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TBI honours winners at Annual President's Awards Gala

On Feb. 24, 2009, TBI held its Annual President's Awards Gala. This year's sold out event took place once again at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto, with the who’s who of the industry, dignitaries, TBI members and esteemed guests gathered to celebrate and honour four special people and one company.

For all involved, it was a night to forget the cloud of economic uncertainty hanging over the industry, a night for networking, for meeting new faces, to reminisce with old friends, and a night for encouragement. Most of all it was a night to recognize and celebrate the significant contributions and achievements of outstanding business leaders, community leaders and long serving volunteers to Ontario’s biotech sector.

The 2009 TBI Awards Gala recipients were: Edward Rygiel, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award; Adi Treasurywala who received the Volunteer Recognition Award; Hazel McCallion, who received the Community Service Award and Bruce Archibald, who received the Public Service Award. Receiving the Life Science Company of the Year was Amorfix Life Sciences Limited.

There was a common theme of the importance of sustainability in the biotech industry in acceptance speeches of all the recipients, as well as a recognition of the importance of teamwork in helping them achieve their honours.

Edward Rygiel is a pioneer and visionary which led to the building of one of the first venture capital businesses in Ontario. He was honoured not only through touching words but also a biographical video presentation where friends and colleagues discussed some of his finer moments. The Lifetime Achievement award is presented to a highly respected leader who has inspired and led the community to imagine a bigger future in biotech and an individual who is highly recognized as a significant contributor in more than one of the following domains: industry, government, academia and volunteerism. Prior to his retirement, Mr. Rygiel was Chairman and CEO of MDS Capital Corp and Executive Vice-President of MDS Inc. (medical data sciences in 1971, stayed till retirement in 2005). He was described as man who spent a lifelong career helping and aiding scientists and people with good ideas. Rygiel joins a list of past recipients that includes Dr. Alan Bernstein, Dr. William Cochrane, and Dr. Louis Siminovitch among others.

The Biotechnology Initiative (TBI) also honoured Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion with the Community Service Award. Mayor McCallion was recognized for helping to build the biotech community, strengthen its global reputation and as a voice of support for the industry.

"I am very honoured to have received this award. Life sciences are a key cluster employing thousands of workers in Mississauga," said Mayor McCallion. "Our companies are innovators, business leaders and community builders. They benefit the world with new scientific discoveries, new processes and new inventions helping Canadians live longer, better lives. For this, I am extremely pleased and proud."

The recipient of the Public Service Award was Bruce Archibald. Archibald joined Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, as the Assistant Deputy Minister, Research, where he led the development of a new science strategy for the department. He also served on a committee led by Dr. Art Cardy, advisor to the Prime Minister, studying infrastructure and science priorities for all national science departments. Over the years his efforts have been instrumental in growing biotech in Ontario. His peers described him as a driver, a strategist and a guy who delivers; and someone to be proud to have on your team.

"If there was ever a time to be bold, and leverage our past investments in biotechnology and position this province as a global leader in the bioeconomy, it is absolutely now," said Archibald in his acceptance speech.

He added that Ontario needs to work collectively to break that all too Canadian psyche of modest success is good enough.

“We need to challenge ourselves, we need to challenge our policies to support growth and partnerships between small and large companies that will lead to companies being based in Ontario, being global in terms of market domination and technology platforms otherwise we are going to perpetuate that unfortunate cycle of we discover, they exploit and we buy back,” he said.

He also offered up some key strategies to effectively influence government policy.

“Have a clear focused and well thought out message, something that can be easily communicated and well understood. Be consistent, good ideas need time to find the right window of opportunity, and if the idea is worthy, the message consistent, then the chances of success are much greater. Finally, be repetitious to the point that you can’t stand to hear yourself one more time.”

With over 25 years industry experience, Adi Treasurywala has been a team player, a leader and a volunteer, and it is because of these experiences he was honoured as the TBI Volunteer of the Year. Treasurywala has been a chair of the TBI membership committee, as well as a TBI board member for the last three years. Before joining the board at TBI he worked as a volunteer in many other capacities. Since joining TBI, Treasurywala has been a strength to the organization.

Lastly, Amorfix Life Sciences Limited was as selected as TBI’s Life Science Company of the year. The award was accepted by George Adams and his team.

“It’s a wonderful honour to accept this award and be part of this evening. It’s not just for me, but for my team, it was the team that actually made this happen. Amorfix is an Ontario success story, we started with a little invention, a little serendipitous finding in a research laboratory at the University of Toronto, something strange that didn’t make sense and we turned that into a business.”

TBI also acknowledged the team from the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) MBiotech program that recently took top Canadian Honours at the venture capital and innovation competition at the Rothman School of management. Their table was generously provided for by MDS Inc.

Bob Delaney MPP for Mississauga/Streetsville was also on hand to deliver a few inspirational words in the place of the Minister of Research and Innovation John Wilkinson. His message was that the sustainability of the biotech sector should be a priority for Ontario.

“Our province has learned that unleashing the imagination of Ontario’s scientists and researchers means allowing our best minds to challenge and change the way things are, and the way they always have been. We have some of the best in the world in this very room and we’re honouring those people tonight. To grow biotech in Ontario, it is crucial that we have a deeper understanding of this industry and its importance in creating high value jobs for Ontario. Events like this are important because by showcasing our leaders, we are also spreading the message about the importance of the biotechnology sector right here in the province of Ontario,” he said.

Overall the night was a success. In a room designed to hold 400 people, there were more than 420 people in attendance.

“This is an exciting and dedicated group to work with that works not only to make TBI a success, but many other organizations to be successful as well. The amount of effort that these people put in to make nights like tonight a success is extraordinary,” stated TBI President Grant Tipler.