Advanced Code injection

OBIO® Governance

Board of Directors

Maura Campbell, Ph.D.
President and CEO, OBIO®

Dr. Maura Campbell is the President and CEO of the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO®), a not-for-profit, membership-based organization dedicated to advancing health technology innovation and commercialization. Prior to assuming the leadership of OBIO®, Dr. Campbell was appointed Chair of the Board of Directors for OBIO® in March 2021.

Dr. Campbell has more than 30 years of experience in all key areas of biotech, including private and public companies, universities and research institutes, and government-funded public sector research organizations (National Centre of Excellence [NCE]). Based on intellectual property (IP) developed at three Ontario academic institutes, Dr. Campbell helped spin out Turnstone Biologics, which recently went public on the NASDAQ. She played a significant role in the Company’s Seed, and Series A, B, C and D financings, as well as the execution of two large pharma-licensing deals with AbbVie Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceuticals International Co. raising over $450 million (U.S.) for Turnstone. Previously, Dr. Campbell served as Director, Intellectual Property at VBI Vaccines. Before that, she worked at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) as a Senior Research Program Manager, where she oversaw the oncolytic vaccine project commercialization. Earlier in her career, Dr. Campbell was the Director of Intellectual Property for PainCeptor Pharma Corporation, the Manager of Technology Transfer & Commercialization for the OHRI, and the Manager of Technology Transfer at the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems NCE. She has also served as an IP consultant to a number of Canadian start-ups including Neurochem, Conjuchem, Aonix, AMRIC and Sussex Research Labs. Dr. Campbell received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Ottawa, and an M.Sc. and a B.Sc. in biochemistry from Queen’s University in Kingston. Most recently, Dr. Campbell accepted an appointment to the Ontario Life Sciences Council, joining eleven other industry experts to support a plan to make Ontario a top hub for innovation growth and life sciences investment.

Frank Florio, OBIO® Board Chair
SVP, Corporate Strategy, Business Development and Commercialization, Myant Inc.

Frank Florio, an accomplished healthcare and life sciences industry executive, is passionate about cultivating and commercializing healthcare innovations. In his role as SVP, Corporate Strategy, Business Development and Commercialization he leads the efforts of Canadian SME Myant Inc. in commercializing their Digital Health Platform and innovative Wearable Technology solutions based upon Textile Computing™ in the cardiovascular health market. Prior to this, he held several executive roles at BD over 16 years, and advised and mentored start-ups in the healthcare industry. Mr. Florio holds an MBA from Queen's University Smith School of Business, an undergraduate degree from Wilfred Laurier University and a ICD.D from the Institute of Corporate Directors.


Dr. Daniel Billen, OBIO® Director
VP, Global Commercial Initiatives,
Amgen USA

Daniel Billen, Ph.D. serves as VP of global commercial initiatives at Amgen USA. Dr. Billen launched Amgen in Canada in 1991 on a mission to serve patients and build a place where people can realize their full potential. Prior to Amgen, as a deeply experienced international sales and marketing executive, he oversaw Janssen Canada’s growth from a start-up affiliate to a $100 million organization and launched five products in the Canadian market. Following Janssen, Dr. Billen became the VP & GM of Amgen Canada, successfully launching nine biotech products in the Canadian market with $500 million in sales. He grew the organization to 500 people and contributed 10,000 patients to clinical studies in Canada alone. After his success in Canada, he headed Amgen’s US Commercial Operations unit, (the largest in the company), growing it from $6 billion to $9.7 billion in four years, with a staff of 600 and an operating budget of $1 billion. Dr. Billen is a sponsor of World Vision Canada, and earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Louvain University in 1978.

Adam Buckley, OBIO® Director
Senior Vice President, Business Development, VBI Vaccines

Adam Buckley co-founded VBI Vaccines in 2002. He has been responsible for a number of roles through VBI’s development stages, including business development, corporate development, finance and operations. His efforts included attracting seed capital to VBI, developing its first business plan, protecting intellectual property and structuring the company. He had an active role in the company’s Series A financing, raising $35.7 million (U.S.), and has led several key technology acquisitions for the company, including the acquisition of Epixis S.A. in 2011 which provided VBI with one of its core platform technologies. Most recently, Adam led VBI’s COVID financing efforts, securing CAD $56M from Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund and USD $33M from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness, and concluded a licensing transaction with Brii Biosciences for VBI’s HBV immunotherapeutic (VBI-2601), securing up to $128M USD for rights to the asset in China. Mr. Buckley is a recent recipient of the Ottawa Business Journal’s “Top 40 Under 40” award and obtained his M.B.A. and B.Sc. at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Michael Cloutier, OBIO® Director
Canadian Partner, Mirador Global

Michael Cloutier is an executive leader and human resources strategist with demonstrated success at national and global levels within the pharmaceutical, biotech and health sciences industries. Michael identifies, initiates and creates strategic plans for organizational transformation and performance enhancement, while delivering results through building and maintaining strong relationships internally and externally across all stakeholder populations. He is recognized as a focused and ethical leader who demonstrates linear and abstract thinking to meet and exceed the needs of an organization.

M. Cynthia Goh, OBIO® Director
Professor of Chemistry, University
of Toronto

M. Cynthia Goh is Professor at the Department of Chemistry, the Institute of Medical Science, the Munk School of Global Affairs, and Academic Director, Banting and Best Innovation Center. She received her PhD from the University of California at Los Angeles, and carried out postdoctoral fellowships at Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley, prior to taking a faculty position at the University of Toronto. She has a diverse set of research interests, including fundamental studies of complex systems biomaterials, interfaces, probe microscopy, the development of new research instrumentation and nanotechnology. She is also known for her interest the translation of scientific discovery to technology and products, and the education of scientist-entrepreneurs. Together with her students, she co-founded 6 companies including Axela Inc, Vive Crop Protection and Sciventions, as well as Entrepreneurship101 at MaRS, the flagship entrepreneur training program of the MaRS Discovery District, with thousands registered attendees annually. In 2010, she introduced Techno, a one-month intensive training program specifically geared for university scientists intending to build a tech-based company. Techno programs from 2010 to 2014 have led to the creation of over 60 start-ups based on the results of scientific research, many of which now have sales and follow-on funding.

Jacki Jenuth, OBIO® Director
Partner, Lumira Ventures

With over 20 years of life science, IT and business development executive-level experience, Jacki is a key member of the senior investment team sourcing, conducting diligence on, structuring deals terms for and working closely at the board level with portfolio companies. Jacki has a strong reputation for providing the focus, clarity and cohesion required to drive projects from efficient inception to effective completion. Jacki focuses on early to mid-stage private companies involved in all aspects drug discovery and development utilizing a variety of platforms from complex biologics to small molecules in a variety of indications including oncology, neurology, rare disorders and inflammatory diseases. In addition to her investment activities, Jacki also directs all aspects of Lumira Ventures’ information technology initiatives having developed a world class venture capital analytics platform. Prior to joining Lumira Ventures, Jacki worked at Base4 and Open Text Inc. where she developed, sold and provided support for enterprise content management solutions targeted to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry in North America and Europe. Jacki has published several scientific articles and two book chapters, and is the recipient of three major academic research awards.

John R. Jordan, OBIO® Director
Chief Financial Officer, Rna Diagnostics Inc.

John is a finance professional with more than 20 years working with entrepreneurs and building high potential growth companies. He is currently involved with several medical technology companies and is passionate about growing the industry in Ontario.

Previously, John has held a variety of finance roles including founding CFO of a financial services technology company that was acquired by Fidelity National Financial and executive finance roles with subsidiaries of two US public companies. John started his career in public accounting and has worked with many companies from various industries.

John has well-rounded business and finance knowledge with specific strengths in start-ups, growth and acquisitions strategies, raising capital, business valuations and overall financial management.

John is a graduate of the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and Schulich School of Business, York University. He is a member of CPA Ontario and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and holds the AICPA specialty designation in Business Valuations (ABV).

Naheed Kurji, OBIO® Director
President, Recursion Canada

Naheed Kurji is the President, Recursion Canada. Prior to his current role, Mr. Kurji was co-founder, president and CEO of Cyclica, a neo-biotech that is unlocking the protein universe to discover the medicines of tomorrow. Mr. Kurji is also co-founder and director of EntheogeniX Biosciences, a psychedelic-inspired biotech company for mental health, he chairs the board of the Alliance for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare (AAIH) and serves as a member of the Life Sciences Advisory Group for Global Affairs Canada. Mr. Kurji holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Business, an undergraduate degree from the University of Ottawa, and a certificate in Artificial Intelligence from MIT.

Wendy Naimark, PhD, OBIO® Director
Chief Technology Officer, Ripple Therapeutics

Dr. Naimark is co-founder and CTO of Ripple Therapeutics, a spin-out of Interface Biologics, that is based on a discovery that fundamentally changes the way drugs can be sustainably delivered. Prior to her return to Canada, Dr. Naimark led the clinical development of a novel drug eluting scaffold at 480 Biomedical (founders included Dr. Robert Langer from MIT). She began her industry career in drug delivery at Boston Scientific in the group which developed the TAXUS® Drug Eluting Stent. Dr. Naimark earned her PhD in Biomaterials from the University of Toronto and began developing her career in local drug delivery at Caltech during her post-doctoral fellowship. Dr. Naimark is an inventor of over 30 patents in the local drug delivery field.

board-of-directors-images-finals-mark.jpg

Mark Steedman, OBIO® Director
Past President & CEO, Fibrocor Therapeutics

Mark Steedman is the past President and CEO of Fiborcor Therapeutics and served as a member of Fibrocor’s board of directors. Fibrocor’s mandate is to develop first-in-class therapeutics to target fibrotic diseases, and is supported through its founding partners MaRS Innovation (MI) and Evotec AG in Germany. Previously, Mark coordinated the formation of Interface Biologics in December 2001 and in 2004 raised $12M in a Series A round and grew the team from 0 to 15 people and helped recruit the senior management team. Mark was instrumental in landing early deals with several large medical device manufacturers, and oversaw company operations from early R&D to its first revenues in 2004. These early deals ultimately led to FDA approval for multiple medical device products. Mark holds degrees in Applied Science in Engineering, a Bachelor of Arts in Biology both from Queen’s University and an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Anne Woods, OBIO® Director
Managing Director, Healthcare & Life Sciences, RBCx

Anne is the Managing Director of Life Sciences & Healthcare at RBCx where she leads the banks efforts in the sector across Canada. Born and raised in Toronto, Anne brings over 25 years of experience in life sciences and capital markets, with 15 years of experience within pharma and biotech. Prior to RBCx, Anne launched the Life Sciences and Healthcare practice in Canada for Silicon Valley Bank. In addition to being a member of the executive at Life Sciences Ontario, Anne is an active member of the Canadian life sciences community also sitting on the board of the Ontario Biotech Innovation Organization. She is a regular panelist and contributor to podcasts and various publications. She also offers coaching and advice to early-stage founders, reinforcing her passion for nurturing the ecosystem and enabling the next generation of changemakers to push their next breakthrough forward. Anne holds a BSc from McGill University, an MA in leadership at the University of Guelph, and became a CFA Charterholder in 2001.

Jung-Kay Chiu, OBIO® Secretary
Partner, Norton Rose LLP

Jung-Kay Chiu practises in all areas of intellectual property law, with a focus on intellectual property acquisition, protection and exploitation in the field of biotechnology and medical devices. Mr. Chiu’s practice includes drafting and prosecuting patent applications, industrial designs and trade-marks, as well as patent licensing and other commercial transactions relating to intellectual property. Mr. Chiu is also routinely involved in preparing patent-related due diligence reports and patentability, infringement and validity opinions.

Mr. Chiu joined the Norton Rose Toronto office in 2003 after practicing corporate commercial law and intellectual property law with another major law firm in Canada. His technical experience includes conducting post-graduate research in molecular biology at the University of Toronto, and his technical background includes genetics, molecular biology, biotechnology and biochemistry. Mr. Chiu is Canadian Team Leader of the Patents and IP Transaction team.

OBIO® operates within a good governance framework and
is accountable to its members and stakeholders.