Confirmed Speakers

Shiv Krishnan is currently Senior Director, Scouting & Partnering in Sanofi R&D based in Bridgewater, New Jersey. In this role he works closely with innovators in academia and biotech companies to identify exciting breakthroughs at all levels of the pharma value chain for sanofi-aventis’ priority areas. He works closely with 2 other peer groups (based in San Diego and Cambridge, MA) to cover all of the US territory. Shiv is trained as a scientist and has a PhD in biochemistry and protein chemistry (Universite of Technology, Compiegne, France) and has spent several years as a scientist and in management positions in biotech (Transgene S.A, Strasbourg, France), in the vaccines business (sanofi-pasteur legacy), in the gene therapy business (Rhone Poulenc Rorer-Gencell), and in pharma drug discovery (Rhone Poulenc Rorer and Aventis). He has been in the Partnering business (scouting, evaluating, negotiating, alliance management) since 2002 as head of alliance management in Aventis’ R&D and then as head of Partnering & Innovation-US, sanofi-aventis R&D, covering US and China, until 2008. He has extensive experience managing large cross functional collaborations between pharma and biotech and been instrumental in identifying and negotiating agreements for new technologies for sanofi-aventis. He has a keen interest in breakthrough innovation and the business models that support this.

Chuck Wilson serves as the Global Head of Strategic Alliances, leading a group responsible for research partnering at Novartis. Partnering efforts include academic relationships to understand disease processes, biotech collaborations to access drug discovery technologies, and in-licensing of compounds prior to clinical proof-of-concept. Prior to joining Novartis, Chuck founded and led Archemix, a company focused on aptamer therapeutics. Responsible initially as its Chief Technology Officer for developing the company's technology platform and managing its drug discovery efforts, he moved into a business role focused on partnering with pharma and biotech companies. Before moving into industry, Chuck was a professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz where his group determined the first x-ray structures of aptamers bound to their targets. Formally trained in structural biology and molecular biology, Chuck received his PhD from UCSF and his post-doctoral training at MGH/Harvard.

Dr. Sanjeev Munshi is a Director in the External Research and Licensing organization of the Merck Research Laboratories. Sanjeev's role is to identify partnering opportunities that fit with Merck's strategic research and development goals across all therapeutic and technology areas. Sanjeev is primarily responsible for scouting in the Southeastern US.  Dr. Munshi graduated from Kashmir University, India with a BS in chemistry and physics. He earned a Ph.D. in molecular biophysics (Structural biology) from Indian Institute of Science, India. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in structural virology at Purdue University and a brief stint at National Cancer Institute, Sanjeev joined the Merck Research Labs in West Point, PA. After fifteen years of basic and discovery research, Sanjeev moved into External Scientific Affairs, where he is in a scouting role.

Dr. Steven Xanthoudakis earned his doctoral degree from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University in 1990. Following his post-doctoral training with Dr. Tom Curran at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology in New Jersey, he assumed a faculty position as a Research Investigator in the Department of Neurogenetics at Hoffman La Roche. He was recruited back to Montreal in 1996 to join Merck Frosst Canada as a Senior Research Scientist where he focused on advancing several early stage drug discovery programs in the neuroscience, respiratory and cardiovascular areas. Since early 2007 he has been involved in coordinating Merck and Co's Canadian R & D out-reach program. In his current position as Director, Licensing and External Research for Merck Research Laboratories, his primary role is to build lasting relationships with both the biotechnology and academic research communities and to help foster partnering opportunities which fit with Merck’s strategic research and development goals across all therapeutic and technology areas. Dr. Steven Xanthoudakis is based out of the Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research in Montreal, Canada.

Chris Grygon is Head, BI Partnering in the Business Development and Licensing group at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals. In this role, she is liaison to venture capital and investor communities for Boehringer globally. She has previously held the position of Acting Head, Global Licensing-Oncology, where she had oversight for strategy and evaluation around external alliances for Boehringer’s oncology portfolio. Prior to that, she was Head, Technology Investments for North America, also in the Business Development and Licensing area, responsible for sourcing external innovation to support Boehringer’s Research and Development functions. She has held positions as Executive Director of Biologics and Biomolecular Sciences in the Research and Development function, where she established and led a technology infrastructure group in support of the discovery of new protein therapeutics in collaboration with Boehringer’s R&D group in North America and manufacturing groups in Europe. Her team was also responsible for enabling specialized technology platforms to facilitate innovative drug discovery research for BI worldwide. She has pharmaceuticals expertise in both small molecule and protein biotherapeutic drug discovery.

Chris obtained her B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Delaware and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from Princeton University. She is an inventor on five patents and an author on over twenty three peer-reviewed scientific publications. She was a 2008 finalist for the Connecticut Technology Council Women of Innovation, Research Innovation and Leadership Award.

John Gustofson is Director of Strategic Partnering and Business Development at AstraZeneca. In his current position, John is responsible for identifying, evaluating and negotiating early preclinical to late stage clinical opportunities with a focus on Oncology. John has 15+ years professional experience with early stage biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. In addition, John spent approximately 4 years in strategy consulting to the life sciences industry.

Zafrira Avnur, Ph.D., is Global Academic Innovation Partnering Head at Roche Partnering.  She holds a post doctorate (Cancer Biology) from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. from Weizmann Institute (cell Biology). She was based in Palo Alto, California, USA, from 1987 until 2006, in various positions in the Research and Development area at Roche. Amongst the positions she held are Distinguished Scientist in Roche Bioscience; Disease Area Head for Osteoporosis and Head of Dept. of Musculoskeletal Research.  From 2006 she has been based in Basel Switzerland. She held positions of Director of Scientific evaluation and Director of Biomarker Alliances. Zafrira Avnur has published more than 30 peer-reviewed manuscripts and holds a number of patents.

Jeff Wasserstein is SVP of Business Development & Strategy for Fougera Pharmaceuticals Inc. (which was recently spun-off from Nycomed following Nycomed’s acquisition by Takeda Pharmaceuticals). In this role he is responsible for business development, portfolio management and strategic development for the Company’s PharmaDerm (Branded) and Fougera (Generic) operations. Prior to joining Nycomed, Jeff was President of Promius Pharma, a fully integrated, branded specialty pharmaceutical company which he founded, built and led for Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, a leading global generics organization. Concurrent with that position, he served as Executive Vice President, North America and as a member of the Global Management Council of Dr. Reddy’s.

Mr. Wasserstein also led a number of functions and operations for Schering-Plough Corporation including, President and General Manager of Schering Canada, Inc., Staff Vice President-Corporate Business Development, Strategic Planning and Internal Consulting and Staff Vice President and Associate General Counsel.

Prior to joining Dr. Reddy’s, Mr. Wasserstein was EVP & Chief Business Officer of Avigenics, Inc., a venture backed, development stage biotechnology company. He began his career as a Mergers & Acquisition specialist with the New York City Law Firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

Mr. Wasserstein earned a B.A. degree from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa. and a J.D. degree from The New York University School of Law, New York City.

Brian is Senior Director, Strategic Investment Group (SIG), for Shire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Brian has over 18 years operating experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, the last 9 years spent with Shire Pharmaceuticals. While with Shire, Brian has held responsibilities in a variety of roles within the organization, the most recent being as an initial member of the SIG, Shire's corporate venture arm. Brian began his affiliation with Shire in 2002 as Director of Finance for Shire's North American Development group in Maryland. In 2004 he established the first US Investor Relations group, based out of Philadelphia. After three years running US Investor Relations, Brian transitioned to an alliance management role and spent two years overseas helping establish geographic expansion strategies. Prior to joining Shire, Brian held a strategic planning role for Celera Genomics, was Controller for a start-up Contract Research Organization, and worked as a program planner and financial analyst for Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Brian received a B.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and an M.B.A. from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Eric Olson is a Senior Associate on the Genzyme Ventures team. Prior to joining Genzyme Ventures, Eric was a Business Development Manager in Genzyme’s Corporate Development group, where he evaluated and led numerous business development opportunities spanning several therapeutics areas and stages of development. Prior to joining Genzyme, Eric was an investment banker at Benedetto, Gartland & Co., a boutique that specializes in raising private equity for select private equity sponsors and corporations, and was also summer associate in health care investment banking group at Piper Jaffray & Co. Eric began his career as a Research Assistant at the Yale University School of Medicine, where he published several papers in peer-reviewed journals. Eric holds an M.B.A. from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia, an M.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from New York University, and a B.A. in Zoology from Connecticut College.

Syed Kazmi has served as Vice President, Business Development and Strategic Planning since July 2007. He has been instrumental in Ligand’s licensing deals and M&A activity including multiple product divestitures, acquisitions of three publically traded pharmaceutical companies (Pharmacopeia, Neurogen and Metabasis), set up and management of multiple strategic alliances with large pharma companies and out-licensing of Ligand R&D programs. Syed Kazmi is also Acting Head of research and development at Ligand. From 1995 to 2007, he held various positions at Ligand, including Senior Director of Business Development, Director of Project Management and leader of multiple drug development teams, and Senior Scientist in Molecular Endocrinology. Prior to joining Ligand, Dr. Kazmi worked as Principal Scientist in discovery research at Johnson & Johnson from 1988-1995 and did his postdoctoral research at McMaster University, Hamilton. Dr. Kazmi received a PhD in biochemistry from J.N. University, New Delhi, and an executive MBA from San Diego State University.

Anthony Recupero, Ph.D., serves as Senior Director, Licensing for Pharmaceutical Technologies at Aptalis Pharma (formerly Eurand) where he is responsible for new business development and licensing for North America. Prior to joining Eurand, Dr. Recupero was VP, Business Development at MaxCyte Inc., a cell therapeutics company, where he led all business development and licensing activities. Dr. Recupero previously served as Senior Director, Business Development at Gene Logic and has held several other business development and marketing positions in the biotech, bioinformatics, and biochemical industries, developing partnerships across North America, Europe, and Asia. He earned his Ph.D. in Cell & Molecular Biology from the University of Cincinnati and did his postdoctoral work studying renal cell carcinoma (RCC) at the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Recupero is an active member of the Licensing Executive Society (USA & Canada).

James Hattersley has over 24 years of successful leadership experience in biotechnology & pharmaceutical life sciences. From 1986 to 1995 Jim was responsible for drug delivery and NCE research at Alza Corporation and Abbott Laboratories. Since 1995 Jim has led strategic business growth including execution of several transactions of significant value at Eurand, Antares, and Sun Pharma Industries. Career interests include NCE drug development, alliance management, and corporate development involving specialty drug products. In his current position, as Vice President of Business Development at Sun, Jim leads a dedicated team of experts seeking acquisition, licensing, and partnership candidates capable of executing the parties’ financial and therapeutic objectives. Jim received undergraduate and graduate degrees in Neurobiology, and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, respectively, both from University of California.

Greg currently leads business and corporate development at Concert Pharmaceuticals, a company that applies precision deuterium chemistry to create differentiated New Chemical Entities (NCEs). This platform has yielded several candidates currently in clinical stage development, and a robust library of earlier stage compounds. Through early partnering, alternative funding, and other collaborative approaches, Concert has been able to progress multiple programs in parallel.

Mr. Hutchins has over twenty years experience in the pharmaceutical and CRO industries as both a buyer and seller of pharmaceutical research and development services. He spent over sixteen years at Merck in progressively responsible positions, twelve of which managing outsourcing in support of basic research and pre-clinical development. Then several years at BioDuro and WuXi AppTec in senior management roles with the responsibility of growing the companies from both business and corporate development perspectives. He is currently Senior Vice President of Strategic Business Development at Evotec where he has responsibility for managing Evotec’s interactions with the big pharmaceutical companies.

Len has primary responsibility for the management of all IP related matters at Medicis. His work includes negotiating and drafting transactions, conducting due diligence investigations, enforcing IP rights, and developing IP-related strategies.

Medicis is engaged in the research, development, and marketing of innovative pharmaceutical products and devices in dermatology and aesthetics. Len holds a J.D. from Washington University. He has technical degrees in biology and environmental science and soon will complete another in information systems (August 2010).  Prior to joining Medicis, Len was Senior Intellectual Property Counsel at Novo Nordisk. Len began his IP career as an associate in two law firms specializing in intellectual property litigation, prosecution, and counseling. Len also completed legal internships with the US District Court and in the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Len’s academic laboratory research focused on inheritance of repetitive DNA sequences.

Mr. Ertel joined Acceleron in January 2006 to lead the business development, market development, and investor/public relations functions. Mr. Ertel began his career in venture capital at Oxford Bioscience Partners and subsequently worked at several leading biotechnology companies including Genentech and Biogen Idec where he led project teams of preclinical and clinical stage programs, ran a market development department, launched a novel biologic agent, and directed business development activities. At Acceleron, he has secured several major collaborations with Celgene, Alkermes and Shire. He has a B.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Ireland received his Bachelor of Science degree from Brock University in 1986. He began his career in sales and marketing with BioRad Laboratories in 1986 based in Hong Kong servicing all of Southeast Asia. Mr. Ireland joined Nalge Corporation in 1990 as Director of Asian Operations where he held line-management responsibility for their business throughout Asia. In 1993, Mr. Ireland joined F.H. Faulding Pharmaceuticals, Australia's largest indigenous pharmaceutical manufacturer, as Director of North Asia. Most recently, Mr. Ireland was Director of Business Development at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., in Ridgefield, Connecticut. There he led the Immunology Therapeutic Advisory Team for Boehringer worldwide, mandated with identifying global research and product licensing opportunities in the areas of immunology and inflammation.

Francois Nader has been president and chief executive officer of NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. since March 2008. Dr. Nader joined NPS in June 2006 and served as executive vice president and chief operating officer until March 2008. In that capacity, he was responsible for managing the company’s worldwide research and development, commercial operations, manufacturing and regulatory affairs. Before joining NPS, Dr. Nader was a venture partner at Care Capital, LLC from July 2005 to June 2006, during which time he served as chief medical officer of its clinical development capital unit. From 2000 to July 2005, Dr. Nader was with Aventis Pharmaceuticals where he served as senior vice president, integrated healthcare markets and senior vice president, North America medical and regulatory affairs. He was also vice president, North America medical and regulatory affairs and vice president, US medical affairs and global health economics at Hoechst Marion Roussel from 1990 to 1999. Dr. Nader also served as head of global commercial operations at the Pasteur Vaccines division of Rhone-Poulenc from 1985 to 1990. Dr. Nader received a French State Doctorate in Medicine from St. Joseph University and a Physician Executive M.B.A. from the University of Tennessee.

Mr. Abdollahian has over 13 years of management and research experience in the life sciences industry. His experience in biopharmaceutical management includes more than 30 transactions ranging from early-stage technology collaborations, clinical-stage licensing transactions to acquisition and divestment of marketed therapeutics and companies. Most recently, Mr. Abdollahian was Director of Business Development & Special Projects at Emerging Growth Capital Pty, a biotech focused Australian investment bank. Prior to EG Capital, he spent 8 years leading and closing high-value biotech transactions while at Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Isis Pharmaceuticals and Neurogen Corporation. Mr. Abdollahian began his career in the research sciences where his graduate research focused on neuronal energy metabolism. He earned an MBA from Pepperdine University, an M.S. in the Biomedical Sciences from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and a B.S. in the Biological Sciences from the George Washington University.

Al Altomari is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Agile Therapeutics and a member of the Company's Board of Directors. Prior to being named President and CEO, Mr. Altomari served as Agile's Executive Chairman in which capacity he closed a $45 million venture round in May 2010. Mr. Altomari has more than 28 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with more than 20 years focused on the development and marketing of specialty pharmaceutical products. Currently Mr. Altomari is leading Agile through the final stages of development and commercialization of contraceptive products using the Company's proprietary transdermal technology.

Prior to joining Agile Therapeutics, Mr. Altomari served as Chief Executive Officer of Barrier Therapeutics and as a member of the Company's Board of Directors. In 2008, Mr. Altomari completed the successful sale of the Company (NASDAQ: BTRX) to GSK/Stiefel Laboratories for a 73% premium. His initial role with the Company had been as Chief Commercial Officer, beginning in August 2003, and he was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in February 2006. During his tenure at Barrier, Mr. Altomari set up Barrier's commercial infrastructure, all sales and marketing activities for Barrier's product portfolio and oversaw management of all worldwide business development initiatives.

Prior to joining Barrier, Mr. Altomari functioned in numerous executive roles in general management, commercial operations, business development, product launch preparation and finance within Johnson & Johnson from 1982 to 2003. He completed his tenure with Johnson & Johnson as General Manager of Ortho Neutrogena, where he successfully led the integration of Ortho Dermatological and Neutrogena Professional. Mr. Altomari also served as Vice President/Franchise Head of Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical's Women's Health Care Franchise where he introduced several life cycle and new product development initiatives, including launching Ortho EvraÆ, a contraceptive patch. Sales of the Women's Health Care Franchise were well in excess of $1 billion.

Mr. Altomari currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AUXL), DUSA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: DUSA) and NB Therapeutics. In July 2007, Mr. Altomari was recognized by PharmaVOICE Magazine as one of the Top 100 Most Inspirational and Influential Leaders in the Life Sciences Industry. He received a Masters in Business Administration from Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and his Bachelor of Science degree from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with a dual major in finance and accounting. Mr. Altomari currently serves on the Le Bow College (Drexel's Business School) advisory board.

Dr. Snitman is a Co-Founder of Array and has served as Chief Operating Officer, Vice President of Business Development, and a member of the Board of Directors since May 1998. Prior to forming Array, Dr. Snitman held various positions with Amgen Inc. since 1981, including Associate Director, New Products and Technology and Manager of Amgen's Boulder research facility. Dr. Snitman received a B.S. in chemistry from Northeastern University and obtained a Ph.D. in the synthesis of natural products from the University of Colorado. He was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ms. DeYoung's previous roles have included business development, portfolio management, commercial operations and management consulting in biotech pharmaceutical companies in the US and abroad. Prior to Reata, she served as Vice President, Business Development for ODC Therapy. She also held U.S. and global positions at EMD Pharmaceuticals, the U.S. subsidiary of Germany-based Merck KGaA. Ms. DeYoung began her career in the pharmaceuticals business with Accenture. She received a B.S. degree in Chemistry and Mathematics from Southwestern University and an M.B.A. from the University of Texas.

Dr. Webster has served as Vice President, Business Development since January 2009. Prior to joining Tetraphase, he was Vice President, Corporate Development at Surface Logix, Inc., where he was responsible for corporate partnering and M&A. Prior to this, he held positions of increasing responsibility in business development (in-licensing and out-licensing) at ImmunoGen and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he concluded a number of important strategic alliance deals. Dr. Webster began his career in the biotech industry at MPM Capital L.P., where he was a Senior Analyst.

Dr. Webster received his B.A. in Biological Sciences from Northwestern University and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania. He previously served as Damon Runyon-Walker Winchell postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Webster also holds an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Sanj Singh is Co-Founder, President and CEO of Ade Therapeutics. Sanj has led the development of the company since inception and brought products into the clinic, established key strategic alliances and partnerships to advance the product portfolio.

Ade Therapeutics is a privately held market driven clinical-stage product development company located in Canada. The company’s vision is to be the worldwide leader in developing products that deal with complications related to, as a result of or during surgery. The company’s core competencies lie in its ability to translate clinical insight to the lab and then to bedside. The team consists of leading PhD/MD surgeons (Stanford, Cleveland Clinic, Stony Brook Medical Center, NY), clinical trial expertise, and regulatory. The Company's assets are well positioned to add significant value to patients and the health care system: Designed by surgeons for surgeons and their patients.

The company has developed and patented a novel approach for the prevention and reversal of adhesions or scar tissue, a worldwide problem that occurs in 93% of surgeries. Ade Therapeutics has expanded its novel approach into additional programs where adhesions and/or scarring are a significant problem: laminectomies (spinal surgeries), craniotomies, orthopaedics, ophthalmology, cosmetic plastic surgery and keloids (dermal).

Enlight Biosciences is a Boston-based venture creation firm, established in partnership with major pharmaceutical companies to develop breakthrough innovations that will fundamentally alter drug discovery and development. Dr. Harris manages Enlight’s day-to-day operations and is responsible for providing management support to Enlight’s portfolio companies. Prior to joining Enlight, Dr. Harris was Executive Director and Head of Business Strategy and Operations for Novartis Biologics; Senior Manager in Novartis Pharma AG’s strategic planning group; and an Engagement Manager for McKinsey & Company’s healthcare practice, where he advised clients across the healthcare spectrum including biotech / pharma, hospitals & health systems, and private equity. Dr. Harris also worked as a research associate at the University of California, Davis, the Weizmann Institute of Science, and Sankyo Ltd., and as an Intern at Burrill & Company. Dr. Harris received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from the University of California, San Francisco, where he was a Howard Hughes predoctoral fellow, and his Sc.B. in Biophysics from Brown University with Honors, magna cum laude, where he was initiated into Sigma Xi.

Anand joined Sofinnova Ventures in 2007 to focus on biopharmaceutical investing. Anand’s diverse background equips him to work with entrepreneurs on scientific, clinical, and strategic levels. Currently, he is a director of Marinus and Nextwave Pharmaceuticals, and led the firm's investments in Vicept (Acquired: Allergan) and Aerie. Anand also played an important role in the firm’s investments in Hyperion, Preglem (Acquired: Gedeon Richter), and Amarin (NASDAQ: AMRN).

Prior to joining Sofinnova Ventures, Anand worked in JP Morgan’s private equity and venture capital group, where he was heavily involved in new investments, management of their public portfolio, and the firm’s spin-out from the bank. Before joining the venture community, Anand was a consultant in McKinsey & Company's pharmaceutical practice, advising pharma and biotech on key strategic issues, and an NIH-funded Fellow focused on reperfusion injury in stroke.  Anand received his M.D. from Columbia Medical School and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Virginia.

Dr. Michael J. Wasserman is a Managing Director at H.I.G. BioVentures, LLC. He focuses on investments in therapeutics and medical devices. He is also currently employed at H.I.G. Capital. Dr. Wasserman also has extensive clinical research experience. Prior to joining H.I.G., he was the Manager of Technology Ventures at Innovations Foundation. Dr. Wasserman also served as a Principal and focused on the creation, financing, and development of high technology companies ... in the life sciences, information technology, and engineering sectors. He was instrumental in building multiple high growth companies derived from academic or federally sponsored research programs. Dr. Wasserman has also held prominent operating roles in several entrepreneurial and venture-backed life sciences efforts. He also served as a Founder and Vice President of Business Development at CELLutions Biosystems, Inc., where Dr. Wasserman broadly managed business operations and was directly responsible for the successful negotiation of partnership, co-development, and licensing agreements with industry leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations. Earlier in his career, Dr. Wasserman worked directly for, or as a Consultant to corporate finance institutions, biopharmaceutical companies, venture-backed biotechnology businesses, and clinical research organizations. As Director of Research at Advanced Therapeutics, he was involved in a series of seminal clinical studies involving biological approaches to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. Dr. Wasserman serves as a Director or Board Observer at HyperBranch Medical Technology, Tranzyme Pharma, and CardioFocus. He is a Director of BioFlorida. He also serves as a Director at Clarus Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Wasserman received a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Toronto and a B.S. from McGill University.

Marc Malandro serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Technology Management and Commercialization and oversees the technology commercialization and licensing activities of both the Office of Technology Management and the Office of Enterprise Development, Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering. He serves on the Board of Directors of Pennsylvania Bio and the Pittsburgh Technology Council. He is also a Certified Licensing Professional and Registered Technology Transfer Practitioner. He has been with the University since 2004 where he previously served in the roles of Technology Licensing Manager and subsequently Director. Under Dr. Malandro’s leadership, the Office of Technology Management has filed over 580 new U.S. patent applications, executed over 400 license agreements and formed 29 companies based on University technologies since 2005.

Prior to joining the University, Dr. Malandro co-founded Sagres Discovery, a systems biology company focused on the understanding of the molecular basis of cancer, where he served as Vice President of Technology and Strategic Alliances and was involved in all aspects of intellectual property, licensing and alliance management.

Dr. Malandro received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Florida, College of Medicine and completed his postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Human Molecular Genetics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Dr. Donabedian is Vice President, Global New Deal Strategy and Development and is a member of the ceedd leadership team. In this role, he is accountable for setting the ceedd new deal portfolio strategy and composition and working closely with GSK worldwide business development to establish new alliances. Prior to this position, Dr. Donabedian was the Vice President of Strategic Alliances in GSK's Centre of Excellence for External Drug Discovery (ceedd) where he was responsible for identifying and evaluating new business opportunities for the U.S. ceedd and supporting the current network of external alliances. Prior to joining the ceedd, Dr. Donabedian built a successful consultancy practice providing business development services to both public and private biotechnology companies. He has sourced and closed several agreements with biopharmaceutical companies and academic institutions. Dr. Donabedian's previous senior level positions include CEO, COO and VP of Business Development for Tutorzilla, BioChemics, and Surface Logix. Dr. Donabedian also worked as a Sr. Manager in Accenture's Strategic Services Consulting Group serving both in the U.S. and internationally, with assignments focusing on R&D post-merger integration, business unit strategy, and resource planning. Prior to Accenture, Dr. Donabedian held senior level positions at Sentry® Products, a Union Carbide life science venture (now Dow Chemical), where he headed a product development team specializing in developing and patenting a broad range of technologies to the life sciences industries. Dr. Donabedian began his research career as a scientist with SciMed Life Systems, a division of Boston Scientific. Dr. Donabedian is an inventor/co-inventor on several patents and has published several papers in peer-reviewed journals in the field of polymer science. Since 2006, Dr. Donabedian has served as a member of University of Massachusetts Lowell Plastics Advisory Committee. He is also as an Alumni Network Advisor for the University of North Carolina Business School. He received an A.B. from St. Anselm College, a Ph.D. in polymer chemistry from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill where he was a Deloitte Case Cup Challenge Winner.

D. Brian Kacedon is a partner at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP. His practice focuses on patent licensing and patent litigation work. Mr. Kacedon’s role in these matters has included assisting clients in conducting market assessments for their patents, conducting licensing negotiations, drafting licensing and settlement agreements, and participating in related litigations. Mr. Kacedon also has extensive experience in drafting patent, know-how, and software license agreements in many industries including the biopharmaceutical industry where he has worked with leading companies such as Abbott Laboratories and Eli Lilly and Company. In addition, Mr. Kacedon has broad experience in all aspects of patent litigation, including drafting claim construction and summary judgment motions, examining and cross-examining witnesses, and managing day-to-day litigation activities.

A frequent presenter at legal and industry workshops and conferences, Mr. Kacedon has lectured on drafting patent and know-how licenses for the Patent Resources Group, the Licensing Executives Society, as well as other organizations and was previously an adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Law. Mr. Kacedon was listed in Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine as one of 250 of the world’s leading patent and technology licensing practitioners in 2010 and 2011.

Jeffrey P. Brennan joined Targacept in September, 2003, as Vice President of Business and Commercial Development. Mr. Brennan has more than 25 years of pharmaceutical industry experience, and has held Executive Management positions at : Sanofi-Synthelabo, Inc., from 1996-2003, and most recently at Targacept.

Throughout his career, Mr. Brennan has demonstrated success in both strategic development and key operations roles. He has developed and expanded the capability and capacity of sales and marketing teams, strategic market research and business analysis divisions, product life cycle management and business development departments.

Mr. Brennan received a B.S. in Marketing from Central Connecticut University. He has been a member of the Licensing Executive Society (LES) since 1991 and is a former Board member of the Health Care Committee for the LES. He is currently a member of the American Marketing Association. 

Mr. Brennan has completed over 35 mid to late stage business development deals and has been involved in more than 25 product launches in his career. As a member of Sanofi’s Executive Management team, he played an instrumental role in helping the company achieve a nearly 10-fold increase in sales, profits, sales force and headquarter expansion over the past six years.

In his role as Targacept’s Senior Vice-President of Business and Commercial Development & Chief Business Officer, Mr. Brennan is a member of Targacept’s Executive Committee and is playing a key role in turning “Science into Business” through key partnerships with AstraZeneca & GlaxoSmithKline.

Kevin Skol leads the business development activities at Isis Pharmaceuticals as the Director of Business Development. Kevin is primarily responsible for implementing Isis’ innovative partnering structures including its Preferred Partner Alliance model and Satellite Company strategy which now includes over a dozen technology and drug development collaborations. Prior to Isis, Kevin was a marketing director, neuroscience at Valeant Pharmaceuticals leading its migraine franchise. Kevin also spent several years in business development at Valeant where the team completed the $280M acquisition of Xcel pharmaceuticals and numerous other transactions including product acquisitions, co-promotions, in-licenses, out-licenses and divestitures. Prior to Valeant, Kevin was Vice President of Corporate Development at Digital Gene Technologies, a private genomics based company, who oversaw Corporate Development and the Investor Relations team. Kevin was responsible for identifying, initiating, closing and managing strategic alliances with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Prior to DGT, Kevin served in the New York-based business development group at Elan, a publicly held biopharmaceutical and drug delivery company. In that position, Kevin helped direct U.S. business development activities, specializing in drug development and drug delivery partnerships and joint ventures between Elan and a wide range of U.S. biotechnology companies that completed over 50 transactions. Kevin personally closed eight licensing and joint venture transactions totaling over $100 million in revenue. Kevin was also a key member of the team that built and managed Elan's significant portfolio of investments assisting with the management, fundraising and business development needs of the portfolio companies.

Prior to joining Elan, Kevin spent a number of years at Goldman, Sachs & Company as a financial analyst within the Structured Finance and Real Estate Groups. He performed in-depth analyses and advised companies involved in the telecommunications, metals, healthcare, railroads, sports management, real estate, and financial industries. Kevin serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Ingredient Innovations International (3i), a nutraceuticals company based in Ohio. Kevin holds a BA in Economics from Yale University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Jeff Wasserstein is SVP of Business Development & Strategy for Nycomed in the United States. In this role he is responsible for business development, portfolio management and strategic development for the Company’s PharmaDerm and Fougera operations. Prior to joining Nycomed, Jeff was President of Promius Pharma, a fully integrated, branded specialty pharmaceutical company which he founded, built and led for Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, a leading global generics organization. Concurrent with that position, he served as Executive Vice President, North America and as a member of the Global Management Council of Dr. Reddy’s where he had day-to-day responsibility as Chief Administrative Officer for all North America operations.

Mr. Wasserstein also led a number of functions and operations for Schering-Plough Corporation. His last role with the Company was as a Senior Vice President where he reported directly to the Company’s Chairman & Chief Executive Officer. Prior to that role, he served as President and General Manager of Schering Canada, Inc. In that capacity he was responsible for the day-to-day operations of prescription, over-the-counter and animal health businesses, including sales, marketing, manufacturing, clinical trials, finance and human resources functions.

Mr. Wasserstein also served as Staff Vice President-Corporate Business Development, Strategic Planning and Internal Consulting of Schering-Plough where he reported directly to the Company’s Vice Chairman. Prior to that position, he served as Staff Vice President and Associate General Counsel.

Prior to joining Dr. Reddy’s, Mr. Wasserstein was Executive Vice President & Chief Business Officer of Avigenics, Inc., a venture backed, development stage biotechnology company focused on protein-based molecules. He began his career as a Mergers & Acquisition specialist with the New York City Law Firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

Mr. Wasserstein earned a B.A. degree, cum laude, in government from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa. where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa. He also holds a J.D. degree from The New York University School of Law, New York City, where he was a member of The Law Review and a recipient of the Vanderbilt Medal.

Mr. Wasserstein has served on private and public company Boards of Directors.

Mr. Campbell heads a number of departments at Amicus including Business Development, Program Management, Commercial Planning, Technical Operations and Patient Advocacy. In this role, he has led numerous in licensing and out licensing evaluations and transactions including most recently a $230 M strategic collaboration with GSK Rare Diseases completed in 2010.

Mr. Campbell was previously with Genzyme, serving first as Sr. Product Manager for Myozyme®, Genzyme's ERT for Pompe disease, and later as Business Director of their cardiac gene therapy programs, responsible for business development and commercial planning. He has also worked in sales & marketing for Bristol-Myers Squibb, and as a strategy consultant for Marakon Associates.

Mr. Campbell has been active in various philanthropic organizations, and currently sits on the Executive Committee of the Board of the National Tay-Sachs and Allied Diseases Association. He received his B.A. in Public Policy from Duke University and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Mike Hoerres is Principal at Geisinger Ventures, the strategic venture group affiliated with Geisinger Health Systems (GHS). GHS is a non-for-profit, fully integrated health delivery system serving communities across much of Pennsylvania, and is a leading healthcare organization in the US.

In his role at Geisinger Mr. Hoerres leads partnering efforts with the pharmaceutical and life science industries, including the development of translational research projects and clinical trials. He also leads Geisinger efforts to commercialize promising genomic and proteomic technologies for personalized healthcare, utilizing the Geisinger Health System integrated healthcare delivery model to spur innovation. Mr. Hoerres is a seasoned biotechnology professional with more than 20 years experience in the life science industry in a variety of sales, marketing, and business development roles, including positions with Stratagene (now Agilent Technologies), Incyte Genomics, Affymetrix and Source MDx.

Geisinger Ventures invests system resources in healthcare technology, information technology, medical devices, medical diagnostics and therapeutics meeting the following characteristics:

• Improve medical care
• Lower healthcare costs to patients and key stakeholders
• Significant market potential

Matthew Porzio, Vice President of Product Marketing, joined IntraLinks in August of 2003. He is responsible for driving the development and marketing of IntraLinks' Exchanges including virtual dealroom/dataroom solutions for the M&A and restructuring communities.

Before joining IntraLinks, he was a senior associate at Metzler, a German advisory firm, where he focused on cross-border M&A transactions. Prior to Metzler, Mr. Porzio served as an analyst and associate in Equity Capital Markets and Business Services Investment Banking groups at First Union Securities (later Wachovia). Mr. Porzio holds a Bachelor's degree from Colgate University.

Mr. Porzio is widely recognized as a leading authority on virtual datarooms and M&A technology. He has been quoted in several national and international publications related to the investment banking, legal and corporate M&A markets including the Boston Globe's Business Section, Investment Dealers Digest, The Deal and American Lawyer. Mr. Porzio has spoken on numerous industry panels and is a member of the selection committee for the M&A International Media Awards.