Michel Lagueux
Executive Chairman of the Board and Interim CEO
Mr. Michel Lagueux was Senior Vice-President,
Life Sciences, at the Solidarity Fund QFL from November
2006 until May 2008. Holder of a Bachelor of Business Administration,
Mr. Lagueux has helped launch many bio-pharmaceutical start-ups in
the past 20 years and as a consultant has also provided strategic
planning advice to many Québec, Canadian and European life sciences
companies. From 1983 to 1994, Mr. Lagueux helped grow Pharmacia Canada,
a subsidiary of global giant Pharmacia Corporation. Then, after
spending the next four years working as a strategic planning
consultant in Italy, he became President and CEO of Canacure Corporation,
a company operating in the nutraceuticals sector. In 2002, he was
appointed Vice-President, Health Sciences, at Innovatech du Grand Montréal.
Prior to his appointment at the Solidarity Fund QFL, Michel Lagueux was
managing partner at Multiple Capital, a venture capital firm specializing
in high technology and an affiliate of global giant Coller Capital UK.
Winston Black
Director
Mr. Winston Black joined Highland Capital Management,
L.P. as a Senior Portfolio Analyst in September 2007.
Prior to this, Mr. Black was COO/Analyst and Chief Compliance
Officer at Mallette Capital Management, Inc., a biotech focused
hedge fund, from 2005 to 2007. At Mallette Capital, Mr. Black
focused on the generation and execution of investment ideas
in the biotech and specialty pharmaceuticals sectors. From 2000 to 2005,
Mr. Black was Vice President, Corporate Development for ATX Communications,
Inc. where he was a core member of a turn-around management team that successfully
completed a three-phase restructuring process, resulting in the recapitalization
of approximately $1.2bn of various debt and equity securities and operational
liabilities in both in- and out-of-court transactions. Mr. Black began his
career in 1998 as an investment banking analyst in the Healthcare and
Telecommunications groups at Salomon Smith Barney. Mr. Black received
MBAs with distinction from both Columbia Business School and London
Business School, and he received a BA in Economics from Duke University,
where he graduated cum laude.
Jean-Pierre Desmarais
Director
Mr. Desmarais has been working in the medical
device industry for over 30 years, in the field of surgical
products, orthopedics, wound healing and in the cardiovascular
industry for the last 12 years. Mr. Desmarais, Chief Scientific
Officer with CryoCath Technologies Inc is responsible for the
Quality Assurance, Animal Research, Regulatory Affairs and
Clinical Research. As he started with CryoCath in 1996 when
the company was a start up, he designed the road map to achieve
regulatory approval for its product in Canada, Europe and led the
first U.S. FDA PMA approval for a therapeutic medical device given
to a Canadian company. Currently he is leading the company in its
second original PMA approval for its flagship product, Arctic front,
for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. Recently the company
announced that it completed the enrolment of its pivotal IDE phase
and has started the filing of its modular PMA.
Mr. Desmarais who holds a Bachelor’s
degree in Microbiology from Sherbrooke University worked previously
at Smith and Nephew Canada and Davis & Geck surgical where he implemented
quality system achieving ISO certifications and where he was responsible
for regulatory filings.
Most recently he served on several boards
including Biorthex and Cardianove, two start up companies and
l’ Association des Industries des Technologies de la Santé.
Karen Hong, Ph.D.
Director
Dr.Karen Hong, Ph.D. joined ProQuest Investments in 2001
as an Associate and became a Principal in 2004. Currently,
Dr. Hong serves on the Board of Directors of Agile Therapeutics
and has represented ProQuest as an observer on the Board of
Directors of BioRexis Pharmaceutical Corp. Prior to joining ProQuest,
Dr. Hong provided technical consultation to the healthcare group at
BancBoston Ventures and conducted basic biomedical research.
Most recently, she led research projects in mammalian cancer
genetics in the laboratory of Dr. Eric Lander at the Whitehead
Institute for Biomedical Research. Dr. Hong received her Ph.D.
in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her
B.S. in chemistry and B.A. in molecular biology from the University
of California at Berkeley.
Rudy Huber
Director
Rudy Huber has over 25 years of business experience
in the health care industry in Canada with a focus
on the dental market. Mr. Hubert has a Bachelor of
Commerce from Concordia University in Montreal and
has held various sales and marketing positions for
international companies including Johnson and
Johnson. He also became an entrepreneur and co-owner
of a successful Canadian distribution for a leading
manufacturer of dental implant components and
related components, 3i Implant Innovations Inc.
Mr. Huber since 1999 is the Country Manager for 3i
Implant Innovations Canada, which is a subsidiary of
3i Implant Innovations Inc. a Biomet company (Nasdaq:BMET).
Mr. Huber as County Manager for 3i Canada is
responsible for both the strategic and operational
activities of the company. He has served on boards
of medical device companies including Cryocath (CYT.TO),
a medical device company that develops and
commercializes proprietary catheter cryotherapy
products, principally for the treatment of
cardiovascular disease.
Eric W. Linsley, MBA
Director
Mr. Linsley, is an experienced operating executive
and venture capital investor who prior to joining Pappas in 2000
served as Chief Financial Officer of TriPath Imaging, Inc. (Nasdaq: TPTH),
a medical device company. Mr. Linsley played a key role in the three-way merger
between AutoCyte, NeoPath and Neuromedical Systems that created TriPath.
Prior to the merger, he served as Chief Financial Officer and Vice
President of Operations at AutoCyte where he led the company in a successful
public equity offering in 1997. From 1991 to 1997, Eric worked as an
investment professional with Ampersand Ventures, a leading venture capital
firm based in Boston. He previously served as a management consultant with
Bain & Co. and McKinsey & Co., and was a certified public accountant with
Arthur Andersen LLP. Eric is a director of Emerald BioAgriculture, FlowCardia,
and Cequent Pharmaceuticals and is a past director at Panacos Pharmaceuticals
(Nasdaq: PANC). Mr. Linsley
received a BA in Economics from Trinity College, an MS in Accounting from
New York University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of
Pennsylvania.
Amine Selmani,
Ph.D.
Director
Dr. Selmani is the founder of BioSyntech.
As a CEO, he led the company from its academic
inception to its advanced R&D stage.
Prior to founding the company in 1995,
Dr. Selmani was a professor at Ecole Polytechnique.
Dr. Selmani received a Ph.D. in Materials Science
at the University of Montreal in 1985.
He has been involved in many university-industry
transfer technology projects.
Somesh Sharma, Ph.D.
Director
Dr. Somesh Sharma Ph.D., is the
Chief Scientific Officer of Nicholas Piramal India
Limited. Prior to November 2002, Dr. Sharma was the
Senior Vice President of Monoclonal Antibody and
Vaccine Unit at Anosys Inc., USA. After completing
M. Sc. In Chemistry, obtained another MS in
Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Pathology from the
University of Maryland School in Medicine. He did
postdoctoral work at Harvard and Standard Medical
Schools and then spent eight years doing academic
research in immunology and infectious diseases.
After spending a year at Applied Immunesciences
Director of Immunology, Dr. Sharma co-founded
Anergen and was its Vice President-Research, and
Chief Scientific Officer from 1988 to 1994. Dr.
Sharma was President, Chief Executive Officer, and
sole proprietor of Wizard Laboratories from 1996 to
1997 and of S2 Pharmaceuticals from 1994 to 1996. He
co-founded Calyz Therapeutics Inc. in1997 and was
its President and CEO from inception until May 2001
and CSO and Executive Vice President from May 2001
until his recruitment to Anosys Inc. in February
2002.
Joyce Tsang,
Ph.D.
Director
Dr. Tsang joined ProQuest as an
Associate in 1999 and became a General Partner in
2002. Her scientific background combined with
financial and business judgment offers a unique
understanding of how to commercialize innovation.
Prior to joining ProQuest, Dr. Tsang held positions
with McKinsey & Company and Smith Barney (now Citi
Smith Barney). At McKinsey, she advised a variety of
healthcare-focused Fortune 500 clients on strategic,
operational, and organizational issues. At Smith
Barney, Dr. Tsang worked on structuring numerous
dept and equity offerings. She has previously served
on the Board of Directors of Artemis Medical and
Threshold Pharmaceuticals. Currently Dr. Tsang
serves on the Board of Directors of Sopherion
Therapeutics and Mersana Therapeutics.
Dr. Tsang received an A.B. in
molecular biology from Princeton University, where
she graduated cum laude. She received a Ph.D. in the
macromolecular and cellular structure and chemistry
from The Scripps Research Institute.