Our Team

Dr. Geoffrey Ling serves as CEO of NED Biosystems. Geoff is an internationally recognized innovation leader. He is Co-Leader of The BrainHealth Project – an initiative to double human brain performance in the next 10 years. He also serves as a Professor of Neurology and is an Attending Neurocritical Care physician at Johns Hopkins University and Hospital. Dr. Ling previously served as the Founding Director of the Biological Technologies Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and also Assistant Director for Medical Innovation of the Science Division in President Obama’s White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).  He is a retired U.S. Army colonel, who served for 27 years during which time he was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dr. Ling’s medical degree is from Georgetown University and his doctorate in Pharmacology is from Cornell University. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. His neurology residency was done at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and his Neuro Critical Care fellowship at Johns Hopkins.  He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and reviews.  He is a member of the honor societies of Alpha Omega Alpha, Sigma Xi and Military Medical Order of Merit. He is a fellow of the American Neurological Association, American Academy of Neurology and Neurocritical Care Society. He is a member of the Society for Critical Care Medicine, American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and AMSUS (the Society of Federal Health Professionals).

Over the last 40 years, Rebecca Lambert has designed and executed strategies to solve complex issues confronting business, government, political, healthcare, and financial entities. In recent years Ms. Lambert has focused on development of NED Biosystems’ lead candidate, NED-170, the first cancer therapy to affect the four processes that drive stage II-IV cancers. Ms. Lambert has a published issued patent, directed to compositions and methods for the treatment of cancers. Ms. Lambert has another patent issued based on angiogenic regulators and their use in disease diagnosis and treatment, and a third patent pending on the prophylaxis and treatment of viral infection related to acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Prior to founding NED, Ms. Lambert led high net worth marketing for Shaker Investments, raising >$1B for its U.S. long-short hedge fund. As a principal, she founded a company that deployed the first compressed digital satellite delivery of multiple TV channels to 40% of all U.S. hospitals. Previously she successfully upgraded FM radio stations to move them to top 100 markets ultimately selling each asset to a major Group Broadcasting Company. While Associate Deputy Secretary for the US Department of Commerce during the Reagan Administration, she initiated the Federal Government’s first use of the “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU), which resulted in US companies gaining $3 billion of Brazilian hydro projects. Previously, Ms. Lambert served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Department of Energy. Earlier in her career, she served as chief of staff for US Sen. Malcolm Wallop, and for the Republican Senatorial Committee, Ted Stevens, Chairman. Previously, Ms. Lambert managed strategy for numerous statewide political campaigns including Sen. Malcolm Wallop’s upset victory for the US Senate in 1976. One of the first non-lawyers to associate with a major Washington, DC law firm, she represented Wiley Rein & Fielding clients before the U.S. Congress, White House and other US Departments and Agencies. 

While living in New York City, Ms. Lambert served as the President of Bellevue Hospital’s Bellevue Association Board. During her tenure this organization was revitalized to garner support of Bellevue’s “Heroes Behind the Headlines”– the clinicians, nurses, and allied healthcare workers who routinely care for New York’s police and firefighters, as well as the homeless. Ms. Lambert has a BA in political science from Simmons College, and attended Harvard’s Advanced Management Program.

Brian Leyland-Jones, BSc (Ist class Hons), MB BS, PhD, FRACP, FRCPC is the Chief Medical Officer and Scientific Advisory Board Member for the National Foundation For Cancer Research (NFCR). He also serves as the Chief Medical Officer of OTraces and the N OF 1 Mission, collectively devoted to the implementation of prevention and cure of malignancy globally.  He sits on several national and international boards including the Asian Foundation for Cancer Research (AFCR), Non-Pareil, and is Director Emeritus for the WIN Consortium.

Dr.  Leyland-Jones holds biochemistry, medical, and doctoral degrees from the University of London. Following residency training at Hammersmith, Brompton, St. Bartholomew’s and London hospitals, he completed a clinical pharmacology fellowship at Cornell University and a medical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He then joined the academic staff at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and New York Hospitals with a special research interest in Early Phase clinical, clinical pharmacological and biomarker evaluation of many anticancer compounds, including the platinums and anthracycline analogs in use today. In 1983, he moved to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to head the Developmental Chemotherapy section. During his time with the NCI, he was responsible for the overall development of approximately 70 anti-cancer compounds in various stages of transition from in-vitro screening to Phase III clinical trials, including overseeing the early development of paclitaxel in Phase 1 and 2 trials. From 1990 to 2000, he served as founding chair of Oncology and director of the McGill University Comprehensive Cancer Centre. He recruited and built a broad multifaceted cancer centre, including a robust cross-hospital clinical trials enterprise, with deep clinical pharmacologic and biomarker support. Dr. Leyland-Jones continued as the Minda de Gunzberg Chair in Oncology and professor of medicine at McGill University in Montreal, Canada for 7 additional years, focusing on the development and biomarker strategies of several of the new targeted oncologic agents.

He joined Emory University in 2007. As Director of the Winship Cancer Centre and Associate Vice-President of Health Sciences, Dr. Leyland-Jones led the Centre to obtain National Cancer Institute Cancer Centre Designation, the first in the State of Georgia, and for the first time in 30 years. Dr. Leyland-Jones was instrumental in building the Genomics Medicine Program at the Avera Cancer Institute in Sioux Falls, SD where he was the Vice President of Molecular and Experimental Medicine from 2014-2019. Dr. Leyland-Jones’ principal academic contributions have been in the fields of anticancer therapy development, the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacogenetics of oncological clinical trials, the translation of preclinical models into the clinic, biomarker endpoints in Phase I/II clinical trials, and screening and mechanistic studies of novel targeted and chemotherapeutic anticancer agents.

Dr. Leyland-Jones is the recipient of numerous research grants, and has served as principal, co-principal and co-investigator on more than 100 clinical studies. He has authored and co-authored more than 210 peer-reviewed articles and book contributions, 25 books and book chapters, 425 abstracts and 35 patents.  He has a robust speaking and private consulting practice that takes him all over the world.

Craig Eastwood is a licensed CPA and brings with him an extensive background of more than 25 years in corporate finance and accounting, investor relations, financial planning and analysis, and treasury and systems implementations.  Most recently he served as CFO for CytoDyn, Inc. a publicly-traded late-stage biotech. His experience includes over 3 years of financial management and investor relations roles at Pharmaceutical Product Development, a global publicly-traded CRO. Mr. Eastwood started his career at Deloitte auditing public and private companies.

Peter D’Errico has served as COO since June 2019 and CFO since November 2017. Previously, he served as CEO at NED Biosystems from October 2009 to November 2017. Mr. D’Errico has over twenty years of senior level experience in building new technology businesses in the medical field. Prior to joining NED, Mr. D’Errico led the initial new product introductions in two commercial stage medical device companies (Eleme Medical & Aesthera). Mr. D’Errico was VP of Technical Operations with Cytyc Corp. (cancer diagnostic screening), where he led product development, technical support and operations. In medical devices, he was Executive Vice President of the Americas at Lumenis. Earlier, Mr. D’Errico held leadership positions in the Immunodiagnostics division of Chiron/Novartis for fifteen years. Mr. D’Errico served in various progressive roles including Managing Director, Chiron, UK, where he led 300 people in 5 countries and Vice President of Worldwide Marketing-Immunodiagnostics. Mr. D’Errico holds a Bachelors of Industrial Engineering from Kettering University and an MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

Rank: Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School

Affiliation:
Transplant Infectious Diseases and Immunocompromised Host Service
Division of Infectious Diseases
Department of Medicine
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts

Michael Mansour is a physician-scientist who started his research career in the biotech sector and graduated with MD/PhD dual degrees from Boston University School of Medicine with a research concentration in immune responses against invading pathogens. He completed his medical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, MA where he also served as a Chief resident, before completing the Harvard combined Infectious Diseases training program at MGH and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Mansour joined the MGH ID faculty in 2014, and now attends on the clinical Transplant Infectious Diseases and Immunocompromised Host Service, where he cares for solid and stem cell transplant recipients and those individuals with weakened immunity. Dr. Mansour is an investigator overseeing a RO1-funded laboratory with a focus on innate immune responses to infectious pathogens. He also directs several COVID-19 clinical trials testing novel treatments for coronavirus. In addition, he sits on several committees for the development of treatment guidelines for patients with COVID-
19 infection.

Lou Vaickus, M.D., FACP, serves as Chief Medical Advisor (Oncology) to NED Biosystems. Dr. Vaickus is Chief Executive Officer and Founder of akta Pharmaceutical Development LLC (aktaPD®). Dr. Vaickus has served as Interim Chief Medical Officer at several biotech companies, most recently for Vedanta, Verastem, Inc. and InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. Dr. Vaickus’ therapeutic areas of specialization includes oncology, hematology, pulmonary and other fibrotic disorders, infectious diseases, autoimmunity, internal medicine, immunology and medical devices inclusive of rare diseases. He has over 30 years of experience that began as an Academic Scientist, then practicing Physician, then spanned into industry with Preclinical, Clinical, and Globally Marketed Pharmaceutical Products. In industry, Lou served as Vice President and Head of Clinical Development, Global Medicines Development and Affairs at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Before joining Vertex, Dr. Vaickus was Chief Medical Officer of Tolerx, Inc. from 2002 to 2011. Previously, he served as Vice President of Clinical Research and later as Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs at Sunovion (formerly Sepracor, Inc.), Medical Director of Oncology/Immunology at EMD Serono (formerly Ares Serono), where he supervised clinical and medical affairs for Rebif®, and Associate Medical Director, Medical Director, and later Medical Marketing Director for the Rebif® Multiple Sclerosis Strategic Business Unit at Serono. Dr. Vaickus is board certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology, and Medical Oncology. He completed postdoctoral fellowships in hematology, oncology, and immunology at the Mayo Clinic and Stanford University. Dr. Vaickus has held faculty positions at the U of Iowa (Division of Hematology/Oncology) and at Roswell Park Cancer Institute/SUNY Buffalo (Divisions of Clinical Immunology, Bone Marrow Transplant, Hematologic Malignancies, and Solid Tumor Oncology and Investigational Therapeutics). Dr. Vaickus holds an M.D. from Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine.

Susan Stewart has served as Kaleido’s Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs & Quality since April 2018. Ms. Stewart has worked for more than 28 years in biopharmaceutical regulatory affairs, with significant experience devising innovative strategies for novel therapeutics, overseeing regulatory submissions at various stages of product development and leading interactions with global health authorities. In addition to being an independent regulatory consultant for several years, she was senior vice president of regulatory affairs, quality, and compliance at Tokai Pharmaceuticals and vice president, regulatory affairs at Transmolecular. She also spent 13 years at Genzyme Corporation in regulatory and compliance roles, including serving as vice president, regulatory affairs after beginning her career with Abbott Laboratories.  She received her LL.M from Maurice A Dean School of Law at Hofstra University, her J.D. from Concord Law School at Purdue University Global and her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts.  She is a Fellow of the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS), a Director of the Board, and holds Regulatory Affairs Certifications (RAC) for both the US and Europe.

Beth has more than 25 years’ experience as a regulatory affairs professional, designing product development and regulatory strategies for pharmaceuticals, biologics, medical devices, and combination products and representing U.S. and international clients in FDA product approval efforts. Her broad expertise also includes the development of dietary supplements, and cosmetic ingredients. She has prepared or managed the preparation of INDs, NDAs, Annual Reports, Investigator Brochures, and Safety Reports for drug and combination products. She has prepared and successfully filed regulatory submissions for medical devices, including 510(k)s, IDEs for significant risk devices, and premarket approval PMA submissions for implantable devices. She has prepared several successful orphan drug designation requests and requests for accelerated approval. She is currently a Director of SciLucent, a firm providing regulatory and scientific consulting services to the biopharmaceutical industry. Beth has an M.S. in Zoology (Physiology) from The Ohio State University and a B.S. in Biology from Binghamton University. She maintains Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC) from the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (RAPS).

Erminia has more than 20 years’ global clinical trial experience in the pharmaceutical industry, in multiple therapeutic areas that include: Infectious Disease, Hematology/Oncology, Immunology, Influenza, CNS, Cardiovascular, Cystic Fibrosis, Multiple Sclerosis, and Rheumatoid Arthritis. She has global experience in Pediatric and Adult Clinical Trials, POC, Phase I –Phase IV, Registry Studies with 5000+ patients, and Investigator Initiated Clinical Studies. She has managed, developed and negotiated budgets, contracts, CDA’s, CTA’s, MSA’s, CO’s, and CRO’s. Ms. Cafasso most recently served as Senior Clinical Operations Consultant for Epizyme Pharmaceutical, Associate Director of Clinical Operations for Kura Oncology and Sesen Bio, Clinical Trial Manager for Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals for PRA Health Sciences, Country Study Manager for Hoffman La-Roche and Clinical Team Lead for Abbott Laboratories and Sumitoma Pharmaceutical. She also was Clinical Trial Assistant in Hematology and Oncology at St. Michael’s Medical Center. Prior to that she was Research teaching Specialist in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology and the Department of Surgery at the University of Medicine of New Jersey. She holds a BA in Biology and Completed her Mini MBA in the Biopharma Innovation Program from Rutgers University. She holds ICH GCP Certification.

Dr. Elliott brings 33 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, providing an experienced perspective in preclinical / manufacturing / pharmaceutical / quality, preclinical safety and clinical drug development strategic areas.  With a formal didactic, fellowship and employment background in pharmacy, clinical pharmacology, pharmaceutical sciences, medicinal chemistry, clinical research, and quality compliance, the consultant has guided overall drug development strategies for numerous pharmaceutical and biotech companies including: VP Product Development, Ribi ImmunoChem; Sr., Dir. Product Development, Corixa Corp; VP Product Development, Salmedix Inc.; Executive VP Product Development, Aires Pharmaceuticals; and VP Technical Operations, Adventrx Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Elliott has had extensive interaction over the years with US, Canadian and European drug and biologics regulatory authorities, considerable experience authoring and supervising compilation of various regulatory filings spanning pre-IND to NDA. Consequently he has developed comprehensive insight and appreciation of what are “development phase appropriate” levels of cGMP, cGLP and cGCP compliance.  Dr. Elliott also provides critical review of in-licensing opportunities and competitive assessment of external drug candidates, allowing identification across clinical, CMC and preclinical areas of the strengths and weaknesses of such technologies.

Dr. Brenda Herschbach Jarrell PhD, JD, Co-Chair of the Life Sciences Group and Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Department at Choate Hall & Stewart.

Elinor Mullins, first employee, has worked with NED Biosystems for over 10 years–seeking to transform the treatment of complex disease globally. As Director of Business Operations, she designs business strategies and manages implementation to achieve essential goals for performance, streamlines communications with key consultants, supports product development through data research, participates in grant-writing efforts and communications with government entities, conducts patent substantiation research, and oversees daily operations of the company, and provides direct support to the Founder.

Prior to joining NED, Ms. Mullins sat on the community board for the Palliative and Supportive Care of Nantucket foundation in support of their annual fundraising drive. During college she marketed the launch of a women-focused clinic for a specialized group of sports and orthopedic surgeons.

Ms. Mullins has a BA in Cellular Molecular Biology with a concentration in Pre-Health, and a Minor in Architectural Studies from Connecticut College. Since 2011 she has served as Regional Coordinator for CommuniTyler, a nonprofit foundation with over 30 international sites, with the mission to “better our communities while making friends”. She also volunteers with Cape Ann Challenger Hockey, a program that introduces children and teens with developmental disabilities to adaptive ice skating.

Dr. Geoffrey Ling serves as CEO of NED Biosystems. Geoff is an internationally recognized innovation leader. He is Co-Leader of The BrainHealth Project – an initiative to double human brain performance in the next 10 years. He also serves as a Professor of Neurology and is an Attending Neurocritical Care physician at Johns Hopkins University and Hospital. Dr. Ling previously served as the Founding Director of the Biological Technologies Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and also Assistant Director for Medical Innovation of the Science Division in President Obama’s White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).  He is a retired U.S. Army colonel, who served for 27 years during which time he was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dr. Ling’s medical degree is from Georgetown University and his doctorate in Pharmacology is from Cornell University. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. His neurology residency was done at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and his Neuro Critical Care fellowship at Johns Hopkins.  He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and reviews.  He is a member of the honor societies of Alpha Omega Alpha, Sigma Xi and Military Medical Order of Merit. He is a fellow of the American Neurological Association, American Academy of Neurology and Neurocritical Care Society. He is a member of the Society for Critical Care Medicine, American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and AMSUS (the Society of Federal Health Professionals).

Over the last 40 years, Rebecca Lambert has designed and executed strategies to solve complex issues confronting business, government, political, healthcare, and financial entities. In recent years Ms. Lambert has focused on development of NED Biosystems’ lead candidate, NED-170, the first cancer therapy to affect the four processes that drive stage II-IV cancers. Ms. Lambert has a published issued patent, directed to compositions and methods for the treatment of cancers. Ms. Lambert has another patent issued based on angiogenic regulators and their use in disease diagnosis and treatment, and a third patent pending on the prophylaxis and treatment of viral infection related to acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Prior to founding NED, Ms. Lambert led high net worth marketing for Shaker Investments, raising >$1B for its U.S. long-short hedge fund. As a principal, she founded a company that deployed the first compressed digital satellite delivery of multiple TV channels to 40% of all U.S. hospitals. Previously she successfully upgraded FM radio stations to move them to top 100 markets ultimately selling each asset to a major Group Broadcasting Company. While Associate Deputy Secretary for the US Department of Commerce during the Reagan Administration, she initiated the Federal Government’s first use of the “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU), which resulted in US companies gaining $3 billion of Brazilian hydro projects. Previously, Ms. Lambert served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Department of Energy. Earlier in her career, she served as chief of staff for US Sen. Malcolm Wallop, and for the Republican Senatorial Committee, Ted Stevens, Chairman. Previously, Ms. Lambert managed strategy for numerous statewide political campaigns including Sen. Malcolm Wallop’s upset victory for the US Senate in 1976. One of the first non-lawyers to associate with a major Washington, DC law firm, she represented Wiley Rein & Fielding clients before the U.S. Congress, White House and other US Departments and Agencies. 

While living in New York City, Ms. Lambert served as the President of Bellevue Hospital’s Bellevue Association Board. During her tenure this organization was revitalized to garner support of Bellevue’s “Heroes Behind the Headlines”– the clinicians, nurses, and allied healthcare workers who routinely care for New York’s police and firefighters, as well as the homeless. Ms. Lambert has a BA in political science from Simmons College, and attended Harvard’s Advanced Management Program.

Mr. Barko is currently President and CEO of Ximedica, LLC.  Mr. Barko has over 35 years experience leading medical device and healthcare organizations towards global and financial growth. Mr. Barko has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ximedica, LLC since April 2012. Mr. Barko is a board member of the AdvaMed Emerging Growth Company Council. Currently Mr. Barko serves on the Board of Directors of several other privately owned companies and is involved with several private equity and venture capital groups. In addition, he was named to the AdvaMed Accel and MassMEDIC Board in 2014.

Prior to these roles, Mr. Barko was Vice President of Corporate Development at Flextronics (NASDAQ:FLEX) and was Corporate Vice President, Marketing & Business Development and member of the Board of Directors at Nypro Inc. During his 25 years with Nypro he was responsible for the business teams that led to steady growth in annual sales from $40 million to $1 billion. Mr. Barko was also President & CEO of the Nypro Medical Products Group and Chairman of NP Medical Inc. He held senior management positions at Hallmark Plastics in Buffalo, New York and Peninsula Plastics in Erie, Pennsylvania. Mr. Barko graduated from the University of Notre Dame and also completed numerous executive leadership programs including Duke University Fuqua Business School, Dartmouth College Amos Tuck Business School, University of Limerick Ireland, Central European University of Hungary and The National University of Singapore.

Fiona Calnan is CEO of Santovia, a healthcare technology company that is working to redefine Health Education and patient engagement.

Fiona’s first roles and experience were gained in the financial services sector including as Chief Financial Officer at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson responsible globally for corporate finance and equity capital markets. She remained within the financial services sector until 2005 when an unexpected opportunity arose to take a leading role in a healthcare start up.

UKSH was created in 2005 with no premises or revenue. Starting out as the CFO for the new company, Fiona progressed to CEO in 2007. The first contract was to build, commission and run a  surgical facility exclusively to treat government insured patients that would introduce world-leading evidence-based treatments. This first center was rapidly recognized nationally for the quality of its services and for its wider impact driving improvement in the surrounding healthcare economy. Fiona grew UKSH to a revenue of $100m across five centers. It became the leading privately-owned healthcare company in the UK with a reputation for delivering excellent patient outcomes. It also led the way on transparency of healthcare data through the pioneering publication of its outcome data.

In 2011 UKSH was named by Dr Foster Intelligence’s assessment of all English hospitals based on government data, as the best hospital in the country for joint replacement surgery.  Fiona was awarded the Best Use of Technology Award 2012 by Laing & Buisson Healthcare and shortlisted for innovation award by the Guardian Newspaper. The organization under her leadership also received awards for excellence in Risk Management and Hospitality. In 2013, UKSH was successfully sold to a competitor.

Fiona completed two terms as a board member and Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee for the Healthcare Sector Skills Council for the UK, Skills for Health.    Fiona stepped down last year as Chair of the Finance Committee and as a Trustee of The Kiln Theatre in London (previously known as The Tricycle) after serving 10 years on their board.

Ms. Mary Graham Davis brings extensive experience in effective organizational structure, business alignment and performance management, senior leadership coaching, and strategic directional change.  Ms. Davis is a senior managing director of Brock Capital Group LLC and founded the Davis Consulting Group LLC in 1996. She retired as the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Mount Holyoke College in 2015.

Ms. Davis previously served as managing vice president for PeopleTech, where she consulted to U.S. and global organizations implementing change processes resulting from restructuring, high growth opportunities or leadership transitions. Prior to the acquisition by Right, she served as the vice chair of Jannotta, Bray and Associates, head of the Jannotta Consulting Group, and managing director of their New York Metropolitan Area Operating Group. She began her career with CITICORP in the overseas equity investment Edge Act subsidiary.

Previous board positions include president of the Alumnae Association of Mount Holyoke College, president of the Graham-Windham Services to Families and Children in New York; and member of the Winnetka Public Schools Board of Education.  Ms. Davis has a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and a master’s degree in international economics from the Fletcher School of La

Forbes 2016 “The Midas List”: #6

“A staple of the top of the Midas List now in his sixth year in the top 20, Josh Kopelman stands out as a pioneer of a group of top seed-stage investors once called the ‘super angels’ after Kopelman co-founded First Round Capital in 2004.” –Forbes

Co-Founder, First Round Capital, which has re-invented seed-stage investing with early investments in Blue Apron, Uber, Square, Warby Parker, LinkedIn and NED Biosystems.

Josh has been an active entrepreneur and investor in the Internet industry since its commercialization.

Josh co-founded First Round Capital in 2004 to reinvent seed-stage investing. Since that time, the firm has invested in over 300 emerging technology startups – becoming one of the most active venture capital firms in the country. Josh has consistently made the Forbes “Midas List” which ranks the top 100 tech investors, earning the number four spot in 2014. Josh has been named one of the top ten ‘angel investors’ in the United States by Newsweek magazine, one of “Tech’s New Kingmakers” by Business 2.0 magazine and a “Rising VC Star” by Fortune magazine.

Prior to founding First Round, Josh co-founded three companies: Infonautics Corporation (IPO 1996), Half.com (acquired by eBay in 2000), and TurnTide (acquired by Symantic in 2003). Josh is an inventor on 13 U.S. Patents for his work in Internet technology. In June 2000, he was awarded Ernst and Young’s prestigious “Entrepreneur of the Year” award for the Greater Philadelphia region. Josh earned a Bachelor of Science degree cum laude in Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

First Round is a venture capital firm that specializes in providing seed-stage funding to technology companies. Founded by Josh Kopelman and Howard Morgan, First Round typically provides seed-stage funding and focuses on portfolio companies’ growth during their first 18 months.

Ben is a partner of Brown Advisory and serves as a senior advisor. He is a director of Brown Advisory Incorporated, where he serves as chair of the investment committee, and is the chair of Brown Investment Advisory & Trust Company. Ben graduated from Princeton University and served as an artillery officer in the U.S. Army before receiving his MBA from Harvard. He joined Alex Brown and became a partner of the firm in 1972, was elected director and vice chair of the board in 1984, and became chair of the board in 1987. Ben was a former director of the New York Stock Exchange and Stanley Black & Decker Inc. He is currently nonexecutive chair of W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE: WPC) and is the lead director of Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE: FLO). He is trustee emeritus of the Johns Hopkins University.

Community Involvement

-Chairman, Brown Investment Advisory & Trust Company
-Board Member, Brown Advisory International Advisory Board
-Director and Non-Executive Chairman, W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE: WPC)
-Lead Director, Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE: FLO)
-Trustee Emeritus, The Johns Hopkins University
-Trustee Gilman School
-Dean’s Advisory Committee, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School

Dr. Geoffrey Ling serves as CEO of NED Biosystems. Geoff is an internationally recognized innovation leader. He is Co-Leader of The BrainHealth Project – an initiative to double human brain performance in the next 10 years. He also serves as a Professor of Neurology and is an Attending Neurocritical Care physician at Johns Hopkins University and Hospital. Dr. Ling previously served as the Founding Director of the Biological Technologies Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and also Assistant Director for Medical Innovation of the Science Division in President Obama’s White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).  He is a retired U.S. Army colonel, who served for 27 years during which time he was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dr. Ling’s medical degree is from Georgetown University and his doctorate in Pharmacology is from Cornell University. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. His neurology residency was done at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and his Neuro Critical Care fellowship at Johns Hopkins.  He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and reviews.  He is a member of the honor societies of Alpha Omega Alpha, Sigma Xi and Military Medical Order of Merit. He is a fellow of the American Neurological Association, American Academy of Neurology and Neurocritical Care Society. He is a member of the Society for Critical Care Medicine, American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and AMSUS (the Society of Federal Health Professionals).

Brian Leyland-Jones, BSc (Ist class Hons), MB BS, PhD, FRACP, FRCPC is the Chief Medical Officer and Scientific Advisory Board Member for the National Foundation For Cancer Research (NFCR). He also serves as the Chief Medical Officer of OTraces and the N OF 1 Mission, collectively devoted to the implementation of prevention and cure of malignancy globally.  He sits on several national and international boards including the Asian Foundation for Cancer Research (AFCR), Non-Pareil, and is Director Emeritus for the WIN Consortium.

Dr.  Leyland-Jones holds biochemistry, medical, and doctoral degrees from the University of London. Following residency training at Hammersmith, Brompton, St. Bartholomew’s and London hospitals, he completed a clinical pharmacology fellowship at Cornell University and a medical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He then joined the academic staff at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and New York Hospitals with a special research interest in Early Phase clinical, clinical pharmacological and biomarker evaluation of many anticancer compounds, including the platinums and anthracycline analogs in use today. In 1983, he moved to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to head the Developmental Chemotherapy section. During his time with the NCI, he was responsible for the overall development of approximately 70 anti-cancer compounds in various stages of transition from in-vitro screening to Phase III clinical trials, including overseeing the early development of paclitaxel in Phase 1 and 2 trials. From 1990 to 2000, he served as founding chair of Oncology and director of the McGill University Comprehensive Cancer Centre. He recruited and built a broad multifaceted cancer centre, including a robust cross-hospital clinical trials enterprise, with deep clinical pharmacologic and biomarker support. Dr. Leyland-Jones continued as the Minda de Gunzberg Chair in Oncology and professor of medicine at McGill University in Montreal, Canada for 7 additional years, focusing on the development and biomarker strategies of several of the new targeted oncologic agents.

He joined Emory University in 2007. As Director of the Winship Cancer Centre and Associate Vice-President of Health Sciences, Dr. Leyland-Jones led the Centre to obtain National Cancer Institute Cancer Centre Designation, the first in the State of Georgia, and for the first time in 30 years. Dr. Leyland-Jones was instrumental in building the Genomics Medicine Program at the Avera Cancer Institute in Sioux Falls, SD where he was the Vice President of Molecular and Experimental Medicine from 2014-2019. Dr. Leyland-Jones’ principal academic contributions have been in the fields of anticancer therapy development, the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacogenetics of oncological clinical trials, the translation of preclinical models into the clinic, biomarker endpoints in Phase I/II clinical trials, and screening and mechanistic studies of novel targeted and chemotherapeutic anticancer agents.

Dr. Leyland-Jones is the recipient of numerous research grants, and has served as principal, co-principal and co-investigator on more than 100 clinical studies. He has authored and co-authored more than 210 peer-reviewed articles and book contributions, 25 books and book chapters, 425 abstracts and 35 patents.  He has a robust speaking and private consulting practice that takes him all over the world.

Dr. Fennell is an award-winning primary care physician leader, affiliated with Greenwich (CT) Hospital -Yale New Haven Health System. She has served as the managing partner of a multi-specialty physician practice, and has had various leadership positions with Stamford (CT) Hospital [New York Presbyterian Health Care Network]. She is an outstanding coordinator of medical services for her patients and is considered a “go-to resource” by her patients and peers for her diagnostic and treatment problem-solving. She brings expertise in internal medicine, preventative health and wellness. Dr. Fennell consistently receives “Top Doctor” awards, including NY Magazine-Best Doctor and exceeds benchmarks for quality and patient satisfaction. She remains vigilant on innovation and practice enhancements and is an outstanding communicator and strategist in the medical field. Dr. Fennell is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

Edward Garmey, M.D. is an oncology drug development consultant.  Dr. Garmey was formerly Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President at Cerulean Pharma, Inc., a clinical-stage oncology company based in Waltham, MA focused on the design and development of nanopharmaceutical-drug-conjugates differentially directed to cancer cells. Under his tenure at Cerulean, the company completed a successful IPO (NASDAQ:CERU) in April, 2014, and its clinical group, while increasing in size from one to 12 employees including three oncologist M.D.s, launched eight clinical trials and brought its second experimental drug into the clinic. Prior to being appointed to this role in 2011, Dr. Garmey served between 2008 and 2011 as Vice President for Clinical Development at ArQule, Inc., a publicly-traded cancer-focused biotechnology company located in Woburn, MA., where he developed and oversaw multiple international clinical trials of its lead product, ARQ 197 (tivantinib). Dr. Garmey additionally served there as a clinical development liaison with external development partners and assisted in the planning and execution of a license, co-development and co-commercialization agreement for the development of ARQ 197 in the United States and Europe. Prior to arriving at ArQule, Dr. Garmey was Medical Director at GPC Biotech in Princeton, New Jersey, where he helped oversee multiple global clinical development studies.

A pediatric hematologist-oncologist by training, Dr. Garmey is a graduate of Harvard and New York Universities and completed his medical training at the Mount Sinai Medical Center (N.Y.); the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles; and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (N.Y.). Dr. Garmey completed additional research fellowships at the National Institutes of Health (1998-99) and Botswana-Harvard Partnership for H.I.V. Research in Gaborone, Botswana (1999-2000) and he is a recipient of young investigators awards from the American Society of Hematology and the American Heart Association. Dr. Garmey has presented at numerous international conferences and is an author on over 50 peer-reviewed abstracts and manuscripts. In 2009, he was appointed as a medical consultant to the New York City Investment Fund’s $1.25 Million “BioAccelerate NYC Prize” for biomedical research. Additionally, in 2011, he was appointed to the scientific advisory board of the Harvard-MIT Broad Institute’s Cancer Vaccine Initiative. Dr. Garmey resides near Boston, Massachusetts, where he serves as an adjunct instructor at Harvard Medical School’s Therapeutics Graduate Program and additionally as a member of the Board of Overseers at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor Emerita of Science

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Nobel Prize Recipient in Chemistry, 1986

Dr. Dudley Herschbach is the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science, Emeritus at Harvard University. Born in San Jose, California, he obtained a B.S. in Mathematics (1954) and M. S. in Chemistry (1955) at Stanford, followed by an A.M. degree in Physics (1956) and Ph.D. in Chemical Physics (1958). He joined the chemistry faculty at the University of California, Berkeley (1959), where he launched novel molecular beam experiments to probe reaction dynamics in single collisions. He returned to Harvard (1963), expanding the beam experiments and much else over the next four decades. He taught a wide range of courses, graduate and undergraduate, including freshman chemistry for 20 years, his most challenging assignment. After becoming emeritus (2003) he continued teaching a freshman seminar (up to 2011, titled: “Molecular Motors: Wizards of the Nanoworld”). He also enjoyed some visiting appointments, especially in physics at Texas A & M University (2005-2017).

His efforts to enhance science education and public understanding centered for many years with the Society for Science and the Public, which publishes Science News and conducts the Science Talent Search and the International Science and Engineering Fair. He long-chaired the Hans Bethe Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, and is a Life member of Friends of Benjamin Franklin and of The Sierra Club.

Honors include the Nobel Prize (1986), shared with Yuan Lee and John Polanyi.  Among others much appreciated are Honorary Life Member of the Association of Women Scientists (1998); and three prizes named for him: Harvard Chemistry Teaching Prize for Graduate Students; Harvard University Teacher/Scientist Lectureship; and a Molecular Dynamics Prize.

Professor Emerita of Oncology and Medicine

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Dr. Judith Karp, MD is a Professor Emerita of Oncology and Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where she was Professor of oncology and Director of the Adult Leukemia Program in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies at The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, until 2013. Dr. Karp’s primary clinical interest is the experimental therapeutics of acute leukemias. She has authored 275 peer-reviewed articles and 35 book chapters, and edited 2 textbooks on acute leukemias, most recently ​an innovative textbook entitled “Acute Leukemia: An Illustrated Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment.” Dr. Karp maintains active involvement with former fellows and faculty in terms of clinical trials development, design and analysis, and serves on the central IRB for the National Cancer Institute and is Chairman of the DSMC for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Beat AML Umbrella Clinical Trial and for the Tolero Phase II Biomarker-Driven Study of the Cyclin Dependent Kinase Inhibitor Alvocidib. She has received the Dr. John J. Kenny and Spiral of Life Awards from the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

Professor, University of Toronto

Senior Scientist, Sunnybrook Health Services Center

Dr. Robert Kerbel received his PhD in immunology in 1972 from the Dept. of Immunology & Microbiology, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, after which he undertook postdoctoral training in London at the Institute for Cancer Research in tumor immunology. He started his independent research program in 1975 studying tumor immunology and metastasis at Queen’s, and was appointed Director of the Cancer Biology Program in the Dept. of Pathology in 1981. In 1985 he was recruited as Director of Cancer Biology Research at Mt. Sinai Hospital, Toronto. He then moved to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre to assume the same position from 1991 until 2001.

Dr. Kerbel held a Canada Research Chair in Tumor Biology, Angiogenesis & Antiangiogenic Therapy (2001-2015), and is a professor in the Dept. of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto, and Senior Scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute. His overall main research interest has been devising new cancer treatment strategies having improved efficacy and reduced toxicity for the treatment of metastatic disease. This culminated in his translational studies of combinatorial low-dose ‘metronomic’ chemotherapy with antiangiogenic drugs. Other major contributions include development of improved preclinical investigational therapeutic models in mice involving early stage or advanced metastatic disease, linking the fields of angiogenesis and oncogenes, uncovering mechanisms by which antiangiogenic drugs increase chemotherapy efficacy, and elucidating mechanisms of intrinsic or acquired antiangiogenic drug resistance. His current major research interests include assessment of ‘vessel co-option’ in tumors in response to antiangiogenic drugs, and combination therapy utilizing immune checkpoint inhibitors with VEGF (or ang2) targeting antiangiogenic drugs, using new mouse models for immune therapy his lab is developing.

Dr. Kerbel has published 417 papers, given 862 invited lectures around the world. He is and has been an editorial board member of numerous international scientific journals. Currently these include Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, EMBO Molecular Medicine, and the International Journal of Cancer. Among the awards he has received include the 2004 Canadian Cancer Society Robert Noble Award for Excellence in Cancer Research, the Breast Cancer Research Award from the European Institute of Oncology in 2008, a Man of Distinction Honor by the Israel Cancer Research Fund in 2011, and the Colin Thomson Memorial Medal for achievements in cancer research from Worldwide Cancer Research (formerly known as the Association for International Cancer Research) in 2013. His research studies have been supported by numerous agencies including the National Institutes of Health, USA, the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, and Worldwide Cancer Research. He also collaborated extensively with industry and has consulted for over 20 pharmaceutical and biotech companies during the last 25 years.

Distinguished Professor of Medicine,

Associate Director, Clinical Science,

Director, Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy,

Leader, Experimental Therapeutics,

Director, Rare Tumor Clinic, University of California, San Diego, Moores Cancer Center

Dr. Razelle Kurzrock is known for founding and building the largest Phase 1 clinical trials department in the nation/world while at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. A central theme of that program was the precision medicine strategy, embodied in a protocol called PREDICT for Profile-related Evidence Determining Individualized Cancer Therapy.

At University of California, San Diego Moores Cancer Center, Dr. Kurzrock’s charge is heading its newly established Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy. This center focuses on genomically-driven therapy as well as precision immunotherapy, especially in rare cancers. Dr. Kurzrock is a global leader in personalized medicine, bringing the first transcriptomic study to the clinic in an international setting spanning five countries (WINTHER), as well as the first study of individually customized combination therapy (IPREDICT) (both Nature Medicine, April 2019).

Dr. Kurzrock received her MD degree from the University of Toronto, Canada.  She has >800 PubMed publications, an H-index of 117, has been named to the list of most highly cited scientists in the world and the 25 world leaders in precision medicine, and she has a uniquely strong record of competitive funding with more than 100 million dollars in lifetime funding.

Importantly, Dr Kurzrock has a special interest in Rare Cancers, a large unmet need.  Dr. Kurzrock founded a Rare Tumor Clinic at UCSD and heads the Rare Cancers and Early Therapeutics Committee for the NCI cooperative group SWOG.  The effort that Dr. Kurzrock is most passionate about is changing the course of disease for patients with cancer.  Patients are at the heart of her work.

Dr. Kurzrock has four children and three dogs and lives with her husband, Dr. Philip Cohen, a dermatologist, in San Diego, CA.

Julia Dyckman Andrus Professor
Harvard Medical School
Director, Vascular Biology Program
Boston Children’s Hospital
Department of Surgery

Dr. Marsha A. Moses is the Julia Dyckman Andrus Professor at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. She has made significant contributions to our understanding of the biochemical and molecular mechanisms that underlie the regulation of tumor growth and progression. Dr. Moses and her laboratory have discovered a number of inhibitors of neovascularization that function at both the transcriptional and translational level, some of which are in preclinical testing. Named a pioneer in the field of Biomarker Medicine by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Moses established a Proteomics Initiative in her laboratory to complement this work which has led to the discovery of panels of noninvasive urinary cancer biomarkers that can predict disease status and stage in cancer patients and that are sensitive and accurate markers of disease progression and therapeutic efficacy of cancer drugs. A number of these biomarkers are being used in clinical trials. To further complement her basic and translational findings above, Marsha and her team have developed non-toxic, targeted nanomedicines for the treatment of human cancers and their metastases. These drug delivery systems are engineered to deliver a variety of therapeutic agents including siRNAs, chemotherapies and gene editing systems. These diagnostics and potential therapeutics are included in Dr. Moses’ significant patent portfolio composed of both US and foreign patents.

Dr. Moses’ basic and translational work has been published in such journals as Science, the New England Journal of Medicine, Cell and the Journal of Biological Chemistry, among others. Marsha received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Boston University and completed a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital and MIT in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Langer. She is the recipient of a number of NIH and foundation grants and awards. Dr. Moses has been recognized with both of Harvard Medical School’s mentoring awards, the A. Clifford Barger Mentoring Award (2003) and the Joseph B. Martin Dean’s Leadership Award for the Advancement of Women Faculty (2009). In 2014, she received the Excellence in Mentoring Award from the Postdoc Association of Boston Children’s Hospital and in 2016, she received their award for Exceptional Mentorship. In 2013, Dr. Moses received the Honorary Member Mentoring Award from the Association of Women Surgeons of the American College of Surgeons.  Dr. Moses was elected to the Institute of Medicine (National Academy of Medicine) of the National Academies of the United States in 2008 and to the National Academy of Inventors in 2013.

Christine Davis is General Manager of the Oncology business at Kantar Health. Ms. Davis has nearly 20 years of experience delivering measurable and impactful business results to pharmaceutical clients.  She has spent the majority of her career as an industry consultant focusing on utilizing business intelligence and analytics to support global strategic planning initiatives, including new market entry strategies, portfolio prioritization, licensing and partnering decisions, and other commercial programs.

Ms. Davis has held various leadership positions during her tenure at Kantar Health, including General Manager of Marketing Insights, Chief Operating Officer, and Head of Business Insights (quantitative analytics), first in the U.S., then globally.  As the General Manager of the Marketing Insights practice, she led the company’s U.S. primary research and analytics organization.  Under her leadership, the Marketing Insights practice is at the forefront of uncovering and visualizing insights from structured and unstructured information to exploit opportunities for growth, differentiation, and innovation on behalf of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies.  As the General Manager of the Oncology Practice she leads the company’s U.S. Oncology and Market Access Custom Consulting businesses responsible for portfolio prioritization, R&D investment decisions, launch strategy, and pricing for oncology clients, as well as Kantar Health’s CancerMPact and Oncology Market Access proprietary databases and reports.

Ms. Davis holds a BS in Nutrition and Biochemistry from Syracuse University and a Master’s degree in Healthcare Marketing from Northeastern University; she is a Registered Dietitian.

Founder, Futureproof Strategies

Stephanie is the founder of Futureproof Strategies, a global advisory firm that provides marketing, communications and business strategy services to enterprises of all sizes.

Stephanie has helped both communications agencies and client-side marketers create and adapt the strategies, products, services and brand engagement initiatives needed to maintain market advantage in their respective categories. Prior to starting Futureproof, Stephanie was Chief Marketing Officer for WPP’s MediaCom and held marketing leadership positions at WarnerMedia, Revolution, JPMorgan Chase and Citibank. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Business School.

Jean Hamilton serves as a board director and is a member of Brock Capital Group LLC. Ms. Hamilton has extensive experience as a board director and in heading companies. She is involved in a variety of not-for-profit organizations.

Currently, Ms. Hamilton serves on the board of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd where she has served as Chair and is a member of the Corporate Governance and Compensation Committee. Also, she serves on the Transactions and Offerings Committees, and has served on the Investment Committee. She also serves on the boards of First Eagle Funds and First Eagle Variable Funds where she is Chair of the Board Valuation and Liquidity Committee and a member of the Audit and Insurance Committees. Ms. Hamilton is on the Investment Advisory Committee of the Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation and is Chair of the Investment Committee for the Thomas Cole Historic Site.

Previously, Ms. Hamilton served in a variety of management roles at Prudential Financial, Inc. Ms. Hamilton was an Executive Vice President of Prudential Financial and Chief Executive Officer of Prudential Institutional, which under her leadership grew in revenues to more than $6 billion. The group included business in insurance, banking, financial services and real estate. Prior to holding this position, Ms. Hamilton was President of Prudential Capital Group, a private securities asset manager and originator responsible for a portfolio in excess of $20 billion in a wide range of industries and at multiple layers of the capital structure. Prior to holding this position, Ms. Hamilton was President of Prudential Asset Sales and Syndications, a seller and syndicate of private placement securities.

Before joining Prudential Financial, Ms. Hamilton was a Senior Vice President and Head of the Northeastern Corporate Banking Department for The First National Bank of Chicago, now J.P. Morgan Chase.

Ms. Hamilton has a BS degree in Communications from the University of Illinois and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Former Acting Army Surgeon General

22nd Chief of the Army Nurse Corps.

Major General (Retired) Gale S. Pollock completed her thirty-six year career as the Acting Surgeon General for the Army and the 22nd Chief of the Army Nurse Corps.  As the Acting Surgeon General, she led an organization with a budget of $9.7 billion, a workforce of 150,000 people and was responsible for healthcare, on and off the battlefield, for over four million beneficiaries. She commanded at Fort Drum, N.Y., Fort Benning, GA, and Tripler Army Medical Center, HI.  MG Pollock is a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist who served at multiple locations in that role.  MG Pollock worked as a policy analyst at the Pentagon and for the Department of Defense’s Under Secretary of Health Affairs.

MG Pollock has a B.S. in Nursing from the University of Maryland (Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing Program), a Masters in Healthcare Administration from Baylor University, and a Masters in National Security and Strategy from the National Defense University.  She attended the Inter-Agency Institute for Federal Health Care Executives, Battlefield to Board Room by the National Association of Corporate Directors, and was a Fellow at Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative. She has received numerous professional appointments, including the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Military and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine.  MG Pollock received multiple awards including an Honorary Doctorate in Public Health from the University of Maryland, is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, a Fellow in the American Legion Auxiliary, and was a Distinguished Alumni of Baylor University.  She received approval from Queen Elizabeth to serve as a member of the most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.

After her career in the Army, MG Pollock served as the executive director of the Louis J. Fox Center for Vision Restoration at the University of Pittsburgh and is currently the chief executive officer of Elevivo, Inc.

Randy Slack brings more than 30 years of strategic management experience in the global telecommunications industry specialized in corporate communications, marketing and public affairs. In the early phase of his career at AT&T, Randy managed teams contributing to the company’s global strategic initiatives including the expansion of its communications services business and M&A activity in the EMEA region. Following an eight-year tenure with AT&T, that included a marketing strategy role with Concert Communications, the AT&T-BT global venture, Randy worked for Global Crossing and Level 3 in a variety of director-level strategic marketing and corporate communications roles.  Since leaving Level 3 in December 2013, Randy has held corporate marketing leadership roles at Windstream Communications and Hibernia Networks. Most recently, Randy has been Vice President of Corporate Communications at GTT Communications, one of the telecommunication industry’s largest providers or internet transit services and a leading provider of connectivity services to enterprise organizations around the world.

Randy has a BA degree from Ithaca College, MA Economics from Webster University, MA International Affairs and MA Telecommunications from The George Washington University, and MS Management from Boston University. Randy also completed INSEAD’s Telecommunications Executive Management Program in 1995 in Fontainebleau, France.

John A. Warden III is the president of Venturist, Inc., the company he founded after retiring from the Air Force in 1995. His company helps corporations and organizations learn and execute the concepts of winning strategy. Venturist clients have included Texas Instruments, McDonald’s, start-ups, government agencies, and many others.  He is co-author of the business strategy book Winning in FastTime. He  is a speaker and author with numerous published articles on planning the future, new strategy, aerospace power, and campaign planning. He is frequently cited in major media and has been discussed in a number of articles and books including two biographies.  His television and radio appearances include the BBC, Fox, ABC, CNBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, the National Geographic Channel, and the History Channel, In addition to his business accomplishments, he served as the architect of the successful Gulf War 1991 Desert Storm air campaign, authored the best-selling The Air Campaign, headed the Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College, worked as Special Assistant to the Vice President of the United States, commanded the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing (F-15s) in Germany; and flew 256 combat missions in the Vietnam War. His military decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, and Air Medal with ten oak leaf clusters.

Diane Whitty, executive director and Global Head of The Philanthropy Centre, joined J.P. Morgan in 2010. The Philanthropy Centre is focused on providing clients with insights and services to help meet their financial and philanthropic goals through innovative advice, thought leadership, and collaborative opportunities.

Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Whitty served over the past 30 years as a senior executive in the corporate and non-profit sectors. Whitty has held leadership positions at Save the Children as senior vice-president of corporate relations and at the US Fund for UNICEF (The United Nations Children’s Fund) as executive vice-president of marketing, communications, and development. During her tenure, she spearheaded many global health and development initiatives, most notably campaigns to eliminate maternal and neo-natal tetanus, eliminate iodine deficiency, address the incidence of HIV/AIDS, and improve access to education for girls in developing countries.

Under her leadership at UNICEF, Whitty and her teams were responsible for growth in revenue exceeding 327%. Prior to her non-profit work, Diane spent 17 years at Avon Products as a senior sales and marketing executive.

Jeffrey has over 25 years of experience in leading and building technology teams. During the past 20 years, he has focused on building engineering teams for early-stage and fast-growing companies. He founded Arabella LLC in 2011 to help companies launch their digital products. Since Arabella sold in 2018, Jeffrey turned his focus on advisory and coaching for healthcare companies.

Chairman, Womensphere Interactive
NASA Datanaut, Young Global Leader `12

Analisa Leonor Balares is Chairman, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Womensphere Interactive, a global digital and interactive media platform inspiring and educating women and girls in leadership, entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainability, and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics).

Previously, Analisa worked in technology investment banking for Goldman Sachs, energy investment banking for Morgan Stanley, business development for Milestone Capital and 85 Broads (now Ellevate Network), and social media product management for Microsoft.

Analisa has been recognized as a UBS Global Visionary, Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and 100 Most Influential Filipinas of the World. She has been honored with the Madam C.J. Walker Leadership Award by the US National Minority Business Council, Distinguished Leader Award by UN Women New York, and Outstanding Woman Leader by the State of New York. In her teens, Analisa was recognized as an Outstanding Junior Scientist of the Philippines and Asia by the Philippine Department of Science & Technology and Shell Corp.

Analisa is a NASA Datanaut and an Organizer of the NASA Space Apps Global Challenge for New York and the Philippines. She serves as a Commissioner of the Women’s Refugee Commission, Advisory Board Member of Music Beyond, and Academy Member of the Global Teacher Prize. She is a Member of Women Moving Millions, Women’s Forum of New York and International Women’s Forum.

Analisa is an alumna of Harvard Business School, Mount Holyoke College, Lester Pearson United World College, and the New York Film Academy.

Joy Horng has worked as a researcher for the Massachusetts General Hospital in affiliation with Harvard Medical School for the past three years working primarily on the development of CRISPR-based genome and epigenome editing tools. She has co-authored publications in Nature Methods and Nature Biotechnology. Prior to her experience there, Ms. Horng worked for two years at the biotechnology company Editas Medicine on both platform and preclinical projects to create a curative medicine for an inherited childhood blindness, Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis type 10. In 2020, this candidate has become the first ever in-body CRISPR-based genome editing drug to be evaluated in a clinical trial. Ms. Horng is pursuing a career at the intersection of research and medicine. She freelances as a graphic artist in her free time.

Brett Macias has worked extensively in both the philanthropic and educational sectors for over fifteen years. His abilities in structural analysis, program creation / management, brand creation, creative direction, event planning, system analysis / implementation, and fundraising have allowed corporations and organizations to succeed at creating and implementing major media campaigns, team restructuring, programmatic change, and raised millions of capital. Companies he has been graced to work with include: Rockefeller Foundation, United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York, 1199 SEIU Funds, Temple University, New York University, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, United Way of New York, and TADA! Youth Theater. He is the owner of MAKAI Music, a recording studio that specializes in music and media production for film, television, and Broadway. Entities worked for include: NED’s oncology video “What If”, NBC’s Smash, TLC’s Do No Harm, the Emmys, many Broadway shows, and countless regional theaters. But his best contribution to the world so far has been his daughter, Celina, who will one day be the perfect combination of Oprah, Michelle Obama, Beyonce, Malala Yousafzai, and Mary Graham Davis. Education: NYU (MFA) and Webster University (BFA)

Amaal Mahamed graduated in 2018 from Berkshire School cum laude and distinction in Mathematics and the Sciences. Currently, Ms. Mahamed is a rising junior at Columbia University majoring in Psychology with the Pre-Med track. This past summer, ms. Mahamed did an internship at the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute researching Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta splendens) to study the Betta Splendens’ aggressive behavior. Ms. Mahamed is also an ABI coordinator for the Columbia Synapse, a New York City-based service that provides community and advocacy for brain injury individuals. Ms. Mahamed hopes to continue her interest in science research and go to Medical School.

Dr. Paulson has 30+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries as a Clinical Pharmacologist and nonclinical ADME Scientist. As a clinical pharmacology and ADME expert, she contributed to the submissions of numerous aNDAs, NDAs, 505(b)(2), and INDs. Dr. Paulson has expertise in both large and small molecules with extensive global experience throughout each phase of development.  She was a scientist in the departments of drug metabolism and clinical pharmacology at G. D. Searle. In addition, she was Director of Clinical Pharmacology at Abbott Laboratories with responsibilities for HUMIRA® and other targets of immunology and inflammatory disease. She has 7 patents and 49 publications.  Susan received a PhD in Pharmacology from Texas Tech Health Sciences Center. She has served on the IRB for Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Illinois.  Dr. Paulson is an adjunct faculty at Northwestern University Medical School and a member of AAPS.

Paul Woitach is Managing Partner of Pharmaceutical Advisors, a firm that helps clients plan and manage outsourced R&D while managing infrastructure.  Paul helped found the practice in 2001 as a unit of Solutia.  Prior to Solutia, he was CEO of IGI Laboratories,  North American GM for Mettler Toledo and was a VP with Kodak’s Diagnostic Imaging business (now Carestream Health).  Mr. Woitach has served on the Boards of public companies and is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation and on the Advisory Board of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority Bioscience Center.  Mr. Woitach holds an MBA from the William E. Simon School of Business.