The MaRS Discovery District in Toronto on June 4. MaRS provides programming through a charity, funded largely by the province and federal government to support young companies.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
The head of one of Canada’s largest innovation support organizations, MaRS Discovery District, is leaving after less than a year to run Export Development Canada.
Alison Nankivell has led MaRS since March, overseeing steep staff cuts and launching a restructuring to get its three disparate groups to work closely together and to focus on two areas: health sciences and climate technologies. She previously held senior posts with Business Development Bank of Canada’s private capital group, most recently leading fund investments and global scaling.
Ms. Nankivell was appointed by International Trade Minister Mary Ng to replace Mairead Lavery, who is leaving EDC after six years. Ms. Ng said Ms. Nankivell is joining EDC “at a pivotal time in Canada’s history as the global trade landscape becomes increasingly complex, while offering exciting opportunities.” It’s also a pivotal time for the minority Liberal government, which could fall within weeks.
Ms. Nankivell is replacing someone regarded as an effective leader of Canada’s export financing arm, which primarily funds Canadian businesses expanding globally. On Ms. Lavery’s watch, EDC has used its balance sheet to help revive Canada’s weakening trade performance, particularly by providing growth equity capital to growing domestic tech companies.
Ms. Lavery “set out a strategy to focus on Canadian-based, scaling companies, and EDC has nailed it,” said John Ruffolo, managing partner of Maverix Private Equity, which has co-invested with EDC. “The legacy she leaves positions Alison extremely well. Hopefully she can take this great platform to the next level.”
Ms. Nankivell’s departure, which happens Feb. 5, came as a surprise to many in the innovation community given her brief tenure. She is being replaced on an interim basis by Grace Lee Reynolds, head of development and programming.
“We need leaders who are committed to the long-term project of building an innovation economy, not those who bow out after nine months when the work gets tough,” said Benjamin Bergen, president of the Council of Canadian Innovators. “Canada deserves stronger stewardship of its innovation institutions.”
Ms. Nankivell had been frustrated at MaRS and had privately expressed to several people that if she had known the extent of the challenges she faced, she wouldn’t have taken the job.
Last December, when her appointment was announced, Ms. Nankivell said “I don’t think anything significantly needs foundational change” at MaRS, suggesting it required “more of a nudging” to programming and community partnerships. In October, she said she’d incorrectly assumed before joining that MaRS operated in a more cohesive fashion than she’d imagined, and that she’d had to work hard to put in place key changes. Ms. Nankivell declined an interview request.
MaRS provides programming through a charity, funded largely by the provincial and federal government to support young companies. It also has a real estate arm that holds 1.5 million square feet at the corner of Toronto’s hospital row at College Street and University Avenue and occupies space at Toronto’s Waterfront Innovation Centre building.
It leases out much of its real estate to tech and drug discovery startups, venture capital firms, foreign multinational giants and white-collar service providers. MaRS also runs a venture capital unit on behalf of the province.
Two former employees criticized Ms. Nankivell for making steep cuts and departing without leaving a solid strategy to guide the organization. One of them, serial entrepreneur Vartika Manasvi, said she was “quite optimistic” after the first layoffs, which gutted the executive ranks, thinking it was “a good signal because this organization needs a bit of a shakeup to do the right thing.”
Ms. Manasvi, who lost her job in October as a senior adviser, later concluded Ms. Nankivell lacked a strategy or vision for MaRS beyond cutting costs and balancing its budget. She criticized the board for choosing someone “that doesn’t have a commitment of at least five years, who makes big decision to lay people off and do all these changes, for what exactly.”
Ms. Nankivell did announce a new strategy when MaRS disclosed its second set of layoffs. Her plan was to make MaRS leaner and more agile and for formerly salaried advisers who interacted with startups to work as outside contractors. The cuts were intended to reduce the cash-strapped charity’s annual costs by more than $5-million. She also put in place a plan to have the three distinct operations work closely through a tightly knit “platform.”
MaRS, which recently had its core funding from Ontario renewed until 2028, has long struggled to justify its purpose. It has never lived up to its original goal to create a regional health sciences startup zone that could commercialize discoveries from University of Toronto and rival Boston’s Kendall Square.
MaRS has faced controversy over its real estate and questions about its sprawling mandate and effectiveness in helping startups scale up into giants. A central issue has been whether it is more of a real estate play or an innovation stimulant.