James Quigley

James is the Co-Founder and CEO of Canvas, a cloud-based software service and mobile app platform that enables businesses to replace expensive and inefficient paper forms and processes with customizable mobile apps for smartphones and tablets, with no programming or IT required. James is also the Co-Founder of Refraction, a collaborative coworking community in Reston Town Center that brings together tech startups, non-profits and artists. Canvas has provided the financial backing and resources needed to start Refraction and was Refraction’s founding member.
As the visionary behind Canvas, James says the goal of the company is, “To dynamically change how business data is shared and how people connect.” James has a long history of building successful wireless companies. Prior to Canvas, James was Vice President and Managing Director at inCode Wireless, which was later acquired by VeriSign. Other successful start-ups include Aether Systems, Orbcomm, and Peak Technologies (formerly a division of R.R. Donnelley). James has won numerous awards, including being named as one of the 2012 “Top 50 CEO’s,” by the Center for Innovative Technology, was named one of the top 20 global executives in his field by CLO Magazine and the World Supply Chain Forum, was named one of the top 15 DC start-up CEO’s to follow on Twitter. In 2007 his team designed and delivered a mobile solution that was used for tracking deadly global pandemics an application that utlimately won the Motorola Wireless Solution of the Year Award.
James sits on the Board at LetsGiveBack.org, is a partner in the experiment Refraction – a place for start-ups, designers, artists and not-for-profits to create, collaborate and work together as well advises several prominent start-ups and business leaders. James is a former U.S. Naval Reserve Officer and a graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy. When not at work, James enjoys listening to music of all types, running, spending time with his wildly precocious children and attending events that celebrate the intersection of technology and art.