We Help Traverse Transition.

Blair is an experienced senior executive and corporate director with exposure to both private and public companies across a variety of sectors.  His management experience includes being CEO/co-founder of a management consultancy, working as CFO and CEO of public companies, managing director at a Canadian investment bank, and director at a global investment bank.  His board experience includes roles at a Canadian investment bank, health sciences companies, mineral exploration companies, an aviation investment company and a Capital Pool Corporation.  He has served as both member and chair of Audit Committees, and as a member of Governance, Compensation and Special Committees.

Blair’s professional experience has included acting as CRO and corporate director of a health sciences company; CFO (interim) of a public Canadian technology company; corporate director, CFO and interim CEO of a Canadian health sciences company; and Managing Director at Echelon Wealth Partners Inc. for six years, where he headed up investment banking on the West Coast.  Blair also worked for Credit Suisse Group for nearly ten years in roles that included Leveraged Finance/Restructuring in Europe, Principal Investing in New York, as well as Special Situations and Convertible Bonds in Asia.  Prior to Credit Suisse, Blair was a corporate and securities lawyer with Bennett Jones LLP.

Blair holds an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, with concentrations in Accounting, Finance, Entrepreneurship and International Business.  He also has an LL.B from the University of British Columbia where he focused on corporate and securities law, and a BA from the University of Victoria.

Karim Lalani

Chief Legal Officer

Focus: corporate, securities, M&A, restructuring, corporate governance, legal affairs, compliance. Responsible for Restructur Advisors.

Karim is an experienced senior executive, corporate director and senior legal counsel. He has been part of operational teams of public and private companies in Canada and abroad as the Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel and has more than twenty years of experience as a practicing attorney, including at major national law firms and a specialized corporate and securities boutique.

Karim has been instrumental in structuring, negotiating and implementing a number of go-public transactions, analyzing numerous complex legal, governance and regulatory issues. He has worked with companies in structuring operations and has led a public company through a successful restructuring process under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act as a director and Chief Legal Officer.

Karim is also a practicing attorney primarily in the areas of Canadian and US corporate finance and securities law, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate and commercial law. He has been involved in acquisitions, financings and reorganizations of various types and sizes, including Canadian, US and cross-border private and public debt and equity offerings, take-over bids and mergers and acquisitions transactions involving local, national and international companies. Karim has advised publicly-traded companies on corporate governance, Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance, Canadian and U.S. securities disclosure requirements, and stock exchange listings.  Karim was admitted to the British Columbia Bar in 1996 and the Washington State Bar in 2007.

Rob Hill

Director, Finance

Focus: finance, business development, operational optimization, human relations, financial reporting, strategy, budgets, org structure. Responsible for HighMont Capital Management, Inc.

Rob is an experienced Chief Financial Officer and corporate director of public and private companies. He has more than twenty-five years of experience as a CPA leading organizations in Canada, the USA, and Japan.

Rob is a founding shareholder of HighMont and is a highly sought-after business advisor to companies spanning a variety of industries ranging from software technology, engineering and scientific services, cannabis, real estate, and manufacturing.

Things that motivate Rob to engage with a company include the opportunity to apply his experience and professional network to help manage through difficult times, address challenging issues faced by management, and the chance to work with talented executives and boards.

Rob obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of British Columbia and obtained his CPA, CA designation while articling with KPMG LLP in Vancouver. Over the past 25 years, has lived and worked in Vancouver, British Columbia and Austin, Texas with his wife and three children.

R. Lee Buckler

Director, Technology

Focus: business development; stakeholder communications, human relations, operations, capital markets, M&A. Responsible for the Cell Therapy Group.

Lee is an experienced senior executive and corporate director with deep expertise in the biotechnology sector. His management experience includes as CEO and VP of Corporate Development of public and private biotech companies, as well as providing management and strategic consulting services to public and private bio-pharma companies in Canada, the United States, Middle East, Japan, and Europe. 

Lee’s deepest expertise is in the cell therapy and regenerative medicine sector. As a founding shareholder of HighMont, Lee rolled his consulting business, the Cell Therapy Group, which he formed in 2008 to provide strategic business consulting to the cell and gene therapy sector, into HighMont Advisors as an operating business unit.

Lee’s experience includes successful reorganization and refinancing along with several transformative transactions including multinational investment and licensing deals involving companies in North America, Europe, and Asia. Lee has particular experience in Canada, the United States, and Japan.

Lee provides the team and HighMont’s clients with extensive deal negotiating and structuring experience, strong scientific knowledge, operational expertise, and well-developed relationships with a variety of pharmaceutical and biotech companies around the globe.

Lee holds a Bachelors of Education and a JD from the University of British Columbia.

Anthony Dutton

Director, Senior Advisors

Focus: industrial, cannabis, finance, public markets, M&A

Anthony brings more than two decades of senior leadership in public and private companies with expertise in strategic planning, financing, M&A, operational restructuring, and corporate governance. He has broad industry experience, including advanced manufacturing, cannabis, and oil and gas.

​In his most recent role, Anthony was co-founder and CEO of Cannex Capital Group Inc. (“Cannex”) a pioneering US cannabis company, before its 2019 acquisition of 4Front Holdings Ltd. to create 4Front Ventures (CSE:FFNT), a large multi-state cannabis operator. Cannex owned and supported premium indoor cultivation, extraction, manufacturing and branding of edible and derivative products with operations in Washington and California.

​Prior to Cannex, Anthony was CEO, President and a director of IBC Advanced Alloys Corp. (“IBC”)(TSX-V:IB) a high performance alloys company serving the defense, aerospace, automotive, and precision manufacturing sectors. The company manufactured structural components for a variety of sophisticated end use applications, including key parts of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS).

​He currently serves on the board of Sanatana Resources Inc. (TSX.V:STA) and Biovaxsys Technology Corp. (CSE:BIOV). He has a B.A. (Econ.) from the University of British Columbia, an M.Arch. from Dalhousie University and an MBA from the Cranfield School of Management in the UK.