As part of TandemLaunch Technologies, we have access to an exceptional Advisory Board, with decades of experience as successful entrepreneurs, in scientific study, innovation investment and more.

Lorne A. Whitehead, Ph.D., P.Eng.

Lorne Whitehead is a Professor holding the NSERC/3M Industrial Research Chair and serving as Leader of Education Innovation at the University of British Columbia. Lorne’s research involves the innovative application of physics toward solving important societal problems, particularly those related to energy efficiency and sustainability. He holds more than 100 patents and has received numerous awards for innovation. Lorne has considerable experience in successfully transferring new technologies to industry. In 1984 he founded TIR Systems Ltd., (purchased by Philips Lighting in 2007), to commercialize his invention of the prism light guide. He also developed a technology that was licensed to 3M for doubling the efficiency of laptop computer screens, which significantly accelerated that industry. He has also helped to create several other companies, including Brightside Technologies, which developed his invention of high dynamic range display technology for brighter, more efficient television. Brightside was acquired by Dolby Laboratories in 2007, and the research team remains in Vancouver as Dolby Canada.

Lorne’s latest spin-off company, SunCentral Inc., is pioneering light guidance techniques to bring sunlight into the core regions of office buildings. Although creating new technology has been a theme throughout his career, Lorne has also devoted considerable efforts to entrepreneurship and administrative leadership. In various administrative roles at UBC, including most recently as Vice President Academic and Provost, he has been instrumental in the initiation of several projects such as the new science student center, biodiversity building, new integrated sciences program, the successful recruiting of Nobel laureate Carl Wieman for a new teaching initiative, and the creation of the College for Interdisciplinary Studies. In the local community, he helped found several associations and has served on a variety of community boards and committees, including the Science World Board of Governors and the Board of the UBC Alumni Association.

Andre Bazergui, Ph.D., P.Eng.

Andre Bazergui was the President and CEO of CRIAQ (Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Quebec) from January 2004 to August 2010; he is presently special advisor to the CEO . He has been an active member of Innovitech inc. since 1998 and was involved in a number of strategic projects including the creation of CRIAQ in 2002. He obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield as an Athlone Fellow. He then joined Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal and held Faculty positions for over 30 years during which he completed two terms as Director General and CEO (1990-1998). Actively involved in teaching and research, he has published extensively and is the principal author of a textbook on Strength of Materials and two solutions manuals (Résistance des matériaux).

A well known public figure, he regularly chairs or is a member of strategic Boards and Committees in Quebec and Canada. He co-chaired, with the Minister of Economic Development, Innovation, and Export/Trade of Québec, the Consulting Group on the Quebec Strategy of Research and Innovation 2010. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He received a Honorary Doctorate from Concordia University in 1998, the Award of Excellence from the Alumni Association of Polytechnique in 2000 and the 2006 ADRIQ Institutional Career Prize and the 2009 Grand Prize of Excellence of the Order of Engineers of Quebec. The Board of CRIAQ has awarded André a certificate of recognition for his outstanding performance as CEO.

Jim De Wilde, Ph.D.

Jim de Wilde is President of JdW Venture Capital Strategies. He is on the Investment Committee of iNovia Capital in Montreal and on the Advisory Boards of the Walsingham Fund (Toronto), TandemLaunch (Montreal) and Enertech Capital (Philadelphia). He has had a career as a management educator and venture capitalist. He started teaching in Business Schools at the University of Western Ontario (now Ivey) in 1984. He has more recently taught venture capital strategies at McGill (1990-1992), the Helsinki School of Economics and Rotman (from 2001-5, when he set up the venture capital strategies course and from January 2010 when he resumed responsibility for the course. He has designed and now lectures in a BComm course at Rotman on Global Capital Markets and New Trends in International Political Economy (since 2007). He is also an Executive in Residence at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson and on the Board of the Canada-India Business Council and a Charter Member of TIE. He has a PhD in political science from McGill which focused on the relationship between Canadian public policy and the growth of “advanced technology” sectors. More information can be found on his website.