Board of Advisors
Michael E. Charles recently completed an eight-year term as Dean, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, University of Toronto in June 2001. As Dean Emeritus he now holds the endowed Michael E. Charles Chair in Chemical Engineering. Michael is a chemical engineering graduate of Imperial College, University of London and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Alberta. He is now bringing a chemical engineering perspective to his scholarly work on broader issues, particularly the potential for climate change resulting from the carbon cycle and the impact of the Kyoto Protocol on Canada’s energy future.Michael served on the Board of Directors of three of the Ontario Centres of Excellence. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Chemical Science and Technology, and on the Managing Board of the Canadian Research Management Association. He was founding president of the Canadian Association for Internship Programs and has recently been appointed to the Board of Directors of Materials and Manufacturing Ontario (MMO), the Advanced Design for Manufacturing Institute (ADMI) and OPAS (Ontario Partnership for Advanced Skills).
E.B. (Ted) Cross graduated from the University of Toronto with his B.A.Sc. in chemical engineering in 1957. He went on to become the Director of the Technology Transfer and Licensing Office of the University of Waterloo from 1982 through 1996. Prior to joining the University of Waterloo, he spent 25 years in the Canadian chemical industry, completing his industrial career as President and General Manager of Chinook Chemicals Company. He co-founded Chinook and in 1966, built the first Canadian methylamines.
He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Licensing Executive Society (USA and Canada) and currently serves as the Regional Vice President for Canada. He is also a member of The Association of University Technology Managers and is currently the Chair of the Board of the Canadian Innovation Centre.
In 1996, he elected to take the early retirement package offered by the University of Waterloo and remains active in the transfer and licensing of technology to both emerging and established companies through his consulting company.
Claire M.C. Kennedy is a partner of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP practicing in the tax area. She received a B.A.Sc. in chemical engineering from the University of Toronto in 1989 and has been a Professional Engineer in Ontario since 1991. She received an LL.B. from Queen’s University in 1994 and completed her articles at a major Toronto law firm. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 1996 and spent a year as a law clerk to the Honourable Mr. Justice Charles D. Gonthier of the Supreme Court of Canada. Claire joined the firm in 1997 and became a partner in 1999. Claire’s practice is focused on income taxation in a commercial context, including corporate reorganizations, financings and international taxation. In addition to tax planning, Claire advises clients on tax litigation matters, including negotiations with Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (formerly Revenue Canada). Claire has been a speaker at a number of conferences addressing cross-border tax planning opportunities and has taught the upper year Corporate Tax course at Queen’s University Faculty of Law.
Constantine E. Karayannopoulos
Neo Material Technologies Inc. (more information will follow)
Michael H. May graduated from the University of Toronto in 1991 with a B.A.Sc. in chemical engineering. As a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Scholar, he continued his studies in the Department and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, completing his Ph.D. in 1998. In 1996, Michael was the recipient of the Martin Walmsley Fellowship for Technological Entrepreneurship, in support of the founding of Rimon Therapeutics Limited, for which Michael is currently the President and CEO. This company, which was spun out of research carried out in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at the University of Toronto, commercializes advanced medical polymers that have therapeutic properties.
Michael is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Advanced Reconstructive and Tissue Engineering Centre and most recently has volunteered his time and leadership to a biotechnology steering committee of the Ministry of Industry Science and Technology, an advisory group on innovation and commercialization of the Ontario Science and Innovation Council and a number of committees of the Tissue Engineering Medical Products division of the ASTM.
Sandra Odendahl. As Senior Director of Environmental Risk Management at CIBC, Sandra is responsible for directing environmental strategy, as well as overseeing environmental credit risk policies and corporate environmental programs at the bank. Before joining CIBC in September 2005, Sandra was with RBC Financial Group for 8 years. She began as a resource sector analyst, and from March 2000 to August 2005 she was the head of RBC’s Environmental Risk Management department. Prior to working at RBC, Sandra was an environmental consultant in Toronto and Vancouver, specializing in Environmental Impact Assessments for resource sector development projects in Canada and Indonesia. Sandra is on the Advisory Board of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at the University of Toronto and the Board of Directors of the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy. She is Chair of the North American Task force of the UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and a member of the Commodities Research Advisory Panel for the Conference Board’s “Canada Project”. Sandra has been a licensed professional engineer since 1994.
Born in Ottawa, Sandra has a B.A.Sc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Ottawa, and an M.A.Sc. in the same field from U of T. She completed the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Program in 2003. She lives with her husband and two young children in Toronto.
Larry E. Seeley is President and CEO of Lakefield Research Limited. Lakefield Research is an international testing and consulting firm for the Minerals and Metals Industries worldwide, with 400 employees, and laboratories and Pilot Plants in Lakefield, Ontario; Santiago and Antofagasta, Chile; Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Lima, Peru; Johannesburg, South Africa and Perth, Australia. Previously, Larry was with Falconbridge Limited as Corporate Vice President Environmental Service; Director of Metallurgical Operations in Sudbury; Manager of Corporate Metallurgical Technology; Manager of the Sudbury Smelter; and other roles in operations and technology. He graduated in 1966 with his B.A.Sc., 1968 with his M.A.Sc., and in 1972 with his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Toronto. He also earned a Diploma in Business Administration from Laurentian University. He was president of the Canadian Metallurgical Society, Chair of the Science Committee of Science North and has served on the Board of Governors of Cambian College, Science North, Metallurgical Society and presently Trent University.
Phillip J. (Rocky) Simmons is President and CEO of Eco-Tec Limited. Eco-Tec is a Canadian company supplying water treatment and chemical recovery systems to the international industrial sector. Through his 32 years of business leadership, Rocky has been actively involved in innovation, engineering, manufacturing, sales and marketing on an international basis. Rocky is on the Board of Governors, University of Ontario Institute of Technology. He has also been on the Board of Directors of Durham Region Manufacturing Association, as well as on the Dean’s Advisory Board, for the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, University of Toronto.
Rocky graduated in 1964 with his B.A.Sc., 1965 with his M.A.Sc., and in 1968 with his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Toronto.
Bill Troost (more information will follow)
Bert Wasmund is an Executive Director of Hatch, a global engineering company dedicated to three main market sectors; Mining and Metals, Energy, and Infrastructure with over 6500 employees and 40 offices distributed worldwide. Bert is a chemical engineering graduate from Queen's University, B.Sc. in 1961 and M.Sc.1963, and from the University of Toronto where he received a Ph.D. in 1966. Following his doctoral studies, Bert joined Hatch, a small, dynamic engineering firm in Toronto. He has progressed through numerous positions at Hatch, serving initially in process design and project engineering roles to becoming Executive Vice-President of Process Design and Technologies and finally Managing Director of Hatch's Non Ferrous activities of metallurgical furnaces and reactors world-wide. He has vigorously championed innovative technology development at Hatch with many successful installations worldwide.
Dr. Wasmund is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and has served on the Queen's University Applied Science Advisory Board from 1995 to 1998. He received the PEO Engineering Award of Excellence in 2005.