Norma Biln is an entrepreneur and while she’s posed to bring some humor to the panel, she’s laser focused on market and value proposition.

She is a leading figure in the Canadian Biotechnology sector and was recently recognized as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner in 2017.

Norma has brought strategic and operational execution excellence to each position she has held along her career. Throughout her 24 years in the life sciences she has worked along, built and led teams that have consistently exceeded corporate goals. Norma began her career in clinical research with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals after completing her Bachelor of Science in Physiology at McGill University. She continued her career in several capacities in sales management, marketing and market access with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Amgen and Abbott Laboratories. Before her role of CEO at Augurex, Norma worked in various senior management roles in Business Development, Commercial and Communications. She holds a Master of Business Administration, is the former Chair of the Board of Directors of BioTalent Canada, a member of the Board of Directors of Resverlogix Corp (TSX:RVX) and New Ventures BC, is the Chair of the Skills and Talent task force for the Health and Biosciences Economic Strategy Roundtable for the federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and a founding member of the Canadian Digital Technology Supercluster.

Colin Harris is an operator of companies. For him it’s all about the numbers. Finalists will need to show real cost-savings and operational improvements to win him over.

UBC Engineering Physics alumnus (BASc 1980) Colin Harris is one of the most successful technology entrepreneurs in British Columbia.
Since watching a Star Trek episode as a child , Colin has always dreamed of a connected world and as the internet started to take shape he was lucky enough to have networking and semiconductor knowledge.

As a result he co-founded and became the Chief Operating Officer of PMC-Sierra (now Microchip), a NASDAQ-listed semiconductor company and local tech success story which developed chips to enable the internet.

A major player in and supporter of the BC entrepreneurial community as both an angel investor and mentor Colin currently advises many of the vibrant startups in Vancouver. Colin has also served on the boards or advisory boards of more established companies such as Redlen Technologies, Yaletown Venture Partners, the Pender Fund, the Global Semiconductor Alliance and the Design for E-Beam Initiative, among others.

A founding partner of CDL-West at UBC, Vancouver’s premiere technology company accelerator, Colin has not only made contributions to the wider entrepreneurial community, but significantly impacted engineering students and the Faculty of Applied Science by contributing to two important endowments in the Department of Engineering.

Daniel Hetu is the thoughtful investor of the panel. He takes his time to deliberate and the finalists will need to bring the right science to back up their claims to impress this judge.

With over 20 years of investment banking, corporate development, and licensing and investment experience, Daniel has been involved with life sciences companies at all stages of development in North America and overseas. With demonstrated success managing complex initiatives, projects and transactions, Daniel is recognized for his strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.

Daniel’s investment activities are focused on building companies in the therapeutics and medical device sectors that develop products and technologies with a direct and significant impact on patient care. He manages Lumira Ventures’ Montreal office.

An experienced senior executive with leading expertise in financing and corporate business development, Daniel located in Montréal spent 10 years at Shire Pharmaceuticals and at Biochem Pharma prior to its acquisition by Shire. As vice president, business development (North America) and vice president, corporate development, respectively, he led several financing, licensing and M&A transactions in the therapeutics, vaccine and diagnostics sectors. At Biochem, as well as serving on the company’s portfolio committee and the steering committee of strategic research collaborations, Daniel served on the boards of investee companies. Prior to joining Biochem Pharma, Daniel was an investment banker at a major Canadian Investment Bank where he was involved in M&A and financing transactions across various industrial sectors.

Nejeed Kassam is a lawyer-turned-politician. He’s looking for system-wide policy changes. If a finalist can show that their product can bring wide-spread improvements, they might just win him over.

Nejeed is the CEO and founder of Keela – an impact technology company, dedicated to empowering small non-profits with accessible software. He was educated at McGill University (B.A.) and Osgoode Hall Law School (JD). Called to the Bar in Ontario in 2015 and in British Columbia in 2017, Nejeed is also the founder of the Better Canada Initiative. He is the former Executive Director of both End Poverty Now and Conversations for Change.

Nejeed is a global innovator with experience working for the United Nations and the Senate of Canada. He is the author of the book ‘High on Life’ (foreword written by former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien) and the co-producer of the documentary, ‘Conversations for Change’. Nejeed sits on a number of start-up and non-profit advisory boards, has spoken at conferences around the world, and is currently a member of the Global Shapers Community (World Economic Forum) and a fellow at the Royal Society of the Arts in the UK.