At BCRI, located on the UBC campus, the reality is that performance, measured in productivity and contract dollars, is what counts. BCRI is a private, for profit company which is partially employee owned. There was a huge learning curve, coming from an academic environment to a private, for-profit business. In any one day, I may deal with budget and revenue forecasting, time projections, development of marketing material, as well as coordinating a diverse team of highly skilled professionals. I am the project manager for two large government contracts - one for the U.S. Army, and one for Transport Canada.
Project management is very rewarding, as everyone here is highly motivated.
Each individual is also accountable, in terms of getting a job done. As a new company, we were very fortunate to have an excellent mentor at the transition phase, who patiently instilled business skills into a group of basic scientists. Barbara came to SFU with a degree in Biochemistry from McMaster University. I really didn't know much about Kinesiology when I arrived in Vancouver. The main reason for moving to the west coast was to train with the Canadian rowing team.