Jennifer Hamilton has scouted, cross-sector, for new opportunities for Johnson & Johnson in Canada since 2010 – first with the Corporate Office of Science and Technology (COSAT) and now with J&J Innovation. As well, Jennifer serves as the industry representative on the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR, Canadian equivalent of NIH) Standing Committee on Ethics. Since 2017, Jennifer has additionally worked with the J&J Global Community Impact team on a new initiative to test Impact Investing in global health where she is seeking healthcare investments worldwide that have social impact and financial return enabling scaling of technology and services in ultra-low resource settings.

Prior to working with J&J, Jennifer spent 17 years in biotech venture capital as Venture Partner at UK-based Nomura Phase4 Ventures and an Investment Director with Rothschild Asset Management covering North American and Canada respectively. She has also been an advisor to early and late-stage companies, venture funds and pension funds giving financing, business development and M&A advice. Jennifer has an MSc and a PhD in Experimental Pathology/Lipid Metabolism from the University of British Columbia and a BSc from the University of Guelph.

Dr. Lathan is a technology entrepreneur who has developed robots for kids with disabilities, virtual reality technology for the space station, and wearable sensors for training surgeons and soldiers. She is a global thought-leader in the relationship between technology and human performance and believes in a future of benevolent cyborgs.

Founder and CEO of AnthroTronix (est. 1999), Lathan has led projects from agencies such as DARPA, NASA, NIH, and NSF and recently developed one of the first FDA-cleared digital health platforms winning a prestigious Gold Edison Award. For this work, she was named a 2017 Woman to Watch by Disruptive Women in Health Care. Dr. Lathan has been featured in Forbes, Time, and the New Yorker magazines and her work has led to such distinctions as MIT Technology Review Magazine’s “Top 100 World Innovators,” and one of Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business.”

Dr. Lathan is a social advocate and actively involved in STEM educational outreach programs that empower women and minorities in science and technology. She founded Keys to Empowering Youth (est. 1992) for junior high school girls, coached for the FIRST and VEX robotics program, and advised the Smithsonian Institute’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. Dr. Lathan is on the Boards of the KID Museum Makerspace and Engineering World Health, which provides opportunities to college students to support the emergence of healthcare technology in the developing world. Cori is also the parent of two LGBT children and is passionate about LGBT issues and has written about her family’s experience for the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Blog.

Watch: Brain Power | Dr. Corinna E. Lathan 

John Holyoake, Managing Director, Investment Banking, joined Bloom Burton & Co. in January 2012. At Bloom Burton, John’s responsibilities also include overseeing Monetization Planning, Bloom Burton’s strategic consulting service, and supporting Bloom Burton’s portfolio of incubated companies.

John currently serves on the Board of directors of Appili Therapeutics, Satellos Bioscience, The Canadian Glycomics Network (GlycoNet), and Triumvira Immunologics. Additionally, John advises Canada’s research institutions on their commercialization efforts, including as part of GlycoNet’s commercialization committee and as a member of the Core Evaluation Team for Genome Canada’s Genomic Applications Partnership Program.

John holds a Master’s in Biochemistry and Doctorate from the University of Oxford, and carried out post-doctoral research at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto.

Gerry Lacroix is an assurance partner with Grant Thornton LLP. With more than 24 years of experience as an accounting and business advisor, he understands what it takes to build a successful business. As the current leader of Grant Thornton’s Nova Scotia Technology Sector Group, Gerry leads a team of more than 20 advisors with a focus on working with technology-forward businesses looking to grow, expand, or start-up. He and his team help entrepreneurs in the life sciences sector, understand the complexities of the financial and business management aspects of running a business; from developing financial models and issuing shares to investors, to setting up the proper business structure and internal controls to allow a business to remain agile, so it can grow quickly and efficiently.

Linda Plano is an expert pitch training coach with over 10 years of experience mentoring entrepreneurs with start-ups in life sciences, cleantech, high tech, web-based applications and more. Upon earning a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University and a BS in Physics from MIT, Plano held positions at various science-based companies. The combination of her high-level education and experience in business has allowed her to help entrepreneurs in many complex fields.

Plano has been coaching entrepreneurs on their pitches and value propositions since 2005. She founded Plano & Simple in 2010 to focus exclusively on coaching, training and mentoring entrepreneurs. This has led her to work with nearly 600 entrepreneurs, who have gone on to raise well over $250M. Plano has worked with a diverse number of clients, from first time entrepreneurs, to serial entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. Although she is based in Boston, she has delivered her services to clients all over the world.

Brett is a co-founder and CTO of Covina Biomedical Inc., an orthopaedic device start-up developing new biomaterials for use in minimally invasive treatments to enhance surgeon efficiency and maximize patient outcomes. Brett earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering (2010) and subsequently his Doctorate in Biomedical Engineering (2016) from Dalhousie University. His PhD research investigated adaptations to the chemistry of glass-based cements with a goal to expand their use beyond their traditional dental market and into the $1B orthopaedic bone cement market. It was this research that became the foundation for Covina’s technology platform to stabilize both bone fractures and orthopaedic implants. Brett has made 18 contributions to the scientific literature, is co-inventor on three granted patents, and was a finalist in the Emerging Professional category at the 2016 Discovery Awards. After winning the 2015 BioInnovation Challenge, Covina has gone on to be selected for the prestigious Canadian Technology Accelerator program in Boston, has won several awards in pitch competitions throughout Massachusetts, and has raised over $1.6m in equity and non-dilutive funding.