Frank Baylis

Frank Baylis' mother, Gloria Baylis, a nurse by profession, founded Baylis Medical Company in the early 1980s, running the business out of the family home.[15] In 1986 Baylis Medical was incorporated as an importer and distributor of medical devices.[16] Frank Baylis joined the company in 1989[17] to assist with distribution,[18] and served as its President from 1989 to 2015.[17]

From 1990 onwards, the company evolved from a distributor to a developer, manufacturer, and seller of proprietary medical devices[19] with a focus on interventional cardiology and pain management.[20][21] In 2009, Baylis Medical divested its pain management business to Kimberley-Clark Corporation.[22][23] At the end of 2015, Baylis Medical divested its OsteoCool™ RF Ablation System and associated intellectual property to Medtronic.[24] After the sale, Baylis Medical partnered with Medtronic to further innovate the system,[24] and manufactured the OsteoCool™ (now under contract to Medtronic) at its Mississauga Ontario plant.[25]

In the spring of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ventilators for Canadians (V4C), a consortium of Canadian entrepreneurs, posted plans to develop and manufacture "urgently needed ventilators for hospitals across Canada."[26] FTI Professional Grade Inc. was enlisted as the prime contractor to the federal government, "with Baylis Medical engaged as manufacturing subcontractor and V4C supporting the supply chain and manufacturing process".[27] Scrutiny by the media and opposition parties within the Canadian Federal Government raised questions about conflict of interest in granting the contract to a consortium that subcontracted much of the work involved to a company co-owned by a former member of parliament.[28][29][30][31][32] On November 27, 2020 the case was discussed by the House of Commons of Canada Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, and the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner found that: "As a former member of Parliament, [Mr. Baylis] is no longer subject to the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons" and that "the contract was not concluded with him."[33] Under Canadian federal law, a "5-year prohibition on lobbying applies to former designated public office holders"[34] [defined in the Lobbying Act, subsection 2(1)]. On December 4, 2020 Frank Baylis appeared before the same Standing Committee and testified that he had not spoken with the Prime Minister or any cabinet ministers or any members of any political party to "ask them or influence them for a contract".[35]

In October 2021, Baylis Medical agreed to the sale of its cardiovascular medical devices business to Boston Scientific Corporation for $1.75 billion USD.[36] The acquisition was completed in February 2022.[37] Concerning the sale, The Globe and Mail reported that "Mr. Baylis, the company’s executive chairman, and Kris Shah, its president, co-own the debt-free enterprise, which has never raised outside equity. It’s the third time their Montreal-based business has sold a division to a major U.S. company, making them arguably Canada’s most successful medical device entrepreneurs."[38]

All told, under Baylis' co-leadership (President, 1989-2015; Executive Chairman, 2015-2022[39]) with partner[21] and former classmate[40] Kris Shah[41] (President, 2015-2022[42]), Baylis Medical has grown to an estimated 874 employees with offices in Montreal, Toronto, Boston, London (UK)[43] and Munich.[44] As of 2023, Baylis Medical Company's annual revenue is estimated at $219.4M USD per year.[45]

Baylis Medical's affiliate, spinoff company, Baylis Medical Technologies, is based in Mississauga Ontario and focused on interventional radiology and neurology.[21] It remains a separate entity and was not part of the transaction with Boston Scientific.[46] Frank Baylis is currently the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors at Baylis Med Tech.[47]

In 1991 Frank Baylis co-founded the OME Group along with Kris Shah.[21] OME Group was a specialized consulting company that provided scientific research and experimental development tax consulting services to businesses across Canada.[48] (See SR&ED tax incentives). As the Vice President of OME Group, Baylis oversaw all business activities in the Montreal office from 1991 to 2011. OME Group was sold to Ernst and Young in 2011.[49]

From 2007 to 2015 Baylis was a producer with The Walk of Fame Entertainment, a video production house "whose mission is to develop and produce entertaining social or environmental films, which will also allow us to discover other cultures or characters from diverse backgrounds."[50] Baylis is credited as a writer, co-producer and actor in the Righteous Pictures "Indy" film, Transit (2008) and also as a writer and executive producer of Generation Wolf (2016). More recently he is the executive producer of Undocumented (Sin papeles), another Righteous Pictures feature film (drama-social) in post-production (as of 2023). It tells the story of an undocumented activist from Mexico who finds that living conditions in America for persons like him are worse than those he fled from back home.[14]