About the Montreal Junto

The first Junto society was founded in the early 1700s by Benjamin Franklin in his adoptive home town of Philadelphia. Its purpose was to debate questions of morals, politics, and science, while also exchanging knowledge of business affairs. It was as a result of this format that the first public hospital, library and fire department (among others) was founded in the United States.

The Montreal Junto is run by a group of Montreal-area professionals in fields as diverse as hedge fund management, law, biotechnology, accountancy, forestry, IT  and film. We are blessed to count among our members entrepreneurs, artists, and volunteers who, as a group, contribute regularly to the well-being of Montrealers and people in other societies worldwide.

The group meets on the last Wednesday of each month with a two-fold goal:

1. To share our diverse experiences with one another via structured learning to enable us to build our personal networks, spot opportunities for advancement, and collaborate on projects.
2. To identify and act upon opportunities in Montreal that assist in the education and employment of its residents.

In the long term, we hope to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and expertise, and for collaboration to develop university scholarships, mentoring opportunities and community support. Mr. Franklin described our philosophy well:

“As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and  generously.”

– Benjamin Franklin [1706-1790]

We hope sincerely that you will enjoy your visit to our place on the web and would love to hear from you. The Montreal Junto was co-founded in 2008 by Travis Chalmers and Nicolas Dang.

Click here to download our backgrounder.