Ian de la Roche

Ian de la Roche first joined the forest sector in 1992, when he was appointed President of Forintek Canada Corp. He subsequently assumed the responsibilities for FERIC and Paprican. In September 2006, he took on the challenge of merging the three national institutes into FPInnovations. As its first president, he also had oversight responsibility for the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre.

Dr. de la Roche’s career spans almost 40 years of experience in plant genetics research, strategic planning, and creation of partnerships between government and industry. In the early 1990s, as Assistant Deputy Minister, Communications and Consultation, Agriculture Canada, Dr, de la Roche led the consultation process for the National Agriculture Review headed by Deputy Prime Minister Don Mazankowski. He later led a mission review and strategic planning process at Agriculture Canada, for which he earned a Special Achievement Award.

As a former Assistant Deputy Minister at Western Economic Diversification, he played a prominent role in developing and implementing programs promoting business development, commercialization of new technologies and major research and development initiatives involving industry, government and university partners. Dr. de la Roche was a key architect of the International Centre for Agricultural Science and Technology, now the Plant Biotechnology Cluster in Saskatoon.

Dr. de la Roche stepped down as founding President and CEO of FPInnovations on January 31, 2009. He remains actively engaged in the forest sector, as an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia, Principal of DELAROCHE Consultancy and Business Associate of Timwood AB, a world-leading consultancy which specializing in identifying strategic opportunities for the wood products sector. He also recently served as interim President and CEO of the Canadian Wood Council. Dr. de la Roche also serves on several advisory boards including GenomeBC.

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