About Us
Purity-IQ is a biotechnology company working with leading innovative genomic and metabolomic technologies.
Our scientists and technologists specialize in methodologies offering the highest value in product authentication.
Purity-IQ provides customers with the highest levels of quality assurance through ingredient and formula testing and validation. Located in Guelph Ontario, we have been working with customers around the world since 2019.
We can work with you to create a differentiated offer for the consumers you want to reach.
Our executive team has extensive experience in building consumer brands. We also work with a network of certified laboratories, safety and quality assurance experts and regulatory consultants to share and exchange knowledge.
We believe that proven integrity and efficacy are foundational to successful brands. Purity-IQ is Your Leader in Science and Your Partner in TRUST.
Meet the Team
Anmol Anmol
Laboratory Quality Coordinator
As Laboratory Quality Coordinator, Anmol overseas the Laboratory operations, Quality Management System, and related training. She is also responsible for sample reception and outgoing certificates.
Anmol holds a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology (Hons.). With in depth understanding of Food manufacturing, Quality Assurance, Laboratory operations and HACCP, she has experience working in the industry for over 4 years.
Atif Ansari
Chief Financial Officer
Atif oversees the company’s financial, accounting, and business analytics operations. He brings over 15 years’ prior CFO and leadership roles in global technology, software, data, marketing and business services companies.
With professional designations (CPA, CMA, ACMA, CGMA) from Canada, United Kingdom, and Pakistan, Atif’s expertise lies in strategic planning, financial management, data analytics, internal controls, risk management, and enabling strategy execution and organizational success.
Dr. Thiru Arunachalam
NMR Spectroscopist and Phytochemist
Thiru is a trained X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and NMR spectroscopist with a Ph.D. in Biophysics and Biochemistry.
Thiru has almost a decade of experience with NMR spectrometer maintenance, NMR method development, database management, statistical model building and analysis.
Matthew Barth
Marketing Associate
Matthew is a marketing graduate who specializes in video editing and content creation that is used for both educational and marketing purposes.
Matthew has several years of experience in video editing, motion graphics and digital marketing.
Marie-Eve Boyte
Probiotic Specialist
As a Probiotic Specialist, Marie-Eve provides industry, regulatory and technical advice on the subject while supporting the business development team.
With more than 15 years in the industry, she developed quite an expertise over the years by working for global probiotic manufacturers and her involvement with industry associations and worldwide organizations responsible for developing quality standards for probiotics.
Deleo de Leonardis
Chief Executive Officer
Deleo co-founded Purity-IQ in 2019. As the CEO she oversees the team responsible for the development of standards and innovative scientific tools that serve a gap in the market for industry self-regulated authenticity testing protocols.
Applying decades of merchandising and customer-facing retail experience, Deleo provides an unparalleled understanding of the consumer point of view, assuring that Purity-IQ services always meet or exceed customer expectations.
Terry Dennis
Chief Marketing Officer
Terry co-founded Purity-IQ in 2019. As the CMO, he oversees marketing client development and market expansion.
Applying decades of consumer-packaged goods leadership and experience, Terry provides award winning brand experience with a strategic market understanding of innovative trends.
Rekha Dhayakaran
Senior Manager of Client Solutions and Strategy
As the Senior Client Solutions and Strategy Manager, Rekha manages programs and projects to achieve business objectives. Bridging sales and project management functions, she works closely with stakeholders and clients for successful solutions delivery.
Rekha brings over a decade of experience in engineering (electrical and biological), project management and client management. With a unique blend of education and experience in highly process-oriented and regulated industries, Rekha quickly understands business challenges and thrives to bring excellent value propositions to clients.
Basma Hassane
Laboratory Support and Development
Basma works on designing and validating molecular methods for probiotic identification and enumeration. She has expertise in analyzing probiotic samples received for routine testing following the validated methods.
Basma holds a bachelor's degree in pharmaceutical sciences (with honours). She leverages her strong background in microbiology, molecular biology and related topics on top of her excellent experimental skills to support research and development in our laboratories.
Sebnem Karasu
Ingredients Specialist
As an Ingredients specialist and industry leader in spices and food technology, Sebnem provides guidance and support for the business development team at Purity-IQ.
Based in Chicago, she has over 25 years of international corporate and private food industry experience. She has a degree in Food Engineering and an MSc in Biotechnology and has expertise in business development in the spice industry, supply chain management, sterilization systems for dried ingredients, food safety management systems, GFSI standards, and FDA requirements. She has been a member of the American Spice Trade Association for over 20 years. She is also a member of Institute of Food Technologists, is the Chair-Elect for Chicago Section IFT, and is a member of Chicagoland Food and Beverage Network.
Dr. Arun Krishnamurthy
NMR Spectroscopist
As an NMR spectroscopist, Arun oversees routine analysis of botanical and probiotic test samples through NMR metabolomics. In addition, he is responsible for several R&D projects in collaboration with key industry partners and clients.
Arun has several years of expertise in the field of NMR spectroscopy with a focus on the structure elucidation of small molecules and peptides, metabolite screening and identification, qNMR, quadrupolar NMR and structural characterization of inorganic materials.
Kiran Krishnamurthy
NMR Spectroscopist
Kiran is an NMR spectroscopist and responsible for handling method development and routine sample analysis.
He has six years of experience in handling low and high field NMR and MRI spectrometers. His knowledge and experience over the years in the field of Structural and Molecular biology, as well as his Chemistry and Analytical skills will support and expand our research and development department.
Dr. Hanan R. Shehata
Senior Scientist
Hanan is the lead probiotic research scientist working on designing and validating PCR based methods for species-specific or strain-specific identification and enumeration.
Hanan completed her PhD from the University of Guelph, Canada, with over 15 years of experience in microbiology and molecular biology research and has published over 25 original research manuscripts. Hanan has been working on developing DNA based methods for probiotic authentication for the past 5 years.
John Snow
Chief Operating Officer
John, a co-founder of Purity-IQ in 2019, oversees the operations for the company activities and capability developments to support client commitments.
With three decades of experience in global research and development John provides insight and leadership for how the company effectively delivers current and new service capabilities to our clients.
Dr. Henry J. Stronks FCIC
Chief Science Officer
As CSO Henry overseas the scientific work of the science team and ensures that the rigor and discipline of scientific documentation can be trusted by our customer base to solve innovative and important challenges in a broad spectrum of market segments.
Henry has worked in the science industry for over 35 years and has served the academic, industrial and clinical market segments in Canada and on a global basis. Application techniques such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance to the food, beverage and clinical market segments are a special passion for him.
Anu Thariyan
Director of Client Development
As the Director of Client Development, Anu is responsible for helping local and international clients succeed in the global CPG space, by working with them to create better performing products and providing services that will help them with testing efficiencies, added value, and help them build trust with their customers.
Anu has international experience in business development in the vitamins, minerals and supplements, and CPG industry, that drives results across multiple regions including Canada, Asia, Middle East and Europe. He speaks 6 languages and is committed to helping customers succeed in their competitive environments.
Amber Thelen
Director of Product Development
As the Director of Product Development, Amber leads R&D and analytical laboratory teams with a focus on developing leading edge diagnostic tools to support the evolving natural health product industry.
With over 20 years of quality assurance experience implementing ISO quality management systems in both laboratory and food manufacturing environments, Amber provides a unique understanding and appreciation of industry challenges and requirements.
Deborah Valder
Administrative Coordinator
As the Administrative Coordinator, Deborah is responsible for supporting and overseeing the employee benefits and all HR related services.
Deborah has an extensive background in human resources, project management, operations, and customer service; enabling her to provide solid, professional support to the team.
Paul Valder
Chief Technical Officer
Paul co-founded Purity-IQ in 2019. As CTO, he oversees the team responsible for the technical development of globally recognized voluntary management system standards, supporting tools and the Purity-IQ delivery partner network, for industry to successfully achieve certification.
With decades of experience working with regulatory and customer supply chain compliance requirements, Paul provides an in-depth understanding of how successfully achieving Purity-IQ certifications can enhance product integrity and trust with consumers.