Dene Rogers is a Principal at Halifax West where he provides advisory services to clients and actively works with portfolio companies of the firm.

Before joining Halifax West, Dene was CEO of several major consumer companies including Target Australia, RadioShack, and Sears Canada. In each of these roles, Dene delivered superior results to shareholders and his team constantly innovated and created new businesses. At Sears over a period of 6 years, Dene and his team increased EBITDA approximately 60%, reduced debt by approx. $1.5 billion, and paid out dividends of approximately $2.7 billion.

Dene was also co-founder and CEO of several successful startups including BuildXACT, UpMarket and Biosenta. BuildXACT is a SaaS platform that operates in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand; Biosenta developed a nano particle that replaces several carcinogenic chemicals and is a public company, and UpMarket is envisioned to become a national retailer over time.

Prior to being a CEO, Dene was a C-level executive including at GE Capital where he led global business development activities involving numerous large acquisitions and JV’s; at Starwood Hotels where he led strategy, development and franchising activities during a period when the W Hotels was created and the Westin brand was rejuvenated; and, at Kmart during the first 3 years of its post-bankruptcy when EBITDA improved by approx. $3.5 billion over a 3-year period.

Dene started out his career as an engineer and worked in several countries, including Japan for 3 years. His education includes an MS from the University of Oxford and an MBA from Yale University.