Diamedica Inc.

Management Team



Mr. Rick Pauls | President & CEO

Mr. Rick Pauls was appointed President and CEO of DiaMedica in July 2009 and has been Chairman of the board of directors since 2008.  Mr. Pauls was previously the Managing Director of CentreStone Ventures Inc., an early stage life sciences venture capital fund.  While with CentreStone, Mr. Pauls led the investment in Orasi Medical Inc., winner of the Red Herring Global 100 and Red Herring North America 100 awards; LED Medical Inc., winner of Red Herring Canada 50 award in the Health category; DiaMedica and Sanomune Inc., both named one of Canada's Top 10™ Life Science Companies. Prior to CentreStone, he was with Centara Corporation, another early stage venture capital fund. Before this, Mr. Pauls specialized in asset-backed securitization and structured finance with General Motors Acceptance Corporation in Minnesota. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Manitoba and his M.B.A. in Finance from the University of North Dakota.


Mark Williams, Ph.D. | Vice President, Research

Dr. Williams earned his Ph.D. at the University of Alberta in the laboratory of Dr. Lorne Tyrrell, who discovered Lamivudine®, for the treatment of Hepatitis B. Dr. Williams is the co-founder of Sanomune, a company focused on neurological and autoimmune disorders. He is an inventor on more than 10 patents and has been awarded several research grants. He has overseen the approval of five Phase II clinical trials in therapeutic areas ranging from diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, to rheumatoid arthritis. Three of these products have successfully completed Phase IIa clinical trials.



Mr. Eric R. Johnstone, CA | Vice President, Finance

Mr. Johnstone was appointed VP, Finance of DiaMedica Inc. in 2007. He had previously held the position of the Company’s controller and is currently responsible for the financial affairs of DiaMedica. Prior to DiaMedica, he was a Manager of Audit and Assurance at BDO Dunwoody LLP, working with a broad cross-section of businesses and organizations in Manitoba and Ontario. Eric is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.) degree from the University of Manitoba. 



Kevin Richardson, Ph.D. | Investor Relations

Dr. Richardson has several years of experience in both scientific research as well sales, marketing and business development within San Diego’s biotechnology community.  Prior to joining DiaMedica 2007, he was a Team Leader in the sales division at Beckman Coulter where he consistently exceeded sales quotas, was named a ‘sales person of the year’ and was Vice President of Beckman Coulter’s Toastmasters International public speaking organization. In addition, he was a district manager for VWR, a distributor for Beckman Coulter, where he led a team of over 50 sales representatives. Prior to this, Dr. Richardson was employed by Roche Applied Science as a technical sales representative. Dr. Richardson earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Manitoba and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California San Diego.