to the Canadian and European governments on the safe development of AI and is the only current Canadian board member of the prestigious Partnership on AI. Jean-François is a Montreal native and is engaged on the local level as a member of the Calcul Québec Board, which supports the province’s high-performance computing research infrastructure, and is an avid supporter of the Montreal startup scene.