Meet Our Directors
Stéphane Gagné, M.Sc., President & CEO – Ovensa Inc.
Co-Founder of Ovensa and three other companies, Mr. Gagné holds 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical (anticancer drugs and drug delivery), cosmetics and nutritional supplements industries. He was instrumental to the growth of Aeterna-Zentaris, a company that was developing an angiogenesis inhibitor for non-small cell lung cancer. He was also a co-founder of Constab Pharmaceutical, a company developing a drug delivery system using alpha-fetoprotein. Mr. Gagné also contributed to the international expansion of Atrium Biotechnologies and several Canadian private and public companies. He is recognized for his leadership, for building teams, growing sales and for his negotiation skills. He holds 2 bachelor degrees (Economics and Multidisciplinary), has a Master Degree in Business Administration and speaks several languages.
Steven Splinter, Ph.D., CTO & Director - Radient Technologies Inc.
A science entrepreneur with over 18 years of corporate, strategic and operational experience (13 years in Executive or Senior Management roles). Successfully founded, raised investment rounds and led initial corporate and all technical development for an agri-based bio-innovation company. Experienced in strategic planning, technical assessment and development of process technologies, business leadership, and engineering project management.
Kathleen Ngassam, Eng, DBA, – Management roles – Pfizer, DSM, Abbott, ICN Pharma
Kathleen Ngassam obtained a Bachelor in Chemical Engineering from McGill University in 1993. In parallel to starting her engineering career, she subsequently completed a Graduate Diploma in Project Management at École Polytechnique de Montréal, followed by an MBA from the Hautes Études Commerciales de Montréal. Further seeking to combine active business practice with academic knowledge, she completed, earlier this year, a Doctorate in Business Administration degree with the University of Liverpool (U.K.).
Kathleen spent the first 17 years of her professional career working in the pharmaceutical industry with companies such as ICN, Abbott, DSM Biologics and Pfizer. Over this period, she had the opportunity to work and gain significant experience in different areas of the business including manufacturing, quality assurance, product development, project management, government affairs, as well as marketing. In 2011, Kathleen undertook the challenge of changing both industries and scale of enterprise, by joining Solumet, a growing diversified metals recycling and trading company, in the capacity of project manager. An active member of Anges Québec since 2016, with a specific interest in Life Sciences and Impact investing, she is also on the board of two other companies in the Anges Quebec portfolio