Our Team

Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications, adMare BioInnovations

Anie Perrault received her law degree from the University of Ottawa in 1992. From 1992 to 1995, she worked as a lawyer with Phillips & Vineberg (now Davies, Ward, Phillips & Vineberg), primarily in the areas of labour law and civil and commercial litigation. She has more than 25 years of professional experience in the public and private sectors. Her career has focused on communications and public affairs in genomics research and biotechnology. She has held several strategic positions in this field at a national level, including Vice-President of Communications for Genome Canada from 2001 to 2006. She currently serves as Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications at AdMare BioInnovations.

Ms. Perrault is a member (administrative judge) of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, where she hands down rulings in cases of discrimination and applies the Canadian Human Rights Act. She also serves as a mediator in certain cases before the Tribunal. Ms. Perrault is a certified member of the Institut de médiation et d’arbitrage du Québec.

She has been a certified corporate director (administratrice de sociétés certifiée - ASC) since 2013, credentials she earned from the Université Laval Collège des administrateurs de sociétés, and has chaired the Génome Québec Board of Directors since 2019. She currently sits on the boards of Loto-Québec (since 2011) and of the Fondation Jeanne Mance (since 2016). In addition, from 2016 to 2019, she served on the Board of Université de Sherbrooke. She has been a member of the Génome Québec Board and its finance committee since 2016.

In 2009, Ms. Perrault was elected city counsellor for the City of Bromont, an office she held for five years. She was also elected as Vice-President of the Réseau des élues municipales de la Montérégie-Est, a municipal association which supports women involved in municipal politics. Ms. Perrault was Press Officer, Director of Communications and Senior Advisor to the Right Honourable Joe Clark and a Policy Advisor to various members of Parliament from 1989 to 2000.

President and CEO, Genome Canada

Rob Annan has more than a decade of success leading research and innovation organizations. As President and CEO of Genome Canada, he combines a background in genomics research with deep knowledge of science and innovation policy and a proven track record in corporate strategy. Rob is committed to translating ideas into impact. A strong believer that science and innovation—when equitably applied—can make life better, he works with researchers, policy leaders and industry across Canada and internationally to help realize the economic, environmental, and social benefits of genomics. 

Rob has been involved in Canadian science policy in numerous capacities, including through executive leadership at Mitacs where he served as Chief Research Officer. Rob has also served as a fellow of the Public Policy Forum as well as a Director of Let’s Talk Science.  

Rob has a PhD in biochemistry from McGill University and two undergraduate degrees: one in English from Queen’s University and another in biology from the University of Victoria. 

General director, Ministère de l’Économie et de l’Innovation, Science and Innovation Branch

Marco Blouin is General director of the Science and Innovation sector of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation since november 2016. Before that, he was director of industrial partnerships within the Science and Innovation sector for 5 years. Prior to joining the Québec government, Mr. Blouin worked as a researcher at Université Laval where he collaborated with Hydro-Québec on multiple projects on energy stocking and then for the National Research Council of Canada. Mr. Blouin holds a B.SC. in physics from Université of Sherbrooke, and a M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Institut National de Recherche Scientifique (INRS) in nanomaterials.

Director, Direction recherches et politiques agricoles
Union des producteurs agricoles

Prior to this, she worked as economic advisor and subsequently as manager of the economics and commerce team. Over the years, she has coordinated efforts in a variety of areas, including commerce, economics, energy and municipal taxation pertaining to agriculture. In this capacity, she has participated in the work of many provincial and national committees.

Executive Director, Ouranos

Alain Bourque holds a Master's in atmospheric science from Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM). He was a meteorologist/climatologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada from 1989 to 2001 where he worked on the Saguenay flood of 1996, the ice storm of 1998 and with climate services. At Ouranos since its creation in 2001, Mr. Bourque has implemented the Vulnerabilities, Impacts and Adaptation program which includes more than 200 projects. Since 2013, he serves as Executive Director. During his career, he has completed many regional, national and international scientific summaries and contributes regularly to media stories and policy discussions about climate change and adaptation.

Managing Partner of Stein Monast L.L.P.

Jean Brunet specializes in corporate and commercial law, including the negotiation and drafting of business purchase and sales agreements, mergers, corporate reorganizations and shareholders’ agreements. Mr. Brunet also practises intellectual property law, including negotiating and drafting research contracts, distribution agreements, and licence and technology transfer agreements, mainly in the sectors of pharmaceuticals, genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and biotechnology.

In addition, Mr. Brunet acts as legal counsel and corporate secretary for various companies, particularly in the areas of biotechnology, genomics and proteomics, including active involvement on the boards of Genome Canada and Génome Québec. His duties include advising these companies on corporate governance policies and compliance matters. 

CEO and Chair of the Board of Administration, Centre d'entreprises et d'innovation de Montréal

Founder, CEO and Chair of the Board of Administration of the Centre d'entreprises et d'innovation de Montréal (CEIM) since 1996, Ms. Hélène Desmarais holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance from HEC Montréal. CEIM is a business incubator, with an emphasis on startups as well as the development of innovative IT, multimedia, industrial technology and biotech companies. CEIM supports the emergence of viable, innovative and successful companies from those sectors which are an economic priority for the Greater Metropolitan Area of Montréal and the province of Québec.

 Ms. Desmarais is founder and Chair of the Board of Administration and of the Entrepreneurial Development Committee of the Société de développement économique Ville-Marie (SDEVM) since 1998. She is both Chair of the Board of Administration and of the Financial Assistance Committee of the SDEVM's Société d'Investissement Jeunesse (SIJ) Loan Guarantee Program. The primary mission of these two organisations is to promote entrepreneurship and economic development. The SDEVM primarily offers commercial loan guarantees to startup companies. The SIJ offers personal loan guarantees to young entrepreneurs under 35, who wish to start, acquire or become an associate in a Québec business.

Gestion Bio-Capital Inc. was founded in 1997 and was led by Ms. Desmarais as Chair of the Board of Administration until the sale of the fund in 2001. She was also a member of the verification and investment committees and member of the private investment evaluation committee at the time of the sale of the fund. Gestion Bio-Capital Inc. was a venture capital organisation specializing in biotech startups.

In 2003, Ms. Desmarais was appointed first female President of HEC's Board of Administration, to which she had been named in 1999. She is Co-President and founder of the International Advisory Board of HEC Montréal (1990), is chair of the University of Montreal's Faculty of Medicine Advisory Committee (2006), is chair of the advisory board of the Consultative Committee of the Hospital Centre of the Université de Montréal (CHUM) (2008), is President of the Advisory Board and member of the Board of Governors of the Conference of Montreal (International Economic Forum of the Americas, 1995), is President of the Board of Administration of The Montreal Economic Institute (2007) where she has held a seat since 2002, is Chair of the Canadian Joint Regional Committees since 2006, was President of the Board of Directors of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal. She was on the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal from 2002-2009 and has sat on its Executive Committee since 2005. She has been Deputy Chair of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Chair and founder of its Fondation since 2008.  She chaired a commission formed by the Province of Quebec to study the healthcare industry (1997). 

Ms. Desmarais also sits on the following Boards of administrations : Garda World Security Corporation (2006); C.D. Howe Institute (2005); the Institute for Governance of Private and Public Organizations (2005); of the IRCM - The Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (2005), of Génome Québec (2002), of VAL-CHUM -- Société de valorisation des recherches du CHUM (2004). She is a member of the Conseil des partenaires de l'innovation (CIP), which falls under the aegis of Quebec's Ministry of Développement économique, Innovation et Exportation (2006), of the City of Montreal Economic Orientation Committee (2005), of the advisory board of Biotechnology Research Iinstitute, National Research Council of Canada (1998-2001) and of the Investment Committee, Hydro-Quebec CapiTech - Innovation Fund (2001-2004).

Recipient, Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee Medal 2002; Order of Merit, Université de Montréal 2007; Medal of Honour, Faculty of Medicine of the Université de Montréal 2009; Doctor of Laws honoris causa, St. Francis Xavier University 2009; Order of Canada, Chancellery of Honours 2009; Prix entrepreneurship of Conseil du Patronat du Québec 2010; Grande Montréalaise (economic sector), Académie des grands montréalais and la Chambre de commerce du Montréal métropolitain 2010. 

Lynda Durand is the cofounder of a television production company (Productions Ostar Inc.) and has served as its president since 1987.

She graduated in law from Université de Sherbrooke in 1983 and has since gained over 25 years of experience in law, management and communications.

She taught negotiation at Université de Sherbrooke and at the École du Barreau du Québec while working in private practice for the Cuerrier, Hébert, Durand law firm.

From 1990 to 1997, Ms. Durand served as Vice-President of Québec’s Commission de la santé et de la sécurité, where she was in charge of four departments: Legal Services, Communications, Human Resources and Material Resources. She also chaired a dejudicializing committee that produced the report bearing her name and led to the creation of the Commission des lésions professionnelles, the appeals tribunal for workplace accidents in Québec.

Ms. Durand is a certified corporate director. She obtained her diploma from the Collège des administrateurs de sociétés of Université Laval.

She has served on the Board of Loto-Québec and also chaired its governance committee, in addition to sitting on the Canadian Red Cross Board of Governors.

After serving on the Board of Directors of Université de Sherbrooke, she became the first woman to be elected as its chair, a position she held for five years until 2016.

She has been a member of the Investissement Québec Board of Directors since 2018 and chairs various committees for the agency in addition to being involved on its executive committee.

She is also a member of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Board of Directors and its governance committee. In addition, Ms. Durand sits on the Génome Québec Board of Directors and on its governance, nomination, human resources committee.

Clinical Researcher and Assistant Professor
Department of medicine, Université de Sherbrooke

Professor Jean-François Ethier is a clinical researcher and assistant professor at the Department of Medicine of Université de Sherbrooke. He also works as a researcher at the INSERM UMRS-1138 in Paris in addition to coleading the Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire en informatique de la santé (GRIIS.ca).

He holds a Bachelor of Internal Medicine from McGill University and a PhD in Epidemiology and Biomedical Information Science from Université Paris VI (Pierre and Marie Curie).

Pr. Ethier’s research focuses on ways to place patients at the centre of research and decision support systems (learning healthcare system). More specifically, he develops semantic interoperability frameworks between health and research systems, structures biomedical data warehouses and develops formal knowledge-based models to facilitate the uniform access to clinical, genomics, administrative and quantified self (lifelogging) data. 

President and CEO, EVAH Corp.

A seasoned entrepreneur, Michel Fortin’s professional accreditations include CPA, CA, ICD.D, B.A.A. He has a Bachelor of Commerce from Sherbrooke University (1978) and has completed the Directors Education Program of the Institute of Corporate Directors, Rotman School of Management, from the University of Toronto (2018).

An excellent negotiator and developer, Michel Fortin is recognised for his creative strategic thinking, his strong communication skills, his flair to identify opportunities globally and an ability to raise the capital to fulfill them. He is currently President and CEO of EVAH Corp., a Canadian business platform that aims to develop sustainable technologies in Animal Health and sell them to major players in the space.

He was the chief architect of Prevtec Microbia’s business and ?nancial strategies from 2005 to 2019, from a start-up company spun out of academia to a successful business, active in markets globally, up to its sale to Elanco, the second largest Animal Health company in the world.

In past roles as a financial and business executive of fast-growing companies, Michel implemented debt and equity financings as well as IPOs. He also restructured a company with revenues of $15 million and 250 employees that was in serious financial difficulty. He negotiated and signed an exclusive global license for a new antibacterial fiber, acquired and refinanced the company.

Previously he was a partner of Fortin, Tremblay et Associés, specialized in management consulting and accounting. He is the current President of BIOQuébec, the Trade Association of life sciences companies in Québec.