You are a U.S.-based investor seeking exceptional life science therapeutics and technologies. Canada's life science community features world-class technologies and technical professionals, that are important contributors to the U.S. and global markets. However, you may be reluctant to invest directly outside the U.S. because of various uncertainties. To address these concerns, this session brings together a panel of experts from key disciplines to highlight paths/options to tap into attractive investments across the US/Canada border.
Join us to gain factual insights on stress-free strategies to invest in Canadian companies.
Who should attend: U.S. investors and those interested in learning about investor challenges and solutions when making cross-border deals.
PANELISTS
Hatim Chraibi (MODERATOR) | Co-founder | The SPIRE Advisory Group
Hatim Chraibi has more than 18 years experience in the medical device industry in both upstream and downstream capacities globally. Mr. Chraibi received a bachelor degree in Finance from the University of San Francisco, and an MBA from McGill University (Exchange program at the Luigi Bocconi University in Milan, Italy).
Before co-founding the SPIRE Advisory Group where he acts as Managing Director, Hatim has had tenures at Philips Medical Systems, Covidien and other smaller medical device companies. He has built various global organizations and contributed significantly to their international sales. SPIRE Advisory Group works with international start-ups and government organizations to provide guidance, mentoring and funding in the Bay Area ecosystem.
Mr. Chraibi has an intimate expertise of the Medical device industry worldwide, has worked in various countries and is fluent in 5 languages.
His areas of interest and expertise include start-up mentoring in product definition/positioning, market research, key opinion leaders’ engagement, product positioning and global distribution. Hatim is also a strategic advisor for various medical device and diagnostic companies.
Marwan Berrada-Sounni | Executive-in-Residence | ShifaMed
Marwan is currently an Executive-in-Residence at ShifaMed incubating and building the next portfolio company. Previously, he was at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation as Sr. Director, Product Development with responsibilities to resolve clinical unmet needs within the Heart and Vascular Institute and spinning out either projects or companies. Marwan was also part of the commercialization funding committee within the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center at the Cleveland Clinic, which an economic development and investment fund for the state of Ohio. Product expertise has been in percutaneous therapies such as electrophysiology, structural heart, cardiovascular and endovascular devices, in addition to product commercialization of orthopedic implants. Through his engineering and business backgrounds, Marwan is experienced in leading both traditional and virtual R&D teams throughout the entire development life-cycle including 510k and PMA regulatory tracks. He has held various engineering, managerial, and executive management positions in companies such as Microvena, ev3, CryoCath Technologies, Bavaria Medical Technologies, Vascular NanoTransfer, OligoMedic, NexStep Medical, and MitraCore. Currently Marwan holds nine (9) patents in medical devices, and more then thirteen (13) patent applications. Marwan is a serial entrepreneur involved in multiple start-up either as co-founder or advisor. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and an MBA in Finance from McGill University.
Pavan Dhillon | Canadian Immigration Attorney | Dhillon Immigration Law
Pavan Dhillon is the Founder and Principal Attorney at Dhillon Immigration Law, a boutique law firm specializing in Canadian business immigration. Based in San Francisco, Pavan has cultivated a unique expertise in cross border business immigration and provides compliance-driven, in-bound Canadian immigration solutions to companies and individuals.
For over ten years, Pavan has served as trusted advisor to global corporations, regional companies and start-ups with a cross-border presence. Oftentimes, she devises strategies for these companies to attract or retain global talent within North America by leveraging Canada’s generous immigration programs for high-skilled workers. With respect to short-term work authorization, she guides employees and executives in avoiding the potential pitfalls of cross-border business travel.
Prior to launching her boutique practice, Pavan led the Canadian immigration practice at a global law firm. She is originally from Vancouver, British Columbia. She is admitted to practice law in British Columbia and New York.
Joseph Garcia | Partner | Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Joseph's practice focuses on corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. He advises public and private companies, investment dealers, venture capital and private equity funds and acts as independent counsel to boards of directors. Joseph has extensive experience advising on all types of merger and acquisition and corporate finance transactions including public and private equity and debt financings, take-over and issuer bids, share and asset acquisitions and divestitures, and regulatory and stock exchange compliance work.
Prior to his career in law, Joseph worked in corporate finance with a national investment bank and in clinical research with a multinational pharmaceutical company.
Joseph has lectured extensively on corporate governance and advanced securities law topics. He has chaired The Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia Corporate Governance courses in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017, and participated in the advanced securities law courses from 2007-2009, 2011 and from 2013-2015.
Joseph is a director of Genome BC and chair of its Audit Committee. He is a director emeritus of LifeSciences BC and a member of its Finance Committee. He is also a director of the Canadian Glycomics Network and a member of the BIOTECanada Legal Affairs Advisory Board, the Canadian Bar Association and the American Bar Association.
Sam Ifergan | Founder & Manager Partner | iGan Partners
Sam is the Founder and Managing Partner of iGan Partners and has over 20 years of entrepreneurial, technology and venture capital experience. Sam founded iGan Partners in 2013 and is now the largest healthcare venture capital investor in Canada. Sam is actively involved in evaluating, structuring and executing iGan's investments. Collectively iGan has supported the creation of over 20 successful medical device and tech companies in Canada.
Sam works very closely with portfolio companies and is actively involved in their commercialization. He serves as the Chairman of eSight and MolecuLight and sits on the board of seven other MedTech companies. Prior to founding IGan Partners, Sam co-founded and exited several tech companies including Visual Sonics, Tri-Link Technologies and Brighter Minds.
Sam holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from McGill University and an MBA from the John Molson School of Business.
Paul Russo | Founder and CEO | Kyto Technologies
Dr. Paul Russo is the Founder and CEO of Kyto Technology and Life Science, Inc., a public entity actively investing in start-ups (www.kytotech.com ). He is also the Founder and Chairman of GEO Semiconductor, a world-leading supplier of automotive camera processors with over 200 design wins. He sits on several start-up boards in the US and Canada. He is a former board member of ATI technologies through its acquisition by AMD and is active in both the Band of Angels and the Keiretsu Forum, and has recently joined the Silicon Catalyst Angels. Before GEO, Dr. Russo started Silicon Optix and Genesis Microchip. The latter dominated the chip market for flat computer displays and had a hugely successful NASDAQ IPO in 1998. Prior to the above, he served as GM of GE’s Microelectronics Center, Manager of the GE Industrial Electronics Laboratory.
Prior to GE, he was at RCA Laboratories, where he helped develop the world’s first CMOS microprocessor, and the first uses of these devices in video games, auto engine control, and global communications.
He received his B. Eng. in from McGill and his MSc and PhD in EECS from UC Berkeley. He holds 8 patents, has published extensively, and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the IEEE Centennial Medal and the Tech Pioneer Award from the World Economic Forum.
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