There’s hope on the horizon, however, thanks to two New Brunswick men and their determined efforts to move technology from the university laboratory to private industry. Their innovative research could lead to earlier, faster detection and better treatment of ovarian, breast and prostate cancers declares Paul Gunn, who together with Dr. Jack Stewart, are the co-founders of Soricimed Biopharma Inc., one of the most promising R&D firms in Atlantic Canada. Gunn summarizes Soricimed’s work this way: “Our diagnostic finds cancer, while our drug kills cancer.”

The disease-fighting capabilities of its technology are already attracting international attention from eager investors. In fact, four of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world are talking to Soricimed about negotiating a co-development deal. The deal would take its suite of diagnostic and drug tools from clinical to human trials and eventually commercialization. “They came to us,” the company’s president and CEO adds. “It’s a perfect position to be in.”

Based in Moncton, Soricimed is a private, early stage drug development firm that employs nine people (its looking to add more this year), five of whom work out of its state-of-the art laboratory in Sackville, in collaboration with some of the top research institutions across the country. “We may not be big but we’re virtually huge,” Gunn says.

The start-up’s initial success shows, in Stewart’s words, that “you don’t have to be in a big centre to do leading-edge work”.  It also illustrates that scientific breakthroughs can, and often do, originate in the unlikeliest places. Dr. Frederick Banting, for example, discovered insulin studying the pancreas of diabetic dogs. In this case, Stewart may have found his miracle cancer treatment in the mouth of the North American shrew.

The unique story behind Soricimed dates back just 10 years when Stewart, out of curiosity, began to analyze the spit of the tiny carnivore.  Then a biochemistry professor at Mount Allison University, his goal was to solve a mystery that had puzzled scientists from the late 1800s through to the 1950s.

The shrew is one of only two venomous mammals in the animal kingdom, the other being the platypus.  The platypus uses its venom during the mating season to inflict pain on its opponent, whereas the shrew uses its venom to paralyze its prey. Earlier researchers had tried, but failed, to identify the paralytic agent in the animal’s venomous saliva as a possible painkiller for humans.

Stewart took up where they left off, with a distinct advantage: high-tech equipment capable of molecular analyses that his predecessors could scarcely have imagined.  He was able to zoom in on the organic compound (or peptide) that allows the animal to stun its prey with a single bite.

For several years, Stewart lured the mouse-like mammals with pepperoni and trapped them in his backyard. This continued until his eureka moment when he was finally able to establish the paralytic nature of their venom.  Stewart called the peptide ‘soricidin’ after the genus name for the northern short-tailed shrew: soricideae.

That was just the beginning. Stewart continued to delve deeper into his study of the mysterious chemical, sharing the long-held belief that it could be a pain suppressant. His analysis set off a series of even more remarkable finds. Over the course of his research at Mount A, he discovered that soricidin had both therapeutic and diagnostic properties, properties that could potentially detect and destroy cancer cells. Stewart knew he could be on to a medial miracle.  His only limitation (and it was a significant one) was money to further his research.

Enter Paul Gunn.

A results-driven financial executive, Gunn was in the audience at an investors forum when Stewart made his pitch for cash. He was intrigued. In fact, Gunn liked what he heard so much he provided the seed money to get their company off the ground. That was in 2005. Since then, there’s been a rapid succession of exciting discoveries and business advancements.

• 4:1 return on investment in incentive travel
• 40%: Prospects converted to new customers
• 28%: Current business that would be lost without face-to-face meetings
• 17%: Profit average company would lose if it eliminated all business travel
• 95% Percentage of Harvard Business Review surveys that saw face-to-face meetings as key to success for long-term client relationships
• 89 % of those respondents considered meetings “essential for “sealing the deal”; 82% for negotiating important contracts; 81 % for interviewing senior staff for key positions and 81% for understanding and listening to important customers.
• 80%: Percentage of executives who said incentive travel has significant impact on morale and job satisfaction

 Economic Impacts of Face-to-Face Meetings on Canada (2008)

• 673,400 meetings
• 69.8-million participants
• $23.- billion in spending
• 552,300 full-year jobs
• $14.2-billion in tax revenues (local, provincial and federal)

Future Trends Predicted by Event Managers

• Greater focus on value, quality and competitive pricing
• Larger share of meetings closer to home
• Stronger demand for educational content
• Increased demand for experiential activities outside conference, e.g. whale watching
• Continuing shift toward virtual and web-based technologies, e.g. email marketing, online payments, website registration, blogs
• Increased emphasis on corporate social responsibility, e.g. sponsorship activities
• New interactive formats like Open Space, World Cafe
• Increased use of built-in metrics to measure return on investment
• More hybrid meeting formats that combine live and virtual options, e.g. teleconferences and webcasts

 Sources: MPI Foundation, Oxford Economics, Harvard Business Review, Forbes Insights, Future Watch 2010, Plan Ahead Events, Confederation Centre of the Arts, Destination St. John’s, Limelight Communications Group.

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Gone are the days when corporate functions were ‘rubber chicken’ affairs with name tags stuck to suit lapels. The demands of today’s business events are complex, the expectations of delegates are high and the stakes for host companies are even higher. 

Consider the results of a recent study conducted by MPI (Meetings Professional International). Foundation U.S.: it found that 40 per cent of prospective customers were converted at in-person get-togethers, while 28 per cent of current business would be lost without face-to-face meetings. As these studies indicate, the success or failure of corporate functions can have significant make or break consequences.  

That’s why a growing number are calling on event management experts to plan and promote their functions: the planning pros sort out the time-consuming and labour-intensive details while business leaders focus on other priorities. In doing so, businesses are saving valuable time and money, eliminating stress, and, most importantly, helping to guarantee an event to remember.  

Atlantic Business Magazine contacted some of the region’s top event planning specialists to share their thoughts on what it takes to create meaningful and impactful events. Their advice? Plan ahead. Promote early. Be creative. Stay within budget. Never lose sight of your goals. Know your delegates. Build relationships. Have fun and treat out-of-town guests to that trademark East Coast welcome. 

 All these elements contributed to the success of Atlantic Canada House (the region’s Olympic Winter Games pavilion) and Ruckus on the Edge (St. John’s’ Juno Awards pre-show). The two events provided the region with unprecedented opportunities to showcase its cultural vitality, economic diversity and genuine hospitality to national and international audiences of millions. 

 In addition to the traditional crowd-pleasers, event organizers employed outside-the-box thinking and web-based technologies to create buzz and drive traffic to their doors. In addition to Facebook and Twitter, Atlantic Canada House used press leaks, media tours and even a wrapped city bus that rolled through the streets of Vancouver 24-7 to build hype. 

The result? Line-ups that stretched for city blocks; over 2,100 Facebook fans (the highest number, second only to Canada’s Hockey House); and, 500 mainstream and social media hits, including a “gold medal” from the Vancouver Sun. In total, 75,000 people, from all corners of the globe, visited Atlantic Canada House – named one of the top three must-see pavilions at the Games. 

“The lesson for us from Atlantic Canada House is one of preparation,” says David MacKenzie, chief executive officer of the Confederation Centre of the Arts and the pavilion’s lead logistics, marketing and entertainment co-coordinator. “When we opened up, the word was already out there that Atlantic Canada House was the place to be.” 

That same lesson can be applied to corporate functions, notes MacKenzie who is now back at his usual post, working behind the scenes to ensure events at the Centre go off without a hitch. The Centre is among an impressive range of meeting facilities Atlantic Canada has to offer, with options to suit every meeting style and budget. Often these venues provide on-site catering, audio visual equipment, table and linen rentals as part of all-inclusive packages. 

If events are being organized by in-house personnel, the support of municipal offices and tourist bureaus can be enlisted to contract services, line up accommodations, and to coordinate offsite leisure activities. 

In St. John’s, Newfoundland, that go-to organization is Destination St. John’s. Its mission, in the words of CEO Keith Healey, is “to get heads on pillows and keep them there as long as we can.” When the Newfoundland and Labrador capital hosted Ruckus on The Edge earlier this year, his team was tapped by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) to put the event’s many pieces in place. 

“We put the red carpet out for everyone. We made sure their needs were taken care of. We made sure that things hadn’t fall through the cracks, and that we would be that point of contact for service.” Healey says businesses can expect that same treatment when they hold their events in St. John’s. Ruckus on the Edge contributed to a 10 per cent increase in visitors to St. John’s for the first quarter of 2010. 

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Colin MacDonald was a teacher’s pest. His mind wandered. He twitched in his chair. “I couldn’t take direction very well. Intuitively, I felt it was unnecessary to sit still for 15 minutes in absolute silence. I couldn’t see the sense in it.” His father found him so difficult that he often said his son would have “turned Christ away from the Last Supper”. Today that same young trouble maker is happily spending time in the classroom.

The CEO and president of Clearwater Seafoods is a keen student of the Harvard School of Business where he buries his head in the books, brushes up on his skills and builds partnerships to guarantee his company’s continued success in the world’s ever-changing marketplace. In short, MacDonald is leading by learning.

He’s not alone. Many of Atlantic Canada’s most successful CEOs regard executive education as a core business function. Among them is Bert Frizzell, president and CEO of The Shaw Group where executive education has been part of their corporate culture for more than 30 years. Frizzell credits this to “enlightened management” who recognized that professional development leads to better performance, higher productivity and greater profitability.

The company continues to see those results in the form of “improved earnings and sales growth”, as well as in the non-measurable results like motivated staff. “Employees come back (from courses) with an eagerness and a freshness for the roles they have,” Frizzell notes.

For this reason, Shaw makes a concerted effort to give employees the resources they need to build their skills and rise up the ranks. “Our corporate philosophy is to promote within,” Frizzell explains, noting that it is far more effective to develop its in-house talent, than to recruit from the outside.

Nurturing and cultivating Shaw’s talent takes place both internally and externally. The company has a custom-designed residential executive program that is delivered on-site by professors from Harvard, the University of Ottawa and Western. Plus, in the past five years, Shaw has sent several senior members of its management team to Harvard, INSEAD in Paris, Columbia, Duke, Queens and Western universities. Still others are working toward professional certifications or taking undergraduate and graduate courses with Shaw’s support. “We’re pretty much committed to doing these things,” Frizzell states modestly. “We look at it as developing our competitive advantage.”

Today’s business schools are described as thinking environments and training grounds for business leaders. As Shaw’s residential executive program illustrates, the institutions offer a wide mix of courses and delivery methods, but their core purpose is the same. The schools are geared to help companies address challenges in a volatile business climate; to help them capitalize on opportunities in the global economy; and to help them build their leadership capacity.

Consequently, executive education is serious stuff and it doesn’t come cheap. In fact, the cost of a three-week course can often exceed an undergraduate’s full-year tuition.

That steep price doesn’t come with any extra amenities or pampering either. Take Clearwater Seafoods CEO Colin MacDonald for example. He has regularly attended the Harvard School of Business for the past 22 years. He sleeps in a dormitory room that has barely enough room to stand up in and eats all his meals at the school’s cafeteria. Until just recently, there was only one bathroom on his dorm floor for eight to 10 men. “We called ourselves the ‘Can Group’ because we shared a can.”

MacDonald admits Harvard’s executive management program is a “mentally and physically demanding week of study.” Still, he considers this a necessary cost of doing business, as do the other CEOs interviewed for this article. More significantly, they like the returns on their investment: the recruitment and retention of their top tier talent; the relationships they form with classmates from all corners of the globe; having the most up-to-date research and information available; not to mention the monetary rewards.

In Rob Sobey’s opinion, the pursuit of higher learning should be a “normal process” for CEOs. “It should be built into a leader’s annual planning.” The president and CEO of Lawton Drugs Ltd. was recently accredited by the Institute of Corporate Development (ICD) through the University of Toronto’s Directors Education Program. The focus of his studies was on governance, which will serve him well in his capacity as chairman and director of various corporate and volunteer boards. To maintain his professional designation, he will have to continue taking accelerated courses in executive development – a stipulation he welcomes. “As soon as you stop academic learning you stagnate and that’s a competitive disadvantage.”

Sobey cautions CEOs who don’t develop their companies’ human capital: “The risks will mount on the other side if you don’t. A company should invest in the professional development of its people, hands down.”

Atlantic Business Magazine  invited a cross-section of Atlantic Canadian investment advisors to gaze into their crystal balls and tell us where our fortunes might be made in 2010. Several consistent pictures emerged. The advisors saw continued volatility in the year ahead, but with less pointed highs and lows. In other words, they think the wild ride is over and that the economy will continue to rally, though slowly, with milder market fluctuations.

They were also unanimous in forecasting that this post-recession period was a wise time to invest. Anytime is a good time to invest, they agreed, but especially when the economy is in recovery mode. So where will the smart money reside in 2010? It’s on this question that differences of opinion begin to emerge. Most anticipate financials, materials and energy (sectors that have historically dominated the Canadian market) regaining strength as the economy rebounds. However, their forecasts vary on other sectors, with some advisors recommending consumer goods and information technology, and others underweighting those industries.

Though opinions were split on top investment picks, there was consensus on the need for a well-balanced portfolio. The advisors cited diversification as key to investment success.

Choosing an investment advisor to predict what the market’s overachievers and underperformers will be in 2010 comes down to trust, the advisors agreed. Select an advisor whose investment philosophy matches your own. And make sure the advisor and the advisor firm’s are licensed – advice many North American investors wished they heeded in 2009. Finally, understand that any and all advice (especially this article) should be used as a launch pad for your own due diligence research: neither Atlantic Business Magazine nor the following individuals can be held responsible for personal decisions made as a result of this article.

Group of Seven

Atlantic Business Magazine asks seven investment advisors about market trends and growth sectors.

Question 1: Is this a good time to invest? Question 2: How do you think the market will perform in 2010? Question 3: What will be the strongest/weakest sectors? Question 4: should I ask before choosing an investment advisor? Question 5: and how are you personally investing?

Jane Smith President & CEO Beacon Securities Limited (NS)

1. You need access to your money in the short term… stay with low risk investments and accept a modest interest rate. If your time horizon is longer, moving the risk to good quality dividend bearing stocks with a portion of your portfolio makes sense….

2. I think it is entirely possible that we will have a relatively sideways market that could experience continued volatility both up and down. With a sideways market, not all stocks will perform well.

3. Canada, I would overweight energy, materials, financials and technology, where earnings recovery should be substantial. I would underweight… consumer staples, telecoms and utilities.

4. “By whom are you regulated and who is the custodian of my securities and money?” …After these, ask what the advisor’s approach is to investing, what products they have access to and make sure you share the same philosophy.

5. My investment account is primarily in dividend bearing stocks because I like to get paid dividends while I wait for the markets to move higher. To that, I add managed money to get the diversification and potential for performance.

Jeff Burt Vice President BMO Nesbitt Burns (NL)

1. Answer is yes. North American stock markets are consolidating at the present time. We believe once the consolidation is complete, stocks will continue to move higher.

2. Broad terms, we expect that 2010 will look much like 2009 – equities performing well, and government bonds performing poorly.

3. We expect cyclical sectors, such as materials, industrials, consumer discretionary and technology to continue to do well. We also expect energy and financial sectors to perform well. …Consumer staples, health care, telecom and utilities are expected to underperform.

4. The most important question you should ask yourself is “can I work with this person?” The nature of the client-advisor relationship necessitates that you actually enjoy working with your advisor.

5. That my firm is part of a large financial institution, I have a larger than normal position in financial services. The balance is split between the materials sector and a sector neutral portfolio.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s black gold rush is far from over. In fact, as technology evolves, commercial explorers are going further and deeper to mine the province’s vast vein of ocean riches. The Hibernia South Extension is part of this exciting new trend in oil field exploration. Drills are going where none have gone before. New frontiers are opening up. New discoveries are being made. And new, smaller fields are being developed.

It’s a trend that is helping Newfoundland and Labrador harness the full potential of its rich energy resources. The expansion of its reserves is made possible in part by subsea tiebacks. Subsea tiebacks are a proven technology which connects new field developments to existing infrastructure. Deployment of subsea technology comes at a critical time when many of the world’s major offshore oil and gas fields are reaching maturity. New discoveries are getting smaller and therefore more challenging to produce. Subsea tiebacks are a more economical method of resource recovery that can turn marginal reservoirs into money-making assets and rigs and platforms into higher production facilities. In other words, operators can produce more oil at a lower cost, over long distances and deeper waters.

The Hibernia South Extension is a good example of this efficient and cost effective way of pumping oil from existing platforms. Located approximately 320 kilometres east-southeast of St. John’s, Newfoundland, the property has a recoverable potential of approximately 223-million barrels and builds on the equipment of a mature field.

During his opening address at this year’s Newfoundland and Labrador Oil and Gas Industries Association (NOIA) conference, Premier Danny Williams delivered the highly anticipated news that a tentative agreement had been reached to develop the Hibernia South field.

Through its crown corporation, Nalcor Energy, the Province has negotiated a 10 per cent equity stake in the project, a stake with an estimated royalty/tax value of $10- billion. To put it in perspective, the Premier noted that Hibernia South will deliver more revenue to the Province than the Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose oil fields combined.

The agreement will help extend the life of the Hibernia project to well past 2020.

Originally, Hibernia reserves were estimated at 525-million barrels of recoverable crude. Today, those reserves are pegged at 1.2-billion barrels, with the potential to reach as high as 1.9-billion, including the extension at Hibernia South.

The Hibernia South field has a projected lifespan of between 10 and 15 years and contains two principal reservoirs that are linked to the Hibernia gravity base structure: the Hibernia and Ben Nevis-Avalon formations.

Up to six subsea developments may be required to tap the field’s identified and potential resources through the life of the Hibernia production facility, according to the project description submitted to the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (CNLOPB) in2008 for regulatory consent. The Hibernia South Extension drill centre is the first planned subsea tie-back to the Hibernia GBS, with glory hole installation tentatively scheduled for 2011, depending on project approval timing and dredging vessel availability. Hibernia South is comparatively small to other reserves (25 per cent of the size of Hibernia) but “small is beautiful” to the 480 industry stakeholders who belong to the Newfoundland & Labrador Oil & Gas Industries Association (NOIA).

“It’s absolutely positive and great news,” enthuses NOIA Board chairman Geoff Cunningham. “There’s a lot of reason to be optimistic. There’s a lot of reason to invest in your business.”

Cunningham is manager of Offshore Operations for A. Harvey & Company Ltd., a marine base and logistics operations firm, based in St. John’s. “For us, it will ramp Hibernia up to the level of activity it was at and probably a bit higher than it was before.”

Cunningham predicts NOIA’s membership will enjoy “huge spin-offs” from the development of Hibernia South. “The supply and service community will see the benefits, as all consumables trickle through the system.”

Meet five women who are making a difference in Atlantic Canada. Members of the unofficial sisterhood of Atlantic Canada’s top female executives, they are as diverse as they are dynamic. Yet they share a number of qualities common to successful businesswomen. They are gogetters, risk-takers and trailblazers. They ignored their naysayers, knocked down barriers, turned adversities into advantages and juggled the competing demands of home and work to keep their businesses going and growing. For the enterprising women profiled on the following pages, the saying, “do what you love and the money will come,” definitely holds true.

Marina Atwell President, Velocity Entertainment Inc. | Halifax, NS

A STAR IS BORN

Though her job is to shine the spotlight on others, it’s Marina Atwell who has taken center stage. Last year, she received the Entrepreneur/Innovator Award from the Canadian Progress Club-Halifax Cornwallis at itsWomen of Excellence Awards. This year, she is nominated for an RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur Award (the Bell Trailblazer Award). Described as a mentor, visionary and leader, Atwell meets the national award’s definition of a “true trendsetter”.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

Atwell, a marketing and communications specialist with an extensive background in corporate project management, founded Velocity seven years ago. The native Nova Scotian says she was often told she should be running her own business, to which she always responded: “Marketing what?” She received the answer when she volunteered her services to help a charitable organization hold a fundraiser. Atwell shared her expertise in branding, sponsorship development and media relations, resulting in an event that lived up to its name: “A Night to Remember”.

HOOKED ON A FEELING

Atwell says a woman should always trust her intuition. “Whenever provided with an opportunity, always ask yourself: ‘Who has the most to gain and who has the most to lose from it’. I believe listening to your gut and asking yourself this question will help enable you to make good business decisions.”

BEHIND THE SCENES

When Atwell needs to get away from it all, she loves to camp. “Yes, in a tent,” she adds, “and near the ocean and beach, of course. I like how camping the traditional way takes you away from the hectic pace of everyday life and forces you to enjoy life’s greatest gifts – nature and conversation….” She also enjoys motorcycling, mountain biking and dog sitting for friends.

HELPING HANDS

Atwell describes herself as having a passion to help ‘the little guy’. “This makes me work twice as hard to be in a position to be able to make a difference.” It also explains her active community involvement and management of the career of local singer/songwriter Mike Trask who is nominated for his own Music Nova Scotia Award this year. “That feeds my soul – helping someone who works so hard and is so talented.”

Nicola MacNaughton Owner, Occupational Concepts Ltd. | Moncton, NB

PARTY TIME

2009 has been a year of celebration for the owner of Occupational Concepts Limited. On September 1, she marked the 10th anniversary of her business and in July she received the New Brunswick Association of CBDC’s Woman Entrepreneur of the Year award.

FATE AND FAITH

Occupational Concepts is the realization of a long-held dream for MacNaughton. Her training and work as an occupational therapist were stepping stones to the place she is today – owner of the largest privately-owned rehabilitation clinic in Atlantic Canada, comprised of a 9,000 sq. ft. clinic employing 15 health care professionals and two maintenance and administrative staff.MacNaughton has the classic characteristics of a successful businessperson: risk taker, visionary and the ability to recognize the need for help and accept that help. She is also determined. “‘No, you can not do that’ is not an option,” she says.

ESPRIT DE CORPS

To promote a positive work environment, MacNaughton regularly organizes team building excursions such as a limousine-driven shopping trip to Halifax, a visit to the race tracks in Charlottetown and, most recently, a salmon fishing adventure on New Brunswick’s Miramichi River. “I am in the service delivery business and while the business itself is system dependant, the systems are only as good as the people you have to deliver them.”