BC Advantage Funds

Barry Allen is Chairman, President and CEO of Urodynamix Technologies (TSX-V:URO), a Canadian medical device company focused on commercializing near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technology that aids in the diagnosis and treatment of urological disorders affecting 60 million North Americans.

Barry is active in his professional community, currently serving as the President of the BC Medical Technology Industry Association and Chairman of the BC Excels Professional Skills Program. From 1999 to 2004, he was President and CEO of VSM MedTech. During his tenure, the company grew from five to almost 200 employees and evolved from an R&D company to a world class manufacturer and marketer of high tech medical devices with sales of approximately $20 million in 2003. Barry raised in excess of $65 million in capital for VSM and led the Company’s migration from the TSX Venture Exchange to the TSX. In 2003, Barry was recognized as one of Canada’s “Top 40 under 40” by The Globe and Mail and Report on Business Television.

Mohammed Azab M.D.

In July 2006 Mohammed Azab joined Intradigm as its President and CEO. Intradigm is a private biotechnology company committed to the development of systematic RNA interference therapeutics for the treatment of oncology. Mohammed’s prior appointment was Chief Medical Officer and Executive VP of R&D at QLT. His past positions included leadership of medical oncology at Sanofi-Aventis and leadership of the clinical drug development in oncology at Astra Zeneca. During his career, he led drug development programs that resulted in the approval and marketing of seven different new chemical entities in the therapeutic areas of oncology, gastroenterology, urology, and ophthalmology.

Mohammed received his medical degree from Cairo University in 1979. He practiced as a medical oncologist and received post-graduate training and degrees from the University of Paris-Sud and the University of Pierre and Marie Curie. He has authored more than 100 scientific papers, abstracts, and book reviews. Mohammed also holds an MBA degree with distinction from the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario in Canada. He is a member of the board for Xenon Pharmaceuticals.

Glen Ballman

Glen Ballman founded Onvia in 1996 and raised over $70 million in private funding from venture capital, institutional and strategic investors including GE Capital and Comerica Bank. As Chairman and CEO, he lead the company to $150 million in annual sales in 2000; and through a $240 million IPO on NASDAQ. He successfully negotiated major alliances with such entities as America Online, E*Trade, and Visa and has been frequently interviewed on CNN Moneyline and MSNBC as a leading expert in e-commerce and B2B marketplaces. Glen is currently the CEO of Genesis Exchange - a private equities market. He was educated in Canada at the University of Western Ontario Business School (Ivey).

Brad Bennett

Brad Bennett has been President of McIntosh Properties Ltd., a real estate investment and holding company based in Kelowna, British Columbia since 1989. He has served on a number of private and public company boards and is currently a director of BC Advantage Funds, Sidetrack Technologies Inc., Quails’ Gate Estate Winery and Lodgepole Energy Management Corp.

A strong believer in community service, Brad is presently Chair of the University of British Columbia’s Board of Governors, Chair of the UBC Okanagan Regional Advisory Council and Director of the UBC Properties Trust. Brad also serves as a Director of the Premier’s Technology Council. Brad was the recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award Medal in 2002, The City of Kelowna’s Businessman of the Year honour in 2005 and received the Honourary Alumni Award from the University of British Columbia in 2007.

Mike Blackstock

Mike Blackstock is a veteran technology leader and strategist specializing in systems support for mobile and pervasive computing. He currently serves on the board of directors of Inetco Systems, a provider of business transaction intelligence software and communications gateway products for the retail and financial payments industries. Previously, he co-founded and served as CTO of Colligo Networks, a leading provider of peer-to-peer wireless productivity software designed for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled notebooks, Tablet PCs, and handhelds. Before founding Colligo, Michael was the Vice President of Research and Development for Infowave Software, a global provider of software that connects enterprise applications to wireless devices.

In 1994 Mike was recognized as one of the top '40 under 40' young entrepreneurs in British Columbia. He holds a Bachelors of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of British Columbia, and a Masters Degree in Computer Science from Simon Fraser University. He is currently pursing a PhD in Computer Science at UBC and leading pervasive computing research projects at the Media and Graphics Interdisciplinary Centre.

Leonard Brody

Leonard Brody has helped in raising millions of dollars for startup companies, been through one of the largest internet IPOs in history and has been involved in the building, financing and/or sale of four companies to date.

Leonard was part of the initial executive team at Onvia Canada, which was voted Canada’s number one startup in 2000 and subsequently closing a $240 Million NASDAQ IPO. Currently, Leonard is a director and mentor to several technology companies, including Transgaming and Infowave. He is also a Director of Canada’s largest technology association, CATA. Leonard has lectured at universities and conferences throughout the world, and is co-author of the best selling books “Innovation Nation: Canadian Leadership from Jurassic Park to Java” and “Everything I Needed to Know About Business...I Learned from a Canadian”.


Lynda Brown-Ganzert Lynda Brown Ganzert is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable people in the Canadian digital media community. As CEO of GoBe Media, Lynda created one of the first Canadian companies developing hybrid PC-mobile games for kids, which she co-founded after working with Electronic Arts Canada. She has produced over 35 interactive and broadcast television titles and has a conducted a number of applied research projects in the digital media domain. She has worked in the digital media sector for 17 years with companies such as Telus, Rogers Cablesystems, Knowledge Network, Telcom Training, Arts Umbrella, Simon Fraser University, and Electronic Arts. She is currently Vice President for Canada, Digital Media, Entertainment and Technology with Karyo-Edelman, while also providing strategic consulting services to digital media companies in Canada and the US. In her past role as President of New Media BC, she was the founding Executive Producer of the Vancouver International Digital Festival, the founding Chair of the Digital Entertainment Taskforce, a member of the Mobile Muse management committee, the creator of the PopVox awards and the founder of Interactive Canada: A World Centre for Digital Media strategy. She has been awarded Advocate of the Year for the Canadian New Media Awards, a Wondrous Wired Woman by the national Wired Woman Society, a finalist in the Influential Women in Business, and selected as Top 40 under 40 for Business in Vancouver. Lynda has a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and a Masters of Education in educational technology from Simon Fraser University.

Randy Buchamer Randy Buchamer is a seasoned executive with expertise in building sales and managing large operations. He is the President and CEO of Voice Mobility, a developer and provider of carrier and enterprise enhanced messaging solutions. Prior to Voice Mobility, Randy was Managing Director, Operations for The Jim Pattison Group, and was responsible for supporting the $4 billion operations of the 55 companies owned by The Jim Pattison Group. Before joining The Jim Pattison Group, Randy was Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Mohawk Oil.

Robin Chakrabarti

Robin Chakrabarti is Vice President of the T & M Group of Companies. The T&M Group have over 30 years of experience investing, building and growing profitable businesses, including Boston Pizza, Mr. Lube and Global Entertainment. Previously, Robin managed 400 employees working in six distribution centers across Western Canada for Canada’s largest bottled water company - Canadian Springs Water. As Canadian Springs' Regional Vice-President and General Manager, he negotiated the sale of Canadian Springs to French multi-national Group Danonel for $500 million in 2003.

Outside work, Robin mentors students and is a guest speaker at SFU's faculty of business. He also teaches a full-day course four times a year to junior-high students across B.C., encouraging them to stay in school. Robin graduated with an MBA from SFU in 1995 and was named one of BC’s top 40 businesspeople under 40 in 2005.

Peter Ciceri

Peter Ciceri is a corporate director and management consultant with twenty-five years experience in the technology industry. Peter was with Compaq Computers from 1995 - 2000, and held the position of CEO of Compaq Canada, from 1997 to 2000. Peter was also Lead Director and Chairman of Sierra Wireless from 2002 - 2006 as well as a director with Progressive Solutions.

He serves on the University of Victoria's Board of Governors and their Innovation and Development Council. Peter also sits on the Premier's Technology Council and the board if VIATeC. He was named one of Canada's top ten "IT Influencers" in 1997 and one of Canada's 100 top business executives by the Report of Business. Peter is a frequent speaker on leadership and business counseling.

Bart Copeland

Bart Copeland brings over fifteen years of leadership, management, finance and business experience to high technology and manufacturing operations for small and medium sized companies. Bart began his entrepreneurial career by establishing Wesgar Metal Finishers - a joint venture with Wesgar Industries Subsequently, Bart became the General Manager of the Wesgar Group of Companies - an organization specializing in precision sheet metal production and metal finishing for the high-tech industry.

Bart was next appointed President & CEO and a founding member of Credo Interactive. Established in 1996, Credo is a software company creating innovative and easy-to-use character animation software products and solutions for applications in entertainment, telecommunication, business, education and the arts. More recently Bart was interim CEO of iMessaging Systems, a New Hampshire based interactive voice response software company and President & CEO of Recombo, a content integration technology company. Bart has served on the boards of the British Columbia Technology Industries Association and New Media BC Association.

Scott Cormack

Scott Cormack is the founding President and CEO of OncoGenex Technologies. At OncoGenex, Scott has been responsible for negotiating the acquisition of the Company’s products, establishing the alliances, securing the necessary funding, and ensuring that the Company met its aggressive growth strategy, including advancing the Company’ lead drug into two phase clinical studies.

Scott has almost two decades of experience in the biotechnology industry in executive management, research and development, regulatory affairs, business development, operations, sales and marketing and corporate finance. At Bioniche Life Sciences,

Scott successfully led the development of the company's immunotherapeutic from lab bench through preclinical development and into clinical trials in oncology. Scott subsequently expanded his business development and operational skills, initially in Business Development and then as Chief Operating Officer of NeuroSpheres. Immediately prior to joining OncoGenex, Scott served as the Vice President, Western Region for Milestone Medica, where he was responsible for managing the western operations of this seed-capital investment fund.

Rob Cruikshank

Rob Cruickshank served as President of the British Columbia Technology Industries Association (BCTIA) from 2005 to 2007. The BCTIA is a not-for-profit, member-funded organization representing the technology industry across the province. Prior to joining BCTIA, Rob had a long and successful career with TELUS/BCTEL serving in many executive roles, including over four years as the President of BCTEL Mobility. Between 1999 and 2001 he served as President of Mobile Data Solutions, an international software company specializing in workforce management and wireless data solutions. In 1992, he attended the Harvard Business School Program for Management Development.

Rob currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of Corpus Christi and St Mark’s Colleges, Chair of the Board of Director's of St George's School and is a member of the Board of the Canadian Association of Independent Schools. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of AfterCAD Software and Nutri-Loc, two early stage technology companies.

Mark Dance

Mark Dance was a director at Creo from 2001 to its sale to Kodak in 2005 for $1.2 billion. He joined Creo in 1994, was appointed Vice President of Product Development in 1995 and in 1997 was appointed Vice President, Operations. In 1998, Mark was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Creo, where he was responsible for overseeing the operations of the Company and the joint venture between Creo and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. In 2002, he assumed the role of Chief Financial Officer, while maintaining his position as Chief Operating Officer.

Prior to joining Creo, Mark worked at Andronic Devices, a Vancouver-based developed and manufacturer of devices for surgery and clinical laboratory automation. Mark has a BApSc (hons) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of British Columbia. He graduated in 1986 with a robotics specialty.

Avtar Dhillon M.D.

Avtar Dhillon is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Inovio Biomedical Corporation (AMEX: INO).

Prior to joining Inovio, Avtar was a Vice President of MDS Capital, at that time, one of North America’s leading healthcare venture capital organizations. From March 1997 to July 1998, he acted as consultant to Cardiome Pharma (NASDAQ:CRME). Avtar has also provided biotechnology investment analysis to various institutions from November 1996 to July 1998. He is a director of BC Advantage Funds and a director of Protox Therapeutics.

Tom Digby

Tom Digby has been at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, in Cambridge MA, since 2005, where he provides worldwide intellectual property support for in-licensing transactions and acquisitions. Tom supports transaction teams for both biological and small-molecule products, at all stages of discovery, pre-clinical and clinical development.

Tom is a qualified US and Canadian attorney. While practicing in Vancouver from 1997-2005, Tom provided IP services, including patent portfolio management, transaction and litigation support, to BC biotechnology companies such as Inex Pharmaceuticals and Xenon Pharmaceuticals. Tom was a founding employee at the DNA diagnostics company Visible Genetics (Toronto) in 1994.

David Dunnison

An experienced executive and board member, David Dunnison actively mentors and consults on business development, structuring, and market and product strategy. Previsouly, David was President and CEO of Protexis, where he assembled its team, completed its first customer sale, and led the company to its prominent position in software licensing and digital rights management. Before leading Protexis, David established Icron Technologies, the premier industry expert in Universal Serial Bus connectivity.

David was the primary architect for Ballard Generation Systems – Ballard’s stationary power subsidiary. Creating an opportunity for fuel cells to provide strategic and low-impact power generation, he developed three of Ballard's corporate strategic partnerships. David has two Bachelor degrees from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business where he finished in the top 15% of his class.

Don Enns

Don Enns has been actively involved in the Canadian life sciences industry for over 20 years. He is the President and CEO of Cantest, a life science company providing scientific expertise and consultation in environmental, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, food safety and industrial hygiene related fields.

Don is a director of numerous local for-profit companies as well as several non-profit organizations involved with national standardization, education, community affairs, and public health. He has been instrumental in Cantest’s expansion into the European and Southeast Asian markets, and his experience overseas includes consulting for the UN Development Programme, business development and mergers and acquisitions.

Tazdin Esmail

Taz Esmail was the co-founder, director and past President and Chief Executive Officer of Protox Therapeutics, a company that is developing targeted proteins for the treatment of cancer.

He was also the founder, and former Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Forbes Medi-Tech, a revenue producing, diversified biotechnology company listed on the TSX and NASDAQ. He is a former Vice President of Operations of QLT and a former director of pharmaceutical operations for Wyeth, where he managed the company's oncology and hospital products division.

Taz has raised close to $100 million for these companies through private placements, public offerings and strategic alliances, and has extensive experience in guiding and growing life science companies from the start-up stage to revenue generating corporations.

Haig Farris

Since 1990, Haig Farris has been the President of Fractal Capital, a private venture capital company financing high technology start-ups and resource service technology companies. Previously, Haig practiced law with Farris and Company. In 1968, along with two co-founders, he started the Ventures West Management group of venture capital funds, which today is the largest venture capital pool of funds in western Canada. From 1993 to 2003, he held an adjunct professorship at the University of British Columbia, teaching a course on entrepreneurship and the financing and managing of high-technology companies to graduate engineering, science and MBA students.

Haig serves on numerous boards in the science and technology industry and has received many awards and commendations, including the Commemorative Medal for the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for service to his fellow citizens, the community and to the Canadian Crown. Mr. Farris holds a BA from the University of British Columbia (1960), a Law Degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School (1963) and an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from UBC (1997).

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