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 Chris Fibiger Ph.D.
Until July 2007, Chris Fibiger was Vice President and Global Head of Neuroscience at Amgen. In this position he was responsible for Amgen’s worldwide Neuroscience discovery efforts ranging from early exploratory research through clinical candidate selection. Before joining Amgen in 2003, Chris served as Vice President of Neuroscience Discovery Research and Clinical Investigation at Eli Lilly. Before moving to Lilly in 1998, he served as Professor and Head of the Division of Neurological Sciences and Chair of the University Graduate Program in Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
Chris received his B.Sc. in Chemistry and Psychology from the University of Victoria in 1966 and his Ph.D. in Psychopharmacology from Princeton University in 1970. He has made numerous contributions to neuroscience research and, during his academic career, was among the top 100 most cited scientists in neuroscience. Chris serves on the editorial boards of ten journals in the field of neuroscience and has authored or coauthored more than 400 scientific papers focused mainly on the neurobiological substrates of Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, depression and drug abuse.
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 Jim Fletcher
Jim Fletcher is President of Northwest Venture Developments, which is dedicated to working closely with entrepreneurs to finance and develop successful businesses in North America. He frequently plays active CEO, CFO or other roles at various stages of development. He was the founding CEO of Vector 12, a VC-backed spin-out of semiconductor technology from the University of British Columbia from 2001 to 2002; a director of Angus Reid Group, Canada’s largest market research from 1994 to 2000; and CFO of Angus Reid from 1998 to 2000, where he managed the sale of that company to Ipsos S.A. of France.
From 1982 to 1990, Jim was a founding partner of Ventures West Management, Canada’s largest venture capital firm at the time, with specific responsibility for all institutional fund-raising and a number of early-stage technology companies. Jim is an active director of several not-for-profit and for-profit organizations in Canada and the United States, including BC Technology Social Venture Partners, Antarctica Systems, Recombo, Redlen Technologies and Lifespan Biosciences. He is also an active member of the Canadian angel investor community. |
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 Paul Geyer
Paul Geyer graduated with a B.Sc. in electrical engineering from the University of British Columbia in 1988. In 1991, he founded Mitroflow International, a medical device company that developed and commercialized bovine tissue heart valves. As the Company's President and CEO, Paul grew Mitroflow from a start-up of nine employees and an investment of $800,000 in 1991 to more than 125 employees in 1999, when he sold the Company to Sulzer Medica of Switzerland for more than $50 million.
In 1998, Paul received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Richmond Chamber of Commerce. In 1999, he was named as one of Business in Vancouver newspaper’s “Top 40 Under 40,” an award given to honour outstanding young businesspeople in the city of Vancouver. In 2001, Paul founded Medical Ventures (TSXV:MEV), a medical devices firm specializing in products for the quickly growing vascular and surgical market. Paul is the Chairman of the Board of Medical Ventures and Chairman of the Board of Governors of Science World British Columbia. |
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 Richard Glickman
Richard Glickman co-founded Aspreva Pharaceuticals with Noel Hall and Michael Hayden after serving together on the board of the Canadian Genetic Disease Network. The three co-founders were frustrated at the lack of medicine development for rare diseases. Aspreva's business model was to overcome this problem by targeting drugs already on the market. Richard served as Aspreva’s Chairman and CEO. Under his leadership, Aspreva signed a major licensing deal with Roche Holding AG for the anti-rejection drug CellCept. Aspreva was then acquired by the Galencia Group for US$915 million in October 2007.
Prior to Aspreva, Richard was a co-founder and CEO of Stressgen, where he grew the company from startup to a major biotechnology player with a market capitalization over $500 million. Previously, Richard was the founder and director of Ontario Molecular Diagnostics, a diagnostic facility that evolved into the largest molecular diagnostic laboratory in Canada. He also co-founded Probtec, a rational drug design and molecular genetics firm where, as Vice-president of Corporate Development, he established and introduced the first licensed DNA-based forensic and paternity testing services into Canada. Richard received both Canada’s and British Columbia’s Top 40 under 40 Awards for entrepreneurs.
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 David Goodkin MD, FACP
David A. Goodkin is Acting Executive VP and Chief Medical Officer of Xenon Pharmaceuticals, a position he has held since February 2007. He serves on the Board of Directors of Urodynamix Technologies, in Vancouver. From 2002 to 2007, he was Senior VP and Chief Medical Officer of ICOS Corp, source of the blockbuster impotence drug Cialis. Prior to ICOS, David spent ten years at Amgen. As VP, Clinical Research he supervised the team leaders for all clinical programs internationally and contributed to the success of Epogen, Aranesp, and Sensipar.
David received an AB degree from Dartmouth College and his MD from the State University of New York. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Miami and fellowship training in nephrology at Temple University and Albert Einstein Medical Center. From 1985 until 2002, Dr. Goodkin practiced nephrology and internal medicine.
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 Anne Graham
Anne Graham began her career as an account manager with technology companies, including NCR and Digital Equipment, achieving President’s Club recognition annually. She subsequently transferred to Vancouver, where she quickly returned a troubled division to profitability.
Anne now leads Graham and Associates, a consulting firm focused on helping CEOs and their teams become self-sufficient in building highly profitable companies. She pursues research dedicated to discovering how to build high-performance value-based companies as an Executive in Residence at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia, and is regularly invited to teach in the MBA and PhD programs. She is an Advisory Board member of the UBC Faculty Certification Program and of Ingenia Training, and is a past board member of the University of British Columbia Business Families Centre, past Vice-Chair of the Burnaby Board of Trade, and past Chair of the Burnaby Business Excellence Awards.
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 Mark Grambart
Mark Grambart is the CEO of Pherotech Industries - a clean tech company that develops and commercializes non-toxic products for the pet and pest management markets. Raised and educated on Vancouver Island, Mark’s professional experience includes roles with Mercedes-Benz and JM Huber that lead him through Germany, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States. After completing his MBA from the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland, Mark was recruited by American engineered–materials giant JM Huber where, as vice president and general manager of Huber’s Industrial Business unit, he had direct responsibility for $170M in sales, 550 people and ten plants. In this role Grambart helped turn the business around, shifting from commodity to specialty, and growing the business by $20M in a declining market and more than tripling profits in two years.
Mark is an advisor to Starfish Medical and a director of VIATeC (Vancouver Island Association of Technology Companies). Mark is also a member of The Executive Committee – an international organization of more than 2,000 corporate CEOs and presidents dedicated to improving the quality and productivity of their organizations. In 2006, he was named one of the business community’s “Top 40 under 40” executives, and his company Contech was named “VIATeC Member of the Year.”
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 Jim Heppell
Jim is President and Partner of BC Advantage (VCC) Funds, a venture fund focused on financing early stage life science, clean tech and technology companies. Jim focuses on the Funds' life science investments.
Jim was co-founder, CEO and Fund Manager of the Advantage Life Science Fund I, which received the “2006 Deal of the Year” Award from the Canada Venture Capital Association for having the highest realized return of any Canadian venture fund that year (23.4X its investment in Aspreva Pharmaceuticals). ALSFI has also posted the highest five year returns of any retail venture fund in Canada. Over the last 20 years, Jim has acted as a director, officer or advisor to approximately one-third of the life science companies that have spun out of BC universities. Jim is Chairman of the Board of Inovio Biomedical (AMEX: INO), director of Protox Pharmaceuticals (TSX: PRX) and Urodynamix Technologies (TSX-V: URO), and director of a number of private life science companies.
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 Mike Hewett
After receiving his education in Civil Engineering from Ryerson and Queen’s University, Mike Hewett started a multimedia company that produced interactive training CDs for the military and multilingual marketing CDs for tourism applications. The Company won the Apple Developer Award in 1995. In order to access the licensed bandwidths around the world MultiLang partnered with a Danish company and a new division was set up in a subsidiary company in California.
Relocating to Vancouver in 2003 he became VP of Corporate Development for a medical device company in Richmond. In December of 2004 Mike took on a position with WestLink Innovation Network, where he facilitated strategic partnering for the commercialization of technologies developed by the university tech transfer offices in the four western provinces.
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 Frank Holler
Frank Holler is Chief Executive Officer and Partner of BC Advantage Funds, a venture fund focused on early stage life science, clean tech and technology companies. Frank focuses his efforts on the Fund's life science investments.
Frank is an active investor and successful entrepreneur. He previously served as President & CEO of Xenon Pharmaceuticals, a private genomics-based drug development company, from 1999 to 2003; President & CEO of ID Biomedical, a vaccine development company sold to GlaxoSmithKline plc in 2005 for $1.6 billion, from 1991 to 1998; and a founding director of Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, a TSX/ NASDAQ listed biotechnology company from 1992 to 1997. Prior to working in biotechnology and healthcare, he was a Vice-President of Investment Banking with Merrill Lynch Canada and Wood Gundy (now CIBC World Markets).
Frank presently serves on the board of directors of Protox Therapeutics (Chairman), Emerillon Therapeutics (Chairman), Xenon Pharmaceuticals, Cantest, Allon Therapeutics, Providence Healthcare and Genome B.C. He was previously a director of the British Columbia Biotechnology Association from 1992 to 1998. Frank received the BC Biotech Award for Vision and Leadership in 2003. |
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 Victor Holysh
Victor Holysh, an experienced business development and operations executive, has successfully built organizations and managed new initiatives in international high-growth technology companies. From 1998 to 2003 Victor was based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he held various executive management positions with Retek, a provider of enterprise solutions to large retailers until its acquisition by Oracle in 2005. He also worked in Sierra Systems Toronto office from 1996-98, where he grew the North American financial systems implementation practice by more than 100%.
After returning to Vancouver in 2003, Victor was responsible for developing and growing Creo’s professional services business until Kodak’s acquisition of Creo in 2005 for $1.2 billion. More recently, he was COO at Loki Management Systems, a developer of workforce management software solutions. Victor holds a B.Sc. degree in Computer Science and an M.B.A., both from the University of Toronto, and is a member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. Currently Victor provides business development consulting services to local high-tech companies. |
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 Miljenko Horvat
Miljenko Horvat founded and currently directs Horvat Capital, a vehicle for private investments in technology companies and leveraged buyout acquisitions of middle-market companies. Miljenko is also a member of the Riverside Micro-Cap Investment Fund, a $150 million leveraged buyout fund focusing on fast growing private companies with $5 million to $25 million in revenue. Miljenko co-founded and was President and CEO of electronic newspaper delivery company, NewspaperDirect, from 1999 to 2003. During his time at NewspaperDirect, he grew the company from two to 60 employees, expanded its market presence to 65 companies and raised $12.5 million. The company is now valued at approximately $30 million.
Miljenko began his career in corporate finance in 1985 with Citibank in New York, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. Citibank appointed him Managing Director of Russia, where he established Citibank as a full service commercial bank and oversaw all of Citicorp’s private equity investments in Russia until 1999. Miljenko holds a MA in International Relations, with an international finance focus, from Yale University and is currently a member of the advisory board for the Maurice Young Center for Entrepreneurship at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia. |
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Doug Janzen
Doug Janzen joined Cardiome as Chief Financial Officer in January of 2003. Prior to Cardiome, Doug served as Managing Director - Health Sciences, and Partner at Sprott Securities, a Toronto based institutional Investment Bank. During his time there, Doug was instrumental in building Sprott's biotech practice, augmenting Sprott's position as a leading independent institutional brokerage. Before Sprott, Doug was Head of Research, and Senior Health Sciences Analyst at Loewen Ondaatje McCutcheon, another Toronto based Investment Bank. Doug has participated in more than $500 million in financings for Canadian life science companies.
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 Eric Jordan
Eric Jordan co-founded PureEdge Solutions, and served as its President and CEO from 1993 through 2002. During that time, the company became a profitable organization with over 70 employees with over five million users. In July 2005, IBM acquired PureEdge Solutions and the PureEdge Victoria office became IBM’s Victoria Software Development Lab. Prior to the acquisition, the company was named a “Venture AllStar”, “Top-Ten E-commerce Company”, “Ready to Rocket 25” and a "Company to Watch" by leading business technology publications and analysts.
Eric has been a keynote speaker at Harvard and numerous technology industry events. He was selected by Business in Vancouver for their "Top 40 Business People Under 40" award, by the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce for their Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, by the University of Victoria for their Distinguished Young Alumni award, and has been recognized by John Manley on behalf of the Canadian government as an Internet pioneer. Additionally, Eric serves on the Premier’s Technology Council, the BC Technology Industry Association Board and the BC Cancer Foundation’s Vancouver Island Advisory Board.
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 Ed Levy
In 1988, Ed joined the biotechnology company QLT. At QLT he worked in regulatory affairs and project management before becoming Vice President, Corporate Development in 1993, and Senior VP in 1998. In these roles he had responsibility for establishing, developing, and managing QLT’s strategic alliances, led strategic planning, and oversaw the intellectual property area.
At the end of 2002, Ed retired from QLT and became an adjunct professor at the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics at UBC. Ed is a member of the boards of several technology companies and sits on the Genome BC Ethics Advisory Committee. He serves as a member of the health sector advisory committee to the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. |
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 Angus Livingstone
Angus Livingstone is the Managing Director of the University-Industry Liaison Office of the University of British Columbia. He is also the President of the University's wholly-owned subsidiary, UBC Research Enterprises.
After graduation, he participated in the start-up of International Mining Services, a mining software company. In 1986, Angus returned to UBC as the Assistant Director in the Office of Research Services and in 1988, he joined the University-Industry Liaison Office where he has held a progression of positions relating to industry sponsored research and technology.
Angus serves on numerous boards including Inimex Pharmaceuticals, LIST Foundation, UBC Research Enterprises, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Trust, Webnames.CA, and WestLink Innovation Network. Angus chairs the UBC Technology Equity Management Committee and the Canadian University Intellectual Property Group.
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 Fahar Merchant Ph.D.
Fahar Merchant is the President and CEO of Protox Therapeutics, a Phase II biotechnology company at the forefront of developing novel treatments in the emerging field of targeted therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and other proliferative diseases.
In 1992, Fahar established Avicenna Medica, an Edmonton based biotechnology consulting firm with an international client base. In 2000, Avicenna in-licensed from GE Health and the U.S. National Institutes of Health exclusive worldwide rights for TransMID, a targeted toxin for the treatment of brain tumours. In 2001, he sold Avicenna to KS Biomedix (LSE), for $90 million and was appointed its Chief Technology Officer until 2002. He remained a member of its Board of Directors until its subsequent acquisition by Xenova (LSE and Nasdaq).
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 Amos Michelson
Amos Michelson was CEO of Creo from June 1995 until Kodak purchased Creo for $1.2 Billion in May 2005. Prior to joining Creo, Amos was CEO of Opal, a semi-conductor equipment company, and Chief Operating Officer of Optrotech, a developer and manufacturer of optical and imaging systems for the electronics industry. Amos is currently Chairman of three high-tech start-ups and director of an additional five high-tech companies in the areas of life sciences, energy, and Web 2.0.
Amos is a past member of the Premier’s Technology Council and in 1999 was named Entrepreneur of the Year, along with Dan Gelbart, by Ernst & Young. In 2005, he was named the “BCTIA Person of the Year”, an award presented to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the technology industry in BC during that year. Amos holds a Master of Business Administration from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
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Jim Miller Ph.D.
Jim Miller is the Managing Partner of NDI Capital, which manages the Neuro Discovery Limited Partnership, an institutional-backed venture capital fund. Originally a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, Jim was the founding President and CEO of QLT Inc. (1981 to 1991) and Inex Pharmaceuticals (1992 to 1999).
Jim is a director of a number of other private and public biotechnology companies including Inex Pharmaceuticals Corp., NeuroMed Pharmaceuticals, Gateway Income Trust, Medical Ventures and Protox Therapeutics.
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 Zeid Mohamedali M.D., Ph.D., FRCSC
Zeid Mohamedali is a consulting urologist at several hospitals in British Columbia with over 20 years of experience in medical research and clinical practice specializing in oncology and urology. A Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Zeid is board certified in Urology by the Medical Council of Canada.
He has received numerous awards and honors for his research from the American Urological Association, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Medical Research Council of Canada. Zeid is a director of Urodynamix Technologies and received his MD and PhD degrees from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia.
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 Erich Mohr
In 1995, Eric Mohr co-founded CroMedica, a Canadian based global, full service CRO with a strong focus on treating disorders of the central nervous system. CroMedica merged with PRA International in 2002 and Erik joined PRA as its Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer.
Eric is Chairman and CEO of Medgenesis Therapeutix, a biopharmaceutical company focused on utilizing convection enhanced delivery to deliver drugs with established safety and efficacy profiles for the treatment of serious central nervous system disease. |
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 Robert Neal
Robert Neal is a seasoned telecommunications executive having spent over twenty-eight years in the industry and twenty years at Aliant (and NBTel) - a telecommunication company known worldwide for its innovation and success.
Robert has held a number of executive positions including President of Innovatia, Senior Vice President of Aliant, President of NBTEL Global, President of NBTEL Interactive, President of ISM - Datacor, and President of NBTEL Mobility. He has also been appointed to over 15 Board level positions while at NBTEL as well as while he was incubating and advising several start-up technology companies.
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 Tom O'Flaherty
Tom O'Flaherty has had a long career in the BC technology industry. Tom co-founded the companies that brought Simply Accounting and Maximizer to market, and has been CEO of several other companies. He was a founding director and a Chair of the BC Software association (now the BCTIA).
Tom authored the initial reports on the BC technology industry in the mid-1990’s and he was recently made a Fellow of the AceTech organization. Tom's present activities include angel investing, serving as a director on early stage boards. He also acts as an advisor, coach and mentor to a number of BC technology CEOs |
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 Ron Palfrey
Ron Palfrey has extensive experience as a senior negotiator, problem solver, operations specialist, business developer and strategist. Ron has served as a Chairman, CEO and held senior management positions in private sector companies in Canada, the United States and Europe. Ron currently serves as the Chairman and CEO of Vireo Technologies; Chairman of NxtGen Emission Controls and a director of several private boards.
Ron has previously served as President, Teleflex Energy Systems; President GFI International; President, Teleflex Canada; Sr. Vice President and General Manager, Avcorp Industries; Sr. Manager, Scientific Systems Engineering, McDonnell Douglas. In the public sector, Ron has served as the B.C. Chairman of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association and a director of the advisory board to the faculty of Commerce at the University of British Columbia. Ron holds a B Sc. from the University of British Columbia. |
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