Blair Jordan
Interim CEO and Director
Mr. Jordan is an experienced senior executive and corporate director with experience in both private and public companies across a variety of sectors. Mr. Jordan currently serves as Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of HighMont Advisors Inc., a Vancouver-based, globally focused strategy and finance consulting company, specializing in helping clients facing corporate transition; advisory services offered include mergers and acquisitions (M&A), public and private financing, turnaround and restructuring, corporate and business development, positions he has held since January 2020. Mr. Jordan also serves as a senior advisor at Evans & Evans, Inc., a Vancouver based strategic finance consulting and advisory firm, a position he has held since October 2023.
Mr. Jordan has extensive public company Board of Directors experience, including in his current roles as a member of the Board of Directors and Audit Committee of Minas Metals Ltd. (CSE:MINA); a member of the Board of Directors and Audit Committee, Governance Committee and Compensation Committee of Goldgroup Mining Inc. (TSX:GG); a member of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Audit Committee and Governance Committee, and member of the Compensation Committee of Standard Uranium Ltd. (TSXV:STND); and a member of the Board of Directors and Audit Committee of Timeless Capital Corp. (TSXV:TMC). Mr. Jordan also serves on various private company Board of Directors.
Mr. Jordan served as Chief Financial Officer of HeyBryan Media Inc. (CSE: HEY), a peer-to-peer marketplace app connecting independent contractors to consumers with everyday home maintenance needs, from October 2019 to November 2020. Prior to that he served in several roles with Ascent Industries Corp. (“Ascent”), including Vice President of Corporate Development (January 2018 – July 2018); Chief Financial Officer (August 2018 – April 2019); and Interim Chief Executive Officer (November 2018 – April 2019), where he led the company’s go-public listing and financing transactions. Mr. Jordan was Interim CEO, CFO, and a director of Ascent, when on March 1, 2019, the Supreme Court of British Columbia issued an order granting Ascent’s application for creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) (“CCAA”). On April 26, 2019, Mr. Jordan resigned as an officer and director of Ascent. On May 5, 2020, the receivership was terminated by the court.
Between 2012 and 2017, Mr. Jordan served as Managing Director and Corporate Director with Echelon Wealth Partners Inc., an investment banking fund in the technology, biotech and diversified industries fields. Mr. Jordan also worked for Credit Suisse Group for nearly ten years in roles that included Leveraged Finance/Restructuring in Europe, Principal Investing in New York, as well as Special Situations and Convertible Bonds in Asia. Prior to Credit Suisse, Mr. Jordan was a corporate and securities lawyer with Bennett Jones LLP.
His management experience also includes working as CFO and CEO of public companies, and director at a global investment bank. His board experience includes roles at a Canadian investment bank, health sciences companies, mineral exploration and production companies (uranium and gold), an ultra-low cost airline and a Capital Pool Corporation.
Mr. Jordan holds an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, with concentrations in Accounting, Finance, Entrepreneurship and International Business. He also has an LL.B from the University of British Columbia where he focused on corporate and securities law, and a BA from the University of Victoria in British Columbia.
Prof Jagdeep Nanchahal
Head of Clinical Advisory Board
Professor Nanchahal is a surgeon scientist at the University of Oxford, focused on defining the molecular mechanisms of common diseases such as fibrosis and translating his findings through to early phase clinical trials
His surgical background has allowed him to bring a unique insight to common, yet relatively neglected diseases
Many of his findings stem from investigations in primary human tissues, rather than relying on animal models that often fail to recreate human clinical conditions
He has pioneered the treatment of fibrosis of the hand (Dupuytren’s disease), which unlike fibrosis in major human tissues can be diagnosed early and samples easily obtained to discover new pathways of importance
In 2013 his group identified TNF⍺ as a target for Dupuytren’s disease, leading to a phase 2a clinical trial to determine the effective dose and preparation of anti-TNF