Budget 2014: Re-Balancing Innovation Support Programs

Tim Angus is a seasoned CEO and Executive recognized for success in leading technology companies through development of new markets, products and services. Tim has over 18 years of clean technology, energy efficiency and utilities industry experience, as well as a proven track record of turning promising companies with burgeoning technologies into recognized market leaders with steep revenue growth profiles. Most recently, he was president and CEO of REGEN Energy, which he led from a 5 person start-up with an interesting new technology to a 40 plus employee, award winning, multi million revenue entity. Previous to that, he was president & CEO of Thermal Energy International Inc. He has sat on numerous company boards, including for Peak Load Management Alliance, BMB Fuel Consulting Services, DaoPower Canada (formerly Canadian WindFields) and Mississippi River Power Corp.

Recognizing a very opportune gap in the early-stage funding marketplace, Tim is now embarking on his next venture where he will be focused with his partners on matching strategic investment to the next generation of great young innovative companies. Focus areas will be on energy technologies that impact the global supply and demand dynamics, smart grid and the Industrial Internet/Internet of Things.

John founded Desire2Learn in 1999, at the age of twenty-two, while attending the University of Waterloo. He saw that online digital tools could open the door to entirely new, more effective models of learning that could be used by students and employees around the world. John understood that prosperity in our increasingly complex society depends on growing the knowledge of high-school and college graduates, and keeping the knowledge of private- and public-sector employees up-to-date.

Desire2Learn’s software helps make this happen by fine-tuning teaching to each learner’s strengths and weaknesses, and making the learning experience more personal, adaptive, and accessible. A major benefit is that learners and educators time is used much more productively. John is frequently asked to share his vision of 21st century education at conferences around the world.

With John’s leadership, Desire2Learn has grown to more than 800 employees with offices around the world. The company has been the recipient of numerous awards, including Canada’s Top 100 Employers for Young People; 2012 Microsoft US Public Sector Partner of the Year; Platinum Learning Impact Award, IMS Global Learning Consortium; 2012 Business of the Year, Greater Kitchener- Waterloo Chamber of Commerce; Best 50 Small and Medium Employers in Canada; Top 15 Employers, Waterloo Region; Deloitte 50 Best Managed Companies 2012.

From the outset, John’s youth and spirit created a unique culture and work environment in the company. He champions open minds and open hearts, believes the office should be fun, and actively nurtures creativity. Team members are experts in what they do, are passionate about education, and celebrate the company’s collaborative nature. Employees are encouraged to bring their dogs to work or teach yoga in the boardroom during lunch.

A strong believer in community involvement, John devotes both his personal and business efforts to supporting young entrepreneurs who are developing and applying technology to improve society worldwide. He was appointed to the Governing Council of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Chair of the Board of Communitech, and is a board member of Canada’s National Ballet School and other organizations.

John graduated from the University of Waterloo with an Honours B.A.Sc. in Systems Design Engineering, with First Class Honours and an option in Management Sciences.

As Acting Vice-President of NSERC’s Research Partnership Programs, Bert van den Berg is responsible for a range of programs designed to stimulate increased public/private collaboration and technology transfer and to maximize the benefits that university and college research provides to Canada.

Bert has been Director of the Colleges, Commercialization, and Portfolio Planning Division in the Research Partnerships Programs Directorate at NSERC since 2008. In addition to leading the delivery and growth of the College and Community Innovation Program, he spearheaded the development of NSERC’s Strategy for Partnerships and Innovation. He has been at NSERC since 2002 and has a broad range of experience in program delivery, particularly focused on partnerships.

Bert has more than a decade as a research group leader at National Research Canada in Integrated Manufacturing, and worked in a variety of roles in a small technology firm over six years. Supported by an MBA focused on innovation, he has the necessary background knowledge of the R&D landscape in Canada to be able to support research and innovation efforts in academia through NSERC’s funding programs.

In January 2012 Dr. Adam Chowaniec became the founding chairman of Startup Canada. He is also the seed investor and past chairman of the board of directors of BelAir Networks Corporation, which was sold to Ericsson. He is the chairman of Solantro Semiconductor and Art2wave technologies He chaired the Ontario Research and Innovation Council from 2006 to 2009. In 2005 he was appointed to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada and currently is the Chair of the Public Sector Advisory Board. He was also appointed to the board of the Export Development Corporation of Canada by the Privy Council of Canada in 2009, and currently serves as the Chair of the Risk Committee. He is also the Global Practice Lead for Information Technology for the Trade Commissioner Service of Canada.

Dr. Chowaniec began his career in 1975 as an assistant professor at Acadia University and in 1976 became a member of the scientific staff of Bell Northern Research in Ottawa. From there, he moved into engineering management at Nortel Networks. In 1983 he joined Commodore International, based in Westchester, Pennsylvania, where he became vice-president of technology and was responsible for the development of the Amiga personal computer. In 2010 he was recognised by the California Computer Museum as one of the founding fathers of the personal computer for the development of the Amiga.

In 1986, he returned to Ottawa to become president and chief executive officer of the semiconductor firm Calmos Systems. Calmos Systems was acquired by Newbridge Networks Corporation in 1989. Calmos was renamed Newbridge Microsystems. Under this new structure, he served as both its president and as a vice-president of Newbridge Networks. In December 1995, he was the founding CEO of Tundra Semiconductor Corporation, which was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange until it’s acquisition by IDT in 2009.

Dr. Chowaniec has served on numerous boards of directors in the United States and Canada, including Amiga and GEAC Computer Corporations, Futurecom, and OSI Technologies. He has served as Chair of the boards of Zarlink Corporation, Liquid Computing, Sibercore and Microbridge Corporations.

He is also involved in a number of local business and community initiatives and his commitment and participation has positioned him as a key spokesperson for the high tech community. Dr. Chowaniec is frequently quoted in local and national press and is often a guest on national business TV programs. He was the chair of the Ottawa Economic Development Corporation and member of the Ottawa Partnership from 1999 to 2001. He has also served as the vice-chair of the Ottawa Health Research Institute. He is the vice-chair of the Museum of Nature’s national fund raising campaign.

Dr. Chowaniec has been recognized for his leadership, business excellence and innovation. In 1999, he received the Gold Business Person of the Year Award from the Greater Chamber of Commerce. In 2012 he was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee medal.

He holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Queen’s University (Canada), as well as both a Bachelor of Engineering and a Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield (England). His affiliations include the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario.

Brian Clark is a retired IT executive with extensive experience managing hardware, software and consulting companies across the world including in New Zealand, US, UK and Canada. Some of the companies he has managed include Burroughs and Unisys New Zealand, Unisys Canada, HST Group (now part of Callian Technologies), Jade Software Europe and Jade Software North America (Jade is a New Zealand based software company). Brian’s career spanned a time when numerous technological advances – from mainframes to client server to the Internet – were rapidly changing how companies did business. His experiences have given him valuable insight into building self-managing teams, change management, process reengineering, quality management and continuous improvement processes, all driven by a customer focus.

Brian is very interested in helping drive the shift to patient-centered healthcare. His experience as a prostate cancer patient led him to see the need for a cultural change in the healthcare sector to become more patient and family-focused. Brian’s involvement as an advisor at Patients Canada has included a role as a management consultant to the Ontario LHIN organisations, and as an advisor at Hacking Health and to several early phase companies seeking to develop information technology products for the healthcare sector.

Pierre Cléroux was appointed Vice President, Research and Chief Economist in 2012. He is responsible for providing economic analysis and advice to the Senior Management Team, while helping interpret economic trends and their impact on businesses. His responsibilities also include all marketing and industry research activities.

Mr. Cléroux has more than 25 years of experience as an economist, mainly in the public sector. Before joining BDC, he worked for the government of Saudi Arabia as Vice President, Business Analysis in the National Industry Clusters Development Program. His role was to create program strategies, define sector policies and conduct financial and economic analyses of industrial projects.

Prior to that, Mr. Cléroux was the Quebec Assistant Deputy Minister for Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade, responsible for the implementation of economic policies and programs to support small and medium-sized businesses and encourage entrepreneurship. He was also a strategic advisor for Montreal International, responsible for attracting foreign investment from India and the Middle East, and developing international relationships and partnerships. He also worked for 12 years at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business in various roles, including economist and Quebec Vice President.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master’s degree in Economics from Université Laval, and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Ken Coates is Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan campus. Ken was raised in Whitehorse, Yukon, and has long-standing professional and personal interests in Aboriginal rights, northern development, northern Canadian history, science, technology and society, and Japan Studies.

Ken has published more than a dozen books with his regular co-author, Dr. W.R. Morrison, and has worked with Carin Holroyd on a series of projects related to science and technology in East Asia including, but not limited to, Japan and the Internet Revolution in 2003, Innovation Nation: Science and Technology in 21st Century Japan in 2007, Japan in the Age of Globalization in 2011, Digital Media in East Asia in 2012, and Digital Media in East Asia: National Innovation and the Transformation of a Region in 2012.

Ken is a prolific author whose works include Canada’s Colonies, The Modern North, North to Alaska, many academic books, and documentaries. He has served as a consultant to northern governments and organizations. Ken’s opinion pieces have been published in newspapers and magazines across Canada. Ken’s latest book, with Bill Morrison, is entitled “What to Consider If You’re Considering University: New Rules for Education and Employment” and is a follow up to “Campus Confidential: 100 Startling Things You Need to Know About Canadian Universities”, first published in 2011 also with Bill Morrison.

Jeffrey Crelinsten is CEO of Research Money Inc. and publisher of RE$EARCH MONEY. He is also President and CEO of The Impact Group, a consultancy he co-founded in 1987, specializing in science, technology and innovation policy, communications and education. Jeffrey has been studying challenges facing tech entrepreneurs and the innovation ecosystems that try to support them for over 25 years. He developed the R$ conferences to bring together leaders from the private and public sector to address critical issues around innovation policy and knowledge-based commerce.

Before founding The Impact Group, Jeffrey taught science and human affairs at Concordia University and had an active career as a science documentary writer for radio and television.

Jeffrey is Senior Research Fellow at the Innovation Policy Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. He is a founding director of the International Commercialization Alliance and is a past-President of the Canadian Science Writers Association. Jeffrey has a B.Sc. in physics from McGill University, a M.Sc. in astronomy from University of Toronto and a Ph.D. in history of science and science policy from University of Montreal.

Margaret Dalziel is an Associate Professor with the Conrad Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology at the University of Waterloo, and VP Research, The Evidence Network. The Evidence Network, co-founded with Brian Barge, evaluates, explains, communicates, and benchmarks the impact of organizations that support business, research, innovation, and entrepreneurship on companies.

Previous experience includes 12 years with the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, and 15 years experience in technology development and research management in the private sector, with the Canadian Space Agency, and with the Faculty of Engineering at McGill University.

Margaret teaches technology entrepreneurship, and conducts research on innovation and entrepreneurship. She has received four SSHRC grants, has produced over 100 articles, and has served on expert panels sponsored by the Council of Canadian Academies, the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Science and Technology, and Statistics Canada. She is presently chairing the technical panel that is reviewing Ontario’s $4 billion investment in business support programs.

Margaret holds degrees in business (PhD, UQAM; MBA, McGill), computer science (BSc, McGill), and music (ARCT, Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto).

Paul Dufour is Principal of PaulicyWorks, a science and technology policy consulting firm based in Gatineau, Quebec. He is one of Canada’s leading experts in S&T policy and international development. He is a Fellow and Adjunct Professor with the Institute for Science, Society and Policy at the University of Ottawa, member of the External Advisory Board to the Battelle Center for Science and Technology Policy at the John Glenn School of Public Affairs, and is on the steering committee for the Canadian Science Policy Conference.

Having spent 30 years in the public sector as a science adviser with several agencies and departments, Mr Dufour served as interim executive director of the the Office of the National Science Adviser to the Government of Canada. He was with the International Development Research Centre as special programme assistant of the project on Research on Knowledge Systems. Other professional activities included senior adviser at Natural Resources Canada, Ministerial Assistant to Canada’s Secretary of State for Science, Research and Development, senior analyst with the Science and Technology Strategy Directorate at Industry Canada and international S&T relations’ adviser with the Secretariat to the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Science and Technology. Mr Dufour was for several years, research advisor for the Science Council of Canada, where he produced several reports on Canada’s international and domestic technology prospective.

Born in Montreal, Mr. Dufour was educated at McGill, the Université de Montreal and Concordia University in the history of science and science policy, and has had practical S&T policy experience for over three decades. He lectures regularly on science policy, has authored numerous articles on international S&T relations and Canadian innovation policy including the Canada chapter for UNESCO’s World Science Report in November 2010. He was series co-editor of the Cartermill Guides to World Science (Canada, Japan, Germany, Southern Europe and the United Kingdom) and North American editor for the revue Outlook on Science Policy. He provides seminars to interns for the Council of Canadian Academies, writes regularly on innovation policy, and has been an assessor on several Canadian government programs, including Grand Challenges Canada and Genome Canada.

Dr. Peter Frise holds degrees in mechanical engineering from Queen’s University in Kingston and Carleton University in Ottawa. He began his industrial career as an oil well wireline data logging engineer working for Schlumberger Wireline Services in Nigeria. He then moved to Husky Injection Molding Systems in Bolton, Ontario as an R&D engineer and later as a design group leader.

In 1985 he joined Carleton University and beginning in 1988, he taught mechanical design there until moving to Windsor where he held the Chrysler Canada/NSERC/University of Windsor Senior Industrial Research Chair in Mechanical Design and was instrumental in founding Canada’s first university program in Automotive Engineering in 1998.

Dr. Frise works with a number of automotive companies in his present capacity as the Scientific Director and CEO of the AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence, Canada’s national automotive R&D program. AUTO21 brings together nearly 200 researchers and more than 400 graduate students from 48 institutions in partnership with 110 industry and public sector companies and organizations to engage in applied automotive research.

Through 2014, AUTO21 and its partners will have completed more than $130M worth of automotive research which includes industry and government contributions.

Dr. Frise is a member of Defence Science Board of Canada and has served two terms on the National Research Council of Canada. He is also a reviewer for the US Department of Energy automotive R&D program and has served on the boards of the Yves Landry Foundation, the Ontario BioAuto Council and SAE Foundation Canada. Peter Frise is active on several sub-committees of the Canadian Automotive Partnership Council (CAPC) and received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his contributions to manufacturing in Canada and the development of young people.

Dr. Fred Gault is a Professorial Fellow at the United Nations University, MERIT, where he has managed projects on innovation in Africa and worked with the African Union/NEPAD African Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (ASTII) initiative. He is a Professor Extraordinaire at the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa and, for two years, was a member of the management team working on the OECD Innovation Strategy released in May 2010. He has provided advice to governments and international organizations on innovation policy and measurement.

Dr. Gault is a former Visiting Fellow at Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) where he worked on the place of innovation in the development agenda. For two decades he was responsible for science, technology and innovation statistics at Statistics Canada and during that time he chaired the OECD Working Party on Indicators for the Information Society (1997-2002) and the Working Party of National Experts on Science and Technology Indicators (NESTI) (2002-2008). Currently, he is a member of the NESTI Board, a broadly based advisory committee for NESTI.

He edited the Elgar Handbook of Innovation Indicators and Measurement released in 2013 and is the author of Innovation Strategies for a Global Economy: Development, Implementation, Measurement and Management, published by Edward Elgar, jointly with IDRC, in 2010.

Dr. Richard Hawkins is a Professor in the Science, Technology and Society Program at the University of Calgary, Fellow of the Institute for Science, Society and Policy (ISSP) at the University of Ottawa, and Senior Fellow at The Centre for Innovation Studies (THECIS), an independent Calgary-based innovation policy research organization.

Previously, he was the Senior Scientist in Innovation Policy at the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), one of Europe’s largest research services companies, and Senior Fellow in the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of Sussex (UK).

Dr. Hawkins has extensive experience internationally as a policy consultant and advisor. Major clients have included the European Commission, the OECD, the World Bank, Industry Canada, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the UK Department of Trade and Industry, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, the International Labor Organization, the London Metropolitan Police Service, and the British Standards Institution.

Mark has written extensively on research and innovation policy and funding issues since 1994. As the Editor of RE$EARCH MONEY, he has interviewed hundreds of industry executives, senior government officials, research managers and other leaders in Canada’s science, technology and innovation communities. Mark has worked as a journalist and editor for several publications over the past 35 years, including “Network Letter, Report on Wireless”, “Canadian Communications Reports”, “The Electronics Communicator” and “The Ottawa Citizen”. He resides in Ottawa and is an avid music and film aficionado.

Ted comes to SSHRC from Western University, where he served as vice-president, research and international relations, from 2004 to 2011. Under his leadership, Western’s research funding increased from $125 million to $220 million, and he became a leading figure among research-intensive universities across Canada. He has served as public policy scholar at the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., and as professor of sociology at Western University. A leading Canadian authority on Brazil, his work has appeared in monographs, edited works and a range of academic journals, including Cities, Journal of Latin American Studies, Journal of Developing Areas, Third World Quarterly, and Habitat International. In 2002, he was named commander of the Order of Rio Branco by Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Relations. Ted’s recent research has focused on national and international innovation systems, with emphasis on the roles played by universities, industry and government in promoting economic prosperity in the 21st-century economy. He is the Co-Chair of the Canada-Brazil Science and Technology Joint Committee, and a member of the boards of International Science and Technology Partnerships Canada and the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce. Ted holds a PhD in sociology from McMaster University.

Paul joined Cisco in 2004 and has held various roles in Sales, Partner Operations, R&D and Innovation. In these roles he was part of key product launches in IP Communications, Collaboration and Data Centre.

Prior to joining Cisco Paul operated a managed services business focusing on SMB customers, and spent 16 years with Bell Canada in Operations, Customer Service and Sales.

In his current role Paul is a key part of Cisco’s Corporate Investment team focused on Canadian investment opportunities and helping to grow an ecosystem of enterprise and industrial internet startups.

As Vice President of Strategy for Celestica’s Diversified Markets, Mr. Jackson is responsible for ensuring Celestica’s business strategy is aligned to drive growth and accelerate customers’ success across the aerospace, defense, renewable energy, industrial, healthcare and automated manufacturing services markets.

Mr. Jackson started his career with IBM Canada and has been with Celestica since the company’s inception in 1994. Throughout his career, he has held various executive leadership positions spanning engineering, manufacturing operations and business development.

With a passion for innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship, Mr. Jackson is an advocate for Canadian startups and small and medium enterprises. Leveraging his knowledge and expertise in supply chain transformation and product realization, he is focused on building partnerships with business, government and academia to fuel innovation and drive greater commercial success in Canada.

Mr. Jackson is an active member with Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME), Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) and the Centre for Business Innovation (CBI) at the Conference Board of Canada. He is currently appointed Chair and Secretary for the board of ReMAP, a Business-Led Network of Centre of Excellence (BL-NCE) focused on accelerating a competitive electronics manufacturing sector for Canada.

Mr. Jackson holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business with a concentration in Finance, Strategy and International Business and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Queen’s University.

Company Bio

With close to 27,000 employees around the globe, Canadian-based Celestica is dedicated to delivering end-to-end product lifecycle solutions to drive its customers’ success. Through its global operations network spanning Asia, Europe and the Americas, Celestica provides its customers with innovative solutions from design, engineering services and manufacturing through to systems integration, logistics and after-market services. Celestica employees share a proud history of demonstrated expertise and creativity and are committed to providing their customers with the ability to overcome complex challenges.

Jeff Latimer is the Director of the Platforms and Major Initiatives Branch at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, where he manages large-scale strategic investments including the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR), the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), the HIV/AIDS Research Initiative and the Drug Safety and Effectiveness Network (DSEN). He holds a PhD in Criminology from the University of Ottawa, with a strong focus on the connections between the justice and health systems, and a Master of Social Work from McGill University. Jeff has spent the last twenty years as a researcher, statistician and executive in the federal government. Previously, he was the Director of the Health Statistics Division at Statistics Canada where he managed Canada’s national health statistics program, including the Canadian Community Health Survey, the Canadian Health Measures Survey and the Canadian Cancer Registry. In addition, Jeff was the Chair of the Canadian Council for Cancer Registries and Vital Statistics Council of Canada.

Hongwei Liu is a co-founder at MappedIn. Since 2011, he has lead the company’s growth, from the three person founding team out of the VeloCity residence to the 13 person operation based out of their downtown Kitchener office. He was born in China, grew up in Ottawa, and came to KW to study Electrical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Today, Hongwei focuses on dreaming big, talking to customers, and finding amazing people to help build the dream.

Company bio

MappedIn was founded in 2011 by three University of Waterloo engineers to make the indoor world more open and interconnected. As businesses go digital, we are building the wayfinding platform that will anchor their customer experience programs and facility operations.

Raymond Luk is the founder and CEO of Hockeystick.co, a reporting and metrics platform that enhances transparency between private companies and their shareholders. Hockeystick helps companies define and share key performance metrics in their business, and makes it easy to share this information with investors and other stakeholders.

Raymond is also the founder of Year One Labs, an investment fund based in Montreal, Quebec, as well as Flow Ventures, a boutique consultancy working with venture-funded startups. He is an active Angel investor, was a board member of Anges Quebec and co-chaired the National Angel Organization annual conference in Montreal 2010.

He has written and spoken extensively on the subject of early stage investment and measuring success in private companies.

Michael Mayne was born and raised on Prince Edward Island. He completed his Bachelor training at the University of Prince Edward Island, PhD at the University of Toronto where he focused on genetics and cell biology, and furthered his training in infectious disease and pharmacology at the University of Manitoba and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Mayne spent several years at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba and taught in the medical and pharmacy schools. While in academia, he directed a research laboratory that focused on neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis. He has published in multiple internationally recognized journals.

Dr. Mayne served as the initial Director of Research for the Institute for Nutrisciences and Health (National Research Council) which opened in Charlottetown in 2007. In this capacity, he built many research and service based partnerships with University of Prince Edward Island, industry and multiple federal government departments.

In 2007, Dr. Mayne joined the Government of Prince Edward Island as Deputy Minister of Economic Innovation. He served as the Deputy of Innovation and Advanced Learning for several years and oversaw the implementation of the Island Prosperity Strategy. In 2011, Dr Mayne was appointed Deputy Minister of Health and Wellness and has acted as the Deputy Co-Chair of the Premiers Working Group of Health Care Innovation being led by Premiers Wall (Saskatchewan) and Ghiz (PEI).

Dr. Pierre Meulien was appointed President and CEO of Genome Canada in October 2010. Prior to this appointment, he served as Chief Scientific Officer for Genome British Columbia from 2007 to 2010. From 2002 to 2007, Dr. Meulien served as the founding CEO of the Dublin Molecular Medicine Centre (now Molecular Medicine Ireland), which linked the three medical schools and six teaching hospitals in Dublin to build a critical mass in molecular medicine and translational research. The Centre managed the Euro 45 Million “Program for Human Genomics” financed by the Irish government and was responsible for coordinating the successful application for the first Wellcome Trust funded Clinical Research Centre to be set up in Ireland. For over 20 years, Dr. Meulien has managed expert research teams with a number of organizations, including Aventis Pasteur in Toronto (Senior Vice President of R&D), and in Lyon, France (Director of Research). He also spent seven years with the French biotechnology company Transgene in Strasbourg, France, as a research scientist and part of the management team. Dr. Meulien’s academic credentials include a PhD from the University of Edinburgh and a post-doctoral appointment at the Institut Pasteur in Paris.

Alison Nankivell was appointed Vice President, Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP), in August 2013. In this role, she leads BDC’s efforts as the key execution agent for the Government of Canada’s $400 million commitment to VCAP which involves a number of investment initiatives to help create a vibrant private sector led venture capital system in Canada.

Alison has over 20 years of corporate financing and investment experience in Canada and Asia. Most recently, she served as Director, Funds Asia with Teachers’ Private Capital, the private investment arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Prior to this, she was Head of Funds at Export Development Canada (EDC), where over a seven year period she built out the Canadian and Asian private equity and venture capital fund investment platform for EDC’s Investments Team. During her 15-year tenure with EDC, Alison served in a number of financing and investment roles and spent seven years over two postings based in Beijing, first as Chief Representative for Greater China, and then as Principal and Head of Asia Fund Investments.

Alison also lived in Beijing and Hong Kong from 1990 to 1995, where she served as a China economic analyst and editor for the Economist Intelligence Unit. Fluent in Mandarin, she has also served as an independent economist undertaking consulting work for the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Development Program and CIDA in both Beijing and Ottawa.

Alison holds a Bachelor of Arts in Commerce and Economics from the University of Toronto and a Master’s degree in Public Administration and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.

Jérôme Nycz was appointed Executive Vice President, Subordinate Financing and Venture Capital in July 2013.

Mr. Nycz has over 20 years of experience in the financial and public sectors.

He joined BDC in 2002, overseeing corporate strategy and planning, and shareholder relations. In subsequent years, he added responsibility for enterprise risk management, economic analysis and knowledge management to his portfolio. During this time, he conducted several internal strategic reviews, including Subordinate Financing and Venture Capital (taking on the additional role of interim, Executive Vice President, Venture Capital in 2011), and led a multi-disciplinary team that prepared the Bank’s submission for the 2010 legislative review of the BDC Act.

Prior to his current role, he was Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Subordinate Financing.

Mr. Nycz began his career with the federal government as a senior economist and policy advisor at the Department of Finance, Industry Canada and National Defence. He also worked at Export Development Canada and as an investment officer at the Canadian Consulate in Boston.

Mr. Nycz is a board member of Canada’s Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA), Réseau Capital and CIRANO.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from Concordia University and an IMBA from Hartford University.

Mark Pecen serves as CEO of Approach Infinity, Inc., providing advisory services to firms requiring technology due diligence in the areas of wireless communication and emerging technologies, rapidly growing technology companies and their venture capital funding partners.

Pecen retired as Sr. Vice President, Research and Advanced Technology and chief technology advisor to the CEO and founder of BlackBerry. He was responsible for the creation and management of BlackBerry’s Advanced Technology Research Centre and a significant portion of BlackBerry’s wireless patent portfolio. A past Distinguished Innovator and member of the Science Advisory Board at Motorola, Pecen also managed consultation work for clients in North America and Europe.

Pecen invented a number of technologies that were later adopted in global standards, including the Global System for Mobile Telecommunication (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA+), Long-Term Evolution (LTE) for 4G wireless and others.

Pecen serves as an advisor to several industry and academic organizations, and is a regular advisor to the Canadian government on wireless communication and research. He holds board positions on 4G Americas, École Polytechnique, Wilfred Laurier University School of Business, Quantum Works academic network for quantum information research, Canadian Digital Media Network, the Communication Research Centre (CRC) of Industry Canada and others.

A veteran of the wireless industry, he is an author and editor of a number of text books in the area of wireless technology and holds more than 100 fundamental patents in areas of wireless communication, networking and computing, and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

James Price, MBA, is the Founding President & CEO of the Canadian Stem Cell Foundation and has been active in advancing stem cell research and development for more than a decade. An independent, privately-funded organization, the Canadian Stem Cell Foundation is the national voice and champion for stem cell research and works to align scientists, industry, business, community leaders and the public to accelerate the development of new technologies, therapies and treatments. James was Founding President of Aggregate Therapeutics Inc. — a development-stage regenerative medicine company —and was previously a Director of the Stem Cell Network.

James is Chair of the Joint Strategy Working Group for the Canadian Stem Cell Strategy – a national coalition that includes the Stem Cell Network, Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine, Health Charities Coalition of Canada, Ontario Stem Cell Initiative, CellCAN Regenerative Medicine and Cell Therapy Network, and the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization – that is leading the development of the first-ever Canadian Strategy & Action Plan for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine.

Prior to working in the stem cell field, James was a Principal in the Corporate Strategy practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers where he was involved in several projects in new company creation, technology commercialization and research and development.

Vicki is a serial entrepreneur, passionate mentor and advisor to the next generation of change makers and leading advocate for entrepreneurship as a way of creating positive transformation in the world.

Vicki is founder of SheEO. SheEO supports women who leverage their talents, strengths and passion to create businesses that build new models, new mindsets and new solutions for a better world.

Vicki has co-founded and run 4 ventures in Europe, Toronto and Silicon Valley including Zazengo (an online platform for consumer and employee engagement sold to Fortune500 companies focused on sustainability), KidsNRG/The NRG Group (which went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2000) and Impactanation, a global consulting firm focused on engaging youth to tackle the grand challenges we are facing.

Most recently Vicki’s passion to create a strong ecosystem for social entrepreneurs in Canada has had her advising at the Office of Social Enterprise with the Ontario Government, Ryerson University, and TheNext36 with the aim to drive wealth creation and positive social change in Canada and beyond.

In 2001, Vicki was selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum. She has spoken regularly at events around the world including; The World Economic Forum in Davos, Women of Influence Series in Canada, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs events and the Tallberg Forum.

Sahand is a technology leader with over a decade of experience in product innovation, strategic planning and management. He is currently an entrepreneur-in-residence at Extreme Venture Partners, working towards establishing an early-stage innovations and investment company. Previously, in 2008, Sahand helped start Xtreme Labs, a world-class mobile and web application development company. During his tenure as a Principal at Xtreme Labs, he built an award-winning engineering team and oversaw the development and launch of multiple products which have been used by millions of users per year.

Sahand holds a Masters in Business Administration from INSEAD as well as an Honours Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of Waterloo. He has a passion for building and investing in technology companies and products.

Adam Spence is the Founder of Social Venture Connexion (SVX) and Associate Director, Venture & Capital Programs at the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing. For over ten years, he has focused his work on driving social, economic, and environmental justice through community development, education, social innovation, and public policy change as an advocate, researcher, and social entrepreneur. At MaRS, Adam helped found the MaRS Centre for Impact Investing and the School for Social Entrepreneurs – Ontario. He was Executive Director of the Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB), a community animator for the skilled trades in Hamilton, and Executive Director for a higher education research and advocacy organization. In 2002, Adam was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee Gold Medal, and in 2012, Adam was named one of McMaster University’s 125 People of Impact, an honour given to McMaster staff and alumni who have made the greatest impact over the past 125 years. Adam is a frequent blogger, and a regular contributor for GlobalNews.ca

Jason Sutherland is an Associate Professor in the Center for Health Services and Policy Research (CHSPR) in the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Faculty of Medicine. Dr. Sutherland is a Scholar of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and holds a PhD in statistics.

Dr. Sutherland has studied methods for funding episodes of care, across providers, settings and time and has published his research in the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Health Policy and Health Services Research. Dr. Sutherland recently completed a research fellowship as Canada’s 2012/2013 Harkness Fellow for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary for Health Policy and Evaluation (ASPE) in Washington, D.C. There, Dr. Sutherland studied funding policy reforms enabled by the Affordable Care Act, including bundled payment policies and accountable care organizations.

Dr. Sutherland’s current interests include studying health system performance, methods for improving cross-continuum care, variations in expenditure and utilization patterns, physician group practices and accounting for differences in efficiency, health status and quality of care.

Kevin Tuer is Managing Director of the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN), a federal Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research, which is dedicated to establishing Canada as a world leader in Digital Media by enabling connections and collaboration of people across the country – entrepreneurs, companies, research institutes and government – and bringing more digital solutions to market. Kevin has held several engineering and senior management positions in the high tech industry over the past 15 years including Senior Research Engineer with Computing Devices Canada (now General Dynamics Canada) as well as co-founder and CTO of Handshake VR. Kevin holds a BASc (Honours) in Mechanical Engineering, a MASc in Mechanical Engineering, and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

This 62 year old lifelong entrepreneur was born in Saskatchewan, raised on a grain farm and a cattle ranch and is proud of his western heritage. A resident of Calgary, he is married to his wife and business partner Vicki. They have four grown children.

He is the President of Dynamic Shelters Inc. and its subsidiaries in Grand Bank, Newfoundland and Greenville, South Carolina. The companies have developed portable shelters for emergency services including blast resistant shelters which resist highly dangerous blast and ballistic threats in industrial and military environments. They manufacture the largest air beam shelters in the world and have developed a broad range of innovative inflatable products including a pressure distribution device which permits pedestrian movement over land mines, air sealed hospital chambers that transform to vacuum packaged casualty containers in the instance of grave biological threats and the soft walled shelter in place; large occupancy systems maintaining personnel safety in toxic gas zones. FLEXss, a joint Venture with Avon Rubber Company produces fabric tanks for water storage, fuels and environmental recovery operations.

During 25 years of ballooning, he was an International competitive ballooning champion once holding nine world records including the World Record for distance flown in a single hot air balloon flight which he held from 1984 to 1989. He organized and managed, the Kodak Balloon Festival, Calgary 88 flying one hundred and thirty eight hot air balloons in secure airspace during the 1988 Winter Olympics, an event that required exceptional management of security detail.

Harold is entirely passionate about his work and the fact that his manufacturing business model is engaged in small communities. Dynamic has won a number of business awards including Community Business Development Bank’s Distinguished Business of the Year award and most recently the Newfoundland Employment Council’s Distinguished Employer award.

Through a good portion of his life he participated in the equestrian sports of Polocrosse and Three Day Eventing.

Over many years he has been a presenter at schools and universities emphasizing entrepreneurship and his “outside the box” approach to innovation and commerce. He is a Director of Springboard, an Atlantic Canada agency that aligns the research and development programs of eighteen universities toward initiatives of greater present day commercial relevance.

David Watters worked for 30 years in the federal government as a senior executive and Assistant Deputy Minister in a variety of Economic Ministries including Industry Canada, Treasury Board and Finance Canada. He was the Assistant Deputy Minister at Finance Canada for Economic Development and Corporate Finance, where he helped to shape the economic and innovation investments in several federal Budgets.

David then established the Global Advantage Consulting Group Inc. (Ottawa), a strategic management consulting firm, where he is currently president. Since 2002 the firm has completed over 350 assignments providing advice to corporate, association, university and government clients in Canada and abroad in a broad range of areas from organizational strategy, innovative business models, the design and management of commercial networks to enhanced governance and decision-making. His firm also designs and builds “system maps” in the areas of new technology, innovation/commercialization, trade, and energy/climate change to support client investments in projects, programs and policy.

David holds an Economics degree from Queen’s University as well as a Law degree in corporate, commercial and tax law from Queen’s Law School. He was an adjunct Professor at the University of Ottawa Management School for seven years where he taught International Negotiation to MBA students.

In his role as a Senior Accountant in the Corporate Finance Branch of the Ontario Securities Commission, Rick focuses on a range of matters related to the application of securities legislation and accounting principles.He is also involved in several policy initiatives, including those related to the OSC’s exempt market review and corporate governance. Rick has over 30 years of experience in securities regulation, commencing in 1981 when he joined the staff of the Toronto Stock Exchange and continuing at the Ontario Securities Commission which he joined in 1988. Rick obtained his MBA from the Schulich School of Business and is a member of CPA Ontario.