Previous competition selection board
A distinguished, arm’s length selection board, composed of leaders from the academic, private and other relevant sectors, ensures the Canada First Research Excellence Fund supports initiatives on the basis of the highest international standards of research excellence. The board also ensures funding decisions take into account areas of strength, opportunity and relevance to Canada.
Chair
Marcius Extavour
Chief Scientist, Executive Vice-President, Energy and Climate
XPRIZE
United States
Members
John Baker
CEO and Board Chair
D2L
Canada
Allison Barr
President
Chatham Consulting
Canada
Donald Dingwell*
Director of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Germany
Grant Isaac
Senior Vice-President and CFO
Cameco
Canada
Chonnettia Jones
President and Executive Director
Addgene
United States
Neil Lee
Professor of Economic Geography
London School of Economics and Political Science
United Kingdom
Jennifer Rattray
Chief Operating Officer
Southern Chiefs’ Organization Inc.
Canada
Pierre Villeneuve
Co-founder
Equity Management Partners
United States
Val Walker
CEO
Business + Higher Education Round Table
Canada
*Returning member from previous CFREF competitions
The above information is current as of the time of posting.
Previous competition selection board
Chair
Ken Knox
Former president and CEO
Ontario Innovation Trust and Innovation Institute of Ontario
Deborah Smith
Special Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor (Research)
University of York
United Kingdom
Members
Jean-François Barsoum
Senior Innovation Executive
IBM
Canada
Kevin Chan
Global Director and Head of Public Policy
Facebook Canada
Canada
Daping Chu
Professor, Nanjing Professorship of Technology and Innovation
Department of Engineering
University of Cambridge
United Kingdom
Daniel Coderre
President and CEO
Genome Québec
Former Rector of Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)
Canada
Maura Davies
President
Maura Davies Healthcare Consulting Inc.
Canada
Roxanne Deslauriers
Associate Scientist
Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute and
Associate Professor, Northern Ontario School of Medicine
Lakehead University
Canada
Sara Diamond
President Emerita, OCAD University
Associate Consultant Lord Cultural Resources
Canada
Donald Bruce Dingwell
Chair of Mineralogy and Petrology and director of the Department for Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Munich,
Germany
Marie D'Iorio
Chief Operating Officer
André E. Lalonde AMS Laboratory
University of Ottawa
Canada
Myron Gutmann
Professor of History and
Director Institute of Behavioral Science
University of Colorado, Boulder
United States
Bev Holmes
President and CEO
Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research
Canada
Joy Louise Johnson
President and Vice-Chancellor
Simon Fraser University
Canada
Fred Morley
Executive-vice president and chief economist
Halifax Partnership
David Newhouse
Professor, Indigenous Studies and
Director, Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies
Trent University
Canada
Deborah Smith
Special Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor (Research)
University of York
United Kingdom
John Knubley (observer)
Deputy minister
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada