Natural Products Canada (NPC) is the driving force behind Canada’s Natural Product Innovation Cluster–a strategic and diverse community focused on the development and commercialization of naturally-derived products and technologies in health and life sciences, natural resources, agriculture and agri-food, and sustainable bioproducts. As part of its role in the Cluster, NPC offers in-depth advice and a suite of commercialization programs to Canadian early-stage companies and research institutes; provides connections and innovation scouting services to corporations and investors; and leverages an investment fund (NPC Ventures) to help develop and de-risk promising Canadian opportunities.

As a member of the Executive Leadership team at SYLVIS, my role encompassed strategy and operations. Day-to-day responsibilities include project delivery, contract management & client satisfaction, business development, corporate H&S, human resources, IT services. Reporting to the President, I provide senior management oversight for operations and staff in AB and BC. Responsibilities included:- Developing and managing annual capital and operational budgets- Strategic top line growth - Involved in the development of business plans, responding to RFP/RFQ, market entry, go/no-go decisions.- Development and monitoring of Business Development metrics and corporate performance metrics- Operational excellence - continuous improvement through structural and business process optimization- Hiring and onboarding employees, termination and offboarding employees- Conducting bi-annual performance reviews for senior managers - mentoring and development of professional development plans for senior managers- Experience with conflict resolution and enforcement of disciplinary policy- Responsible for communicating, supporting, and enforcing policies, procedures, and initiatives that align with SYLVIS's corporate vision.- Leveraging internal resources to increase adoption of corporate-wide initiatives- Leading and ensuring an effective and compliant corporate safety program is operational at all times- Continuous improvement of Safety Management System through risk assessments and incident reporting

Conducted market research, pitched to investors, and received a grant from the Hunter Center for Entrepreneurship to pursue a business venture that offers a solution to the impending global food crisis.- Research & development of a sustainable, plant-based feedstock for the aquaculture industry- Conducted customer segmentation, client discovery, and identification of early adopters of product- Researched capital requirements and identified partners to develop proof-of-concept of product- Conducted market research and competitive intelligence for go/no-go decision

- Identified core competencies that could be leveraged in developing a value proposition for Advancing Canadian Wastewater Assets (ACWA), a $40 million collaboration between the City of Calgary and the University of Calgary- Generated a competitive intelligence report for ACWA- Developed a business strategy to generate revenues to cover ACWA’s operational expenses

- Pro bono consultation to Accenture’s corporate client- Identified key marketing issues and value drivers that could be leveraged to enhance revenues for the client- Identified key success factors of client’s operations and performed a benchmarking study to recommend improvements- Conducted primary and secondary research to develop a strategic plan to increase corporate sponsorship of client

- Consultation to the Calgary Stampeders’ Red & White Club on a 1-3 year marketing strategy to increase revenues based on a $500,000 budget- Conducted interviews with stakeholders to generate a perceptual map for the Red & White Club - Assessed financial data and market conditions to develop a competitive pricing strategy for the client

Worked on clients’ legal defense team on issues relating to environmental liability management.- Provided expert scientific opinion on issues relating to legacy industrial processes and their impacts on human health and the environment- Scientific expert in a class action lawsuit for a Fortune 500 company – Human health- Risk assessment of contaminants of concern in the Upper Columbia River site for Teck Resources- Provided consultation to the City of Burlington, ON in regards to the accidental contamination of a waterway (Canada Fisheries Act)

As the project lead, I developed and managed operational budgets for research projects and was responsible for departmental hiring and resource allocation. - Personnel management - trained and mentored staff and graduate students- Developed biological models to assess impact of persistent legacy environmental toxins on human health- Participated in a multi-stakeholder research study between the University of Saskatchewan, University and Alberta, and the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER)- Human health risk assessment of exposure to industrial contaminants - Investigated the toxic mechanism of action of phthalates, flame retardants, PCBs

Led a team of research scientists to deliver projects from conceptual and planning stages to client delivery. Developed and managed departmental operational budgets and provided technical direction and feedback to senior management.- Provided technical consulting services to clients- Researched technological trends and developed a product strategy - Metabolic profiling, disease biomarker discovery & validation using FTMS, LC-MS platforms- Led a technical team of scientists to develop a mass spectrometry-based diagnostic tool for human health- Planned, designed and conducted structure-activity-relationship (SAR) studies of lead therapeutic for Alzheimer's disease- Filed FDA Investigational New Drug Application (IND) in the area of neurodegenerative diseases - Performed data mining and pattern recognition for the identification of value drivers - multivariate analyses - principal component analysis & multiple regression models- Delivered presentations at national and international conferences; represented companies at trade shows and at networking events

- Developed a novel cell based model to test proof of concept in areas of Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular disease. - Use of in vitro assays to screen for potent therapeutic molecules in the context of Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular disease. - Developed novel bioassays for high throughput screening of biological matrices.

- Identified small molecule therapeutic compounds which reactivate the fetal-globin gene in adults with beta globin disorders- Developed and implemented a cell-based reporter assay to screen for potent therapeutic small molecules- Optimized an in vitro assay to quantify HDAC inhibition by potential small molecule drugs

- Identified transcription factor networks that regulate embryonic intestine development in mammals- Use of bioinformatics to mine the data and predict target genes