2015 Discussants

Jack M. Anthony

Founder/Principal, BioMentorz

Jack M. Anthony, founder of BioMentorz, has a wealth of experience from over 42 years in healthcare. He was formerly the CEO of Fibralign, the CEO of Osprey Pharmaceuticals USA and CEO of Pharmix (now Numerate) and served as a member of the Board of Directors of Vaxgen, a public US company. Prior to his CEO roles Jack focused for 15+ years on biotech business development and marketing at a variety of biotech companies. Jack was Senior Vice President of Business Development at Saegis Pharmaceuticals (now at Lundbeck). He was a key player in the buyout of Tularik by Amgen where he led the Business and Commercial Group. In the fifteen years prior to Tularik he was the senior executive business development officer at FibroGen, Inc., Cell Therapeutics, Inc., Inhale, Applied Immune Sciences (now at sanofi-aventis) and General Manager of ExViT, the AIS subsidiary focused on the delivery of ex-vivo cell therapies. Jack began his life sciences career at Baxter Healthcare Corporation and for close to seventeen years held various sales, marketing and general management positions in the U.S. and internationally. He departed Baxter as a Vice President of the Blood Therapy Group. Prior to Baxter Jack cut his teeth selling at Olivetti and Proctor and Gamble. Jack has a BS in zoology from Allegheny College and served as a Navy Officer for five years. Jack was the Frank Barnes Mentor of the Year in 2004 of the Licensing Executives Society of the US/Canada.

Ben Bonifant

Founder & Partner, Triangle Insights Group

Ben Bonifant is an experienced consultant to leaders of global pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations, and to decision makers of large private equity funds. Ben has been a management consultant for more than twenty years. His perspectives on developments in the life sciences market are frequently published in industry and strategy journals.

Recent by-lined articles have appeared in Pharmaceutical Executive, InVivo, Nature Biotech, RPM Report, and Scrip. In addition, Ben’s case studies on the pharmaceutical industry have been used in graduate business programs.

Ben is a member of the Life Sciences Executive Committee of the Licensing Executive Society. He has also been a member of the program committee for the BIO International Convention. Prior to the founding of Triangle Insights Group, Ben was the leader of the Business Development Practice at Campbell Alliance and a partner in the Strategy practice at Oliver Wyman (formerly Mercer Management Consulting/Strategic Planning Associates).

Ben has been a guest lecturer at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, and industry conferences in the US, Europe, and Canada. Ben earned an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.S. from Duke University.

Chris Ehrlich

Managing Director, Locust Walk Partners, LLC

Chris Ehrlich is a Managing Director of Locust Walk Partners. Prior to Locust Walk, he was a Managing Director at InterWest Partners. He previously served on the boards of KAI Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Amgen) and Biomimetic Therapeutics, Inc. (NASD: BMTI, acquired by Wright Medical Technologies). He currently sits on the boards of Transcept Pharmaceuticals (NASD: TSPT), Carbylan BioSurgery and Xenon Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining InterWest, Ehrlich was director, licensing and business development at Purdue Pharma, a private pharmaceutical firm based in Stamford, CT. In this position, he was responsible for developing a biologic oncology franchise, including in-licensing key intellectual properties, establishing and managing collaborations with biotechnology companies and participating in the commercial operations of Purdue BioPharma, a biotechnology company located in Princeton, NJ. Prior to joining Purdue, Ehrlich worked in business development at Genentech, in venture capital at The U.S. Russia Investment Fund, and in biotechnology strategy development at LEK Consulting. Ehrlich received his B.A. from Dartmouth College, cum laude, and an M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He also sits on advisory boards for the Innovation and New Ventures Office at Northwestern University and the Peter Michael Foundation.

Douglas Fisher

Partner, InterWest Partners

Doug joined InterWest’s healthcare team in 2009, focusing on biopharmaceutical, diagnostic and medical device investments, and portfolio company support. He is a board member of Gynesonics, Indi Molecular, Obalon Therapeutics, and QuatRx. Doug is also actively involved in InterWest’s investments in Benvenue, Integrated Diagnostics (where he serves as the SVP of Corporate Development), PMV Pharma, Potenza Theraputics, and Sera Prognostics (where he serves as the Chief Business Officer) as well as previous involvement with Labrys Biologics and Invuity.

Prior to joining InterWest, Doug was a VP at New Leaf Venture Partners where he spent three years focusing on biopharmaceutical, medical device, and diagnostics investments. He was involved with several investments, including Pearl Therapeutics, Interlace Medical (acquired by Hologic), and Stromedix (acquired by Biogen Idec). Previously, he worked for Centocor (a J&J operating company) in the Global Biologic Strategic Marketing Group.

Doug received an A.B. in economics with honors and distinction, and a B.S. in biology with distinction, from Stanford, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He has an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and an M.B.A. from Wharton, where he graduated with honors as a Siebel Scholar and Palmer Scholar.

James Forte

Managing Director, Kineticos Life Sciences Consulting

Mr. Forte, head of Kineticos’ Biopharmaceutical practice, joins the firm with over 17 years of corporate strategy, brand strategy, and strategic marketing experience. He has spent nearly his entire career serving the biopharmaceutical industry, and as a result, has in-depth, cross-functional knowledge of the industry as well as the service providers and the investment community that support it.

Prior to Kineticos, Mr. Forte spent nearly 10 years working for global biopharmaceutical consulting firm Campbell Alliance. Following Campbell Alliance’s acquisition by inVentiv Health, he was appointed Vice President and head of Marketing for inVentiv’s consulting segment, which included oversight of marketing for Campbell Alliance as well as their two subsidiaries: Encuity (market research) and Pharmaceutical Institute (training).

Mr. Forte also has seven years of experience working at integrated marketing, public and investor relations, and investment banking firms in the New York City area and Southern California. He serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Pharmaceutical Executive magazine. Mr. Forte earned a B.S. in Communications from St. John’s University in New York and studied international business at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy.

Jennifer Friel Goldstein

Managing Director Life Sciences

Jennifer is based in San Francisco and is responsible for the National Biotechnology and Diagnostics practice. Jennifer joined SVB after seven years at Pfizer, where she served as a Director on Pfizer’s Venture Capital team and a Senior Manager in the Portfolio and Decision Analysis group. While a consultant at Bain & Company in London, Jennifer focused on private equity deals. She has also had diverse operational and research experience at companies such as Chiron, Genelabs, and Genencor.

Jennifer brings over ten years of business development, portfolio management, and consulting experience as well as a biotechnology background to the team. She graduated magna cum laude with a BSE in Bioengineering and a Master’s of Biotechnology from the University of Pennsylvania. Jennifer was also named a Joseph Wharton Fellow while completing her MBA at the Wharton school.

In her free time Jennifer enjoys remaining involved with SpringBoard Enterprises as well as spending time with her husband and their twin children who keep them on their toes!

Julia P. Gregory

Chief Executive Officer, ContraFect Corporation

Ms. Gregory has been Chief Executive Officer since November 2013. Prior to that time, she was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, since July, 2012. Prior to ContraFect, Ms. Gregory was President and CEO of Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company discovering and developing innovative protein and antibody therapeutics in the fields of oncology and immunology. Prior to Five Prime, Ms. Gregory was Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Financial Officer of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Ms. Gregory has been actively involved in a variety of public and private financings, including ContraFect’s initial public offering and private financings, a private equity agreement designed to provide financing of up to $550 million for Lexicon and Lexicon’s $220 million initial public offering. While at FivePrime and Lexicon, she led transactions for several strategic partnerships including those with GlaxoSmithKline, Human Genome Sciences, Genentech, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. In addition, she led the negotiations for Lexicon’s acquisition of the chemistry company that provided the foundation for Lexicon’s novel drug programs. Prior to joining Lexicon, Ms. Gregory was an investment banker where she served as the head of investment banking for Punk, Ziegel & Company, a specialty technology and healthcare investment banking firm and was an investment banker with Dillon, Read & Co., Inc. Ms. Gregory received her B.A. from George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and her M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Joseph V. Gulfo

Executive Director, Rothman Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship – Fairleigh Dickinson University and Visiting Scholar, Mercatus Center – George Mason University

Joseph V. Gulfo, MD, MBA, is the author of Innovation Breakdown: How the FDA and Wall Street Cripple Medical Advances and contributor of Inc.com’s Diagnoses from the Trenches column. A faculty member of the GLG Institute, he has more than 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries. In 2012, he received the American Business Awards’ Maverick of the Year Award and was an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist. He teaches graduate cancer biology and business and entrepreneurship classes and maintains an educational cancer biology blog.

Dr. Gulfo is Executive Director of the Rothman Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Visiting Scholar at the Mercatus Center of George Mason University, a think tank focusing on market-based solutions. Prior to this, he served as President & CEO of MELA Sciences (2004-2013), and was Chairman of the Board (2011-2013). While at MELA Sciences, Dr. Gulfo was responsible for:

• Effecting an IPO in 2005 and consummating 11 public financings totaling ~$160 MM
• Obtaining FDA approval of MelaFind, a breakthrough PMA smart diagnostic device for early melanoma detection through which he gained national attention for the process that included the issuing of an illegal not approvable letter by FDA, a Citizen Petition filing requesting that the FDA enforce the company’s Binding Protocol Agreement, and a Congressional Hearing at which the FDA admitted the error
• Launching MelaFind in the US and Europe
• Placing MelaFind systems within 75 miles of 63% of the US population in the first 12 months on the market

Additionally, he was responsible for the 1998 NDA approval of Valstar (as President & COO of Anthra Pharmaceuticals and Chairman of its UK subsidiary), a drug for superficial bladder cancer, which had sales of $27 MM in 2012, 14 years after its approval. Dr. Gulfo was also instrumental in the development of ProstaScint (Cytogen Corporation), a BLA-approved monoclonal antibody for prostate cancer. He is currently on the board of directors and audit committee of Procertus Biopharma, a company developing palliative care products for radiation dermatitis and oral mucositis. He was CEO and Chairman of Antigen Express, an immunotherapy and immunodiagnostics company in the field of vaccines for cancer therapy, antiviral therapy, and asthma, and led its merger.

A serial entrepreneur, Dr. Gulfo is a leader in biopharma and medtech innovation. He is passionate about removing obstacles to breakthrough innovation, managing start-up companies, cultivating young managers, and developing products that can make a huge difference in the lives of patients and individuals. He received his MD from University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and his MBA from Seton Hall University. He is on the Life Sciences Council of Springboard Enterprises.

Paul J. Hastings

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, OncoMed Pharmaceuticals

Mr. Hastings is the Chairman and CEO of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining OncoMed in 2006, Mr. Hastings was President and Chief Executive Officer of QLT, Inc. Previous to that, Mr. Hastings served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Axys Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Celera Corporation in 2001. From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Hastings served as the President of Chiron BioPharmaceuticals, a division of Chiron Corporation. Prior to that, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of LXR Biotechnology. Mr. Hastings also held a series of management positions of increasing responsibility at Genzyme Corporation, including serving as President of Genzyme Therapeutics Europe as well as President, Genzyme Therapeutics. Mr. Hastings also served as Vice President, Marketing and Sales and General Manager, Europe for Synergen, Inc., and previously held a series of marketing and sales management positions with Hoffmann-La Roche.

He is currently Lead Director of Pacira Pharmaceuticals and on the board of Relypsa, serves as Vice Chairman of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, and serves on the board of the California Life Sciences Asoociation. Mr. Hastings was recently Chairman of the Board of Proteolix (sold to Onyx Pharmaceuticals in 2010), and served on the board of ViaCell (sold to Perkin-Elmer in 2007).

Mr. Hastings received a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy from the University of Rhode Island.

Claudia Hirawat

Chair, EURORDIS International Circle of Ambassadors; former President, PTC Therapeutics, Inc.

Claudia Hirawat is Chair of the EURORDIS International Circle of Ambassadors and a corporate advisor to life science companies and philanthropic organizations. Prior to EURORDIS, Ms. Hirawat served as the President of PTC Therapeutics Inc. leading the company in partnership with the CEO and senior team through a large mezzanine financing, a successful Initial Public Offering and the conditional approval of the Company’s first product: Translarna, for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Ms. Hirawat oversaw Business and Corporate Development as well as Alliance Management. She was pivotal in supporting the development of the commercial organization to launch Translarna and was always very close to the Company’s efforts in patient advocacy worldwide.

Prior to being President of PTC, Ms. Hirawat served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development spearheading PTC’s collaborations as the Company’s lead negotiator. Ms. Hirawat joined PTC in 2000.
Prior to PTC, Ms. Hirawat served as a Vice President at LedbetterStevens, a management consulting and senior-level retained search firm in New York focused exclusively in the biopharmaceutical area. Ms. Hirawat was at LedbetterStevens for five years and had responsibilities for projects for a variety of clients including: Pfizer, Pharmacia, Bristol Myers Squibb Co., Celera Genomics, Coelacanth Corp., SpotFire, IBM Consulting/The Wilkerson Group and The Boston Consulting Group.

Ms. Hirawat is passionate about the rights and the role of the patient at every stage of drug discovery, development, commercialization and delivery of care. Her philanthropic efforts are focused on rare disorders, mental health, patient and human rights.

Tom Kellerman

Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

Tom represents issuers and underwriters in equity financing matters, and has handled more than 75 public offerings and advised on more than 100 venture capital and other private placement transactions.

A frequent speaker at the US Practising Law Institute and the Director Education and Certification Program of the UCLA Anderson School of Management, Tom lectures on corporate governance, securities, and finance issues.

Tom serves as a board member for three nonprofit organizations: the Montana Academy Foundation, the Silicon Valley Campaign for Legal Services (SVCLS), and Computers for Everyone. More…

Donna LaVoie

President & CEO, LaVoieHealthScience

Donna’s efforts combine building LaVoieHealthScience’s (LHS) pharmaceutical and life science practices, strategic direction and core competencies. Under Donna’s leadership, LHS has become an acknowledged leader in health science strategic communications and recognized as a top 40 independent healthcare agencies in the US. The agency has received 26 awards in the past six years for its client work.

Donna’s focus is in helping clients build their companies and brands during transformational times. Her approach centers on bringing a credible voice with key audiences, while providing strategic counsel that builds value and stakeholder engagement. Donna is a frequent speaker on a range of strategic communications topics including crisis communications and integrated communications. Author of articles in NIRI Update, IR Update, and The Boston Globe.

Roger Longman

CEO, Real Endpoints LLC

Roger Longman is CEO of Real Endpoints, a start-up company focused on pharmaceutical reimbursement, and aiming to help both payers and product developers improve the value of pharmacotherapy. Its first product assesses – systematically, objectively, and transparently – the value of drugs relative to their competitors.

Until November 2009, Longman was Managing Director, Pharma at Elsevier Business Intelligence, a Reed Elsevier company. He has been involved with the health-care industry for more than 25 years. From 1990 through 2008, Longman was co-CEO and managing director of Windhover, an information company providing sophisticated analysis and data around pharmaceutical and medical device business strategy through publications, databases and conferences. Longman co-founded and built the company through internal development (with publications such as IN VIVO, Start-Up and The RPM Report, several databases, including The Strategic Transactions Database; and a series of senior-executive conferences), and through acquisition. In 2008, Windhover was acquired by Reed Elsevier and merged with its FDC Reports division (publishers of The Pink Sheet, The Gray Sheet and many other medical-industry newsletters), creating Elsevier Business Intelligence. Longman ran the combined group’s pharmaceutical business until he left in 2010 to begin working on Real Endpoints with Norman Selby, who had been Windhover’s chairman and lead investor. Over the years, Mr. Longman has become recognized as an expert in biopharmaceutical strategy and often speaks at key industry events organized by important trade organizations, investment banks, venture capital firms and leading pharma and biotech companies. He lectures regularly at several leading universities and co-directed the Wharton-Windhover pharmaceutical program at The Wharton School. Mr. Longman completed his BA at Cornell University and an MA at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and then taught for three years at the European division of the University of Maryland.

Susan Molineaux

Founder, President and CEO, Calithera Biosciences, Inc.

Dr. Molineaux has served as our President, CEO and as a member of our board of directors since she co-founded Calithera in March 2010. Dr. Molineaux co-founded Proteolix, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, where she served as CSO from 2003 to 2005, CEO from 2006 to January 2009 and again as CSO from February 2009 until Proteolix’s acquisition by Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in November 2009. From 2000 to 2003, Dr. Molineaux served as VP of Biology at Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a drug development company. From 1999 to 2000, she served as VP of Biology at Praelux, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, and from 1994 through 1999, she served as VP of Drug Development at Praecis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. From 1989 to 1994, she was a scientist in the Immunology group at Merck & Co. Dr. Molineaux currently serves as a member of the board of directors of Geron Corporation and Theravance Biopharma, Inc. She also serves as a member of the board of directors of the California Life Sciences Association, and as a member of the board of directors of We Teach Science, a San Francisco Bay Area mentoring program for students in math and science. Dr. Molineaux holds a B.S. in Biology from Smith College and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Johns Hopkins University, and she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University.

Geoff Meyerson

Managing Director and Co-Founder, Locust Walk Partners

Geoff brings to Locust Walk a track record of success in investment banking, venture capital and licensing where he has closed 40 transactions of all varieties. While an investment banker in UBS’ Global Healthcare Investment Banking Group, he closed 12 financing and M&A transactions with a variety of life science companies. Geoff worked at MedImmune in business development working on their small molecule strategy, which resulted in three transactions, and where he also assisted with two other transactions. While a venture capitalist at SR One, the venture capital subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline, he closed eight transactions in the US and Europe, co-leading the due diligence for Algeta, which sold to Bayer for $2.9B leading to a 20x+ return to investors. Geoff worked in business development at venture-backed company, Zelos Therapeutics, where he negotiated a drug delivery collaboration. He brings strong deal acumen, business and financial strategy, and negotiation capabilities.

Geoff founded and is President and of an exclusive relationship building non-profit organization called, BioBreak, which has grown to four regions nationally (Boston, Philadelphia, New York and San Francisco) and has a membership base of >2,000 senior life science operating and investing executives. Geoff was named by the Philadelphia Business Journal to their 40 Under Forty list for 2010, and he also has served two terms on the board of the Wharton Health Care Management Alumni Association. Geoff holds an MBA in Health Care Management from the Wharton School, a Master of Biotechnology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BS in Economics from Duke University.

Veet Misra

Managing Director, Healthcare Investment Banking, Cantor Fitzgerald

Dr. Misra is a Managing Director and runs the U.S. West Coast Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. with over 13 years of investment banking and industry experience. Veet has executed book-run equity, debt capital markets, and M&A transactions with over $30 billion in aggregate value. Prior to joining Cantor in 2011, Veet started the Life Sciences M&A and restructuring practice at Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin. Prior to Houlihan, Dr. Misra was a Vice President at RBC Capital Markets in San Francisco where he contributed to the early stage growth of the Global Life Sciences Investment Banking group. Prior to RBC, Dr. Misra was in the Healthcare Investment Banking group at Octagon Capital in Toronto. Throughout his investment banking tenure, Dr. Misra has had substantial experience in public and private financings including IPOs, follow-ons, PIPEs / Registered Directs, term and convertible debt financings, and debt restructurings, as well as extensive execution of buy-side and sell-side strategic M&A transactions and fairness opinions. Prior to his banking career, Dr. Misra also contributed to the establishment of a pre-commercialization fund at Genome Canada for seed stage financing of Life Sciences assets. Dr. Misra has a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Toronto and a MBA in Finance & Strategy from the Schulich School of Business in Toronto.

Kenneth Moch

former President & CEO, Chimerix, Inc.

Kenneth I. Moch has broad expertise building, managing and financing private and public life science companies from start-up through commercialization, and has helped build 5 companies which have pioneered novel technologies.

Ken has served as President & CEO of 4 life science companies: Chimerix, Inc., an antiviral therapeutics company which is developing brincidofovir as the first broad spectrum agent against DNA viruses; BioMedical Enterprises, a manufacturer and marketer of nitinol orthopedic implants; Alteon, Inc., a developer of small molecule therapeutics for cardiovascular aging and diabetic complications; and Biocyte Corporation, where he pioneered the storage and therapeutic use of cord blood stem cells and launched the first cord blood stem cell storage bank. He was also a co-founder and Vice President of The Liposome Company, Inc., a pioneer in the use of liposomes for the delivery of anticancer and antifungal drugs.

During the course of his career Ken has also been a Managing Director of Healthcare Investment Banking at ThinkEquity Partners and a management consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Building on his longstanding interest in health policy, Ken served for over a decade on the Board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), as Secretary of BIO’s Emerging Companies Section, and as a member of the BIO’s BioEthics Committee. He is a member of the Board of NCBio, and is a past Chairman of BioNJ and a past member of the Executive Committee of the New York Biotechnology Association. Ken currently serves as a member of the Board of M2Gen – Moffitt Genetics Corporation, the personalized medicine subsidiary of Moffitt Cancer Center.

Ken is a member of the NYU Working Group on Compassionate Use and recently joined the National Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. In August 2014, Ken and Arthur Caplan, Ph.D., the Head of Medical Ethics at NYU Medical Center, co-authored an article in Health Affairs on the ethical issues surrounding access to experimental medicines, “Rescue Me: The Challenge Of Compassionate Use In The Social Media Era.” In March 2015 Ken contributed an Op-Ed to The Wall Street Journal entitled, “Wanted: Guidelines for Access to Experimental Drugs.”

Ken holds an A.B. in biochemistry from Princeton University and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Edward James (EJ) Neil

Chairman, North Sonoma County Hospital District

Worked in Silicon Valley for over 25 years associated with companies such as Motorola, NEC, Adobe and Atari among others.

Hung around with Nolan Bushnell, Steve Wozniak and a plethora of entrepreneurs who emerged from Stanford University.

With wife Judy, moved on to the Sonoma Wine Country in the nineties to participate in the original biotechnology business: the growing of grapes and creation of fine wines. He continues to grow grapes for some of the premier wineries in both Napa and Sonoma Counties.

Member of the Board of Directors for Northern Sonoma County Health Care District for the last 12 years (Healdsburg Hospital).

Educated at ASU: Computer Science and Business.

Holder of key IT patents, licensed pilot, above average tennis player and an avid guitar player. Big fan of Jeff Daniels as in “Are you as excited about me as I am?”

William Newell

CEO, Sutro Biopharma

Mr. Newell has over 24 years of senior management experience in the biotechnology industry. He joined Sutro Biopharma as CEO in January 2009. Previously, he served as the President of Aerovance, Inc., a venture-backed company developing clinical assets for respiratory diseases. Mr. Newell also was Chief Business Officer and Senior Vice President at publicly-traded QLT, Inc. and served in several senior management positions at public-traded Axys Pharmaceuticals, Inc,. For the 16 years prior to joining Axys, Mr. Newell practiced corporate law in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is presently a member of the Board at Symic Biomedical and presently a member of the Board and of the Executive Committee of the California Life Sciences Association.

Ben Pensak

Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

Ben Pensak is a partner in Morgan, Lewis & Bockius’s San Francisco office. Ben’s practice focuses primarily on representing pharma, biotech, medical device, diagnostic, and medical informatics companies in transactional matters, working with both large and small entities based in the U.S. and abroad. Specifically, Ben drafts, negotiates, and provides counsel regarding those contracts that are entered into in the life sciences industry in order to license, develop, manufacture, and sell drugs and related products. Ben brings to bear the skills necessary to draft agreements, particularly complex (in terms of subject matter and mechanics) license, collaboration and strategic alliance agreements with the full array of entities involved in the life sciences industry. Ben is able to play an active role in transaction structuring owing to his familiarity with life sciences industry commercial contracting norms and alternate strategies as well as his understanding of the intellectual property, regulatory, development, manufacturing, and commercial pathways and issues that confront the life sciences industry from idea conception through development, commercialization, and product life cycle management, and particularly those issues that need to be addressed in a comprehensive agreement to facilitate such activities. More…

Christos Richards

Partner, Catalyst Advisors

Christos Richards is a partner based in Catalyst Advisors’ Los Angeles office. Before joining Catalyst Advisors, Christos spent 15 years as the chief executive officer of a boutique healthcare executive search firm. While leading a team of nearly 20 consultants across five offices, Christos worked with clients in North America, Europe and Asia. Christos was educated in Switzerland and is fluent in German and Swiss German. He is a former member of LAVA (the Los Angeles Venture Association) and of the Leader’s Steering Committee for the American Diabetes Association in San Francisco. He is a member of the board of directors of Coherus BioSciences, a publicly traded company, where he serves on the Nominations and Governance Committee.

Barbara Ryan

Partner, Clermont Partners

Barbara Ryan is a partner at Clermont Partners and is based in New York. Ms. Ryan has more than 31 years of Wall Street experience as a sell-side research analyst covering the biopharmaceutical sector. She was a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank and Head of the company’s Pharmaceutical Research Team for 19 years, and began her research career covering the Pharmaceutical industry at Bear Stearns in 1982. During her career as an analyst, Barbara was the lead analyst on many high profile IPO’s including Express Scripts, PSSI, Henry Schein, and Flamel Technologies.

Recently, Barbara was a Managing Director at FTI Consulting and led the firm’s Healthcare and Life Sciences Capital Markets practice in the Strategic Communications Division. She has extensive global buyside, sell side and financial media relationships, and in 2014, provided counsel on several of the highest profile deals in the biopharma industry; including Shire, Perrigo/Elan, and Allergan. Barbara led the IR/PR programs for Radius Health, the best performing IPO of 2014, and has provided strategic communications counsel for Cardinal Health, Purdue, Zoetis, Radius Health, Esperion, OPKO, Shire, Allergan, and Perrigo.

Ms. Ryan’s opinions and expertise are widely sought; she is frequently quoted in the press and is a Guest Contributor for CNBC. Ms. Ryan currently serves on Pharmaceutical Executive ‘s Editorial Advisory Board, the Executive Advisory Board for the Prix Galien Foundation, is a member of the Life Sciences Council of Springboard Enterprises, and the Faculty at the GLG Institute.

Kathleen Ryan

CEO & CFO, RoseRyan

Kathy Ryan knows what it takes to help Silicon Valley startups—including her own—grow and prosper.

Kathy keeps 10 balls in the air without breaking a sweat and thrives on running a business. She started RoseRyan on a mission to let highly savvy finance pros combine challenging assignments with a flexible work/life balance-and the firm has grown beyond her wildest dreams. See what she thinks about building a strong team and learn how RoseRyan is preparing for growth in these interviews for Build.com.

Her wide range of experience, enlightened leadership and drive for developing a talented, high-performing team have been widely recognized. In 2015, the San Francisco Business Times named Kathy as an influential woman in Bay Area business, and in 2012, the San Jose/Silicon Valley Business Journal named her one of the most influential women in Silicon Valley.

Kathy was named to Accounting Today‘s national listing of the sector’s top 10 leaders, known as the Managing Partner Elite. They applauded Kathy’s prescience in creating the kind of firm “that so many leaders are struggling to build now that engaged, enthusiastic staff are at a premium.”

Kathy was director of finance at Quantum and tax manager at Price Waterhouse before co-founding RoseRyan in 1993 with Sue Macias. In addition to management expertise, her skills include general and cost accounting; tax and SEC reporting; forecasting, budgeting and planning; business finance; and systems planning and implementation.

Formerly a Big Four CPA, Kathy holds a BS in accounting from Santa Clara University. She serves on the finance committee at St. Michael’s Church in Livermore. Among her loves: golf, needlepoint and (her guilty pleasure) romance novels.

Robin Silva

Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

With an emphasis on emerging biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies, Robin M. Silva manages and counsels clients in domestic and international issues, focusing on IP portfolio strategic development. Her background includes patent prosecution, IP due diligence (opinions, financings, evaluating IP portfolios in connection with due diligence for acquisitions, mergers, financings, collaborations, and partnering deals), global portfolio management and mining, technical litigation support, and working with business development personnel and licensing managers to maximize portfolio value. Robin represents start-ups, emerging and public companies, and other biotechnology clients in her IP practice. Her 20 years of experience in biochemistry includes antibodies and biologics, nucleic acid applications (including clinical and molecular diagnostics, “lab on a chip,” sequencing, synthesis, and RNAi), industrial enzymes and bioprocesses, animal and plant transgenics, and viruses and vaccines. More…

Eric Walczykowski

Vice President, Life Sciences, Thomson Reuters

Eric Walczykowski has over 15 years of experience in Life Sciences. Currently, Eric serves as the Vice President, Life Sciences of Thomson Reuters.

Prior to joining Thomson Reuters, Eric assisted emerging growth companies in many roles, including Chief Executive Officer, VP of Corporate Development, Venture Capital Investor, Board Member, Investment Banker and Auditor.

Most recently, Eric was General Manager of Deloitte Recap and leader of the Deloitte Life Sciences Accelerator for emerging growth companies. Previously, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Suni Medical Imaging, a medium-sized medical technology company that grew significantly under his direction. During his tenure at Suni, Eric recruited four executive staff members and led the company through two sales transaction processes – ultimately resulting in the sale of the company to a private equity investor.

Prior to Suni, Eric spent five years in the Venture Capital Industry with Nucleus Partners and The Angels Forum/Halo Fund, where he led direct investments and served as an interim executive in certain portfolio companies. During his tenure in venture capital, Eric had the opportunity to participate on the board of directors for fifteen private companies as a member, observer and advisor.

Eric also spent six years with Anderson in both Corporate Finance and Audit. While in Corporate Finance, Eric created the Western Region internet/e commerce practice and acted as the lead financial advisor on Private Placement transactions and Mergers and Acquisitions.