Board of Directors

Conrad Pinette was born in Manitoba, relocated to British Columbia in 1950 and educated at Private Schools in British Columbia and a program at UBC. He completed four years of a five Program in Forestry and Business Administration at UBC before returning to Williams Lake, BC to manage Family Businesses. Mr. Pinette sold the Family Forest Products business to British Columbia Forest Products Limited in 1982 and continued in Senior Executive positions with BCFP and Fletcher Challenge Canada Limited until 1990. Mr. Pinette joined Lignum Limited, a private forest products company, in 1990 as...

Dr. Boniface joined the Prostate Centre in 2008 as COO, after more than 20 years in drug development in both the academic and private industry sectors. Prior to joining our Centre, he was Senior Director of Clinical Research at QLT Inc. where he oversaw the clinical development of the company’s drug platform in Oncology, Urology, Dermatology, and Endocrinology indications. Trials conducted by his team have lead to successful regulatory marketing approvals by the US FDA, Canadian, and European agencies.

Peter Brown (OBC, LL.D., LittD) founded Canaccord Financial Inc. (and its predecessors) in 1968 which now operates as a publicly traded investment dealer under the name of Canaccord Genuity Group with major operations in Canada, USA and Europe. Peter Brown is currently serving as Chairman of the Board for the Fraser Institute and is Chairman Emeritus of the Investment Industry Association of Canada. As well, he is British Columbia’s representative on the Advisory Committee to the Canadian Securities Transition Office to lead the transition to a single Canadian securities regulator.

Mr. Scott Cormack has more than two decades of experience in the biotechnology industry in executive management and venture capital. Scott has been President and CEO of OncoGenex since August 2008, when OncoGenex Technologies Inc. completed a reverse takeover of Sonus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to become OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Scott has led OncoGenex through significant corporate milestones, including private financings, leading the company from pre-clinical studies to completion of multiple Phase 2 clinical trials, initiation of Phase 3 trials and development of a robust pipeline. Scott...

A highly-recognized Canadian life sciences leader, Karimah Es Sabar brings 30 years of dynamic global business experience to her role as CEO and Partner of Quark Venture, a Canadian life sciences venture capital firm. She previously held the position of President and CEO of The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD), where she had previously been the Senior Vice-President, Business and Strategic Affairs. She was responsible for ensuring the organization’s long-term sustainability, while leading its business functions and successfully building the many national and international alliances and strategic partnerships which are now contributing significantly to advancing the goals of CDRD. In 2013, Ms. Es Sabar was appointed Founding Chair of the Global Alliance of Leading Drug Discovery and Development Centres, an association of international peer organizations dedicated to translating health research into new medicines.

Dr. Gleave is a Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Department of Urologic Sciences at UBC, and a British Columbia Leadership Chair. He is Co-Founder and Director of the Vancouver Prostate Centre, now a UBC and National Centre of Excellence. He is amongst the top cited and funded scientists in Canada, publishing > 600 papers with >60,000 citations, an H-Index of 122, and attracting >$120M in research funding. Dr. Gleave is a surgeon-scientist whose research characterizes molecular mechanisms mediating treatment resistance in cancer, and designing co-targeting strategies to improve cancer control. He patented several anti-cancer drugs and founded OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals to develop OGX-011 and OGX-427, inhibitors of cytoprotective chaperones clusterin and Hsp27 which progressed to Phase III and Phase II trials world-wide. OncoGenex was awarded Canadian Biotech Company of the Year in 2010. Dr. Gleave also recently co-founded Sitka and Sustained Therapeutics.

Dr. Goldenberg (CM, OBC, MD, FRCSC, FACS, FCAHS) is a urologic surgeon and clinical scientist with an international reputation for excellence in prostate cancer research and treatment. His current research interests involve the evaluation of artificial intelligence algorithms in reading digitized prostate pathology and MRI to risk stratify active surveillance patients, the identification of targeted radioactive Theranostics ligands (aptamers) for diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, prostate cancer supportive care and patient education. He has been recognized for his contributions to health care by being inducted into the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada.

Don Konantz is a father of four, a long time resident of West Vancouver, and a passionate advocate for patients, health care, and prostate cancer research. He holds a Masters of Business Administration from the Ivey School at University of Western Ontario. Don is CEO & Owner of Hops Connect, the leading supplier of hops to Canadian craft breweries. He is also director of the Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation (since 2007), past President of the Dave Murray National Training Centre, a legacy of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Chair of the Collingwood School Foundation and Chair of the Canadian Coalition to Cure Prostate Cancer.​

Don is currently is co-founder and co-president of MdGB Capital, a private company that manages a group assets and operating companies throughout North America. His prior experience includes: Co-Chair of the British Columbia Premier’s Technology Council; Chief Executive Officer of Zynga; President of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Businesses; President of Worldwide Studios for Electronic Arts; and co-founder/CEO of Distinctive Software Inc. From 1982 through 2014 Don grew multiple businesses with talented teams who were able to reach a ranking of number one in the world in terms of growth rate, market share, product quality and the creation of shareholder value.

Dr. McMaster received a Bachelor and Master of Science from the University of British Columbia, followed by a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford. His research interests are in the areas of molecular immunology, parasitology and transplant immunology and he is co-lead on a multi-million dollar initiative “Biomarkers in Transplantation” with funding from Genome Canada/Genome BC and the Prevention for Organ Failure (PROOF) Center of Excellence Centre.

Mr. Parolin has practiced law in Vancouver for over 25 years. He was a founding partner of McClellan, Rubenstein & Parolin, which was formed in 1994, and continued that firm’s real estate and corporate and commercial practice by way of its successor firm, Parolin & Company, until 2013. He is currently providing legal and advisory services through his law corporation, Parolin Consulting Law Corporation. Mr. Parolin obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1984, and a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1987, from Queen’s University.

Mr. Rod Senft is a founder and Managing Director of Tricor and is based in Vancouver. He is involved in all aspects of acquisitions, operations, and the investment, divestiture and management decisions of the firm. Mr. Senft is Chairman of Advance Engineered Products and Golden Boy Foods, both current Tricor portfolio companies.