Kevin Higgins works with clients on business
vision and strategy, marketing, and management response to serious corporate challenges.
He has twenty years experience as a technology company entrepreneur in the roles of company
founder, marketer, and CEO.
Since 2000, Kevin has co-founded two companies in the Internet portal market space:
InternetSwitch Inc. and CivicLife.com Inc. InternetSwitch is a start-up exploring
opportunities in the personal context management segment. CivicLife.com is focused
on e-government portals and has developed original software IP which it owns jointly
with the Government of Canada. As CivicLife's CEO, Kevin raised $750 thousand in a
seed round from private investors in Canada and the U.S. He established Canadian
and U.S. operations including office and datacentre facilities, a market identity,
and a team of 20 technology professionals, in one quarter.
In 1984, Kevin co-founded Linktek Corporation, which later became FreeBalance Inc.
As Executive Vice-President of Linktek, Kevin led the company's marketing, sales and
delivery teams and established the FreeBalance Financials product as the leader in
its chosen market.
In 1997, Kevin secured a $2.7 million VC investment in FreeBalance. As FreeBalance CEO,
he re-positioned the company for growth in the global e-government marketplace, launching
an innovative $4.2 billion giveaway of 80,000 free Y2K financial system safety net CDs and
an integrated third-party Solution Provider program. These initiatives drove the company
to its most successful year for revenue and profit results to that point.
Prior to FreeBalance, Kevin enjoyed a progressive eight-year consulting career at SHL
Systemhouse Inc. in Canada and the U.S. where he completed many projects for public and
private sector clients.
Kevin is a graduate of Carleton University with a B.Sc. in Physics. He sits on the
board of directors of the Institute on Governance, a public policy think-tank, and
is a member of committees of the Sprott School of Business, the Ottawa Hospital
Foundation, and the Canada Dance Festival. Kevin is a founding member of the OCRI
Zone5ive Marketing Technology Forum and a past presenter at Zone5ive. He runs
marathons for fun.
