About Us

Dr. Mekhail is a bioengineer by training, and completed his PhD at McGill University in 2014. He has 17 years of experience in biomaterials innovation with 15 publications in top scientific journals, 37 awards, and multiple patents. During his career he successfully secured >$6M in public and private funding. He successfully built partnerships with multi-billion dollar companies in Canada and abroad. In addition to his scientific expertise, he has over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience, and 5 years as a project manager and innovation consultant. His extensive technical knowledge in biomaterials and strong business acumen make him well-equipped to lead Freshr towards success.

He is also passionate about encouraging scientists to pursue entrepreneurship as a viable career path. He has written about this topic, his own entrepreneurial journey, and more on Medium. He also gets invited frequently to speak at national conferences, incubators, accelerators, student societies and universities.

Bob MacKinnon has experience leading complex teams, developing and implementing multi-faceted strategies, and navigating key stakeholder relations in both the private and public sectors.  Most relevant to this engagement are that Bob MacKinnon is an experienced financial professional with CPA, CA and EMBA designations.  He has served in key financial roles and helped organizations raise operating and capital funds, including helping a startup company raise $4 million in recent years.

Stephane Turbide is a transformation-driven business leader with over three decades of experience guiding organizations through change, growth, and operational challenges. With a background in engineering and executive leadership, he brings a unique blend of strategic insight and hands-on operational expertise.  Known for building high-performing teams and unlocking untapped capacity, Stephane strives to simplify complexity, drive results, and create lasting impact. His approach is practical, people-focused, and rooted in the belief that disruption and innovation, when guided with purpose, leads to opportunity.

Harpreet is a seasoned strategic management professional with over 10+ years of experience in driving business growth, and operational efficiencies across global enterprises and high-growth startups. He has held key roles at industry leaders such as Amazon, Sony, and Samsung, as well as emerging ventures in healthcare and IT, where he consistently helped teams to deliver exceptional results through data-driven strategies.

Dr. Castiello started his career as a Chemical Engineer developing research projects within the food industry which involved repurposing waste from industrial processes into high-value commodities. He completed a M.Sc. in Material Science from UNAM and a PhD in Biological and Biomedical Engineering from McGill University in 2019. He has 10+ years of research experience in materials science and biomaterials with 7 publications in top scientific journals. As Director of R&D his goal is to lead the R&D team to bringing our FreshrPack solution closer to commercialization and expand the use of the core technology into a wide range of applications.

Logan obtained his Chemical Engineering degree from Dalhousie University with the highest Engineering Honors and his team were the recipients of the 2020 Engineers Nova Scotia Senior Project Award. At Freshr, Logan is working tirelessly to scale up the manufacturing process of our FreshrPack solution by leading the design and build of our first pilot coating line. 

Max is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and holds an Master of Business Administration (MBA) with honours from Queen’s University, with expertise in financial strategy, innovation, and sustainable technology. As Strategy and Business Development Manager at Freshr, Max is focused on scaling partnerships, refining the company’s go-to-market strategy, and securing key growth opportunities.

Meggie acquired her BSc in Environmental Science from Acadia University, with a high honours distinction. Meggie started her career as a microbiologist in the pharmaceutical field. At Freshr, Meggie is involved in testing the antimicrobial properties of our FreshrPack technology to help optimize the response and extend knowledge into other areas of film application.

Cecilia McInnis graduated magna cum laude from Saint Mary’s University with a BSc in Biology, as well as a Certificate in Forensic Sciences. She has a passion for biology and a strong interest in environmental sustainability and how science can help to address that.

Matt completed his PhD in Materials Chemistry at Dalhousie University in 2024, earning the university's PhD Thesis Award. His research, which focused on scaling up sunlight-driven water purification, has been featured in five major publications and covered by national news outlets like CBC. As a research scientist, he will bridge laboratory experiments and pilot plant scale-up for Freshr products.

Alec holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from Dalhousie University and recently completed a Master of Applied Science, where his research focused on applying machine learning to robotics. With a strong passion for hands-on projects and prototyping, Alec is now focused on optimizing and scaling up the FreshrPack manufacturing process. 

Janak holds a BSc and MSc in Industrial Chemistry from Sardar Patel University, India, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Petroleum Engineering from Cape Breton University. He began his career in a pharmaceutical API manufacturing company as a Trainee Officer, where he worked with unit operations like drying and filtration and helped troubleshoot impurity issues. He joined Freshr as a Production Technician Lead, where he will work on manufacturing and scale up of our FreshrPack technology.

Nataliia holds a B.Sc. in Cytology and Histology from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, where she was held a prestigious scholarship. She joined Freshr as a Production Technician, where she will work to manufacture and scale up our FreshrPack technology.

Ana holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the State University of Ponta Grossa, Brazil, and recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Manitoba. Her research focuses on natural antioxidants, particularly the extraction, characterization, and evaluation of bioactive compounds with potential applications in food and health sciences. Ana will bring a wealth of experience to the R&D team, and will work on conducting experiments needed for successful commercialization of FreshrPack.