Since 2017, Ms. Paule De Blois has been President and CEO of SOVAR, a limited partnership organization, which supports the development of innovations and technology transfer for Université Laval and other research centers. She has more than twenty-five years of hands-on experience and achievements in executive positions, particularly in early-stage commercialization contexts.
From 2005 to 2017, she held senior executive positions, in the biotechnology field (vice president of operations at DiagnoCure) and robotics (Chief Operating Officer at B-Temia), in addition to having been the executive director of the Network for Personalized Healthcare of Quebec.
During these years, she notably ensured the development and implementation of new sales and marketing strategies, concluded several business and clinical collaboration agreements, and implemented new governance and operational frameworks. She also gained first-hand experience with the challenges of regulatory affairs, technical and clinical trials, commercialization of innovations, US expansion and corporate financing.
Previously, Ms. De Blois held for several years, positions of increasing responsibility as Director, Administration at Prudential of America – Canada, Marketing Director of Group Products at Desjardins Financial Security, and Senior Advisor in Organizational Communications at Aon and Mercer.
Currently, she is a director of the Institut National d’Optique, Québec Innove and the Quebec Innovation Accelerator Movement (MAIN), in addition to sitting on several industry and economic development committees.
Ms. De Blois holds an MBA from McGill University, a bachelor’s degree in political science from Concordia University and a certificate in marketing from the University of Quebec at Montreal. She also obtained the certification of corporate director from the Collège des administrateurs of Université Laval.