Intellectual initiative

Debbie LeValliant, CMA, encourages innovative intellectual property practices as a key to Canadian SME growth

By Robert Colman

To describe Debbie LeValliant, CMA, as dynamic is somehow an understatement. She’s a woman with a dedication to making Canadian business work better. She’s also a natural entrepreneur, though she has used those talents to champion innovation in corporate Canada throughout her career.

The entrepreneurial spirit has always dominated and made her a change agent within every organization she has joined. This drive finally culminated in the creation of Innovation Strategies Inc., a company that encompasses the many ideas that LeValliant is passionate about – ideas that could change the way SMEs in Canada do business.

Innovation opportunity

“I’m a very enthusiastic person who likes a fast-paced life,” LeValliant said in a previous interview with CMA Management. “I like challenge. I like excitement.” She gets both a challenge and excitement from her business career and has reaped the rewards of her dedication to it in a variety of ways. For instance, she was named one of the Top 40 Under 40 in the Report on Business’s annual tally in 2001 for her work as CEO of AMIRIX Systems Inc.

Her new company was created to help small- and medium-sized enterprises exploit existing intellectual property to drive growth.  The idea is to use various business models and management techniques to develop strategies that commercialize innovation.  LeValliant takes intellectual property and makes it work for its owners.  Her feature article in the November 2003 issue of CMA Management explains the basic concept in detail.

There are lots of examples of intellectual property within organizations that isn’t strategically managed. What LeValliant does is open up people’s eyes to the possibilities right under their noses. “Innovation is literally all around us,” she says. “And through strategic licensing, strategic partnerships and other strategic uses of these assets, Canadian companies of every size can boost their growth worldwide and drive innovation initiatives here in Canada.”

LeValliant has been keen to drive innovation in Canada throughout her career. She has advised the federal government on its innovation strategy and hopes that she can continue to drive change in this area.

For LeValliant, the federal government’s innovation strategy really hasn’t taken off.  “Innovation has turned into a four letter word for the government. It’s not really going anywhere, but I believe that licensing could change that and help us exploit the innovation we create.”

Brand builder

Although she has worked as a stockbroker, a food franchisor and the general manager at a tennis club, LeValliant found her real niche when she entered the tech sector. “These earlier careers gave me a taste of entrepreneurship,” she says.  But it was in the tech sector where she really began to champion the cause of intellectual property and, through that, created her own brand.

LeValliant came to the conclusion that an initiative to create an intellectual property and licensing arm for innovation companies would be the way to improve a corporation’s chances for solid growth. “I had been attending a number of conferences on licensing and offshore treaty management and was looking to see how this could be beneficial to Canada.  Intellectual property management seemed underused,” she says. 

As a hands-on business executive, she has negotiated significant strategic alliances with electronic manufacturing services companies, semiconductor companies, electronic component providers and others.  While at AMIRIX, the company experienced double digit growth in revenue and triple digit growth in shareholder value. 

During her tenure at the company, it was a 2001 regional finalist for Canada’s 50 best-managed companies; named one of the top 10 places to work in Atlantic Canada (2001); Conference Board of Canada Top Employer of Youth in Nova Scotia (2001). And the Halifax Chamber of Commerce named LeValliant one of the top 5 finalists for Business Person of the Year in the same year.

She continually increases her profile through panel and public speaking engagements, publications and as an influential voice in discussions regarding the innovation agenda, National Research Council programs and the Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credit system.

As a prime example of how she tries to make a difference, LeValliant lobbied the federal government to change the department of industry’s approach to the telecom sector.  This was in 2000-20001, when the sheen of financial glory was starting to fade on the tech sector. “The government was focused on training technicians to seed the industry,” she says. “That’s not what it needed. We needed to capitalize on the intellectual assets we already had, not move bodies.”

“When people in government ask me my opinion, I give them the straight goods,” she explains. She has also shared those opinions and insights on a variety of boards, both federally and provincially.

Growth and hope

All of this experience helped LeValliant hone her ideas about intellectual property.  Along with her flair for creative and innovative problem solving, she now has a thorough understanding of tax treaties, transfer pricing, licensing and a host of other critical skill sets that make effective intellectual property management possible.  “I was always encouraged to become an entrepreneur. I believe in licensing and partnering as strategic management tools and have the track record to prove it. I wanted to take this concept to a national level,” she says.

And she is hard at work trying to change the nature of licensing in the eyes of the Canadian government as well. She would like to see a royalty tax credit created to encourage companies to explore licensing more thoroughly as a business opportunity, and she contributed to CMA Canada’s recent submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance, which points out the value of such a tax credit (see page 48 for more on the submission).

Although she now makes her residence in Toronto, she still has deep roots on the east coast. She is, for example, currently vice-president of Council for CMA Nova Scotia. “I love my society, I’m very proud of it,” she notes. LeValliant is enthusiastic about the new initiatives the Nova Scotia Society is involved with, including the second year of the CMA/MBA program at St. Mary’s University. “This type of program really bolsters the credibility of the designation,” she notes.

Informally, she’s a mentor to a number of CMAs and CMA candidates – seven people she calls her “kids” – helping them with problem solving and career development. She has also recruited from among CMA candidates in the past. “I’ve been involved in mock boards for a number of years, so I’m able to see a lot of talent among the candidates. It’s a wonderful opportunity for me.”

LeValliant does occasionally take her skills outside professional circles as well. “I usually take on one new project a year,” she says. For instance, she’s a member of the annual fundraising board for Mermaid Theatre, a puppetry company that performs across Canada, the U.S. and overseas. She has also been a major fundraiser for the Douglas Wilkie Trust, set up to help a boy with a serious heart ailment. She was also involved with Hypatia, a program established to encourage more women in high school to study sciences and technology. “Only 15% of women generally go on to study science and technology in university and this organization wants to change that,” explains LeValliant. The program brought people like LeValliant into high schools to demonstrate the potential women have in such fields.

She hopes that CMAs will embrace her ideas about intellectual property and really push to change the way we view this potential asset. “CMAs are in an excellent position to open other people to the idea of pursuing IP in a big way,” she says. “It should be a serious initiative for our members. It’s another distinct, strategic advantage that we can bring to the table.” 

Robert Colman is editor-in-chief of CMA Management magazine.

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