Board of
Directors
Richard J. Mackay
Mr. MacKay has been the Chairman of the Advisory Board of Valeo Pharma Inc. since 2009. He also serves as a Member of Advisory Board at Health Edge Investment Partners. In 2009, Mr. Mackay retired from a distinguished career with Stiefel Laboratories that spanned several decades. During his tenure at Stiefel Laboratories, Mr. MacKay held various leadership positions of increasing responsibility, including, Senior Vice-President, Marketing and Sales North America, Vice President International (Japan and Korea), and most notably as President and CEO of Stiefel Canada from 1976 through 2009. Mr. Mackay also served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Stiefel Laboratories from 2007-2009.
Prior to Stiefel, Mr. MacKay served as EVP and Director of ICN Canada Limited, VP and Director of Winley-Morris Company Limited and started his career as a sales representative with Parke-Davis Company Limited.
Mr. MacKay was a member of the Board of Labopharm Inc. and served as interim Chairman of the Board for a period of 2 years. He served as Chairman of the Board of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Canada (PMAC). Throughout his career, Mr. MacKay has been active in many organizations including member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Dermatology Foundation, where he served for over 20 years. In 2003, Mr. Mackay was given the first ever Award of Honour by the Canadian Dermatology Association for his service to the people of Canada in raising the standards of health care.
Mr. MacKay is a graduate of Sir George Williams University and earned advanced business diplomas from Harvard University, Dartmouth College and the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (Universite de Montreal).
Steve Saviuk
Mr. Saviuk started his career in accounting at KPMG. He quickly moved to venture capital investing through Manitex Capital Inc., a TSXV-listed company he co-founded over 30 years ago, and which still actively invests in emerging companies with a focus on the life science, renewable energy and sustainable resource sectors. Mr. Saviuk is President and CEO of Manitex Capital inc.
Mr. Saviuk co-founded Valeo Pharma in 2003 and has since served as its President and CEO. Mr. Saviuk transformed Valeo Pharma from its early years as an in-licensor of established brands to a fast growing full service Canadian pharmaceutical company and was also instrumental in the sale of certain assets to Valeant Canada. In addition to Mr. Saviuk’s executive management experience, he is well acquainted with key corporate governance issues having served on numerous boards of both public and private companies.
Mr. Saviuk hold a degree in Business (B.Comm) from Concordia University (Montreal, Qc).
Stuart W. Fowler
Stuart Fowler has over 25 years of experience in the Health Sciences space in North America. He began his career with Allergan in 1993 in sales within their Eye Care division. Over the next 23 years he held numerous roles with increased responsibility in sales, marketing and management. In his previous executive roles, Mr. Fowler led two of Canada’s largest ophthalmic pharmaceutical and medical device organizations. He is the past President and General Manager of Allergan Canada (AbbVie) from 2010 until his departure in 2015. He is also past-President and General Manager for Alcon Canada from 2016 to 2020. Mr. Fowler is the CoFounder and President of the Aesthetic Medicine Network Inc. AMNI is Canada’s largest group of independently owned and operated aesthetically oriented physicians; leading initiatives in group purchasing, medical education and market development.
Mr. Fowler received a Bachelor of Arts with Specialization in International Relations, majoring in Economics and Political Science from the University of Alberta in 1989. He has also attended numerous graduate business programs, receiving certification in Executive Leadership from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.
Tamara Close
Ms. Close is a senior investment and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) professional with over 25 years of experience in capital markets, with roles spanning sell-side trading and institutional sales to buy-side research, risk management and strategy. She is the founder and managing partner of Close Group Consulting, an independent, boutique ESG advisory firm headquartered in Montreal, with offices in Toronto, Boston, and London (UK). Tamara is a sought-after speaker and regularly publishes ESG thought leadership and research. Ms. Close holds an M.Sc. Finance from Concordia University with a B.A. Economics from McGill University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Richard Lajoie
Richard Lajoie has been recognized over the last 24 years as an inspirational and creative leader with a strong capacity to build high performing teams.
Richard was President of Bausch Health, Canada from 2017 to 2021 before being promoted to President Ortho Dermatologics US based in New Jersey. He has led innovative business model transformations, many new launches and completed successful business development deals.
Prior to Bausch Health, Richard spent 12 years with Novartis Pharmaceuticals in roles of increasing responsibility (Sales, Marketing, Government Affairs and Medical) located in Montreal, Calgary and Copenhagen where he led Denmark, Norway and Iceland as General Manager for Novartis Oncology.
Michel Trudeau
Michel Trudeau held the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of Laurentian Bank Securities (LBS) from 2003 until 2018. In 2009, he became responsible for Laurentian Bank’s activities related to capital markets. His role expanded to become a member of the Laurentian Bank’s (LBC) executive committee in 2011.
He joined LBS in 1999 as Executive Vice-President of Fixed Income and was appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Institutional group in 2002. Well known within the brokerage sector, he rapidly progressed to senior positions at firms both in Toronto and Montreal. Prior to joining LBS, he worked for more than 15 years within the institutional and fixed income sectors, including 10 years at Merrill Lynch where he successively occupied various senior management positions.
Michel Trudeau holds a Master’s degree in Finance from McGill University and sits on various boards of directors.
Marc Léger
Mr. Léger is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive with pan-Canadian and U.S. experience in both the prescription pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare businesses. He has extensive experience in building and leading organizations and has an excellent track record of developing best in class brands.
Mr. Léger began his career in the pharmaceutical industry in 1984 with Schering Canada as a sales representative in British Columbia. He progressed through the organization in a variety of roles in the marketing and sales departments (Canada and U.S.) leading to the role of Vice President, Primary Care Business Unit (1997-2002) and subsequently to the role of General Manager, Schering-Plough Healthcare Canada (2002-2008), where he led the Consumer Health Business. During his career at Schering-Plough, Mr. Léger was directly involved with the launch and/or development of over 20 brands which became leading brands in their respective markets, and managed and led several organizational structure changes. Mr. Leger has previously served on the Board of Schering Canada Inc.
In February 2009, Mr. Léger joined Valeo Pharma, leading the Commercial Operations where he was directly involved with the development of both the dermatology and specialty products businesses, which were in part sold to Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc. (now Bausch Health) in 2014. Prior to his retirement from Valeo in 2021, Mr. Léger was acting as Senior VP and Chief Commercial Officer for Valeo.
Mr. Léger graduated from Concordia University (Montreal, Qc) in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts degree (Economics).
Didier Leconte
Mr. Didier Leconte is a highly experienced investor and Canadian life sciences leader. He has deep commercial experience in Canada and Québec’s technology transfer and investment arenas. With a strong dedication to the development of Québec’s and Canada’s life sciences industries, Didier served as Vice-president, Life Science & Technology for Investissement Quebec and Vice-president Life Sciences at Fonds de solidarité FTQ. Mr. Leconte holds a MBA, Technology Management & Innovation from the Université du Québec à Montréal, a certification in governance from Université Laval and an engineering degree in Material Sciences from École d’ingénieurs Sup Galilée, Institut Galilée, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord.