Peter Pekos (MSc ’86) is the co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dalton Pharma Services, a privately owned Canadian pharmaceutical services provider. His successful career in the pharmaceutical industry began immediately on the heels of completing his MSc in Chemistry at York in 1986. Dalton Pharma Services has had a long and fruitful connection with York University. Founded in 1986 by Pekos and the late York professor Dr. Doug Butler – Pekos’s supervisor – the company operated out of a lab in the Farquharson Building in its early days, eventually moving to a larger lab and office space just outside of York campus.

"York is a very innovative place. It always has been, perhaps because as a younger and [formerly] smaller institution, it always operated under certain constraints," says Pekos. "People don't realize how entrepreneurial York is. Particularly as an entrepreneur and business owner, my education at York proved to be essential to my future success.”

Pekos continues to support the Faculty of Science and York University in various ways. He has established the Dalton Pharma Services / Dr. Doug Butler Award in Organic Chemistry, and has also contributed equipment and compounds to be used in the Faculty of Science’s mass spectrometry laboratories.  Peter's financial support to date totals over $400,000 in scholarship funding, donated materials, in-kind and partnership support, in addition to leveraged matching funding of over $100,000. This is in addition to his generous contribution of his time and expertise as a speaker at different York events.

Visit Dalton Pharma Services' website to learn more about how one of our more innovative grads is using his skills and knowledge, developed in part right here at York!