Paule De Blois has stepped down from commercialisation firm Axelys as she accepts a position as deputy minister.

Paule De Blois, president and chief executive of Canada-based tech transfer organisation Axelys, has left after joining the Quebec government. De Blois will serve as deputy minister at the Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur, the ministry for higher education in the province. Her departure comes less than a year after Axelys was formed to unite three separate organisations focused on tech transfer in Quebec and De Blois had been in charge at one of those, Sovar, since 2017. Axelys has begun the recruitment process for a permanent replacement and has named Nancy Rancourt, vice-president of customer experience and organisational performance, as interim president and chief executive effective tomorrow, March 19, 2022. Rancourt said: “We will continue to be a leading organisation in the development and commercialisation of innovation. “The board of directors, the management team and myself are determined, with Paule’s confidence, to successfully carry out our mission: to contribute to the economic and social prosperity of Quebec by accelerating the development and transfer of high-potential innovations stemming from public research.” – Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn

Subscribe to go deeper

GCV subscribers get access to all our proprietary data and deep-dive articles, as well as the global directory of CVC investors.



Not sure if you have a subscription?
Thierry Heles

Thierry Heles is the editor of Global University Venturing, host of the Beyond the Breakthrough interview podcast and responsible for the monthly GUV Gazette (sign up here for free).