OUR TEAM
Dr. Brazos G. Minshew
Co-Founder - CSO/IP Development
Dr. Minshew is a serial CSO in the Nutraceutical and BioCeutical space, that has also served as a clinician in Functional Medicine for more than twenty years. He has developed products since 1983 which have gone on to yield over $1B(U.S.) in sales and has also written four books with over a million copies sold. Dr. Minshew had taught at Colleges and Universities around the world, hosted 35 television shows, 100 radio shows and podcasts.
Gil Schneider
Co-Founder - CEO
Mr. Schneider has over 37 years of senior management experience, including a distinguished 15-year career at Aramark Corporation. Mr. Schneider has co-founded five publicly traded Capital Pool Companies and sits on multiple private company boards.
David Ayanoglou
CPA, CA, CBV
David brings over 19 years of “In the Trenches” Finance experience. David is a partner of Omega WealthGuard Inc and Omega Corporate Development Inc, which provides Asset Protection/Creditor Proofing, Global Tax Minimization Strategies, and other Finance related services to wealthy families and Family Offices around the world.
Prior to joining Omega, David held various senior finance roles at OpenText Corp (NASDAQ: OTC). In the last 10 years David primarily focused on M&A, and participated in over 43 successful acquisitions, three of which were over $1B USD in size. Earlier in his career, David cut his teeth at KPMG - to get “Big 4” auditor experience.
David sits on several Private company and Not-for Profit Boards.
Lesley Esford
Lesley is an experienced Life science professional with varied background related to company innovation, commercialization, securing finance, and scientific research and development. In terms of education, she has degrees in both Business Administration (Hons. B.Admin., with a major in finance) and Science (B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.). Since 2006, she has worked with over 100 entrepreneurs developing drugs, medical devices, and diagnostics addressing a wide array of medical diseases at every stage of the innovation process from concept to commercialization. Through this work she has expanded her professional network and gained a more comprehensive understanding of the Life Sciences sector and investment community globally. Lesley is a Kauffman Fellow, a Silicon Valley-based international leadership program for venture capitalists and innovators of all kinds.
Scientific Advisor
Norma Sebestyen
Business and Science Mentor
Norma Sebestyen has extensive experience over a 28-year career with Merck in Sales, Marketing, Strategic Planning, Corporate Affairs, Health Education, Government Relations, Operations and Policy, and Patient Access. Most recently she was involved in developing and management of key partnerships for Merck in Health Information Technology, and Health Data Science along with Life Sciences Accelerators/Research collaborations. She is also the past Vice-Chair of Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies Western Committee. Norma has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Finance and Marketing along with an MBA in International Business. She also completed diplomas at Duke University in Biotechnology and McGill University in Pharmacoeconomics.
In addition, over the period of her career at Merck, she was involved in extensive training and international senior leadership programs. She has published articles in the Healthcare Management Forum on healthcare partnerships and collaborations. Norma has been a Board member of the Providence Research Institute since 2010. She previously was on the Board of UBC Sauder School of Business, Executive MBA Program. She is a member of the 2018 Federal Health Economic Table – Digital Health Taskforce that made recommendations on Digital Health Strategies to the Federal Ministry of Innovation and Health. She has also recently been appointed to the Canadian Glycomics Network Board. She currently is an Advisor to companies in health information technology.
Dr. Farouk Mookadam
Medical Advisor
Echocardiologist, at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona.
Dr. Mark Mattie
Medical Advisor
Associate Professor of Biomedical Science at the Yale
University of Bridgeport.