Former Surrey mayor Dianne Watts has lined up a new gig just a few weeks after officially leaving office.
Watts has been named the first CEO of Surrey’s Health Tech Innovation Foundation, which launched January 15.
The foundation is charged with providing access to resources for companies involved in health technology development, research and testing, and will oversee the Innovation Hub located across the street from Surrey Memorial Hospital
The hub will provide working space for health tech companies looking to do business in the city.
So far the foundation is engaged with 43 companies, which include three multi-nationals.
The hub will serve as the home for the foundation and is scheduled to open its doors in April in an area designated as Innovation Boulevard.
Innovation Boulevard is a network of health institutions, private companies and universities working in facilities within a square mile of the city centre.
The location is already home to a Simon Fraser University campus and development is underway for a Kwantlen Polytechnic University campus focused on nursing.
Vancouver-based companies such as Conquer Mobile have even announced plans to relocate offices to Innovation Boulevard.
The ex-mayor told Business In Vancouver some of the main donors behind the foundation approached her about leading the company due to her involvement shepherding Innovation Boulevard.
“I was happy to participate because of course my involvement as the former mayor in creating Innovation Boulevard,” she said.
“It was a really exciting opportunity I felt I could add something to.”
Watts added her new role would involve working with the companies at the Innovation Hub to ensure they have access to the right “network of people that could help them move their products forward.”
In September, Watts announced she would seek the Conservative nomination for the South Surrey-White Rock.
Ottawa has a fixed federal election date set for October 2015, so Watts’ tenure with the foundation could be cut short if she was elected as a Member of Parliament.
She told BIV the foundation was aware of her plan to run for federal election before they recruited her and that she would step aside as CEO if elected.
