MaRS Director to Chair Canada Council for the Arts

Toronto, August 11, 2008 – MaRS Director Mr. Joseph L. Rotman has been appointed Chair of the Canada Council for the Arts.

The announcement was made in Ottawa by the Honourable Josee Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women and Minister for La Francophonie.

“I am pleased to welcome Mr. Rotman to the Canada Council for the Arts,” Minister Verner said. “I am positive that his wealth of experience and dedication to the arts will greatly benefit the organization.”

Mr. Rotman is currently Chair of Roy-L Capital Corporation, a private family investment company. His business career has focused on establishing a number of private and public companies active in oil trading, petroleum distribution, oil and gas exploration, merchant banking, real estate, and venture capital. He is the founder of Clairvest Group Inc., a Canadian-based merchant bank, for which he is still a board member. He was involved with numerous other corporate boards, including the Bank of Montreal, Barrick Gold Corporation, and Canada Northwest Energy Ltd.

Mr. Rotman was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada for his contribution to the educational, cultural, economic, health care and research communities. Many organizations have benefited from his generous leadership and financial support, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, CIHR, MaRS and the University of Toronto. He was educated at The University of Western Ontario, University of Toronto and Columbia University.

The Canada Council for the Arts fosters and promotes the study, enjoyment, and production of works in the arts by providing assistance to individual artists and arts organizations through a peer-assessment process. It also administers the Public Lending Right program of payments to authors, coordinates the development of UNESCO activities in Canada, and coordinates Canadian participation in UNESCO activities abroad. For more information on the Council, please visit www.canadacouncil.ca.

About MaRS
MaRS Discovery District (www.marsdd.com) is a large scale, mission driven innovation centre located in Toronto and networked across Ontario, focused on building Canada’s next generation of technology companies. MaRS works closely with entrepreneurs to grow and scale their ventures into global market leaders in life sciences and health care, information, communications and digital media technologies, cleantech, advanced materials and engineering, as well as innovative social purpose business.

For more information, contact:
Linda Quattrin
Director Communications
MaRS Discovery District
416.673.8104
lquattrin@marsdd.com