Michael Tamblyn Email Address

Chief Executive Officer

Kobo Inc is a online retail store which supplies e-books, audiobooks, e-readers and tablet computers.

Michael is CEO of Rakuten Kobo, one of Canada’s great startup success stories. From its founding in Toronto in 2009, Kobo now operates in 24 countries as one of the world’s largest ebook retailers and device manufacturers. It was acquired by Rakuten, Japan’s ecommerce giant, in 2012. A member of the founding executive team in 2009, Michael became President in 2014 and CEO in 2016, as well as joining the board of OverDrive, the world leader in ebook services for libraries. Driving growth, profitability, acquisitions and international expansion in a fiercely competitive market, he combines a passion for reading with a deep focus on hardware and software experiences and building a global eReading ecosystem that allows Kobo to collaborate with the world’s best retailers. A passionate and engaging presenter, Michael speaks internationally on innovation in Canada, digital media and surviving the transition from startup to scale-up. He advises startups focused on aging+technology as Chief Entrepreneur of Age-Well NCE, is on the board of the Law Commission of Ontario, Ontario’s law reform body, and has been featured in The New Yorker, Wired, Canadian Business, National Post, Globe and Mail and The New York Times. Writing, Speeches, Podcast, Mailing List -> https://www.michaeltamblyn.com Other strengths: Good cook, above-average dancer, skis when it's cold, mountain bikes when it's hot, lifts heavy objects, a boxer with more enthusiasm than skill, champion bedtime-story-reader (emeritus), resistant to cold. Weaknesses: book hoarder, impulse purchaser of luggage, poor cable management.