Doug Richardson, BASc, MASc, CEO

Mr. Richardson is an innovative technology leader who is highly skilled and experienced in the development and commercialization of novel and unproven technologies. He is a hands-on team builder that can set a clear vision and a clear strategic direction. Doug is a technology and business visionary who thrives in a challenging environment and who has a history of accomplishing the impossible.

He completed his BASc. in engineering physics from the University of British Columbia in 1988 followed by a MASc in mechanical engineering in 1991 also from the University of British Columbia.

Following his education Doug spent 14 years at Creo Products, Vancouver, Canada in various roles from system engineer to director of business development. His responsibilities were to lead projects and groups developing Creo’s key technologies while delivering profitable businesses and products. During this time his experiences included project management, product management, product strategy, business development, joint ventures, acquisitions, and technology partnerships. Several of Doug’s most enjoyable and successful career highlights occurred while collaborating with Dr. Laberge. Doug is also the holder of 3 patents.


Dr. Michel Laberge, President

Dr. Laberge is a physicist with an extremely good knowledge of all the latest technologies in electronics, computers, materials, lithography, optics and fabrication. He has practical experience in plasma physics and with all the modern plasma diagnostic techniques. He is experienced in building all sorts of test gear, apparatus and set-ups for testing hardware and ideas in record time.

He completed his B.Sc. in physics from Laval University in 1983. In 1985 he graduated from Laval University with a M.Sc. in physics. In 1990 he earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of British Columbia and in 1991 completed a Post Doc. at L'ecole polytechnique in Paris, France. He also did another Post Doc. at the National Research Council, Ottawa in 1992

Following his education, he was a Senior Physicist and Principal Engineer at Creo Products, Vancouver, Canada, from 1992 to September 2001. Since then he has been working on the General Fusion project. He has written numerous scientific papers, started a successful small company and has five patents and five more pending.


John Bean, B.Comm., CA

Mr. Bean is a management executive who has increased revenues and profits and opened new markets. He has developed business plans, raised venture capital and negotiated deals with major corporations. John has built new businesses and has expanded existing businesses into new markets. He has led business development programs that resulted in multi-million dollar revenue streams at blue chip clients. Mr. Bean has directed dozens of projects, which were completed on-time and on-budget.

John is the principal of InSpire Consulting Services Ltd., which provides bridge management services and senior executive counsel to CEOs and Boards of companies in the areas of general management, business strategy, marketing and strategic partnering.

Prior to founding InSpire, John was an Executive Vice President of SHL Systemhouse when revenues tripled from $400 million to $1.2 billion. He was a member of SHL’s Executive Council and was responsible for extending SHL’s global reach in Asia Pacific. He established joint ventures with Mitsui in Japan, with Tong Yang in Korea and with BHP in Australia. Mr. Bean joined SHL as Vice President and General Manager responsible for British Columbia, Alaska, Washington and Oregon.

Prior to joining SHL, Mr. Bean was a partner with Accenture, where he developed a solid reputation for winning and delivering major business process engineering and outsourcing projects in the telecommunications, utility, airline, banking, construction, education, hospitality, real estate and high technology manufacturing sectors. He sat on the advisory board of Accenture’s CSTaR (Center for Strategic Technology Research) and was Accenture’s Telecom Industry Director for Canada.

Mr. Bean sits on the Computer Systems Technology Industry Advisory Committee for BCIT. He has spoken at universities, professional societies and trade organizations. The press and financial analysts have interviewed Mr. Bean and he was featured on CBC Venture, Canada’s top rated business TV show.
John has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia and is a Chartered Accountant.


Denis Connor, PhD, P.Eng

Dr. Connor is currently the Executive Chairman of QuestAir Technologies. He was the founding CEO in 1998, relinquishing that role to his chosen successor in July 2002. During the late 1980’s and through the 1990’s, prior to joining QuestAir, he headed the Science Council of British Columbia for two years and then consulted to technology start-ups, serving as a technology and management advisor, and on the boards of a number of such companies. From 1969 to 1976 he worked at the Bell Laboratories of AT&T and at the research labs of Nortel. He joined MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) in 1976, where he spent 12 years in various positions from VP Engineering to Executive VP Business Development. MDA employed 42 people when he joined and 700 when he left. He served on the board of Epic Data (a TSE listed company) and is presently on the board of Chrysalix, a fuel cell venture capital partnership, Future Sea Technologies, an aquaculture technology company, and is a founding director of Fuel Cells Canada, an industry association. Dr. Connor is a professional engineer and holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of British Columbia.

Michael Volker, BASc, MASc, P.Eng

BASc('72), MASc('73) University of Waterloo, P.Eng., Mike is a high-technology entrepreneur involved in the development of technology-based businesses. Currently, he is serving as the Director of Simon Fraser University's Industry Liaison Office (since Dec'96). In 1966, as a student entrepreneur, he was awarded the Junior Achievement President-of-the-Year award. He received the University of Waterloo Alumni Achievement Medal in September, 1995. He served a maximum term as a Governor of the University of Waterloo from 1987-1993. His business career started in 1973 when he founded Volker-Craig Ltd., a computer terminals company that was acquired in 1981. Since then he has been active in various early stage businesses as a founder, investor, director, and officer.

Mike was the first Chairman of Shad International in 1980. He frequently writes and speaks on management and technology issues and is active as a member of various charitable and educational boards. In 1988, he moved to British Columbia to serve as the first full-time Executive Director (1988-1991), and continues today as its Chairman, of the BC Advanced Systems Institute, an organization dedicated to technology development and technology transfer. From 1991-1996 he was Chairman & CEO of RDM Corporation (formerly Mindflight Corporation), a publicly-listed (TSX-V: RC) company he founded in 1987. From 1996 to 2001, he was Chairman of the Vancouver Enterprise Forum and continues as an active director, managing the Vancouver Technology Angel Network. He is a founding director of the Canadian Listed Companies Association. Mike is very active on the B.C. high tech scene, serving on numerous non-profit boards such as New Ventures BC and corporate boards such as Nasdaq-listed GraphOn Corporation in California and two TSX Venture listed capital pool companies, Silicon Slopes Capital Corporation and Plutonic Capital Corp. In 2001, he was a judge in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year competition.

Jim Fletcher

Mr. Fletcher has spent over 20 years in the venture capital industry, initially for nine years on the VC fund side as a founding partner with Chrysalix's Executive Chairman Mike Brown of Ventures West Management Inc., one of Canada's largest technology VC funds. Later he became an individual VC while also working on the operations side, playing a wide variety of interim CEO, CFO or other roles as required. He has been a Director of many companies, and President of several through their start-up and early development stages.

He specialized in actively founding, funding and assisting companies through various stages of growth - from financing, management team development and market positioning in early-stage companies to corporate finance and organizational issues at later stages of growth. Mr. Fletcher was a co-founder of Spectrum Signal Processing, CEO at Vector 12, and served as CFO of Angus Reid Group, Canada's largest market research firm, and managed the sale of that company to Ipsos S.A. of France. Before taking an interest in the VC industry, Mr. Fletcher started his professional career as an Investment Banker with Morgan Stanley & Co., from where he moved to become, Director, Corporate Finance and Treasurer with MacMillan Bloedel.

Mr. Fletcher has an honors degree in Engineering Physics from Queen's University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Dr. Geordie Rose

Dr. Rose is a founder and CTO of D-Wave, a quantum computing systems developer. He is known as a leading advocate for quantum computing and physics-based processor design, and has been invited to speak on these topics in venues ranging from the 2003 TED Conference to Supercomputing 2005.

His innovative and ambitious approach to building quantum computing technology has received coverage in BC Business, The Vancouver Sun, Vancouver magazine, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, USA Today, MIT Technology Review magazine, the Harvard Business Review and Business 2.0 magazine, and one of his business strategies was profiled in a Harvard Business School case study. He has received several awards and accolades for his work with D-Wave, including being short-listed for a 2005 World Technology Award.

Dr. Rose holds a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of British Columbia, specializing in quantum effects in materials. While at McMaster University, he graduated first in his class with a BEng in Engineering Physics, specializing in semiconductor engineering.

Since the inception of D-Wave in 1999, Dr. Rose, as founding CEO, raised over $45M on behalf of the company, including a round led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) - the first ever investment by a top-tier US venture capital firm in quantum computing.
 

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