Vice President, Incubation, Innovacorp

David McNamara is in his thirty-fifth year with the Nova Scotia government. Over the years, he has held many senior positions in community, economic and business development.

In the early years, David held a variety of posts with several departments leading community economic development activities. During that time he served on committees managing municipal reform, taxation, and public-private relationships. He also took a lead role in relationships between the Government of Canada and the Province of Nova Scotia on multimillion-dollar federal-provincial agreements.

David pioneered the first government department in Canada focused on small business development. During an extended tenure as executive director of finance and administration in the Small Business Development Department, he managed the province's loan portfolio, funding relationships with small and medium size enterprises, the provincial employment program, and all aspects of finance related to Nova Scotia's industrial parks. David is currently leading the development of Innovacorp’s new BioScience Enterprise Centre. The planned facility will replace the existing centre on Lower Water Street in Halifax, and relocate to Dalhousie University in spring 2011.

As vice president of incubation at Innovacorp, David manages the Technology Innovation Centre in Dartmouth, the BioScience Enterprise Centre in downtown Halifax, and a third facility now occupied by a major post-incubation client. In addition, David is leading exploration of developing a Knowledge Park on about 153 acres of land adjacent to the existing Dartmouth campus.

David has consulted on incubator development in the Caribbean, Sweden, the State of Maine, and many Canadian provinces, and is currently assisting with two proposed facilities in Nova Scotia. He is a regular guest speaker at the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) and Canadian Association of Business Incubators (CABI) conferences.

David is president of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum and is on the board of directors of the Canadian Swedish Business Association and the Swedish-Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and the board of directors and executive of the Canadian Association of Business Incubation.

To download a high resolution headshot of David, click here.