Board Of Directors

Jeff has been the CEO at Alimentiv since October 2016. In May 2018, Jeff led the successful separation of the organization from its sole owner, Western University, to a Health Trust establishing the first social enterprise of its kind in North America.

Background

Jeff has a strong record of leading high-performing global teams that support the growth of global business units. His background in clinical research spans more than 20 years in the pharma and contract research organization (CRO) industries. Prior to his current position, he held senior positions with Alimentiv (formerly Robarts Clinical Trials) including Vice President, Clinical Operations and Director, Business Development. And before joining Alimentiv he was a Senior Director, General Medicine & Vaccines/Infectious Disease with PharmaNet (now Syneos). Jeff trained as a registered nurse, and holds a Bachelor Degree in Health Sciences (nursing).

Achievements

Jeff’s perspective on building a great company has been shaped from his experience working in a variety of ownership structures including government, private, public, private equity and venture capital. These experiences helped shape his vision for building a 100-year private company that pursues its purpose and putting people first ahead of shareholder returns. In May 2018, he was able to realize this vision with the transition of ownership of Robarts Clinical Trials to a Health Trust.

Ethos

“When leaders prioritize goodness in themselves and in others, they can create lasting cultures and tremendous value.”

Dr. Siva is an operations executive with over 20 years of molecular diagnostic experience including assay development from concept stage to clinical validation. Dr. Siva is currently Vice President, Laboratory Operations at Epic Sciences where she heads clinical testing operations for the CAP/CLIA, translational research, and manufacturing/tech transfer laboratories. Prior to joining Epic Sciences, she held the role of Chief Operating Officer at Discovery Genomics where she was responsible for all aspects of operations for this start-up clinical laboratory. Prior to that, she held leadership positions as Senior Vice President, Operations at Pathnostics, and Vice President, Laboratory Operations at Millennium Health, where she drove cost savings of over $1.5 million and achieved zero CAP inspection deficiencies.

Prior to joining Millennium Health, Dr. Siva headed BioPharma Lab Operations at Genoptix/Novartis, where she led the development, validation, and implementation of esoteric technologies into the CAP/CLIA laboratory and supported over 35 global hematology/oncology clinical trials exceeding $15 million in total contracts. Additionally, Dr. Siva was a technical leader for clinical biomarker discovery at Gen-Probe, Inc. and Alexion Pharmaceuticals, and is an author of thirteen peer-reviewed publications and an issued patent for compositions and methods for detection of small RNAs.

Dr. Siva received her BS in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from UC San Diego and PhD in Biological Chemistry from UCLA. She is an ASQ-certified Six Sigma Green Belt and is certified as a High-complexity Clinical Laboratory Director by the American Board of Bioanalysis.

In addition to her corporate positions, she has served on the Governing and Editorial Boards for the Malki Museum, California’s first museum founded by Native Americans, as well as on the Board of Advisors for other non-profit organizations.

Dr. Cecil Shewchuk, Principal of Shewchuk Consulting, provides consulting services to technology companies in the areas of business planning, technology and product development, sales and marketing strategy, and implementation roll-out. Many of these consulting engagements have been for international companies specializing in the energy sector.

Dr. Shewchuk has held various executive level positions with large technology companies like Aspen Technology and Honeywell where he was responsible for the strategic planning of sophisticated software products and services in such areas as process simulation, optimization, data analytics and advanced process control.

Dr. Shewchuk has been involved with numerous start-up technology companies in the roles of director, founder, manager or mentor. Many of these companies have been successful in growing into viable profitable operations.

Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, he graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a Bachelor of Engineering Science degree in Chemical Engineering. He earned his doctorate in Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University in England.

Jennifer is an accomplished and innovative business transformation consultant and executive leader with over 20 years of experience adding value and delivering exceptional results to clients.

Jennifer’s experience spans a wide range of clients: from start ups to publicly traded companies. She has worked across many industries including health and life sciences, technology and telecommunications, finance/private equity, public sector, loyalty/call centres and energy. She has assisted organizations with transforming their business processes, change management, governance and organizational realignment, costing and cost modeling, cost optimization and efficiency, as well as mergers/acquisitions/integrations/separations. She has international experience with clients and service delivery teams.

Jennifer graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Master of Accounting degree with a management specialization. Her Master’s thesis was in the area of health case costing and was governmentally funded. Jennifer is certified in Lean Fundamentals through Cardiff University. She is a CA/CPA. Jennifer is currently President of Roedding Associates Management Consultants. Prior to that, she was a Partner in KPMG’s Management Consulting practice.

John J. Fox is a retired former Vice President with Johnson & Johnson. His last assignment was managing all aspects of Global Payroll, HR Services, and related finance functions.

From 2000 to 2009, John served as Vice President of Information Technology for the Pharmaceuticals Group and served as a member of the Pharmaceuticals Group Operating Committee. Before this, he was the Vice President of Information Management for the Pharmaceuticals Group, EMEA, and Asia/Pacific, based in Beerse, Belgium.

John began his career as a Medical Statistician at Janssen UK, moving into Information Management in 1982 and eventually assuming the position of IM Manager for Janssen UK in 1985.  In the following seven years, John assumed responsibility for Finance in Janssen UK, eventually becoming the Director of Finance and IM and a member of the Management Board of the Company.

Since retirement in March 2018, John has been advising two “start-up” technology companies – both focused on healthcare.

Over the years, John built a strong reputation as an active business partner supporting the supply chain, research and development, sales and marketing, and administration areas of the business. After receiving a degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, John began as an actuarial trainee and later joined Janssen UK in 1979.

John is a native of Glasgow, Scotland. He and his wife, Margaret, are the parents of two sons.

Joy M. Nassif has over 25 years of experience in financial and executive management in the healthcare, diagnostic testing, and pharmaceutical industries. She has a strong record of building and leading global, cross-functional teams while maximizing return on investment through working capital and expense management and customer focus.

Ms. Nassif is currently the Vice President & General Manager, Services for Orasure Technologies. Prior to joining Orasure, Joy was the Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer of Diversigen, Inc., a microbiome services company. She led the company from start-up to a leader in the microbiome services field. Diversigen was acquired by Orasure in November 2019.

Prior to joining Diversigen, Joy held leadership positions at Quest Diagnostics as Vice President of Clinical Trials, and Vice President of Anatomic Pathology. She held the positions of Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Franklin Heath, Inc. (A Corning Company) and was responsible for all aspects of operations and administration for this start-up healthcare company. Additionally, Joy was Director of Finance for Covance, Inc. working in its Phase II-III contract research organization.

Joy graduated summa cum laude from Kean University with a BS in Accounting. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). In addition to her corporate positions, she has served on the Board of Advisors for several non-profit groups and organizations.

Prof. Schölmerich studied in Freiburg and Heidelberg. His further qualification in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology was obtained in Freiburg. He was also a research fellow at the University of California at San Diego.

From 1991 until 2010 he was Director of the Department for Internal Medicine I at the University of Regensburg. He was vice president of the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 2005 until 2011 and president of the “German Association of Internal Medicine” (DGIM) 2009-2010. From 2010 until 2016 he was Medical Director and CEO of the Hospital of Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt.

His research interests were: inflammatory bowel disease, complications of Liver cirrhosis and bile acid metabolism and effects.

He has published 93 monographs and chapters in teaching and reference books, he is editor or coeditor of 50 books, and his citations exceed 18,000.

Mike Cloutier is an accomplished business leader and consultant with over 39 years in the Life Sciences sector. Over the past 25 years, Mike was General Manager, President and CEO of five major pharmaceutical firms and one Not for Profit organization, the Canadian Diabetes Association (now Diabetes Canada). In 2017, Mike founded a Canadian based global consulting practice, Accelera Canada Ltd. Accelera Canada provides unique and unparalleled “one top support” to US and European based biotech/pharmaceutical companies exploring commercial entry to Canada. www.acceleracanada.com Most recently, Mike co-founded Novescend (Accelera MedTech Canada Inc.) to provide consultation, in-licensing and distribution to US/EU based medical device innovators.

Background

Prior to his role at Accelera Canada, Mike led organizations with interests in the Orphan and Rare disease market segments. As the General Manager and President of PTC Therapeutics Canada and InterMune Canada Inc., he ensured the delivery of tremendous support to patients and caregivers. These companies drove exceptional results in terms of optimal access for patients in need and financial success.

Mike has held positions in Latin America and Europe, serving as Senior Director, Operations, Latin America/Canada and as the Vice-President, Human Resources – Global Marketing for AstraZeneca Inc.
Mike has been responsible for Life Cycle Management in a number of his senior leadership roles. In Canada, as both a senior marketing leader and as the CEO of a number of companies, he has been responsible to develop the strategy and to ensure excellence in the tactical implementation of plans for products in early, mid and late stages of their life cycle. He has engaged in many significant therapeutic classes including Oncology, Neuro-muscular, Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Infectious Disease and Inflammation. Mike has also provided leadership on a global scale in the US, Europe and Latin America.

His leadership in Operations and Global Marketing provided Mike with the opportunity to set clear direction in determining the breadth and depth of product portfolios at Searle and AstraZeneca.

Mike is active on a strategic level sitting and leading a variety of Boards. He chairs the Board of Directors at Arylide Canada, sits on the Boards of OBIO and Alimentiv. He has previously Chaired the Board of Directors at Scientus, Merus Labs International and was a Board Director at Joule, a subsidiary of the Canadian Medical Association. As a result, Mike has an extensive network throughout Canada, the US and International circles.

Mike is a respected, dedicated philanthropist and has served on numerous Boards as a volunteer including the Canadian Stroke Network, Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning and the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation. Mike is the past Fundraising Chair of the Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre at the University of Toronto Mississauga.

Achievements

Among his many accomplishments, Mike was inducted to the Sheridan College School of Business Marketing Hall of Fame and the Canadian Pharmaceutical Marketing Hall of Fame.

Ethos

I am energized by this role on the Board as it creates an opportunity for me to contribute my experience, my business acumen and to engage my network with the goal of creating ongoing success for this formidable organization.

Paul is co-founder and CEO of Onebridge, a data and analytics consulting company focused on helping companies of all sizes turn their data into decision intelligence. As a 100% employee-owned company, Onebridge has been recognized multiple times on the Inc 5000 list for growth and voted the Best Places to Work for the past 8 years straight. Paul is driven on a daily basis by the Onebridge mission to empower good people to do great things – for their customers, their community, and each other.

Prior to Onebridge Paul spent 10+ years in sales and sales leadership roles with various information technology companies across the Midwest. He currently serves on the board of numerous non-profits and is active in his local community.

Paul holds a BS in Engineering Management from Purdue University and an MBA from Indiana University.

Dr. Feldman is an Emeritus Professor of Medicine University of Western Ontario. He recently stepped down, completing a role as Medical Lead, Cardiac Sciences Manitoba, and Professor of Medicine at the University of Manitoba.

He is the author of more than 200 original manuscripts, reviews, and book chapters. His clinical research program centers on the development of new approaches to the management of hypertension and specifically the development of innovative strategies to improve blood pressure control.

A major focus of his efforts has been in the prevention and control of hypertension in Canada and specifically in the knowledge translation of optimal treatment approaches for hypertension management. Among past leadership positions, Dr. Feldman served as the first Chair of the Steering Committee of the Canadian Hypertension Education Program, the organization that since 1999 has produced, disseminated, and implemented annually updated guidelines for the management of hypertension. As well, he served as President of the Canadian Hypertension Society. He was also the founding President of Hypertension Canada- leading the process of integrating the efforts of the Canadian Hypertension Society, Canadian Hypertension Education Program, and Blood Pressure Canada.

He has received a number of awards and scholarships in recognition of his contributions to research, teaching, and his efforts in the prevention and control of hypertension in Canada. These include the George Morris Piersol Research and Teaching Scholarship from the American College of Physicians, a Career Investigator Award from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario, the Burroughs-Wellcome Clinical Pharmacology Award, and the Senior Investigator Award from the Canadian Society for Clinical Pharmacology as well as the Distinguished Service/Research Award of the Canadian Hypertension Society. He is also the recipient of the George Fodor Award from Hypertension Canada for outstanding contributions to the prevention and control of hypertension.