(L to R) Kari Kramp, Natasha Perkins, John Molloy, Colin Garrioch, Chris King, Graeme McRae, Carly Kelly, Cher Powers

Ross Rae, Chair
Ross Rae has served as Collections Supervisor with County of Hastings since 2002, when he established their Collection unit. Previously he was a Bylaw and Collections Officer at the City of Belleville and sat on the provincial Alcohol and Gaming Commission. Ross began his career as a LSUC paralegal with the law firm of Templeman, Menninga in their civil litigation practice. He was also a part-time lecturer at Loyalist College of Applied Arts & Technology, speaking to topics concerning Canadian business and residential landlord and tenancy law, and has been a member of the Loyalist College Advisory Board for Justice Studies since 1992. Ross sits on a committee struck by OMTRA (Ontario Municipal Tax and Revenue Association) exploring implementation of Tax Rolling as an option to collections. He is past-Chair of the Quinte Economic Development Commission, a member of the City of Belleville Planning Advisory Committee, and a Board member of the Belleville General Hospital Foundation, chairing the advertising and stewardship subcommittee. Ross earned his BA (Law) from Carleton University.

Colin Garrioch

Colin Garrioch is a Regional Director with Natural Products Canada, serving as a strategic commercialization ally with a powerful combination of expertise in scientific research and business development. He is located at the University of Guelph, NPC’s node partner in Ontario. Colin has an extensive background in pharmaceutical marketing from his time as Senior Account Executive at IDS Canada Inc., giving him in-depth knowledge of healthcare marketing strategy and the Canadian marketing landscape, resulting in exceeding sales targets for five consecutive years, securing key accounts with clients such as Abbott, Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen, Novartis, and Pfizer. During his time at Nutrasource Diagnostics, a contract research organization, he helped a diverse roster of science-based companies at various stages of the product development cycle, working closely with them to provide services such as clinical trials, product analytics, and regulatory advice. He volunteers his time and expertise to numerous boards including the Ontario Pharmaceutical Marketing Association (Past President), and Lambton College: Technology Access Centre for Applied Research for Natural Products & Medical Cannabis (Advisory Board Member). Colin received his MSc (Human Health and Nutritional Sciences) from the University of Guelph.

Chris King

Chris King is Chief Executive Officer of the Quinte Economic Development Commission (QEDC), a regional economic development organization that oversees investment attraction and retention activities for the combined municipalities of the City of Belleville, the City of Quinte West (Trenton) and the Municipality of Brighton. In his role Chris has been instrumental in attracting new manufacturing investment to the Bay of Quinte Region, and under his leadership the QEDC has developed programs responsible for over $10 million in funding on behalf of the local manufacturing sector. Among the recognition Chris has received are VIA Rail Canada/Ontario East Economic Development Commission Economic Developer of the Year and the Economic Development Achievement Award from the Economic Developers Council of Ontario. Under Chris’ leadership, QEDC has been recognized by the Editors of the US based Site Selection Magazine and by the Economic Developers Association of Canada as one of the top 10 economic development organizations in Canada. Chris is active on a number of boards, committees and initiatives, including Ontario East Economic Development Commission, Eastern Ontario Advanced Manufacturing Sector Marketing Initiative, Launch Lab (a Regional Innovation Network) and Trenval Community Development Corporation. He is past chair of the Ontario Food Cluster, and a Paul Harris Fellow and Past President of the Trenton Rotary Club. Chris earned the Economic Developers Association of Canada/University of Waterloo Professional Economic Development Designation (Ec.D.) and obtained his BA (Economics) from Carleton University.

Jeremy Laurin

Jeremy Laurin is Senior Vice President, External Relations and Business Development at Loyalist College. Prior to Loyalist College, Jeremy was the Vice President of Business Development and Partnerships at OCI – leading an experienced team of Business Development Managers who helped commercialize innovations, transfer technologies and develop promising talent to grow the Ontario economy. Prior to OCI, Jeremy was the founding President and CEO of ventureLAB, an innovation hub for Central Ontario and the northern GTA that reaches more than 1.8 million Ontarians. An entrepreneur at heart, Jeremy founded his first of three technology firms in Kingston, Ont., in 1997. Under his guidance, all three were born global. Jeremy’s responsibilities included opening offices in China, Europe, Japan, Korea, and the United States. Jeremy has been recognized by St. Lawrence College with its inaugural Alumni of Distinction Award. JCI, an international non-profit that encourages young people to be active citizens for global development, named Jeremy Entrepreneur of the Year and Jeremy has received the Business of the Year Award from the Bank of Nova Scotia. Jeremy is a featured TEDx Speaker on how his life as an entrepreneur has made an impact on people and communities, and is an Adjunct Professor in York University’s Faculty of Health. Jeremy is an active member in good standing of the Future Talent Council.

Graeme McRae

Graeme McRae is a founder and the President of NovaVive Inc., an animal health immunobiology company based in Napanee, Ontario. The company manufactures and sells immunotherapy products using mycobacterium cell wall fraction (MCWF) technology. These products are antibacterial, antiviral and anticancer and are approved for use in bovine, equine and canine species. Before founding NovaVive in 2014, Graeme was the founding President & CEO of Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. (originally known as Vetrepharm), a Canadian biopharmaceutical company based in Belleville, Ontario that for 35 years was focused on the development, manufacturing and marketing of proprietary and innovative therapies for the global animal health, human health and food safety markets. Among its other accomplishments during that time was development of the world’s first E. coli O157:H7 vaccine for cattle and advanced a human bladder cancer therapy to Phase III clinical stage. Bioniche’s divested its animal health and food safety divisions in 2014, and its human health business was sold to another Canadian biopharmaceutical company in 2016. Prior to Bioniche, Graeme held research and sales positions with Pfizer Animal Health – first in Australia, then in Canada.

Ainslie Parsons

Ainslie Parsons is a partner with Bereskin & Parr LLP and the leader of the Plant Breeders’ Rights practice group. Ainslie’s practise focuses on life sciences matters, including patents, licensing, and related litigation. She works closely with clients in preparing and prosecuting patent applications relating to pharmaceuticals, biologics, diagnostics, biotechnology and plant technologies. She has experience in the analysis of patent issues such as validity, infringement and freedom to operate. Ainslie also advises on plant variety rights and prepares and files Plant Breeders’ Rights applications. She has worked on matters involving Food and Drugs Act compliance. Ainslie obtained her JD and PhD (Genetics) from the University of Toronto, and her BSc (Biology) (Hons) from Queen’s University.  While obtaining her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, Ainslie conducted research directed to identifying the mode-of-action of small molecules using genomic technologies. While completing her studies she was the recipient of a CIHR (Canadian Institutes of Health Research) Canada Graduate Scholarship Doctoral Award and an NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) Post-Graduate Scholarship.

Natasha Perkins

Natasha Perkins is the Director, Commercial Operations at Pure Sunfarms. Prior to joining the team at Pure Sunfarms, Natasha was a key member of MNP’s consulting services team. Having supported international and domestic projects Natasha held roles in both Saskatchewan, Botswana, and Ontario during her time at the firm. While in Toronto, Natasha played a role within the firm’s Food and Beverage practice and was one of the founding members of the National Cannabis Practice. In addition to consultancy work within the cannabis sector, she has firsthand experience in cannabis entrepreneurship, product development, operations, and commercialization. Natasha has a deep understanding of the Canadian cannabis industry and stays apprised of the evolving international business trends. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing and Management from the University of Regina.

Tyler Whale

Dr. Tyler Whale is an entrepreneur and subject-matter expert in Agri-food, and is the former President of Canadian Agtech Solutions Inc. He holds a PhD in Immunology at the Veterinary and Infectious Disease Organization. His involvement in the agri-food sector includes being a business development lead at Saskatoon Colostrum Company, the Industry Liaison at the University of Guelph, and the President of Ontario Agri-food Technologies (OAFT). As an entrepreneur, Dr. Whale has founded three (3) companies in the agri-food sector: Saskatoon Curbside Recycling, Smart Green Technologies and AgBox. His current entrepreneurship focuses are to commercialize a disruptive bio-resin with major potential in many sectors including agriculture and packaging, building vertical agriculture infrastructure internationally, digital transformation strategies for agri-food and emerging infectious diseases.  Tyler has worked closely with dozens of ag-innovation companies from all over Ontario that have contributed to more than $1B in economic impact, hundreds of new jobs (many rural) and sales initiated in over 40 countries of new Canadian technologies.  He has more recently working with specific agricultural societies to enable better impact investment and other programs to support local agri-tech enterprises.  He advises on several boards and with private companies, all with the lens of better coordination and collaboration within this all important sector. Dr. Whale is passionate about innovation in the agri-food sector. He has extensive experience working with small and large companies in developing an agri-food innovation ecosystems, developing farmer-centric solutions through commercialization of agri-tech, and developing network and collaborative relationships with stakeholders.

Kari Kramp, Ex Officio Member

Dr. Kari Kramp is the Senior Scientific Manager, Applied Research and Innovation Office (ARIO), and Principal Researcher for the Centre. Kari has led applied research and industry-driven collaborations at Loyalist College for the past 18 years during her role as a Professor of Biosciences. Kari  taught theory and laboratory classes within the Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology technician and technologist programs and developed and coordinated the post-graduate certificate program in Cannabis Applied Science. Dr. Kramp completed her PhD (Biology) at the Centre for Advanced Research in Environmental Genomics at the University of Ottawa after earning her MSc (Chemistry) and honours BSc (Chemistry) at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Carly Kelly, Ex Officio Member

Carly Kelly joined the Centre as Manager in 2019 when it was named an NSERC-funded Technology Access Centre, transitioning from her role as Manager of the Applied Research and Innovation Office. As Centre Manager, Carly provides leadership in setting priorities and objectives for the Centre. She is responsible for all activities related to the day-to-day business operations of the Centre including staffing, evaluating research projects and maintaining accountability for compliance with external funding sources/internal audit requirements. She is also responsible for marketing and promotion activities for the Centre and supporting business development. Carly initially joined Loyalist College in 2013 as a Research Analyst before moving to ARIO, then the Centre. Previously she was with Queen’s University as Project Manager, Nursing Research. Carly graduated from Brock University with a BA in Community Health Science.