Cathy Bennett

Entrepreneur and Director, Benco Investments St. John’s, NL

Cathy Bennett is an award-winning former CEO and seasoned entrepreneur. Cathy’s focus today is innovation and growth. With over 35 years of business leadership, her own company Bennett Group of Companies grew from a small group of service businesses to operations in commercial and industrial construction, industrial manufacturing, human resource support, service, retail, industrial supply, and real estate investments and operations.

Cathy has served on numerous private and public corporate boards with interests in energy, technology, natural resources, manufacturing, industrial construction, real estate and business services. She is currently an Independent Board Director with Vigilant Management, Marathon Gold and the Business Development Bank of Canada, as well as TaskForceNL.

Focused on supporting start-ups, Cathy is an Associate Fellow with the Creative Destruction Lab, a Board member with PropelICT, Atlantic Canada’s Virtual Accelerator, a member of the advisory board for the Women’s Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH) and former Director, Coralus (SheEO).

Cathy is also Co-Founder and General Partner of Sandpiper Ventures, one of the first venture funds in Canada investing in women-led companies at the seed stage a venture capital firm, and among the first all-woman GP national funds in Canada. Sandpiper Ventures SP Fund 1 is the second largest women-led fund in Canada, first on the east coast.

She has served as a Member of the Newfoundland & Labrador House of Assembly serving in Cabinet as Minister of Finance, President of Treasury Board, Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, and the Office of the Chief Information Officer.