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The People
Strategic Advisors
Eric A. Adams CEO and President, enGene Inc.
Eric Adams is the Chief Executive Officer and President of enGene Inc., a Vancouver-based
biotechnology company. Eric has more than 18 years of international business development, marketing,
mergers & acquisitions and sales experience in the pharmaceutical and related healthcare industries.
Prior to enGene, he was Director of Marketing with QLT, where he was responsible for creating and
implementing the company’s commercial strategy for oncology. Previously, he was Director of
International Marketing at Advanced Tissue Sciences where he spearheaded international commercialization
of Dermagraft-TC™ in the treatment of burn patients. At the International Division of Abbott Laboratories
Eric was Senior Business Development Manager for Anti-Infectives, where he managed all commercial, manufacturing,
clinical and regulatory activities related to BIAXIN™, KLACID™, growing sales from $60M to over $600M
during his tenure. Eric also worked with Fresenius AG (Germany) as a Country Manager for the US and Italy, and
as Joint Venture/Acquisition Team Leader, where he expanded sales and distributions channels through numerous
acquisitions and joint-ventures. He holds a Master of International Business Studies from the University of
South Carolina and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from University of Southern Indiana.
Sage J. Baker VP, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications, Aspreva Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Sage Baker is the Managing Director of FD International’s San Francisco office where she is responsible
for the west coast US, Canada and also co-leads the North American Life Sciences group. Her experience (over 11 years)
has been mostly transaction based and focused within corporate communications, reputation management, investor relations
and evolving business strategies specifically for high-growth, dynamic, public companies predominately in the life
sciences and technology industries. This experience includes a wide variety of capital markets and transaction based
activities including leading multiple corporate financings, M&A transactions and global issues management activities.
Prior to FD Sage was with Aspreva Pharmaceuticals where she was Vice President of Global Corporate & Investor Relations
responsible for strategic planning, corporate communications, investor and public relations and internal communications.
Before Aspreva, she was employed by Total Care Software, a provider of workforce optimization software for the healthcare
industry, as Director, Market, Communications & Strategic Planning, where she executed a corporate re-branding and
positioning, and drove an evolution of the business strategy and corporate reputation which helped the company reach
profitability the first year out of bankruptcy, and be acquired by the market leader in workforce management applications.
Preceding her employment with Total Care, she ran a consulting firm where she lead multiple award winning corporate
re-branding initiatives, product re-branding projects and product launches which included successful expansions into
new international markets. Sage holds a M.B.A from Queen’s University.
Dr. Robert N. Bryan Strategic Advisor
Robert Bryan, in his most recent role, was Vice President of Research and Development with ID Biomedical Corp.
where he was responsible for planning and directing all diagnostic research, product design and development activities
of the company. He assisted in the development of commercial agreements with senior diagnostic companies for licensing
technology, managed all external collaborations relating to licensing of core technology and directed the efforts of an
R&D staff of 27.
Robert pioneered the development of DNA probes for use in clinical diagnostic tests. As Director of
Molecular Biology at Molecular Biosystems Inc. he developed research DNA probes for HBV, HSV, Campylobacter, and
Enterotoxigenic E. coli. Shortly after moving to Gen-Probe, Inc., he brought to market the first DNA probe test to be
cleared for sale by the FDA, a direct test for Legionnaire’s Disease. During his six years at Gen-Probe he
directed the development of 21 FDA-cleared DNA probe tests. Robert was a founding manager of Affymetrix where he
led early development of a gene chip to discriminate HLA alleles and mutations in the k-ras oncogene. At Genta
he managed and directed extramural contract research developing antisense drugs for cancer and male pattern baldness.
Robert received his Ph.D. in Physiological Psychology and Biochemistry from the University of Utah. Before joining
Molecular Biosystems Inc. he was a member of the Biology Department Faculty at the University of California, San Diego
for 10 years and previous to that a member of the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah Medical
School for two years.
Gardiner F.H. Smith President, Paragon IP
Gardiner Smith is President of Paragon IP, a medical device company focusing on the development of vascular stents
where he is responsible for overseeing operations and product development and leads the strategic planning for the product
portfolio. Prior to joining Paragon, he was Senior Legal Counsel at Bowles Rice McDavid Graff & Love where his work
with Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology companies centered on the structuring, negotiation and execution of licenses,
collaborations and mergers & acquisitions. Gardiner has served as SVP, Business Development and Licensing at Aspreva
Pharmaceuticals, Chief Business Officer at Memory Pharmaceuticals, Executive Director of Business Development at Human
Genome Sciences and Director of International Licensing at GlaxoSmithKline. In addition to leading over a dozen successful
transactions between Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical companies, including with Roche, GlaxoSmithKline and Merck KGaA, he
has led the execution of an equal number of Biotech-Biotech alliances between product, antibody, and platform companies such
as Amgen, Cambridge Antibody Technologies and Affymetrix. Gardiner holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Juris Doctorate from North Carolina Central University.
Bill Stanger Senior Legal Counsel, Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Bill Stanger is Senior Legal Counsel at Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Bill’s
work at Angiotech is focused on general corporate/commercial law, new business development and extensive merger, acquisition and
divestiture work. Prior to joining Angiotech, Bill was Legal Counsel for Bayer Inc. in Toronto, Canada. He holds a B.Sc. degree
in Biology from the University of Guelph, a LL.B. degree from the University of Ottawa, and is a member of the Bar Associations
of both Ontario and British Columbia.
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