Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan is the Chair of the Board of Directors of Ontario Genomics.

Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan is President and CEO of Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning. She is the first woman to hold the position and is the fifth President and CEO in Humber’s history. Dr. Vaughan is a highly distinguished senior executive with nearly 30 years of success in the postsecondary sector. She joins Humber from Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario where she served as President and CEO since 2016, and successfully drove an ambitious growth plan that strengthened Loyalist’s financial positioning, and saw the College take on a new strategic direction Prior to that she was the president and CEO of the College of the North Atlantic, in Newfoundland and Labrador, from 2011-2016. In 2015, she was recognized as a Top 50 CEO in Atlantic Canada.

Driven by her passion to advance social and economic development through expanding access to education, Dr. Vaughan is helping to pioneer the sector’s micro-credential movement as co-Chair of eCampusOntario’s Board of Directors. In addition, she serves on the Board of Directors for Ontario Genomics, a non-profit organization that is focused on nurturing genomics innovation in Ontario, and applying these technologies across key sectors, such as health, agriculture, bioproducts, and environment, to advance the province’s knowledge-based economy. Dr. Vaughan’s forward-thinking approach and significant contributions to the evolution of online learning have earned numerous accolades nationally and internationally, including being selected as a participant in the 2004 Governor General Canadian Leadership Conference.

In 2018, Dr. Vaughan was appointed to serve as an Honorary Colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force, affiliated with the 426 Training Squadron, 8 Wing, CFB Trenton. Dr. Vaughan is actively engaged in the college sector and currently also serves as Chair of the Management Board for College Employers Council.

Dr. Vaughan is proud of her early roots in student leadership which sparked her interest and career in higher education. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education from Memorial University; certificates in Public Administration and Business from Memorial University; a Master of Arts in Higher Education from the University of British Columbia, and a Masters Certificate in Project Management from York University/Memorial University. Continuing her lifelong learning journey, in 2015 Dr. Vaughan received her doctorate in higher education leadership from the University of Calgary.

Maureen Adamson, President of Fleming College and Interim President and CEO of Colleges Ontario, has more than 25 years of leadership experience in the post-secondary, health care, government and non-profit sectors.

Maureen has served as Ontario’s deputy minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport and deputy minister of the Status of Women. Other previous roles include president and CEO of the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences, CEO of Cystic Fibrosis Canada and vice-president of corporate services at Mohawk College.

Her volunteer work includes chairing the board of directors for Research Canada, serving as vice-chair and commissioner for the Toronto Transit Commission, and the inaugural chair of the Scarborough Health Network hospital in 2018 through Covid. She has been the inaugural chair of the Scarborough Health Research Institute since 2021.

Ian Ash is an entrepreneur and technology executive with over 25 years of experience scaling innovative technology companies.

As Co-Founder of Dig Insights, he helped build the company into a global organization and launched the high-growth SaaS platform, Upsiide, leading to a successful private equity exit.

Ian brings deep expertise in commercialization, strategic planning, and building the frameworks that turn innovative ideas into profitable enterprises. He is passionate about helping bridge the monetization gap for science and technology start-ups.

 

Colin Kelleher is the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of Ontario Genomics and is also Chair of the Private Sector Advisory Committee (PSAC).

Colin is a serial entrepreneur specializing in angel investing in early-stage technology start-ups. His current investments are in digital agriculture, e-retailing, energy informatics and analytics, medical devices and municipal water analytics, efficiency and compliance software.

His earlier deals included investments in energy optimization technology, sustainable water technology and asset management modelling sustainability software for municipalities and utilities.

Colin was a partner and Chief Financial Officer of the Helyar Group, a leader in development cost management consulting. In 2005, he co-led the merger of the Helyar Group, the Altus Group and one other company to create one of the largest most comprehensive real estate consulting firms in North America. Subsequently, as co-lead, Colin took the new entity public on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Colin holds a Bachelor of Science in Surveying from Trinity College and a Diploma in Construction Economics from Bolton Street College of Technology, both in Dublin, Ireland.

He is also a LEED-certified professional (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and a member of the global Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Colin also graduated from the executive program at Singularity University, where he received the Singularity Prototype Challenge Award for his presentation on “Buildings of the Future”.

Dr. Alex MacKenzie, an attending pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) has served as the CEO and Science Director of the CHEO Research Institute as well as Vice President of Research for both CHEO and Genome Canada in addition to being founding scientist of the AeGera biotech company. Dr. MacKenzie’s laboratory has conducted translational research on the rare pediatric disorder spinal muscular atrophy over the past 25 years; in recent years has broadened its focus with its involvement in the enhance Care for Rare project to search for therapies for a larger number of rare diseases.

Pierre Meulien was most recently the Executive Director of the Innovative Medicines Initiative and oversaw its transition to the Innovative Health Initiative, a €2.4 billion cross-sector initiative in the health innovation ecosystem in Europe. He is now an independent consultant in biomedical R&I.

Previously, Dr Meulien was President and CEO of Genome Canada (2010-15) and was Chief Scientific Officer for Genome British Columbia. He has also served as founding CEO of the Dublin Molecular Medicine Centre and worked in the private sector with the French biotechnology company Transgene, and with Aventis Pasteur (now Sanofi Pasteur) as Director of Research at the Marcy l’Etoile (France) facility and then Senior Vice President for R&D at the Willowdale site (Ontario).

Derek is the Assistant Vice-President, Innovation, Partnerships, and Entrepreneurship at The University of Toronto (U of T).  He supports the university’s bold innovation agenda towards fostering the next generation of Canadian entrepreneurs, developing successful corporate research partnerships, and managing the IP portfolio of the university.

U of T is a global leader in turning research into products, services, companies and jobs. In the past several years, companies emerging from U of T have secured more than $1.5 billion in investment and capital and the university is ranked among the top 10 university-managed start-up incubators in the world.

Derek held previous senior roles at Western University, he worked at a large biotechnology funding organization and also at a management consultancy firm specializing in biotechnology. He holds a PhD from U of T in biomedical research.

Greg Pope is Managing Partner of GDLP Advisors Inc., where he provides financial expertise and leadership to a variety of organizations in a number of different sectors.

With his deep financial background in multiple industries spanning four provinces, he provides clients with experienced financial leadership in areas such as raising capital, M&A, and bolstering the overall strength & effectiveness of the finance function within publicly traded and private organizations.

Greg has served in directorship roles in both corporate and charitable environments, bringing over 15 years of experience as Chief Financial Officer in the restaurant, retail, information technology and healthcare industries. Greg is currently a member of Memorial University’s Faculty of Business Advisory Board and has previously served on the boards of the National Arts Centre Foundation, CNIB, and certain corporate entities.

Dr. Benjamin Rovinski has 28 years of investment, operational, managerial and research experience in the healthcare sector. Beni joined Lumira Ventures in 2001, where he is a Managing Director, with an investment focus on early-to late-stage private and public life sciences companies. With a proven track record of delivering results both as a senior scientist and a business executive, Beni has held several senior management positions in the biotechnology sector, including 13 years at Sanofi Pasteur (formerly Aventis Pasteur) where he was a senior scientist and director of molecular virology, with a particular focus in the areas of virology, vaccine development, recombinant protein production, and functional genomics. While at Aventis, Beni led global research and development programs in the areas of HIV/AIDS and therapeutic cancer vaccines, bringing several of them through to clinical stage.

Beni received a PhD in biochemistry from McGill University in Montréal and did post-doctoral studies in molecular oncology and retrovirology at the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Rice University in Houston. Beni’s current and past board roles and investment responsibilities include several private and public companies, including G1 Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GTHX); Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH); Vascular Pharmaceuticals; KAI Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Amgen); Morphotek (acquired by Eisai); Cervelo Pharmaceuticals; Health Hero Network (acquired by Bosch); Avalon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AVRX; acquired by Clinical Data, Inc.); Inovise Medical, Inc.; Protana; Signature Biosciences; and SGX Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SGXP; acquired by Eli Lilly). He also serves on the board of directors of Life Sciences Ontario and the advisory board of the TO Health! industry-led initiative to promote the profile of the Toronto region’s Human Health & Sciences cluster. Beni has published over 25 scientific articles and reviews and is the recipient of 32 issued patents.

Dominique Tertigas is a PhD candidate at McMaster University in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences in the lab of Dr. Michael Surette. Dominique’s PhD project focuses on the gut microbiome in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Her work combines microbiology, genomics, and metagenomics to discover novel pathogens in IBD. Dominique has been awarded several scholarships, including the Canadian Graduate Scholarship (Master’s) and Ontario Graduate Scholarships, to support her research.

Dominique is a part of McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research and Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute. As a trainee in these institutes, Dominique helps organize student-run conferences, plan trainee workshops, and mentor trainees in learning bioinformatics. Dominique has also applied her expertise in microbiome research to additional projects investigating the microbiome in the context of antibiotics, probiotic use, One Health, and more!

Dominique brings these experiences and training perspectives to Ontario Genomics’ Board as the student representative.