Board Members

Pierre Lapalme

Chairman

Mr. Lapalme has been a member of the Board of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. from January 2004 and Chairman from June 2004 until his retirement in June 2016. Throughout his career, Mr. Lapalme has held numerous senior management positions in the pharmaceutical industry, including Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Rhone Poulenc Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Canada from 1979 to 1990 as well as Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Rhone Poulenc Rorer Inc. (now known as Sanofi Aventis) where he oversaw the development of the pharmaceutical business in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America. Mr. Lapalme served on the Board of the National Pharmaceutical Counsel in the United States and was a Board member of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Canada where he played a leading role in reinstituting certain patent protection for pharmaceuticals. Mr. Lapalme was a Board member and Chairman of the Board of Sciele Pharma Inc. from 2000 to 2008 when the company was acquired by Shionogy Inc. Mr Lapalme is a board member of two private Biotech companies and a member of the Board of Insys Therapeutics Inc. which is listed on the Nasdaq. Mr. Lapalme studied at the University of Western Ontario and INSEAD France.

Sylvain Chrétien, BSc, MBA

Founder, President and CEO

Mr. Chrétien is the founder, President and CEO of Pediapharm since January 2008. He has over 27 years of experience in both the pharmaceutical and the biotechnology sectors, where he occupied various executive positions in sales, marketing and business development. He worked with Nordic Laboratories, Pfizer Canada and Biorthex Inc. Before founding Pediapharm, Mr. Chrétien had his own consulting company called Gestion BioPrisma. Mr. Chrétien was a Director of Biophage Pharma and Warnex. He was President of the Pharmaceutical Marketing Club of Quebec (PMCQ) in 1998 and executive member of BioQuébec in 2000. In 2015, he was inducted into the Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame. Mr. Chrétien holds an MBA in Management of Bio Industries from the Université du Québec à Montréal and a B.Sc. in Sciences of Physical Activities from the University of Laval.

Normand Chartrand

Mr. Chartrand is currently Investment Manager, Fonds Québec at La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. From 2009 to July 2016, he was a management consultant with Vector7 Management Consulting Inc.  Before that, Mr. Chartrand was Chief Financial Officer of D-Box Technologies Inc. and Kangaroo Media Inc., two companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Benoit Gravel

Benoit Gravel began his career as an economist in the Energy and Transportation industries in Canada with Hydro-Québec and VIA Rail. He joined the pharmaceutical industry 30 years ago at Rhône-Poulenc in Montreal as Director, Corporate Planning & Business Development. He spent 3 years in Paris in Global Business Development and returned to Canada as Vice-President, External Affairs, Vice-President Finance and President. At the creation of Aventis he was appointed Vice-President, Commercial Affairs. After a merger with Sanofi, he held several commercial executive positions in Canada, his last Canadian position being Vice-President Diabetes & Specialized Care Patient Centered Unit. His last assignment with Sanofi before retirement was Vice-President, Global Portfolio Management & Strategic Development based in Prague, Czech Republic in the Global Generics division. Benoit has a Bachelor and Master degree in Economics from University of Montréal.

Michael Mueller

Mr. Mueller is currently the Chairman of PSP Investments (Public Sector Pension Investment Board) and former Chair of its Compensation Committee.  From 2003 to 2005, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of MDS Capital Corporation. Prior to that, Mr. Mueller held a series of senior positions at TD Bank Financial Group, including Senior Vice President and Country Head of its USA Division, Executive Vice President of Global Credit and Vice Chairman and head of Global Investment Banking. Mr. Mueller is a former director of TM BioScience Inc., MDS Capital Corporation, the Canadian Medical Discoveries Funds I and II, the British Columbia Medical Innovations Fund, Medical Discoveries Management Corporation, Health Ventures Inc., the Canadian Venture Capital Association, Annidis Corporation and Magor Corporation.