Meet the visionary team behind Bioenterprise Canada

Colin Farnum

Chairperson and Innovation Advisor

Previously the Senior Director, Innovation and New Technologies at Maple Leaf Foods, Colin is a seasoned food science/business professional with 40+ years of food experience. Having worked in multiple food categories he has led teams of 5 to 20 Food Scientists responsible for product and process development, cost containment and cost reduction. Since his retirement he has continued his involvement through a combination of consulting, mentoring and Bioenterprise Board work.

Richard Cloutier

Board Director and Innovation Advisor

Richard Cloutier brings nearly 40 years of expertise in the deployment of innovation, business start-ups and business development strategies, including managing partner of the Ecofuel Fund, a venture capital fund that invests in climate tech including agri-tech. He has also been President and CEO of the Centre québécois de valorisation des biotechnologies (CQVB), an organization dedicated to innovation and technology transfer in Quebec’s bio-industry sector, and was the founder, president and CEO of Gelkem, a private biopharmaceutical company involved in controlled drug delivery systems. Cloutier holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Sherbrooke University and an MBA from Laval University and is frequently consulted on innovation strategy development.

Bethany Deshpande

Innovation Advisor, Dairy Industry Tech Development

Bethany is a seasoned Founder & CEO with a proven track record in entrepreneurship, innovation, and fundraising. She has raised over $20M in funding and has won more than $2M at pitch competitions. With 8 years of experience leading SomaDetect, a dairy technology startup, Bethany brings expertise in technology development and strategic planning. She holds an MSc and PhD in Biology from Université Laval and a Bilingual Honours BA in Mathematics and Environmental Studies from York University. Bethany also serves on the boards of the Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network and Springboard Atlantic.

Doug Knox

Innovation Advisor, Agri-Food Equipment and Technology

Doug is a senior executive with over 35 years experience establishing and managing international partnerships, technology licenses, acquisitions and strategic alliances. Doug has managed both large corporate product divisions and developed small technology-based businesses.

He was the senior analyst at Bioenterprise Corporation as VP Technology for over 14 years. Doug spent 11 years with Unisys Corp. in the program management group where he held worldwide responsibility for the Education Line of Business “Computers in the Classroom”.

Doug has been an advisor to a variety of technology companies including e-commerce, RF Wireless, RFID, 3-D graphics, internet software, underground radio, broadband on copper, internet training, precision laser manufacturing of electronics, cleantech and alternative energy, most recently with several sensor and precision agri-tech and food-tech companies.

Erik Landry

Innovation Advisor, Precision Indoor Agriculture, CEA

Dr. Erik Landry is a Horticultural consultant specializing in precision indoor agriculture. He holds advanced degrees including a BSc in Horticulture, an MSc in Plant Physiology, and a PhD in Plant Breeding and Genetics. A certified project manager with experience combining the scientific method and continuous improvement principles to overcome roadblocks, he can rapidly iterate and ground truth ideas, as well as identify and mitigate risk through root cause analysis. Dr. Landry consults on conducting scientifically rigorous research trials to optimize processes or field test new products and is a guiding resource for emerging indoor ag-tech start-ups.

Dr. Murray McLaughlin

Innovation Advisor, Bioeconomy (Agriculture & Forestry)

Innovation Advisor, Bioeconomy (Agriculture & Forestry)

Dr. Murray McLaughlin is President of McLaughlin Consultants and an Advisor to Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) and to Forest Products Innovation (FPI). Experiences over the years; Sustainable Chemistry Alliance; Deputy Minister Agriculture, Saskatchewan; President AgWest Biotech. Others area of experience includes Canadian Light Source as Business Director; Managed FORAGEN,a Venture Capital Fund; Research and Marketing with ELANCO. Participate on several boards and advisory committees and recognized with several achievements over his career.

He is a graduate of NS Agricultural College, McGill (BSc) and Cornell (MSC/PhD). He has an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Dalhousie University and received several awards; LSO Community Service Award; the GoldLeaf award from BioteCanada and the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal. He was recipient of the LSO Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016 and recognized in the top 100 global leaders in the Advanced Bioeconomy at Biofuels Digest Conference in 2016.

Rodrigo Santana

Innovation Advisor, Agri-Food Business

Rodrigo has over 25 years of executive and entrepreneurial experience within the agtech, cleantech and food processing sectors, among others. He has supported the scaleup of public and private fast-growing technology driven organizations such as Dow AgroSciences, CubicFarms, Sacre-Davey Engineering, HTEC and SGS.

Rodrigo has deep knowledge and extensive network within the global food and agtech ecosystem, including food processing across most food sectors, controlled environment agriculture, precision farming and plant genomics.

Currently, Rodrigo is the CEO of BeriTech, an agtech startup developing a solution to produce off-season locally grown premium blueberries and raspberries in Canada. He is also the Director of Food & Agribusiness for GHD in Western Canada, a global engineering consultant organization, and an angel investor with focus on the agtech and cleantech sectors.

Rodrigo holds a Bachelor of Agriculture Engineering and an MBA.

Dr. Jody Dexter

Innovation Advisor, Technology Development & Intellectual Property

Jody is a highly motivated and performance-orientated professional who is driven by her passion for commercializing inventions and innovative ideas into practical applications for public use and benefit. Jody graduated with her PhD in Agriculture and Food Sciences from the University of Alberta and holds an MSc (Honors) from the University of Manitoba.

Since graduation, Jody has explored various career paths working in project management with Genome Canada, regulatory science with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and business development with Cangene Corporation. She currently works as a Technology Transfer Manager at the University of Manitoba and manages a large Intellectual Property and Research and Development portfolio focused on Health and Life Sciences, Med Tech, and Agriculture.

As a Business Consultant, Jody offers business advisory services for startup ventures in Agriculture and Food Sciences. She has over 3 years of experience consulting for the Manitoba Technology Accelerator Start-up-Visa program and has mentored over 45 companies looking to bring new products to the Canadian market. Jody’s background and areas of expertise lie in sustainable farming practices and genetically modified crops, vertical farming, SaaS, early-stage technology valuation, Intellectual Property, in and out-licensing, research and development, regulatory, market analysis, and strategic thinking.

Frank Leffelaar

Innovation Advisor, Agritech & Foodtech, Go-to-Market, Investment, Sustainability

Frank has been active in the Agrifood ecosystem and angel network as a mentor, advisor, and angel investor for over 10 years. He works closely with a wide range of innovative, early-stage companies across Canada. Frank advises founders on their business model and go-to-market strategy and helps them become investment-ready.

While Frank has experience with various industry sectors, his primary focus is on Agritech, Foodtech and Cleantech, bringing his broad expertise in technology and deep interest in agriculture, food & beverage. He is passionate about supporting innovation in soil, plant, animal and human health and the digital transformation of the agrifood value chain.

Frank has over 30 years of experience in marketing and product management with global software and manufacturing companies in Europe and Canada. He is also an entrepreneur and the founder of Crush Marketing Inc.

Johanne Sévigny

Innovation Advisor, Startups, Investment & Business Strategies A+

Johanne is Managing Partner of the Ecofuel Fund. She has over 30 years of experience in financing and managing businesses.

In addition to having been Vice-President, Companies for the Ecofuel Accelerator, Johanne was a Senior Director at the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC). She was also Chief Financial Officer, Mergers & Acquisitions at Negotium, a technology solutions provider. Johanne was Portfolio Manager at Entrepia Capital, Innovatech Montreal and Multiple Capital, venture capital funds for start-ups based in Montreal. Her background includes the position of President and CEO of a RFID company in the video game industry. At the start of her career, she held Project Manager positions at SNC Lavalin and Dessau-Soprin. Johanne sits on the board of directors of several innovative technology companies.

Johanne holds a Bachelor’s degree in engineering from École Polytechnique de Montréal and an MBA from HEC Montréal.

Steve Slater

Innovation Advisor, Agricultural Biotechnology

Steve Slater has over 30 years of experience in Ag Biotech. After completing postdoctoral work at Harvard University, he spent ten years with Monsanto company as a senior scientist focused on metabolic engineering of agricultural crops. He led teams focused on bacterial genomics and production of monoclonal antibodies and was appointed a Senior Monsanto Fellow. He spent the next ten years in Academia, First at Arizona State University and then at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since 2014, he has focused on biotech startups in CSC and PDG roles, and as has been an independent advisor to many companies in the industry.

Mike Manion

Innovation Advisor, Agri-Business

Mike has an extensive background in senior executive positions for a number of Canada’s largest corporate farming operations and as an owner operator. He has been directly involved in or responsible for mushroom farming operations in 6 of Canada’s 10 provinces.

Mike Manion has held senior leadership roles within Campbell Soup Co Ltd, Conagra, who at various times were among the largest mushroom growers in North America Moneys Mushrooms, and finally as a Senior Vice President helped Rolland Farms,” a family farm” to achieve National status and to be one of the largest corporate farming operations in Canada with sales in excess of $100 million, production of 1,000,000 lbs a week of mushrooms and over a 1000 employees.

Currently, Mike is CEO of Agrisco Supplies Inc an Agricultural Consulting Company. Within this consultancy Mike is an Executive in Residence with Foresight Cleantech Accelerator and occupies agriculture-focused advisory roles with organizations including the Pitt Meadows Agriculture Advisory, Metro Vancouver Agriculture Committee (current chair) and past Ministers Agricultural Advisory Council.

Mike currently is also a director of the Investment Agricultural Foundation of BC.

Terry Clark

Innovation Advisor, Animal Health Technology

(Terry) A. Clark, founded Agri-Food Solutions Inc. in 2009 following a career with Eli Lilly and Company primarily in the Elanco Animal Health division. During that time, Terry held several positions in Canada, the U.S. and internationally in sales, marketing and general management including President, Elanco Animal Health Korea Ltd.  Following his return to the U.S., Terry was appointed to Director, Global Corporate Affairs with primary responsibility for the Asia Pacific. This position involved working with industry colleagues, all members of the food chain and international governments on food safety issues. Agri-Food Solutions has since advised several animal health companies on product and market development opportunities both domestically and internationally.

Mike Williams

Innovation Advisor, CPG Products and Specialty Pet Food

Mike Williams has enjoyed a varied and successful career in the CPG industry, and today has over 35 years of experience selling human food and pet food products. Mike has played a key role in developing brands for a variety of CPG companies including General Mills, JM Schneider’s, Merisant Sun Rype products, Meow Mix Company, US Pet Nutrition and Trouw Nutrition. Mike has also worked as Senior Business Development Manager at Oilseed Innovation Partners (OIP) since 2006, where he is responsible for developing and coordinating business and commercialization activities on behalf of the organization’s clients and their products and services.

Mike’s sector-specific knowledge spans multiple product categories including natural/organic, grocery, mass, drug, and pet specialty foods. Many of Mike’s roles have included consumer marketing, customer-facing sales and business development. He has also gained extensive experience throughout his career working with brokers, distributors, and direct sales forces. Mike has provided tailored coaching support to businesses at all developmental stages and has been instrumental in helping start-ups, SMEs, as well as global companies and brands achieve their goals.

Martin Yuill

Innovation Advisor, Technology & Research Commercialization, Pitching, Sales, New Business Development

Martin Yuill is an accomplished entrepreneur, corporate executive, business mentor, and research commercialization and innovation advisor with specific expertise launching and growing companies, building high-performance sales and operations teams, operationalizing strategy, and driving revenues and growth.

Having cut his teeth in the veterinary pharmaceutical, animal health, natural human health, food services, industrial products, business consulting, and timber sectors, more recently Martin has built programming and infrastructure to support go-to-market strategies, the commercialization of new innovation, and access to funding for ventures in the IT, life sciences, animal health, food, agtech, and cleantech sectors.

For the past five years Martin has led the development of Cleantech Commons: an 85-acre research and innovation park and internationally-recognized “area of innovation” which is being developed as a hub that brings together cleantech companies with university faculty, researchers, students, and investors to develop and commercialize cutting-edge clean, green, sustainable, and low-carbon technologies that address global energy, environment, and climate challenges.

Martin holds an MBA degree from the University of South Africa. He is an I-Corps™ (USA)-accredited program instructor and venture mentor.

Henrique Dias

Innovation Advisor, Product Positioning, Go-To-Market Strategy

Henrique is a mechanical engineer and entrepreneur currently running his 3rd startup. After just 3 years in the market, BudTrainer is available at over 200 retailers across North America, Australia, NZ, and Europe. He has also consulted and coached over 100 startups and businesses in various industries over the last 8 years, helping them generate millions of dollars. As a startup mentor, Henrique helps entrepreneurs understand their market and competition, and take their products to market through various sales and marketing strategies. His expertise includes Market Research, Competitor Analysis,  Product Marketing, and B2B Sales Process.

Dara Djafarian

Innovation Advisor, Bioindustrial Scale-Up & Commercialization

Dara Djafarian is an operator and board member commercializing bio-industrial and agri-food technologies.

Dara is currently the CEO and Director of Melio Peptide Systems and a Director of Creatus Biosciences. Prior to this he was at Vanedge Capital, a $140mn venture capital fund focused on technology investments.

Most recently, Dara led Melio to a deal that is set to remove antibiotics from major industrial settings and target antibiotic resistance in the environment and human & animal health.

Dara has a background in operations, governance, technology development and fundraising. He is also experienced in IP asset development, having led filings of over 30 patents globally (with 8 currently granted), and has led deals involving extensive IP and patent portfolios.

Dara received his MSc from University College London (UCL) and BA&Sc from McGill University.

Sherin Jose

Innovation Advisor, Ag & Clean Technology

Dr. Sherin Jose is a highly experienced professional with over 15 years of experience in Ag Biotech, holding an MSc in Biotechnology and a PhD in Plant Biology, complemented by postdoctoral research at Dalhousie University. Her broad expertise includes bio-stimulant and bioproduct development, controlled plant trials and bioassays, clean-tech innovations, and advanced genomics and metagenomics studies.

Dr. Jose has successfully guided numerous initiatives from conceptualization to practical applications in the life sciences and clean-tech sectors. She is committed to leveraging her interdisciplinary expertise to drive transformative advancements in agricultural science and technology.

Dave Shambrock

Innovation Advisor, Food & Beverage Development and Manufacturing

Dave Shambrock has extensive experience in food and beverage R&D and technology. He has worked with over a hundred companies involved with food processing, ingredient manufacturing, functional foods, and bioactive compound fractionation and processing. Dave gained this experience working as an Industrial Technology Advisor for the National Research Council and as the Director for one of Canada’s food technology centres.

Dave is a consultant to industry and government clients. Areas of specialization include new product development, scale-up, business decision models, strategic planning, business plan development and feasibility studies. Consulting activities focus on clients in the agri-food and life sciences sectors with a particular emphasis on new business launches and expansions. 

Dave holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Food Science and an MBA.

Paul Richards

Strategic Advisor

Paul Richards is the sector lead for Agri-technology for Innovacorp, a Nova Scotia Venture Capital organization. Paul focuses on enabling knowledge-based companies to accelerate the commercialization of their technology to create dynamic, high-growth venture grade companies and develop the entrepreneurial culture in the region.

Since taking on this role, Paul has worked to establish a growing ecosystem in Atlantic Canada for the agri-tech sector and has helped his companies raise over $75 million dollars.

Michael McGee

Director of Innovation and Investment Advisor

Michael has been investing risk capital in small and medium enterprise businesses since the early 90’s, most recently as a Partner with Avrio Capital, a Calgary based fund focused on Agriculture and Food.

Prior to joining Avrio in 2012, Michael spent eight years in senior investment positions at two Calgary based family offices, most notably, as Managing Director – Investments with Werklund Capital Corp. and as Executive Vice President – Investments with Cavendish Investing Ltd.

Michael also has extensive institutional experience in Mezzanine / Sub-debt financing stemming from his seven years with Bank of Montreal Capital Corporation, where he was recruited at its genesis in 1996 and where as Managing Director, he launched its Western Canadian office in 1997. Michael was also a Vice President & Director – Toronto Dominion Bank Capital where he was involved with the launch of their subordinated debt initiative.

Michael has extensive board experience with both private and public companies, as well as with the Venture Capital Association of Alberta. He remains a Director of Durum Properties Ltd., Chairman of the Finance Committee of St. Michael Catholic Community and Treasurer of the Valley Ridge Community Association.

Michael has a Master of Finance degree from Loyola University, Maryland and an undergraduate degree from Western University.