KisoJi Board of Directors
KisoJi benefits from the guidance of a board of directors with extensive experience in building successful companies.
Daniel Hétu, M.D., M.B.A.
Board Director
Dr. Hétu has over 20 years of investment banking, corporate development, and licensing and investment experience. He has been involved with life sciences companies at all stages of development in North America and overseas. With demonstrated success managing complex initiatives, projects and transactions, Dr. Hétu is recognized for his strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
Dr. Hétu is Managing Director at Lumira Ventures. His investment activities are focused on building companies in the therapeutics and medical device sectors that develop products and technologies with a direct and significant impact on patient care. He manages Lumira Ventures’ Montreal office.
Dr. Hétu previously spent 10 years at Shire Pharmaceuticals and at BioChem Pharma prior to its acquisition by Shire. As vice president, business development (North America) and vice president, corporate development, respectively, he led several financing, licensing and M&A transactions in the therapeutics, vaccine and diagnostics sectors. At BioChem, as well as serving on the company’s portfolio committee and the steering committee of strategic research collaborations, Dr. Hétu served on the boards of investee companies. Prior to joining BioChem Pharma, he was an investment banker at a major Canadian Investment Bank where he was involved in M&A and financing transactions across various industrial sectors.
Maxime Pesant, CPA, CMA, CFA
Board Director
Maxime Pesant is Investment Manager for the life science group at the Fonds de Solidarité FTQ. He is involved in several preclinical and clinical-stage life science companies as well as in many venture capital funds.
Prior to joining the Fonds, he was Partner & CFO at AmorChem, a Montreal-based life science seed fund, where he was responsible for all financial matters and administration. He also acted as part-time CFO for Nuchem Therapeutics, a medicinal chemistry service company, from its inception to its successful management buyout in 2018. He is active in the venture capital industry, namely through its participation in Réseau Capital Program’s Committee and previously as the founder of the New Generation Committee.
Maxime holds a CPA, CMA designation from the Ordre des Comptables professionnels agréés du Québec (Quebec CPA Order) and a CFA designation from the CFA Institute.
Takaaki Tobaru, M.Sc., M.B.A.
Board Director
Mr. Tobaru is a Partner at Remiges Ventures and has more than 20 years of experience in search and evaluation, business development and venture investment. Prior to joining Remiges, he was at Ora as Vice President of Corporate Development with focusing on identifying innovative opportunities for licensing, Joint Venture and new corporate formation.
Mr. Tobaru worked at Daiichi-Sankyo for more than 13 years with focusing on identifying opportunities from discovery to late clinical stage. He played an important role in establishing and managing Sankyo’s Corporate Venture Capital funds. Mr. Tobaru helps several privately-held companies in the US/EU with fund raising and BD activities. Mr. Tobaru holds a BSc. in Material Sciences from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, and MSc. from San Diego State University. He also holds M.B.A. from the University of California, San Diego.
Brian J. Underdown, Ph.D.
Board Director
Dr. Underdown brings over 30 years of investment, academic leadership and operational experience in the biopharmaceutical sector. He has been directly involved in the growth of over a dozen successful North American life sciences companies. Dr. Underdown worked at Lumira Capital as Managing Director and Venture Partner from 1997 to 2016.
Prior to Lumira he was assistant vice president research Pasteur Merieux Connaught (PMC, now Sanofi Pasteur) from 1994 to 1997, where he was responsible for the Canadian Universities Research program and several global vaccine development programs. During his academic career, Dr. Underdown was Associate Dean of Research at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine and at the Faculty of Health Sciences as McMaster University. He has published over 95 articles and reviews in immunology and is recipient of 5 issued patents.
David S. Young, M.D.
Board Director and C.E.O.
Dr. Young is the C.E.O. , C.S.O., and co-founder of KisoJi. Previously, he was the founder, C.S.O. and C.E.O. of ARIUS Research Inc., a publicly-traded biotechnology company developing therapeutic cancer antibodies and sold to Roche in 2008. ARIUS had secured partnerships with leading companies such as Genentech, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and Protein Design Labs.
He is the inventor or author on over 200 patents and scientific papers. He is a recognized entrepreneur and has served on many non-profit boards. He is founding Chairman of the Ontario Biosciences Innovation Organization, a non-profit biotech industry group.
Dr. Young received his M.D., his M.Sc. and did his surgical and science training in the General Surgery and the Surgeon Scientist Program, all at the University of Toronto.