Francoise Gavin has been appointed a partner and chief financial officer of MSBI Capital Inc, a seed and early-stage venture capital fund started with $11 million from Valorisation-Recherche Québec (R$, September 28/04). Gavin comes to MSBI from Solidarity Fund QFL where he managed its $250-million external technology fund portfolio. He has also held senior positions with BCE Inc, Teleglobe, Steinberg and Cooper and Lybrand. Also joining MSBI as a partner is John Elton, who was most recently a consultant to McGill Univ's technology transfer office. Elton has also worked with Turnstone Capital, 24/7 Real Media and Gulf International Bank.