Howard Louie, a co-founder of the company, has served as a founder, director and/or officer in leading the management team of several public companies over the past 20 years. At the executive management level, he has been involved in the process of restructuring and advising both private and public companies regarding mergers and acquisitions, capital and investment financing, and international business development, as well as joint-venture and market-penetration strategies.
During his distinguished career, Mr. Louie has successfully implemented business strategies on international market penetration for various business initiatives. This has included identifying, negotiating and completing cross-border transactions resulting in joint ventures and or licensing agreements with market-dominating multinationals, and bringing together international investment capital.
His past non-business directorships include acting as a member of the board for the Sunnyhill Children's Hospital and Overseas Council Canada - a privately funded organization that provides scholarships and facility development for third-world educational development. Mr. Louie continues to be active in the non-profit sector, including long-standing volunteer work with international aid groups, with a particular focus on needy children. For business and leisure, Mr. Louie enjoys long-time memberships with the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and the Vancouver Club.
Garth Greenham's experience includes 15 years in management with Johnson & Johnson (McNeil Pharmaceutical), where he directed many key global product markets in the human health care area. After Johnson & Johnson, Mr. Greenham became director of sales, marketing and operations for Aqua Health Ltd. where, over a nine-year period, he helped the company grow into the world leader in the field of animal vaccines, primarily aquaculture. Aqua Health was a subsidiary of Cobequid Life Sciences, a TSE-listed company purchased in 2000 by Novartis Inc. He subsequently served as president and director of the post-acquisition company. Mr. Greenham is a co-founder of Phycobiologics Inc. (recently acquired by Functional Technologies) and currently also serves on the board of the Prince Edward Island BioAlliance. As Functional Technologies' chief operating officer, he is responsible for directing the strategic planning and execution of commercial production, and the sales rollout of the company's proprietary yeast and next-generation food and health technologies products.
Michael Horne is an internationally regarded scientist who has led numerous scientific teams in the successful development and production of commercial human and animal healthcare products. Dr. Horne has demonstrated expertise in micro-organism product development in the commercial business sector. Most recently, he held the position of Director of Research in the animal health division of Novartis AG. While at Novartis, he played a leading role in the expansion of the company's aquaculture franchise, including the development of the world's first commercialized, fully licensed DNA vaccine. He is the author of more than 100 technical, scientific and general publications, and participates on numerous international scientific committees.
As the company's chief scientific officer, Dr. Horne will devote himself full-time to leading and mentoring Functional Technologies' growing research and development team; supporting the commercial development and rollout of the company's proprietary Phyterra-branded yeast and micro algae-derived products; and expanding the company's product pipeline through the development of new and next-generation products and technologies identified as having commercial market applications in the functional foods and health products markets. He will be based in the United Kingdom in order to provide the company with key visibility in the important European market, and to help facilitate Functional Technologies' future expansion into Europe.
A Certified Management Accountant, Sherrill's work in both the public service and private sectors for the past 15 years has had a strong emphasis on strategic financial management. Sherrill has also been responsible for the negotiation of domestic and international contractual and financing arrangements on behalf of past employers, and brings advanced management skills and business experience to the table. Sherrill's most recent position was as CFO for Cellar Door Productions, best known for its production of the world-renowned "Chef Michael Smith" series of television programs.
Along with various community involvements, Sherrill acts as a sessional lecturer in financial accounting at the Culinary Institute of Canada. In addition to sitting on several local boards, Sherrill also served as president for the Society of Certified Management Accountants of Prince Edward Island and, at the national level, as a member of the Certified Management Accountants of Canada Council of Chairs.
Geoff Lee, co-founder of the company, has served in leading management positions with several private and public companies. His business initiatives have involved concept development, product creation, investment analysis and business development, operations management and implementation, and the internationalization of commercial services and technologies.
Geoff has successfully initiated and implemented strategies that have enabled several companies to develop into market leaders in their business sectors. This history includes developing and implementing one of the most progressive restaurant and wine merchandising programs in North America; identifying and securing relationships with market-leading multinational companies to bring businesses, and innovative products and brands, to an international marketplace in the technology sector; internationalizing businesses to enable successful operation in local markets; and raising strategic investment capital. Most recently, Geoff worked with senior management to establish Functional Technologies' wholly owned operating company in Napa Valley, California.
Mr. Lay has more than 25 years' experience in technology, finance and communications. Most recently, Don was CEO of Contec Innovations, a TSX Venture-listed mobile software company delivering sports content to users in emerging markets. Prior to Contec, Don was a founder of One Degree Capital, a company that financed and worked with early-stage companies in the food, technology and nutraceutical industries; he was also a founder of China MobileSoft ltd., a private wireless software company with operations based in Nanjing, China that was acquired by PalmSource Inc. in January 2005 for approximately US$28 million. Prior to forming One Degree, Don worked for four years providing retail and institutional investor relations, as well as corporate financial services, to Forbes Medi-Tech. Prior to that, Don was successful in enterprise software sales, support and project management.