Kyle MacDonald

Kyle is a graduate of the IVEY School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. In 1987, she started Phoenix Interactive Design Inc. with 2 employees and entered the high-stakes world of competitive and fast-moving software technology. 

As the visionary and dynamic founder behind Phoenix, which was headquartered in London, Ontario, Canada, Kyle grew her business to an international scale and opened offices in Mississauga, Ontario, Charlotte, North Carolina, Edinburgh, Scotland and Sydney, Australia. In the self-service banking industry, Kyle is recognized as a visionary and disrupter to the status quo. Her passion and no-nonsense approach to making smart business decisions have earned the respect and admiration of her team, her peers and her competitors.

Prior to selling Phoenix to Diebold-Nixdorf, a large multi-national corporation in 2015, Phoenix supplied innovative software solutions to some of the largest banks and retailers around the world; in Canada to BMO Bank of Montreal and TD Canada Trust, in the US to Publix Supermarkets, Bank of America, Fifth Third Bank and M&T Bank, in Europe to Danske Bank and ABN AMRO and in Australia to Westpac Bank.

In 2006, Kyle was recognized and awarded with the prestigious RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award for her vision and direction, taking her company from a local to global software leader. Again in 2014, Kyle was the recipient of the RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award, recognizing her for sustained exponential growth and momentum.

Under Kyle’s entrepreneurial leadership, her company won numerous accolades and awards including:

• Deloitte Fast 50 (Canada) 
• Deloitte Fast 500 (North America) 
• Ontario Global Traders Award 
• London Chamber of Commerce Business Achievement Award & Most Innovative Company

True to her entrepreneurial roots, Kyle founded Harbour Grace Group Inc., in 2015 and has been involved in multiple new international business ventures,  including being a former Strategic Investor in AIRIA Brands, a leading London-based manufacturer of ventilation/air quality solutions under the well-known brand of LIFEBREATH, and the current owner of Eglin County’s oldest winery – Quai du Vin Estate Winery.

Kyle has always remained passionate towards giving back to the community in numerous ways. To help less fortunate young Canadian students pursue world-class post-secondary education, Kyle established scholarships at her former Toronto high school, at the University of Western Ontario and at Brescia College. Most recently Kyle provided the largest single private donation ever made to the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation to help support the Veterans residing at Parkwood Hospital and to help further research in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.