Patrick Draper is a prominent business leader with broad sales, marketing and general management experience in domestic and international markets gained in corporate, public sector and entrepreneurial organizations. He is known for developing innovative strategic plans, launching effective business and economic development programs, leveraging new technologies, creating results orientated sales & marketing campaigns and fostering highly motivated teams.

Mr. Draper was appointed President and CEO of the Toronto Region Research Alliance in May 2010.  His previous executive experience leading organizations includes: Director of Economic Strategy and Tourism for the Regional Municipality of York, President of The Webcasting Network and Paramount Travel Group, and Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Tourism for the Province of Ontario. He also has held senior roles in consumer product companies: L&F Products Canada, Chiquita, Nielsen Cadbury and Pepsi Cola USA.

He has served as Chair of the Greater Toronto Economic Development Partnership and has memberships in the Economic Developers Association of Canada, the Economic Developers Council of Ontario and the International Economic Development Council. He has been a member of The Young Presidents Association and board member with the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance, the Canadian Tourism Commission, Ontario Place, and the Grocery Products Manufacturers of Canada.

Courtney Pratt has served as Chairman of the Toronto Region Research Alliance since October 2007. He also held the position of President of TRRA from October 2007 to May 2010. Previously, he served as Chairman of Stelco Inc. from April 2006 to October 2007, and as President and Chief Executive Officer of Stelco Inc. from January 2004 to March 2006. He also held leadership positions with Toronto Hydro Corporation, Hydro One Networks Inc., The Caldwell Partners, and Noranda Inc. Mr. Pratt is Chairman of Knightsbridge Human Capital, and a Director of Moosehead Breweries Limited and 407ETR. He also is a member of the Alberta Premier's Council on Economic Strategy, Investors Group Independent Review Committee, and the Ontario Advisory Council of Telus.

Mr. Pratt was awarded the Order of Canada in January 1999. Mr. Pratt's on-going community involvement includes Director of Canadian Policy Research Networks (CPRN), Canadian Council on Learning, The Learning Partnership, and the Toronto City Summit Alliance. Mr. Pratt was previously Chair of the Board and Chair of the Campaign of the United Way of Greater Toronto, Director of Career Edge, and Director of the Toronto Board of Trade. He also was Chair of the Board of the United Way in Calgary. He was Chair of Imagine, is the Founding Chair of The Charter for Business of the Duke of Edinburgh's Awards in Canada, and is a past Director of the University Health Network. He is also the co-author (with Larry Gaudet) of Into the Blast Furnace -- The Forging of a CEO's Conscience.

As TRRA's lead for regional research capacity building, Walter Stewart works with this region's world-leading research institutions, health care centres and provincial and federal governments. A recognized leader in the application of strategic technology solutions, he is a former Chair of CANARIE - Canada's high-bandwidth network for research. Before establishing his own consulting practice, Walter Stewart held a number of progressively senior positions with Silicon Graphics (SGI) Canada and was, most recently, Director, Business Development Canada with global marketing responsibilities for grid computing. Prior to SGI, he was President of Smart Toronto, an industry association that worked in partnership with research institutions and governments to support and promote new digital economic activity in the GTA.

With an extensive early career in education, Walter Stewart was Dean, Communications and Development, Centennial College from 1993 to 1996 and was founding Dean of Bell Centre for Creative Communications- the most wired building in Canada when it opened in 1994.

Walter Stewart has spoken widely at conferences around the world on cyber-infrastructure, technology, economic development and learning. He is a member of the College of Reviewers of the Canada Research Chairs, a director of the Canadian Mathematics Society and is internationally active with Global Grid Forum. He holds a Masters of Education degree from the University of British Columbia and a BA from Simon Fraser University.

An entrepreneur and IT consultant, David Findlay joined TRRA as Director, ICT in February 2010.  His technical knowledge and business skills will be a valuable asset as TRRA expands its efforts in the IT and Communications sectors. Most recently, David was the President and CEO of Beyond One Eighty Limited, an emerging IT company that developed a touch-table mapping platform that has been purchased by the Department of National Defence.  Prior to this, he served as a project manager with Waterloo-based Conestoga-Rovers and Associates / eSolutions Group Limited.  During this time David co-founded and developed a GIS services business line, which secured new high-profile clients and created spin-off business for other verticals. 

David is a graduate of the University of Waterloo's Geography program with a specialization in GIS and Geomatics.  He also volunteers his time as an IT Consultant for Evergreen Brick Works and as Webmaster for a Heart and Stroke community sports event.

Dr. Sampson Lee joined TRRA as Director, Life Sciences and Health Care in December 2007. From 2001 to 2007, Dr. Lee held various positions at NPS Pharmaceuticals, including Senior Director of Research Operations, responsible for management of the company's $20 million annual drug discovery operations. Dr. Lee was also Emerging Technologies Group Leader, responsible for scouting, evaluating and acquiring new technologies and early stage drug discovery programs from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as from academic institutions.

Prior to NPS Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Lee was with DuPont Canada, from 1995 to 2000, starting as a Research Scientist before joining one of DuPont's acquisitions teams as a Business Development Specialist. Dr. Lee earned his Ph.D., M.Sc., and B.Sc. in chemistry from the University of Toronto. During that time, he was also a co-founder (1993-1995) of the Toronto Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology, a private vocational school training students in cGMP manufacturing, quality control, quality assurance, and pharmaceutics research.

Ruth Lewkowicz is responsible for TRRA's marketing and communications initiatives to support investment attraction and regional research capacity building. She brings experience in the not-for-profit, health and bio life sciences fields.Most recently, she was Director of Communications at the Ontario Telemedicine Network where she supported an aggressive growth strategy with a strategic marketing and communications program.Ruth has worked with corporate leaders such as Sanofi and Bayer, and public sector organizations such as North York General Hospital and several provincial government ministries. She has also worked agency-side with international firms Burson-Marsteller and Edelman.

Dr. Karen Sievewright joined TRRA as Director, Research in December 2007. Karen has more than 17 years of progressive experience in the UK and Canada in the private, government and academic arenas. Her experience spans private sector research and operations in the energy and aerospace sectors to funding of industry-academic partnerships.

Most recently Karen served as Director, Research with Materials and Manufacturing Ontario and Director, Human Resources the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE). In addition to her work at TRRA she is providing consulting services to the Institute of Optical Sciences, University of Toronto as Director, Group Projects & Entrepreneurship Programs. An Athlone-Vanier fellow, Karen received an M.Sc and Ph.D. in materials science from the University of Manchester and a MBA from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.

Rebecca Finlay manages projects in support of TRRA communications and business plans. She was most recently Group Director, Public Affairs and Cancer Control for the Canadian Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute of Canada. In this joint role, she led federal-level government relations for both organizations and was responsible for the development and management of national cancer control policy, programs and public relations for the Canadian Cancer Society. Before moving to the non-profit sector, Rebecca Finlay was a marketing and account management executive in the financial services sector. She was First Vice President, Partnership Marketing and Financial Institutions for Bank One Canada and Vice President, Member Business Management with MasterCard International-Canada.

Rebecca Finlay has served on the boards of Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre and the Orthopaedic and Arthritic Hospital, Foundation and Corporation. She holds a Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Cambridge and BA (Hons) degree from McGill University.

Odila Duru joined TRRA as a Senior Research Associate in September, and is responsible for managing data and providing content for the TRRA website. With a degree in Library Science and in Social Sciences, Odila has worked in the field of information management for the past seven years.

When she was with Right To Play, an athlete-based international humanitarian organization, she provided staff support to the Sport for Development Peace International Working Group (SDP-IWG). At the Information Centre Service for specific management problems, called Disk-Technology, she helped develop standards and procedures to evaluate the material available on the website to entrepreneurs, handled client requests for information, and identified free resource material from different organizations available to entrepreneurs. Odila also worked with a model for cooperative electronic publishing of scientific journals on the Internet in Ibero-American countries, called SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online where she supported the electronic library expansion and design.

Jessica Venters is responsible for the administration of TRRA's offices. An experienced executive administrator, she has held senior administrative positions with the Community Foundation for Greater Toronto, Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange, and BCE Capital Inc. Results-focused, she is highly regarded for her proactive management of executive teams and IT projects as well as her superior relationship and board management skills.Jessica Venters holds a BA (Advanced) degree from Dalhousie University and is a member of the International Association of Administrative Professionals.