MaRS is North America’s largest urban innovation hub

Annette Verschuren is Chair and Chief Executive Officer of NRStor Inc. The company develops and manages energy storage projects.

Prior to this, Ms. Verschuren was president of The Home Depot Canada. She oversaw the growth of the company’s Canadian operations from 19 to 179 stores from 1996-2011, increasing revenue from $600 million to $6 billion.

After Home Depot, she took a year off and went around the world. In her travels, she saw energy as a global issue, with enormous business potential, and many benefits to developing economies. Back in Canada, Ms. Verschuren founded NRStor in 2012 with an investment from Northwater Capital.

Her career began at the Cape Breton Development Corporation. She then worked with Canada Development Investment Corporation to help privatize crown corporations. Her next stop was as a Vice President of Corporate Development at Imasco Ltd., one of Canada’s largest holding companies. Ms. Verschuren then launched Michaels of Canada, a chain of arts and crafts stores before landing at the helm of Home Depot Canada.

Ms. Verschuren has been appointed to numerous government advisory roles. Among them: Economic Advisory Council, during the economic crisis in 2008, the Canada-U.S. Council for Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders and the Advisory Council for NAFTA. Recently, Ms. Verschuren participated in our Government’s Roundtable on Decarbonization.

Ms. Verschuren sits on the corporate boards of Liberty Mutual, CNRL, Air Canada and Saputo. She is Chair of the MaRS Discovery District Board and a member of the Ontario Energy Association.

Ms. Verschuren is the Chancellor of Cape Breton University and is on the Board of the Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, (VCSEE).

Annette Verschuren has received several Honourary Doctorates from Canadian universities including her alma mater, St. Francis Xavier University. She supports many causes but focuses on mental health, education and indigenous programmes. She is a founding member of the Rideau Hall Foundation. She co-chairs the Smart Prosperity Initiative, which is mapping out a course to a stronger, cleaner economy for Canada.

Annette Verschuren is a Companion of the Canadian Business Hall of Fame. She champions volunteerism and was named to the Order of Canada for her contributions to the retail industry and corporate social responsibility.

Ms. Verschuren wrote the book Bet On Me, about succeeding in business and in life. Annette Verschuren and her husband, Stan Shibinsky, often return to her home province of Nova Scotia and her family home.

Andy is a member of the Board of Directors of Royal Bank of Canada. Prior to that he spent most of his career at Goldman Sachs & Co, which he joined in 1985 in New York. He served in a variety of progressively more senior leadership roles within the organization during his 30 year career in both London and New York including as Senior Strategy Officer of the firm globally from 2012–2014, as Head or co-Head of the Global Financial Institutions Group from 2002–2012, and as co- Chair of the Firmwide Commitments Committee (primarily overseeing the firm’s equity underwriting activities) from 2011–2015.

He acted as a member of the Federal government’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance and subsequently as a member of the Task Force for Resilient Recovery.

He sits on the Advisory Board for the Institute for Sustainable Finance at Queen’s University and the Centre for Building Sustainable Value at the Ivey Business School, is a Board Member of Evergreen, and sits on the Investment Committee of ArcTern Ventures, a cleantech Venture Capital firm.

He holds a B. Comm from Queens University (1981) and graduated with an MBA from the Ivey Business School at Western University in 1985 where he is now Chair of the Advisory Board. He lives in Toronto with his family.

Meric S. Gertler began his term as the 16th President of the University of Toronto on November 1, 2013. Prior to that, he served as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science—the largest faculty at the University—from 2008 to 2013, where he championed many important innovations in undergraduate teaching and learning. He is a Professor of Geography and Planning, and the Goldring Chair in Canadian Studies at the University of Toronto. He is a co-founder of a large research program at U of T’s Munk School of Global Affairs investigating the role of city-regions as sites of innovation and creativity in the global economy. His work engages in comparative analysis of North American and European cities to understand how local social and cultural dynamics create the foundations for economic success and prosperity. He has served as an advisor to local, regional and national governments in Canada, the United States and Europe, as well as to international agencies such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (Paris) and the European Union. He has authored or edited seven books, including Manufacturing Culture: The Institutional Geography of Industrial Practice and The Oxford Handbook of Economic Geography (with Gordon Clark and Maryann Feldman). He has held visiting appointments at Oxford, University College London, UCLA, and the University of Oslo. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and received the 2007 Award for Scholarly Distinction in Geography from the Canadian Association of Geographers. He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (UK). He holds a doctor of philosophy honoris causa from Lund University in Sweden. Most recently, Gertler received the 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of California, Berkeley and the 2014 Distinguished Scholarship Honor from the Association of American Geographers (AAG).

Diane Kazarian is a PwC Canada alumni managing partner where she was the first female GTA Managing Partner and a member of the Extended Leadership Team. She led PwC’s largest Canadian market, managing more than 4,000 professionals across all key industries. With more than 30 years of experience in the professional services industry, in financial services working with C-suites and Boards in the US and Canada in the banking sector, Diane has been recognized as a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants (FCPA) of Ontario and is a recipient of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 award. Diane was the co-sponsor of PwC’s award-winning Women in Leadership (WiL) program and is a founding visionary of the Prosperity Project, an organization dedicated to working towards elevating women being impacted COVID. She is the Chair of the Board of St. Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation and a corporate director of Gibson Energy Inc, OMERS Administration Corporation and Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust and a trustee of Bryant University. Diane is a sought-after speaker and is an active participant and advocate of women’s career advancement as well as diversity and inclusion.

Dr. Larson joined Sectoral in 2018 as Partner – Private Equity, responsible for leading biotechnology private equity investments.

Prior to joining Sectoral, Dr. Larson was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and later Venture Partner with Versant Ventures, where he led the establishment of their Toronto-based Discovery Engine and was the founding CEO of Northern Biologics. Dr. Larson was also a co-founder of two medical device companies: Perimeter Medical Imaging, and Tornado Spectral Systems. He began his career at McKinsey & Company in San Francisco and Toronto.

Dr. Larson received his B.Sc. in Biology from McGill University, and his M.Sc. in Molecular and Medical Genetics from the University of Toronto, prior to completing his Ph.D. in Biophysics at Stanford University.

Allen Lau is a visionary serial entrepreneur, a leader in Canada’s tech community, and a sought-after speaker and authoritative voice on entrepreneurship, the innovation economy, and the benefits of a diverse workforce.

As the CEO and co-founder of Toronto-based Wattpad, a global multi-platform entertainment company for original stories and leading social storytelling platform, Allen leads an international team with the inspiring vision to leverage groundbreaking technology to transform how entertainment is sourced and produced while empowering diverse voices.

Under Allen’s leadership, Wattpad has grown into a community of 94 million people who have written more than a billion uploads on the platform. Thousands of Wattpad stories have been adapted for other platforms and gone on to become blockbuster movies and #1 Netflix hits, Emmy-nominated television series, and bestselling books around the world. 

Wattpad has raised USD $120 million from top VCs in Silicon Valley, New York, Canada, and Asia. In 2021 the company was acquired by Naver, the South Korean internet conglomerate, in a transaction valued at more than USD $600 million. 

That same year Allen was invited to sit on the board of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), a cultural organization with a mission to transform the way people see the world through film. As a board member, Allen will offer his unique perspective and experiences to support and advance TIFF’s mission. Additionally, Allen joined the board of directors for MaRS Discovery District, North America’s largest urban innovation hub. As a board member, Allen will join MaRS in supporting high-growth startups and scale-ups to drive breakthrough discoveries, grow the economy, and make an impact by solving real problems for real people. 

A leader in Canada’s technology sector and startup ecosystem, Allen is a member of the Canadian Council of Innovators, a lobby group that advances the interests of Canadian technology companies at all levels of government. He is also the co-founder of Two Small Fish Ventures, a fund that invests in early-stage internet companies with strong network effects.

Allen received his Bachelor and Master degrees from the University of Toronto’s Electrical Engineering program. 

In 2020, he was inducted into the Engineering Alumni Hall of Distinction of the University of Toronto. He was twice named one of the Top 50 Most Influential People by Toronto Life.

Geoffrey Matus, the President of Mandukwe Inc., co-founded the following companies:  Cidel Bank & Trust Inc., Tricon Capital Group Inc., NexGen Financial Corporation and Chairs Klassen Bronze Limited, Talent Payment Services, Cidel and NexGen.  He is a past member of the Governing Council of the University of Toronto and now chairs the Investment Advisory Committee for the university’s Pension and Endowment Funds.  In 2010, he was awarded the Arbor Award for outstanding service   to the university and, in 2005, was a recipient of the Jewish Federation Award for outstanding service to the community.  This year he will be honoured as a man of distinction by the Israel Cancer Research Fund.  He is a board member of the Canadian Opera Company and a past board member of Mount Sinai Hospital.  In 2007, he was appointed an honorary director of Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care and is a Past Chair of the Board of Directors.

Geoffrey is a graduate of the law school at Columbia University in New York and a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

Claudette McGowan is a global information technology leader with more than 20 years of success leading digital transformations, optimizing infrastructure and designing new approaches that improve service and cybersecurity experiences. She has worked in the technology industry for several organizations such as Deloitte, Metropolitan Police Services, North York General Hospital, Bank of Montreal and TD Bank.

At BMO, Claudette served as the Chief Information Officer, Enterprise Technology Employee Experience, and at TD she was the Global Executive Officer for Protect Fusion & Cyber Experience.

Claudette is currently the Chief Executive Officer for Protexxa, a Canadian-based cybersecurity software and services company.

Claudette is an active member of the Canadian innovation ecosystem. She is the Founder of the Black Arts & Innovation Expo, and the Chair of the Coalition of Innovation Leaders Against Racism (CILAR), a group of senior business leaders committed to fighting systemic racism within the innovation economy. McGowan recently co-led the launch of Phoenix Fire & The Firehood, a multi-million dollar women-focused angel fund and network for women in technology.

Her commitment to community is evidenced by her multiple board/council appointments for leading organizations such as SickKids Hospital Foundation, CILAR, Elevate Technology Festival, Women in the Economy Task Force, and the U.S. Consul General of Toronto U.S. & Canada Innovation Council.

McGowan completed her studies in Canada and graduated with Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration degrees. In June 2022, Claudette was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Carleton University in recognition of her distinguished career as a global information technology leader.

Prashant Pathak is CEO of Ekagrata and a principal of In Colour Capital Inc., a Canadian principal investment firm. In addition to his oversight roles at public and private companies, he serves on the boards of several public and community institutions. He has also held senior roles at BDC, where he served on the credit & risk and the pensions committees, and also chaired the venture capital and investments committee.

Previously, Prashant was a partner of McKinsey & Company, and advised several corporations on management, strategy, M&A and operations issues across North America, South America, Asia and South America.

He holds an MBA with distinction from INSEAD, as well as a bachelor of technology degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology.

Taki Sarantakis has been the President of the Canada School of Public Service since July 2018, having previously served as Associate Secretary of the Treasury Board at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. Mr. Sarantakis spent most of his career at Infrastructure Canada, including as Assistant Deputy Minister of Policy and Communications.

In 2011 Mr. Sarantakis was awarded Canada’s Public Service Award of Excellence in Public Policy, and in 2013 he was a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Prior to joining the federal government, Mr. Sarantakis was a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto. He holds a B.A. and an M.A. from York University in Toronto, as well as an Executive Certificate in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is a graduate of the Rotman School of Management’s Institute of Corporate Directors Education Program, holding the ICD.D designation.

Molly Shoichet holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in tissue engineering at the University of Toronto, where she focuses on drug and cell delivery strategies in the central nervous system (brain; spinal cord; retina) and 3D hydrogel culture systems to model cancer. She currently leads a laboratory of 25 researchers and has graduated close to 200 researchers to date.

She has published over 650 papers, patents and abstracts and has given over 375 lectures worldwide. The recipient of many prestigious distinctions, she is the only person to be inducted into all three of Canada’s National Academies of Science, Engineering and Health Sciences. In 2011, she was awarded the Order of Ontario, and in 2014, she received the University of Toronto’s highest distinction, university professor, which is held by less than two per cent of the faculty.

A strong proponent of commercializing scientific discoveries, Prof Shoichet is co-founder of three spin-off companies, with AmacaThera currently at MaRS, and is also actively engaged in translational research and science outreach.

Prof Shoichet was the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science laureate for North America in 2015, elected the foreign member of the US National Academy of Engineering in 2016, and won the Killam Prize in engineering in 2017. The following year, Prof Shoichet was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada and served as Ontario’s first chief scientist, where she worked to enhance scientific culture in the province. In 2019, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (UK) – the oldest national academy in the world.

She holds an SB degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a PhD from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in polymer science and engineering.

Dr. Calvin Stiller is a lifelong innovator whose work encompasses science, business and public service.  As a scientist, Dr. Stiller was principal investigator on the Canadian multi-centre study that established the effectiveness of Cyclosporin in transplantation, which led to its worldwide use as first-line therapy for transplant rejection.  He was the first to demonstrate that Type I Diabetes could be altered by an immunosuppressive agent confirming that it was an autoimmune disease.  He has published over 250 scientific and medical papers, co-edited five books and is the author of Lifegifts, a book about organ transplantation.

In 1985 Dr. Stiller established the Multi-Organ Transplant Service in London, arguably one of the first in the world and served as its chief for over a decade. He has been president of the Canadian Society of Nephrology and co-founded the MaRS centre, the Ontario Genomics Institute, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, which he currently chairs, the J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine and the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. Dr. Stiller is also an entrepreneur and businessperson. He founded two firms that eventually employed 4,000 people in healthcare and technology services, which were later sold and taken public. He established four venture capital funds to invest in innovation, including the largest life sciences fund in Canada.

Dr. Stiller received his medical degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1965 and his fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (FRCPC) in 1972, following seven years of post-graduate studies in Edmonton and London, Ontario. He is a member of the Order of Ontario and officer of the Order of Canada. He is the recipient of four honorary degrees and numerous others, including the Medec Award and the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award.