Peter Morand

Biography

Dr. Peter Morand is president of an Ottawa-based consulting firm that undertakes assignments related to governance, business development, technology management and performance measurement with advanced technology companies, universities and other R&D organizations across Canada. He was a member of the International Review Committee that carried out an assessment of the performance of the Alberta Science and Research Authority for its initial six years of operation. He was also a member of the International Review Committee (2005-06) that carried out an assessment of the performance of Valorisation Recherche Québec, created in 1999 to accelerate and leverage research and innovation in that province. He served as founding President, CEO and Director of the Canadian Science and Technology Growth Fund Inc., a venture capital fund that invested in early-stage advanced technology companies from 1996 until its merger with Growthworks Canadian Fund in 2005. Peter Morand is past President of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC, 1990-95), Canada’s federal agency that currently invests more than $1 billion annually in support of university research and training. Prior to his NSERC appointment, Dr. Morand spent many years at the University of Ottawa as Professor of Chemistry and occupied the positions of Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering and of Vice Rector, University Relations & Development. He is currently Special Advisor to the The Killam Trusts and to the Canada Council for the Arts in the adjudication of annual Killam Research Fellowships and Killam Prizes made possible by one of North America’s largest private trusts in support of research and scholarship. In this context he regularly visits research-intensive universities across Canada and keeps abreast of the latest advances in all disciplines. He chairs the Board of SOVAR, the commercialization arm of ULaval and is a Board member of FOLIA (a vaccine company) and of NeuroDevNet (NCE – autism, FAS, cerebral palsy at UBC). Peter Morand has been a member of the Advisory Boards of the National Research Council of Canada’s Institute on Biodiagnostic (NRC-IBD, Winnipeg) and of the Institute for Biological Sciences (NRC-IBS, Ottawa) and has served as a director on the Boards of Adherex Technologies Inc. (TSX-AHX, founding Chair, 1998-2009) and of D-Box Technology Inc. (Longueuil, QC, TSX Venture, DBO-A, 2004-06). He is a past member of the Boards of Variation Biotechnologies Inc. (a vaccine development start-up), of the Ottawa Life Sciences Council (past Chair), of the Canadian Bacterial Diseases Network, of the Institute on Governance, of the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group (mental health), of the Ottawa Hospital and of the Ottawa Health Research Institute. He obtained his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from McGill University and was a postdoctoral fellow with Professor Sir Derek Barton at Imperial College in the U.K. He is author or co-author of over eighty scientific papers published in Canada, Britain and the U.S. and holds twenty patents. Fluent in English and French, Peter Morand is a frequent speaker and writer on policy and advanced technology issues. 

Research Interest

 Organic Chemistry