Jean-François Leprince is an Associate Partner of CTI Life Sciences Fund, a private venture capital fund established in Montreal, Quebec in 2006, specializing in North American investments in biotechnology companies.
After obtaining an engineering degree in chemical engineering from the Institut National Supérieur de Chimie Industrielle in Rouen (France), Mr Leprince worked for Dow Chemical for 25 years in the Specialty Chemicals Division before joining the Pharmaceuticals Division in 1978. Within the latter division, he held various senior management positions, including General Manager of the Benelux, Africa, Middle East and South-East Asia regions, then Vice-President for Europe and President and CEO for France. Following the acquisition of Marion Merrell Dow by the Hoechst Group in 1995, Mr Leprince was Managing Director of one of Hoechst Marion Roussel’s three subsidiaries in France. In 1998, Mr Leprince became President of Hoechst Marion Roussel Canada and then of Aventis Canada, the result of the merger between Hoechst Marion Roussel and Rhône Poulenc Rorer, a role he held until 2004.
While President of Aventis Canada, he was an active member of the Board of Directors of Rx&D (Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies), now Innovative Medicines Canada. He became Chairman of the Board in 2002.
More recently, Mr. Leprince served as President and CEO of GLyPharma Thérapeutique Inc., a portfolio company of the CTI Life Sciences Fund based in Montreal, until its acquisition by the Swiss company Therachon AG in September 2018. As a director, he sits on the board of directors of ILKOS THERAPEUTIC INC., another portfolio company of the CTI Life Sciences Fund, the result of a partnership with Laboratoires Servier, France.
Mr. Leprince also sits on the board of directors of AllerGen and has just been appointed chairman of the board of directors of IRICoR. These two organizations are part of the Canadian Networks of Centers of Excellence (NCE) funding program.
