Management Team

Amos Michelson, Chairman

Mr. Michelson was the CEO of Creo, leading it from 1995 till its acquisition by Kodak in 2005 for $1 Billion USD. Prior to Creo, Mr. Michelson was the CEO of Opal Inc. and the COO of Optrotech Ltd. Since 2005 Amos was actively involved in the creation of several start-up companies in the areas of life sciences, energy and software and currently sits on the boards of multiple start-up companies. He holds MBA from Stanford University and BSc in Electrical Engineering from the Technion in Israel. Mr. Michelson was named Ernst & Young 1999 Entrepreneur of the Year (together with Dan Gelbart) and BCTIA 2005 Person of the year.

 

Eran Elizur, CEO

Eran Elizur is a veteran in the technology space with a significant record of achievements in the areas of global technology commercialization and business development. This includes C-level roles with both large multinationals (Kodak, Creo Inc., Nova Measuring Instruments and others) as well as start-up entities, including his own start-up company which he led from concept to successful exit. As a consultant and mentor Eran has worked with many different companies to identify and commercialize innovative new opportunities in a diverse array of areas including medical technology, clean energy, display technology and electronics.
Eran holds a MSc. in Physics from the Weizmann Institute, Israel and an MBA from Tel-Aviv University.

Dan Gelbart, Founder

Dan Gelbart is an inventor who has more than 100 U.S. Patents to his name. Mr. Gelbart co-founded Creo Inc. in 1984 and served as President and then CTO until July, 2005, when Creo was sold to Kodak for $1 Billion USD. Mr. Gelbart also developed the patented technology for Cymbolic Sciences and MDI corporations (acquired by Schlumberger and Motorola, respectively), and is a co-founder of Kardium. He holds Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Technion in Israel. Mr. Gelbart was twice awarded the British Columbia Science Council gold medal, the Institute of Printing gold medal, honorary doctorates from Simon Fraser University and University of British Columbia and the Ernst & Young 1999 Entrepreneur of the Year award (with Amos Michelson).

 

Dr. Sam Lichtenstein, Founder

Dr. Sam Lichtenstein holds numerous senior medical positions including head of the UBC Division of Cardiovascular Surgery. He is also co-founder of several medical-device companies including Ventrica (acquired by Medtronic) and Kardium. Dr. Lichtenstein is a renowned practitioner and researcher in cardiovascular surgery and has made significant contributions to heart surgery techniques during his career. Recently, he performed the world’s first minimally invasive beating heart aortic valve replacement surgery without cardiopulmonary bypass.

 

 

Dr. Lindsay Machan, Founder

Dr. Lindsay Machan is the regional lead of Angiography and Interventional Radiology at Vancouver Coastal Health, a founding member of the Canadian Interventional Radiology Association, and was formerly President of the Western Angiographic and Interventional Society. In 1992, Dr. Machan co-founded Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TSE:ANP) and is the co-inventor of patents regarding paclitaxel stent coating (licensed by Boston Scientific and Cook) and patents on biologically active coatings for endovascular stent grafts. Dr. Machan is the recipient of the 2006 Manning Innovation Principal Award and serves on the board of several medical-device companies.

 

 

Ian Ihnatowycz, Board Member

Mr. Ihnatowycz is CEO of First Generation Capital Inc., a private investment holding company, is Chairman of a pharmaceutical development company and sits on the Board of six other life science and high tech start-ups. Formerly CEO of Acuity Investment Management Inc., which he founded in 1990, his firm was the first Canadian advisor to the UN on the integration of environmental, social and governance factors within investment management, won many awards for investment performance and grew to assets of over $7.5B. Mr. Ihnatowycz holds a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto, an MBA from the Ivey Business School, and holds the CFA and Chartered Director designations. Among honorary distinctions, Mr. Ihnatowycz was named a Chevalier of the Order of Merit, 3rd Class, by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in 2017, has received Honorary Degrees from Western University (2012), Ukrainian Free University in Munich (2009) and is a Fellow of the Royal Conservatory of Music (2007).