Charles Abel

With a bachelor's degree in molecular biology, a second one in physical therapy and an MBA, Charles Abel had earned enough education to spare. Yet he still felt like he needed more to take him where he wanted to go in his career. So in 2001, Abel left his job as a manager of physical rehabilitation clinics and became part of the first cohort to go through the WestLink Technology Commercialization Internship Program. The choice helped fast-track his career to top positions with several companies, including his current role as Director of Finance for a high-tech company in British Columbia.

Abel's first placement was with Advanced Integrated Microsystems, a Vancouver-based developer of micro-fluidic systems for applications in drug discovery. Abel conducted market analysis, offered business advice and prepared grant applications for the start-up company. The experience illustrated the process a business must go through to get off the ground. "It gave me good insight into early-stage start-ups lacking in structure as well as how to deal with entrepreneurial personalities," he says.

His second posting was with the venture capital fund, Qwest Emerging Biotech Fund. With no background in venture capital, Charles was looking forward to an introduction to the field. It lived up to his expectations. He conducted due diligence on prospective investments, wrote reports on the performance of current investments and provided investment recommendations to the fund's investment committee. During his time there, Charles saw four different investments run the full cycle, from analysis to close- of-financing. In fact, Abel was asked to come back after the internship finished to help manage one of Qwest's investments, Protox Therapeutics.

First, he rounded off the WestLink Internship Program with a stop at the Simon Fraser Technology Transfer office. During his eight months there, Abel worked with researchers to determine a market for their inventions and provided insight on how to attract venture capital investment.

After WestLink, Abel started at Protox Therapeutics, where he was in charge of a broad range of business activities. He was with the company from the beginning licensing stages to helping take the company public and raising $5 million in public and private equity.

Two years later, he left Protox and joined Phero Tech where he sat on the Board of Directors before becoming the company's Chief Financial Officer. Abel was first introduced to Phero Tech during his internship at SFU. "I saw a great opportunity at Phero Tech. They had great technology, but never really exploited it." Along the way, he helped Phero Tech acquire a business and raise money for the company so that it could market its technology better.