SASKATOON / WINNIPEG, May 23, 2012 – Dr. Arnold Naimark, Chair of Genome Prairie’s Board of Directors, announced today the appointment of Dr. David Gauthier as Acting President and CEO of Genome Prairie effective June 2, 2012. He succeeds Dr. Wilf Keller who will be assuming the position of President and CEO of Ag-West Bio Inc.
Dr. Naimark noted that “Dr. Gauthier’s experience in facilitating linkages between science and industry, and his in depth knowledge of Genome Prairie gained through his distinguished service as a Director and Vice-Chair of Genome Prairie, make him particularly well-suited to maintaining continuity of impetus on a variety of important initiatives while leading Genome Prairie through a period of intensive strategic review.”
Dr. Gauthier is a private consultant specializing in investment and technology commercialization. He has served as Director of Business Development with Performance Plants Inc., as Vice-President with Foragen Technologies Management Inc., as Regional Director of National Research Council Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program and most recently as CEO of the Entrepreneurial Foundation of Saskatchewan. He currently serves as a Board Member of several other organizations. He said “I am pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to the work of Genome Prairie in this new capacity and look forward to facilitating further advances in genomics research and its applications in the prairie region and beyond”.
Dr. Naimark also took the opportunity to acknowledge the work of current President and CEO, Dr. Wilf Keller, stating that “Dr. Keller has provided outstanding leadership to Genome Prairie and has been an active and effective contributor to the advancement of genomics and its application regionally, nationally and internationally. We look forward to working closely with Dr. Keller in his new position at Ag-West Bio Inc. and to continuing the cooperative and complementary relationship between the two organizations”.
About Genome Prairie
Genome Prairie is the leading organization for support and management of large-scale genomics research projects in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. With its partners, Genome Prairie has supported more than $197 million of research activity in plant, animal and human genomics, bioinformatics, instrumentation development and bioethics since its establishment in 2000.
Through network establishment and regional priority consultations, Genome Prairie works collaboratively with all levels of government, universities and industry as well as Genome Canada, a not-for-profit organization implementing a national strategy in genomics and related bioscience research to benefit all Canadians. www.genomeprairie.ca
