ADVentura Directory

Nigel is a serial entrepreneur with 25 years experience in biotechology and business development. He brings sector experience in healthcare diagnostics and pharma and experience in board development, fund raising, and company valuation. He was founder and chairman of Athena Diagnostics a neurological diagnostics company which recently was valued at $740m, serves on the board of Impax Laboratories (ipxl) a publically traded pharmaceutical company). His other experience includes being a lecturer at Harvard medical school and has served as Ceo, Board Chair, and Advisor to numerous young biotechnology companies. Nigel holds a PhD from Cambridge University and completed his post doc at Harvard University. He recently relocated from San Francisco to Catalonia, where he currently lives and works.

A serial entrepreneur, Tessa was also founder and CEO for BAPTA — Northern California's largest psycho diagnostic company. Tessa is a geriatric psychologist by training, with 18 years' experience working with seniors. She frequently provides education, presentations, expert testimony and consultation on elder issues.

Karen has 25 years experience of founding companies in the Recruitment, Business services, Community and Investment areas. She founded one of the leading headhunting and recruitment companies in the Media Sector in the UK, and also the first International Business Club in Barcelona. Her expertise lies in her skill of connecting people to opportunities for business, and she has extensive experience in Investor Relations, Strategic Business Development, and Branding. With her global business connections, Karen has advised companies and presented at numerous investment forums and international events. She was selected as President of the International Commission for the Strategic Metropolitan Plan for Barcelona 2020 and served on the initiative Barcelona Creixement for the Barcelona City Council.
She holds a BA (hons) in Business Studies (London), is a certified trainer (Reed Corporation), and is fluent in English (native) and Spanish. Originally from London, Karen now lives with her family in Barcelona.

Kazuhiro is the VP- Life Sciences at INCJ, Tokyo (company), a $22B venture fund. He has been a professional life science investor for his entire career. He was President of JAIC Venture Fund in Singapore, and Senior Investment Manager is the JAIC headquarters in Tokyo. He served as a Senior Manager at JAIC – Palo Alto. He started his career working and in marketing at Daiichi Sankyo. He holds a MSc. from Tokyo University. Kazu is located in Tokyo.

A General Partner with Ventureast, Bobba brings over 36 years of corporate leadership experience in the pharmaceutical and life sciences fields in the US, EU and Asia. He is an active board member of 3 US based portfolio companies including Marillion, a cancer drug company; Melior, a pharmaceutical services company; and Bioserve, a pharmacogenomics services company. .
Bobba has previously served as Senior Vice President of operations at Aradigm Corporation; Executive Vice President at Diosynth, a division of Akzo Nobel; President and CEO at Molecular Biosystems, an NYSE listed company; Executive Vice President at Centocor Inc;(A division of J&J now) President at Warner-Lambert, Indonesia (currently a part of Pfizer) in Indonesia, and Vice President of ManufaCTURING in Puerto Rico; and Vice President of Manufacturing, Parke Davis, A division of Lambert which is now part of Pfizer.
A pharmacist by training, Bobba graduated with gold medal honors from Andhra University. He also has an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey. Apart from his directorships of portfolio companies, Bobba also serves on the boards of Sparsha Pharma, India’s first transdermal drug delivery company and the Indian subsidiary of Napo Pharmaceuticals, a California based company. He also serves on the advisory Boards of SOHO Group, 3rd largest Pharmaceutical Company in Indonesia and Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc, USA, a NASDAQ listed company.

Thomas P. Thomas (Ravi) is a recognized management leader known for crafting the requisite strategy to enter emerging markets, develop a sustainable business bridge with emerging markets and to achieve business goals. As the President of CD Concept USA, Mr. Thomas delivered phenomenal results that resulted in CD Concept recovering from a near bankruptcy state to a profitable manufacturing company. Mr. Thomas was able to for AT&T and Caddx-Caddi Control successfully over come entry barriers into India, generate business, execute projects and identify appropriate joint venture partners in India. He helped CoreLogic Dorado a leading software company in the Mortgage space and SumTotal Systems Inc. a global leader in cloud-based strategic human capital management (HCM) solutions to turn many of their leading customers around to become reference able. Mr. Thomas’s career includes the prestigious role as the Technical Assistant to the Executive Director of International Monetary Fund. He has had the opportunity to interact with political and industrial leaders of many countries like Chile, India, Ivory Coast to name a few.
Mr. Thomas holds a Masters in Political Science from University of Delhi, India, a Masters in International Business Management from University of Maryland USA and an Executive Development Certificate from Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania USA. He is a Certified Project Management Professional from PMI USA and a Charter Member of the leading association of entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley: TiE. For his continued success in turning around companies and to efficiently manage complex projects he has been awarded the Blue Chip Enterprise Award from US Chamber of Commerce and Project Excellence Award from Project Management Institute Toronto Canada.

Itay is an Entrepreneur with proven track record in the Telecom and Life Sciences sectors. He has successfully raised millions of dollars in capital from government, public and private investors in Israel, North America and China. He has partnered with industry leaders such as Telefónica, Babylon, British Telecom and others to create a fully commercial and leading company in his field. Itay is the co-founder and VP Sales at Lexifone in Israel, where he currently resides. He was previously an investment analyst at Ysios Capital in Barcelona and a former MIT Scientist (Langer Lab) in Boston where he wrote several patents and publications. Itay holds an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona, and a B.Sc in Biotechnology Engineering. Itay is an Israeli and US citizen.

Nancy is the founder and managing partner of Biohealth Management, LLC, an international commercial strategy and business development advisory firm in the biotechnology and medical technologies areas. She brings experience and expertise in commercializing innovation focused on strategic positioning, market entry and development, partnering and fund raising. She often serves as interim senior management for her clients. She was president and CEO of Immunetics an infectious disease diagnostic company based in Massachusetts where she raised multiple financing rounds. She serves on the board of Acceleration, Propel and was a trustee and is currently a member of Newton-Wellesley Hospital Board of overseers. Other honors include: featured entrepreneur in the Wall Street Journal, Closing the Gender Gap, and first place in Business Plan contest, Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She has been invited to speak at numerous international conferences including a recent workshop in Brussels on how to build a biotechnology business in the USA. She is an adjunct professor at the Boston University School of Management and a mentor at the MIT Venture Mentor Service. Nancy has been on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, where she also did her fellowship. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Nancy is based in the Boston/Cambridge super cluster which is leveraged to support her international clientele.

Dr. Joaquim Trias, Ph.D. serves as Advisor of Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Trias serves as a consultant and advisor (through JTPS Consulting) where he advises Venture Capital firms and Pharmaceutical Companies. He has spent over 25 years in anti-infectives and drug discovery, in both academia and industry. He was co-founder of Peninsula (acquired by Jonhson and Johnson), Anthera, and Tetraphase. Dr. Trias served as Senior Vice President of Preclinical Development of Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. since December 2004 and served as its Head of Pre-Clinical Sciences. He served as Vice-President of Drug Discovery Research at Vicuron for 8 years were he directed the internal discovery projects‚ from concept to clinical candidate‚ and participated in the clinical development programs at Vicuron. Prior to Vicuron‚ Dr. Trias joined Microcide Pharmaceuticals in 1990, where he initiated various discovery programs in infectious diseases. He serves as a Member of Strategic Advisory Board at SOM Innovation Biotech S.L. He serves as a Director and Member of Scientific Advisory Board at Genmedica Therapeutics S.L. Prior to entering the pharmaceutical industry‚ Dr. Trias held different academic positions namely‚ Associate Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Barcelona and Research Fellow at the School of Medicine Pitie-Salpetriere of the University of Paris VI. Dr. Trias obtained his Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Barcelona and completed his training at the University of California at Berkeley. He holds B.S. Degree in Biology from University of Barcelona.

TAFFY WILLIAMS, Ph.D., is CEO & President of Colonial Technology Development Company and has more than 25 YEARS experience in medical technologies including pharmaceutical, medical device, IT, and diagnostic sectors. He serves as Chairman of Life Sciences Research Organization, Colonial Technology, and is a Board Member of CanDiag and Ogenx. Dr. Williams was President and CEO of Photogen Technologies Inc., IMCOR Pharmaceutical Co., president and founder of InKine Pharmaceutical Company, and president of Heat Biologics. Dr. Williams has raised more than $100 million. Dr. Williams is the author of eight patents, several patent applications, and 53 publications. He was a recipient of several prestigious awards, including a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health, ``Most Significant Scientific Publication'' awards from the Naval Medical Research Institute in 1985 and 1986, and the Civil Service Special Achievement Award in 1986. Dr. Williams holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Notre Dame, a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina, and was a postdoc at the University of South Carolina and University of Michigan. He recently relocated from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, where he currently lives and works.

Shelly Goodman is CEO at The FourCe LLC, a Global development partner that provides solutions to complex GxP problems and Chairman and Founder of Eureka! Biosciences Foundation, a non profit fostering the development and production of new drugs, devices and therapies that treat childhood illnesses. She brings vast experience in healthcare and clinical trials and experience in risk management, and compliance. Other experience includes being a Sr. Director of Global Pharmacovigilance at Cerexa, and has served as the Head of Global Safety and PV for Novartis. She is located in California.

Kim Sun, a Chartered Accountant by training, has more than 35 yrs experience in the financial field, with special interest in mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructures. His specialist sectors are palm oil plantations, water treatment chemicals, fertilizers, and generic pharmaceuticals. In 1994, Kim Sun led a successful management buyout of ICI’s interests in Malaysia, and in 1996, together with 2 American scientists founded IMPAX laboratories, which is now a public listed company.
Kim Sun has retired from active business, but currently sits on the boards of 4 public listed companies in Malaysia, 2 of which as Chairman of the Audit Committee.

Jesús Purroy PhD is Science and Technology Services Technical Director at the Barcelona Science Park, where he served in the Board of Directors from 2009 to 2013. He has been doing business development for the service units of the Park, mostly in the pharma and biotech sectors. He is co-founder of Enemce Pharma and of Barcelona Innovation Partners, a consulting company designing company incubators, science parks and other innovation structures worldwide. He is advisor to a number of start-up companies in Catalonia, and often does volunteer work to evaluate or define business plans by students or related to social entrepreneurship. He obtained his PhD at the University of Barcelona and did postdoctoral research in industrial and academic settings in Europe and in the USA.

Marc is an entrepreneurial business creator/developer focused on innovation management and science commercialization at TBI. He is also strategic advisor at Adventura Capital and PerformLAB. Before that, Marc was working for Isis Enterprise since 2010 as an associate consultant for projects in Spain and Latin America. He was also a co-founder of Endor Nanotechnologies from 2007, a nanomedicine company based in Barcelona. Marc has delivered a significant track record translating science to the market, developing R&D strategies, leading projects, approaching investors and negotiating with clients. He was involved in spinning-out a business unit focused on nanotechnology commercialization launching several products to the market.
Previously, Marc delivered high-standard results in the pharmaceutical environment working at Novartis. He also collaborated with other research institutions such as Cancer Research UK and Boston College during his academic career. Marc gained a DPhil in Biochemistry from Oxford in 2006 and a Harvard Business School PLD Program in 2011

Michaël Djaoui PhD is an International Project Manager with 4 years experience in business development and public funding schemes. He earned his PhD in Molecular Biology from the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Barcelona education institution. He holds a Certificate in Project Management from La Salle University and he has been leading the Barcelona´s International Project Office of the Euro-Funding Advisory Group for the last 3 years. In addition to serving many Biotech and Pharmaceutical companies in various capacities, Dr. Michaël Djaoui has been involved in the preparation of several optimal funding and investment strategies and in the launching of leading international projects (European and National funding sources). More recently, he has participated in the creation and the launching of eu-pill company, the first European network dedicated to innovation.

International mentor and entrepreneur active in the ICT, Clean tech, Digital Marketing, e-learning and Corporate Strategy arenas. As well as his duties at the helm of Rothschild Corporate Advisers, Oliver has joined ADVentura Capital to add his knowledge to the Catalan landscape, to promote and support growth potential companies to reach their international objectives. Additionally, he has recently been appointed Chairman of the Innovation Warehouse in the City of London .Oliver has an extensive global business and charitable network spanning across the UK, Europe and MEA space. A seasoned philanthropist, he is Patron of several charities as well as being President of the most prestigious Charity Association in the UK, ACEVO.

Marta Príncep PhD has 20 years experience in management positions in the biomedical sector and is currently strategic advisor at ADVentura Capital. She brings a long track record of drug discovery and development as Head of CNS dept at Ferrer Grupo – International holding with up to 50 pharmaceutical, chemical and nutritional companies that account for 800M€ of revenues- creating new business and projects that led to 13 patent families. Marta has leadership experience in pharma-biotech joint ventures and was a member of the Steering Committee in the Ferrer-NicOx (COX.FP; NYSE Euronext SBF120) agreement. Other experience includes Innovation director and board member at Biocat, the biocluster organization at Catalonia that represents up to 1100 companies and entities, where she was the scientific director of the Catalan business plan competition for start-ups, member of the Healthcare Investment Forum and director of the reference report on biosciences in Catalonia among other activities. She has done-it background in building reputation and connecting people, fostering two public-private networks on oncology and nanomedicine. Marta holds an industrial PhD in Biology and executive education from Wharton School in Pennsylvania and AMP from Esade Executive in Barcelona.

Ms. Clymer’s career in the biotechnology industry spans the public, private, as well as the academic sectors. As an analyst with the U.S. Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) in Washington, D.C., Ms. Clymer co-authored two in-depth, internationally renowned biotechnology reports for Congressman Albert Gore Jr., the second report being an analysis of the U.S. and Japanese competitive positions in biotechnology.
After public service in 1984, Ms. Clymer moved to the private sector to assume responsibility for business development at Bio-Response, and subsequently California Biotechnology (Scios).
Susan was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Japan in 1990. While in Japan, she was affiliated with Tokyo University and the Japan Bioindustry Association (JBA), an organization created by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) to promote the commercialization of biotechnology in Japan. Following her Fulbright, Ms. Clymer founded NichiBei Bio, Inc. a business development consulting firm specializing in U.S.-Japan alliances and new ventures. NichiBei Bio`s clients have included many leading U.S. bioventure and pharmaceutical companies as well as several Japanese pharmaceutical and industrial companies.
Ms Clymer has been involved in the formation, management, and acquisition of both public and private U.S. and Japanese venture-backed companies including Sapient Health Network, a web-based consumer health company acquired and rebranded as WebMD in 1999.
Ms. Clymer has served on the board of several private and public U.S. biotechnology companies as well as two Japanese venture backed healthcare start-ups.
Ms. Clymer is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C.

Oriol Alcoba Malaspina is Manager of Technology Transfer Division at ACC1Ó, the public agency that aims at improving competitiveness of Catalan firms through innovation, internationalization and financing programs. His mission is to design, implement, coordinate, and manage instruments to promote the technology market in Catalonia, as a tool to provide competitive advantages to Catalan companies.

Oriol graduated from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering. He later obtained a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from the Institut Químic de Sarrià (IQS) and an Executive MBA from EADA Business School. He is member of the board of several technology transfer institutions and a part-time professor on innovation and technology management at UPF.

His professional career started on 1998 developing R+D projects at Centre CIM (UPC) and, after 5 years focused on managing environmental services at Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, Oriol served as the Director of Clusters Development at 22@Barcelona, the innovation district in Barcelona.

Mr. Flaherty joined Behrman Capital in April 2009. He has more than 35 years of operating experience in the healthcare field, with particular expertise in the clinical laboratory environment. Prior to joining Behrman Capital, Mr. Flaherty was President and CEO of Athena Diagnostics, Inc., a Behrman Capital portfolio company which was sold to Fisher Scientific after three years. During his 17 year tenure with the Company, he grew Athena’s revenues from $3 million to $110 million and profits from zero to $50 million. Prior to joining Athena, he held a series of senior management positions at Becton Dickson & Company, a multinational medical technology company, serving as president of Becton Dickinson Medical from 1984 through 1992 and president of Becton Dickinson Vacutainer Systems from 1982 through 1984. He joined Becton Dickinson as a marketing director in 1976. Mr. Flaherty held product management, sales and marketing positions with C.R. Bard, Inc., a provider of vascular, urology and oncology related products and services, from 1971 through 1976. A 1968 graduate of Lehigh University with a BS in Industrial Engineering, Mr. Flaherty earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1971.

Mr. Flaherty currently serves on the Board of Directors of Behrman Capital portfolio company Ark Holdings, a multi-state nursing home operator. He is also on the Board of the Chernobyl Children’s Project (USA), a charitable organization assisting children afflicted by the Chernobyl nuclear explosion.

Raj Nihalani, M.D, RAC(US) is president of TrialMed Life Sciences and is a clinical consultant for the FDA and European Union regulated industries.For the past thirteen years, he has worked and consulted with major medical device companies world wide, including Medtronic, Inc.Raj is a physican by training and is also a certified regulatory affairs professional.

Served on the boards of: OneWorld Health (Chairman); Lightpost Holdings, LLC (Vice Chairman); Advisory Board Monument Crisis Center (non-profit); and Finance Board Lafayette/Orinda Presbyterian Church; Bank of San Clemente; Center for Living Skills (non-profit); and is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors.

A broad experienced executive that has focused on high growth environments and change management in a number of industries: taken three companies public; completed numerous secondary offerings; taken an NYSE company private; acquired & merged over 30 companies; initiated 15 public syndications; rolled up 26 public Master Limited Partnerships into a corporate structure and took it public; turned around 4 companies; developed leading industry financial products; and is a key strategist in business development.
Is a motivational leader with excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and a record of developing strong management teams.

Specialties:Industry experience in: high technology (hardware and software); financial services; leasing; banking; pharmaceuticals; engineering; and construction.

Dr Sankar is a physician/Internist trained in India and the university of West indies who also possesses a Masters of public health degree from Queensland Australia. He has over 12 years of experience working in the life sciences industry with Biotech/Pharma companies and for the Government including NCI and NHLBI providing global drug development and Medical monitoring support in the evaluation of the clinical trial data and safety. His depth of experience also spans across other areas in clinical development including Quality assurance and clinical trial monitoring. He is an active member of SOCRA, DIA, ASCO and ACRP. Dr Sankar also is part of various sub committees within DIA focused on clinical development, clinical trial design, Scientific writing quality assurance and good clinical practices. Neil Sankar also has a Clinical trial certification from SOCRA. Dr Sankar’s therapeutic area expertise includes immunology, oncology, hematology and infectious diseases. Dr Sankar was also part of the filing of 3 NDA’s 2 for Oncology and 1 for CNS. Dr Sankar’s expertise in the sector have made him one of the most well networked and connected with the industry groups, sponsors and also CRO’s in the life sciences sector. Dr Sankar’s expertise helps Pharma/Biotech companies to strategize the clinical development path and process globally and is an expert in connecting the various dots needed to complete the pathway to development.

DEBMALYA BARH is a management professional and an internationally recognized consultant for biotechnology and healthcare industries having more than 12 years experience in the sectors of biomarker, molecular diagnostics, drug discovery, personalized medicine, nutraceuticles, and bioinformatics. He is an expert in intellectual property rights, product development, business analysis, global strategic management, and transformation of innovations to good profitable products. He is the founder and president of IIOAB that provides a global platform for multidisciplinary research and advocacy. Previously he had successfully mentored organizations that bridge academics to industries and assist SMEs and innovators to commercialize their products and innovations. Debmalya Barh is MSc, (Agri) in Horticulture, MSc in Applied Genetics, MTech & MPhil in Biotechnology, PhD in Genomics, and a Post Graduate in Global Management from Alliance Business School.

Dr. Hyder Ali Khoja is highly growth focused individual with experience in a broad range of life sciences services who adopts a values-based philosophy to successfully lead multi-disciplinary teams with a high record of achievement and consistent delivery of a broad range of products in a timely fashion and expertise to troubleshoot, initiate change and implement redesigning/quality improvement processes, while maintaining a positive, safe and productive environment.
Currently, he is serving as a Senior Research & Technical scientist for Advanced Nutrients Ltd. He holds multiple honorary positions which includes from; Advisory Board Member for Agrilution and Association for Vertical Farming. Serving as a distinguish Visiting Professor at University of Karachi and Research Faculty of Sindh Agriculture University under umbrella of University Grant Commission of Pakistan. Dr. Khoja, also held numerous Research & Development positions for several universities in United States of America including Michigan State University, Virginia Tech, University of Wyoming, Texas Tech University-Health Science center and Center of Excellence for Hazardous Material Management of US Department of Energy and was leading the organizations to its greatest levels of success for the life science industry and research community.
He dealt business and strategic affairs and was responsible for leading its research driven functions and building national and international alliances and partnerships. Prior to joining the Advanced Nutrients Ltd, he managed the initiation, operation, and contributed towards developing several other research grant proposals in the fields of Agriculture-Food Security, Safety & Sovereignty, Biofuels & GGE, Renewable resources, Alternative energy, Technology transfer, Pharmaceutical industry, Drug discovery, Nutraceuticals, Metabolomics, Proteomics, Genomics, Micro/Molecular

biology, Oncology, Bioinformatics and Technology transfer with successful Algae for Energy (biofuel project) grant from US-Department of Energy.
He holds a Ph.D., in Cellular & Molecular Biology from the Institute National Polytechnique (Ecole National Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse, France; and a M.Sc. in Plant Biotechnology emphasizing on Genetic Engineering and Cytogenetics from Sindh Agriculture University, Pakistan. He is an honour roll runner, and currently pursuing his executive MBA from Harvard business school.
He comes as a goal-driven strategist with impressive history of career steps in research and development and global strategic, and development level including over 15 years of experience. Highly performance-driven team leader with excellent interpersonal skills, optimally utilizing all channels of communications to develops team momentum, enthusiasm, and pride which combine integrity and ingenuity with passion for learning to achieve desired results. A well-rounded project manager with solid academic background plus broad-based experience in scientific research with a work ethic result-oriented and proven record of accomplishments, consistent contributions, tenacity and resourcefulness in problem solving with ability to use initiative and creativity.
He has some very strong adaptive ability in leading diverse regulatory program areas, and solid experience and ability in leading both science and policy domains.
Dr. Khoja is forward thinking and able to identify opportunities to address business needs and to translate a vision into concrete direction and plans. Nevertheless, he is Multi-Linguistic ability with command over 12 languages including: English, French, Spanish, Hindi, Urdu, Guajarati, Sindhi, Punjabi, Kutchi, Khojki, Sariki and Arabic

Frans has more than 25 years of experience and expertise in the Pharmaceutical Industry, including sales, marketing, project management, new business development and multi-country general management

He has hands-on experience in: sales, product & marketing plans, business plans, forecasting, P & L, marketing research, local and global marketing strategy, product positioning, patient profiling, market development, market access, product (pre)launch and re launch, product lifecycle management, coaching, training, sales force effectiveness, people management, start-ups, key opinion leader development, clinical research, clinical trials, medical plans, pricing & reimbursement, lobbying health care and reimbursement authorities, building business units and companies from scratch.

Among others Frans launched a drug for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Result: highest market share and sales/capita worldwide. He re launched a drug for hospital infections that generated thereafter € 700 million of additional revenue worldwide. He also re launched a drug for the treatment of metastatic colon cancer of which sales doubled thereafter in 2 years.

His therapeutic fields of expertise are: Oncology, Hematology, Bone Marrow Transplants, Infectious Diseases, Gene Therapy, Orphan Drugs, Urology,
Gastroenterology.

Frans holds a Postgraduate in Business Administration from KU Leuven University, a Bachelor Degree in French from COCMA Utrecht, a Diploma Primary Medical Knowledge from Leidse Onderwijsinstellingen.

He is multi-lingual (5 languages).

Frans lives and works in Brussels, Belgium as an independent Pharmaceutical & Biotech Consultant and Business Developer.

If you need to connect Science to Technology, Technology to Products, Products to Markets and/or Markets to Clients; give me a call.

• Starting with an idea springing from basic Science observations? No problem. Indeed I start many days looking at a dozen or so papers across diverse topics. Together we can assess the relevance of the Science to Commerce and create a Strategy to translate a raw idea into a business reality. Stuck at: “Who’s Doing This already?” “Who are my Prospects?” “Do I make a Thing or provide a Service?” These are the most serious of questions, and I can help you answer them within the context of required proof-of-concept, market size, time/money investment requirements, and multiple marketing/sales strategies.
• Need an Expert voice of Scientific or Technology reason? Much that passes for scientific discovery has proven to be false or uncertain. I can insure that the business foundation is solid whether the market is biotech, pharma, energy, chemicals, instruments and on and on.
• Need to understand an Industry In-Depth? Some Industries are simple, amenable to reduction to numbers and charts. Most are not, especially industries such as Pharma that encompasses Scientific Discovery through Diagnosis and Treatment of Disease. I can insure that your strategies are based on honest vision, not mistakenly confusing elephants and grey walls.

Established medical strategist and clinical investigator with distinguished experience and expertise in the fields of Oncology such as Leukemia and Lymphoma clinical trials and solid tumor clinical trials, Fertility, and Molecular Diagnostics and Therapeutics . Academic/practicing oncologist for over 20 years, with many original scientific publications and reviews. Proven record of achievement in pharmaceutical and medical device industries supporting optimal commercialization of oncology and fertility drugs, treatment for varies cancers, and medical imaging agents. Successful design, implementation and completion of phases I- IV (phase 4) research programs, with more than 69 clinical trials, some of which are FDA approved such as Clomid, Avastin, Retinoids (9-cis-Retinoic acid), Vectibix, and Velcade. Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) Member, and Board of Directors (BOD) Member for several biotechnology companies. Providing leadership and coordination of Investigator Initiated Studies in support of product positioning and overseeing all clinical development activities including review of protocols and draft publication manuscripts.

Christian Marc, after an executive life in the high-tech industry (semiconductor) founded Crocus Technology, and for this innovative company was the recipient of the French Ministry of Industry's 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
He started his career in France at Texas Instruments in 1975. He moves to Silicon Valley in 1980 and moved up the ranks at AMD before joining ST Microelectronics back in Europe. He then ran the European and Japanese Divisions of a US electronics company. In 1999 he became CEO of the Asian Operations (based in Hong-Kong) of a swiss semiconductor capital good (Ismeca).
He is a graduate of Harvard Business Schools ISMP program (88), holds a MSEE form France (74) and an MBA (84) from the USA (beta gamma sigma) and holds patents. He is a recognized semiconductor products and market developer in the US, Asia and Europe.
Retired in Switzerland , Christian MARC advises non-profit entities and European electronic and Internet start-ups.

Dr. Carnathan is a senior regulatory professional with more than 30 years of experience in drug development with biologics, vaccines and new chemical entities. He has a broad range of development experience with particular emphasis on preclinical development, FIH studies and regulatory affairs. Reflecting his career as both a senior executive and as a consultant, Dr. Carnathan has provided strategic and tactical expertise to start-up companies, multinational pharmaceutical companies and nonprofit organizations, including the design of development programs, preclinical testing strategies, regulatory affairs and program management. He is an experienced scientist with a strong reputation of achievement in the development of lead compounds, the evaluation of in-licensing candidates, the establishment of corporate alliances and the formation of corporate strategy. Dr. Carnathan has demonstrated success in driving difficult development programs to completion in complex situations and across international cultures.

Dr. Carnathan earned his PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst MA, and is certified in regulatory affairs (RAC) by the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society.

Carmen Vigo is a leading biotech executive, an experienced scientist, and a skillful manager with a proven track record in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry.
She has extensive background in drug discovery and product development, diagnostics, clinical development, FDA submissions and regulatory requirements.
She is the founder and Executive Director of two biotech companies in the San Francisco Bay area, Atlas Pharmaceuticals and Neurocal, where she filed the leading patents, licensed 20 others, including technology, and an open IND from Daiichi Pharmaceuticals, wrote business plans, planned strategy, and raised $40 million from VC and private investment.
She is the former R&D Director of Vitagen and Invitrogen in southern California where she overseen 150 people and managed a $50 million budget. She held other scientific leadership positions at Athena Neurosciences, now Élan Pharmaceuticals, Syntex, and 3M Diagnostics. She co-authored over 100 research papers and three books. She is also the inventor of twenty patents and guest speaker at national and international conferences. Her contribution to Alzheimer’s disease is internationally recognized and has received the Norage-Pharmacia and Euroespes Foundation awards in neuroscience.
She is a Ph.D. recipient in Biochemistry from the University of London, Royal College of Surgeons of England, and earned a BS degree in nuclear physics from the University Complutense of Madrid, Spain.

Alain Rolland is an executive with 25 years of international leadership experience in Pharmaceutical (Ciba Geigy, Galderma) and Biotech companies (GeneMedicine, Valentis, Vical). Until recently he was a Corporate Officer and Executive Vice President (Product Development) at Vical (San Diego, CA), a publicly traded (NASDAQ: VICL) 120-employee biopharmaceutical research and development company developing cancer immunotherapeutics and infectious disease vaccines. He participated in defining and implementing the corporate strategy, led the R&D organization and provided leadership for the development of several products, and he participated in partnering and intellectual property activities. In 2007 he successfully completed the Executive Business Education program on Transition to General Management at Columbia University, Graduate School of Business. Before joining Vical in 2002, he was Senior Vice President, Preclinical R&D, and the Head of The Woodlands Center of Valentis, a biopharmaceutical delivery company formed in 1999 through the merger of GENEMEDICINE (The Woodlands, TX), Megabios (Burlingame, CA) and PolyMASC (London, UK). At Valentis, he was responsible for preclinical R&D programs to identify and develop biopharmaceuticals (DNA-and PEGylated protein-based products). As a Corporate Officer at Valentis, he was also involved in strategic and operational planning, partnering and financing activities. He has been responsible for leading and managing groups of more than 60 scientists and over the past two decades he has been involved in moving several products (small molecules, gene-based medicines and vaccines) through INDs into the clinic (through Phase 3) for the treatment of cancer, inflammation, cardiovascular, neuromuscular, and infectious diseases.
Prior to Valentis, he was first Director of Gene Delivery, then Vice President of Research at GENEMEDICINE from June 1993 to March 1999. As one of the first scientific Directors at GENEMEDICINE, he helped establish the Company’s infrastructure and strategy, its scientific programs and products, as well as various partnerships. In these different operational roles and also as a project leader, he contributed to creating proprietary gene delivery technologies and products that entered into clinical development. From 1989 to 1993, Dr. Rolland was Head, Formulation Research at the R&D Center (CIRD) of Galderma International in France. He led a group of scientists to create and develop novel topical therapeutic systems, mainly for dermal and transdermal applications. From 1987 to 1988, he was a scientist at the Advanced Drug Delivery Research Center of Ciba Geigy Pharmaceuticals in the UK. He developed nanotechnologies for drug targeting, focusing on injectable nanoparticles that increased the half-life of drugs in blood and controlled their biodistribution.

Serge Milman is the principal consultant of SFO Consultants . Serge is a recognized leader in the areas of strategy development, innovation, business profitability measurement & improvement, and operational performance improvement.
Serge has served clients in numerous industries & sectors, including banks, credit unions, insurance companies, brokerages, credit card companies, payment processors, airline companies, manufacturers, universities, and technology companies during his more than 20 year career.
In the past, Serge was a vice president of Wells Fargo Bank, where he was responsible for innovation and operational efficiency of a nearly $2 billion business unit. Serge also held consulting positions with Mitchell Madison Group and McKinsey & Co, where he served clients in various industries in the areas of corporate finance, strategy and operational efficiency. In addition, Serge was a Sr. Director for Exigen Group, where he founded and grew an internal cross-functional consulting team that was tasked with generating revenue based on a consultative sales approach.
He received his MBA from the Stern School of Business at NYU, and earned an undergraduate degree in business and economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB).

Dr Kaufmann is a pharmacist with scientific track record in molecular biology and 15 years of hands on experience in personalized medicine from a technology / diagnostic as well as from a pharmaceutical perspective across the lifecycle.
She has a comprehensive, inter-divisional background with experience not only in drug development/translational medicine and molecular diagnostics , but also in marketing, sales, project management, and business development in biotech start-up and global pharmaceutical organizations.
She established and implemented consolidated project specific biomarker / diagnostic strategies for various oncology development projects in exploratory and full development, as well as for market adoption and lifecycle management of marketed targeted therapies/companion diagnostics, e.g. with F. Hoffmann La Roche AG and Novartis Pharma AG.
She also has experience in molecular imaging agent development, enabled market entry of a microarray based protein profiling system in Europe and successfully launched a microarray based pharmacogenetic profiling system.

Since April 2012 she is running her own business, being dedicated to provide decision makers in the healthcare industry with consulting services that will ensure successful transformation of their products and services into promising personalized medicine.

J. Melville ("Mel") Engle is President and CEO of Engle Strategic Solutions, a consulting company focused on the needs of the CEO and Business Owner. Mr. Engle is a global Life Science leader with a clear and recognizable 30 year track record of relevant professional successes within the Pharmaceutical, Biotech and Medical Device industries. He has consistently provided strategic leadership, tactical precision, creative solutions and individual integrity within the public markets and private sectors.

With over 14 years as a CEO, leading both large and small-sized pharmaceutical and medical device firms, Mr. Engle has extensive experience in turning companies around, driving sales, setting and executing strategies and operating plans, business development, problem solving and developing high performance teams. He has served in multiple top level capacities, including President, CEO, Director/Chairman of the Board, Lead Independent Director ("OXBT") and CFO with companies such as Thermogenesis, Raydiance, Inc., Merck KGaA (Dey L.P.), Anika Therapeutics, US Medical Products and Allergan, Inc.

In his consulting practice, Mr. Engle specializes in CEO development and coaching, senior management consulting/problem solving and strategic and operational planning.

Specialties: Solid pharmaceutical and medical device industry (small and large company) top level management expertise, and consulting and board leadership experience. Strategic and innovative thinker and problem solver. Active community leader. Leads by example. Accomplished public speaker.

Nadine Bongaerts is the president of Kairos Society the Netherlands, the co-owner of Biotecture and a Biotechnology Master student at the University of Technology Delft. The Kairos Society is a worldwide community of students and mentors with the drive to make a positive impact in the world through innovation and entrepreneurship. As the president of Kairos Society The Netherlands, Nadine helps young entrepreneurial talents to accelerate their business and to build long-term international relationships.
Next to her entrepreneurial and scientific career, she has 8 years of experience in science education. At the age of 16, Nadine started to teach science lessons to pre-university students and developed her first summer school at the age of 17.
Her scientific background is mainly focused on synthetic biology and microbiology. In 2010, she participated in the worldwide synthetic biology competition iGEM. Her team’s genetic toolkit to transform bacteria into alkane degrading systems was internationally recognized as one of the iGEM finalists and won several additional prices. With the mission to make scientific developments more transparent, accessible and relevant for society, she co-founded Biotecture in 2011.
Biotecture offers unique education- and communication services that build bridges between life sciences, business, politics and society. At present, Biotecture has leading governmental, scientific/educational institutions and museums as clients. Current projects are amongst others the development of an International Summer school on the Biobased Economy and stakeholder work sessions to advance the field of Personalized Medicine. In addition, Nadine is frequently invited to talk about the implications of synthetic biology, innovation in education, entrepreneurship and science communication.

Satheesh is the Director of emerging technologies at TAVAS. He has 15 + experience of working with start-ups and blue chip companies (such as Oracle and Accenture), and played various roles such as, programmer , team leader, architect, project manager, business analyst, consultant, change agent, business & technology consulting, mentoring and coaching, business plan, organization growth consulting, marketing and sales. His specializations are mobile apps strategy and consulting, multi-platform enterprise mobile computins and NFC touch ‘N’ go technology. He has an MS (Software Engineering) from BITS, Pilani.

David J. Glass, Ph.D. has over thirty years experience in the biotechnology industry, including its industrial, environmental, agricultural and medical applications, with expertise in regulatory affairs, patents and licensing. He has over twenty years experience in academic technology transfer, managing patent programs, outlicensing technologies to industry, and negotiating a variety of academic-industry agreements; and has expertise with industrial and agricultural biotechnology regulations dating back to 1980s. Dr. Glass spent nine years at BioTechnica International, handling patents and agricultural biotech regulatory affairs, followed by ten years as associate director of technology transfer at Massachusetts General Hospital. In his consulting work through D. Glass Associates, Inc. he has directed tech transfer for McLean Hospital, Joslin Diabetes Center, and Baystate Medical Center and has consulted for other academic institutions and biopharma companies. He has served as director of regulatory affairs for Joule Unlimited Technologies, while also assisting other biofuel and industrial biotechnology companies with various regulatory matters, including compliance with US and international biotechnology regulations and renewable fuel standards. Dr. Glass holds a B.S. in biological sciences from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in biochemical sciences from Princeton University. Dr. Glass was awarded the Certified Licensing Professional (CLP) certification in 2008; with Registered Technology Transfer Professional (RTTP) certification currently pending.

Summary:
• Training in biochemistry, pathology, and human molecular genetics
• Medical communication, due diligence and clinical trial support
• Extraction of trait information from Genomic DNA browsers
• Biomarker characterization, DNA/gene therapy constructs, assay development
• Excellent communication skills, team player, mentor
• Teaching experiences include: Nutrition, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Medical Genetics, Microbiology, Pathology and Biology

Results-oriented leader with an excellent track record of international and domestic
experience managing cross-functional enterprises to successfully develop products
and mentor people through different stages of development and commercialization.
Hands on leadership of multifunctional technical and business teams to achieve key
objectives, make high-quality decisions and build value. Track record of success with
Advanced Biologics (China JV-CMO $100M), Medarex (Acquired by BMS for $3.6B),
Aviron (acquired by Medimmune $860M) and MAST Immunosystems (acquired by
Hitachi Medical)
• International Experience (Europe & Asia)
• Consulting/Interim Executive Management/Board of Directors
• Startup & Corporate Strategy
• P&L Responsibility
• Program/Project Management
• Product Development (Biotherapeutics, Vaccines and Diagnostics
• Corporate Partnering and Alliance Management
• Quality Assurance
• Manufacturing
• Technical Operations
• R&D
• Accounting
• Product Development
• Regulatory Compliance
• Angel Investing
• Mezzanine Financing
• cGMP/EMEA Compliant Manufacturing Facilities
• Healthcare & Military Contracting/CRADA/Collaboration

Dr. Salisbury’s career has been spent in the precision medicine and genomics industries, developing diagnostic, software, and pharmaceutical products. At Knome, Ben is responsible for the definition and marketing of a software/hardware system for genetic data processing, analysis, and management for next generation DNA sequencing labs. Prior to joining Knome, he served in various scientific and management roles at Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, Clinical Data, and Transgenomic. His expertise broadly spans basic and applied genetics and genomics, including molecular diagnostics, precision medicine, forensics, population and statistical genetics, and software and algorithm development. He has successfully represented his companies in private and public meetings with the FDA, other governmental bodies, and industry interest groups. Dr. Salisbury holds degrees in biology from Yale University and the University of Michigan.

Gill Eapen has three decades of experience in strategy, finance, risk and general management. Mr. Eapen’s past experience includes senior positions at fortune 100 companies, consulting and private equity firms. He has consulted for over five-dozen companies worldwide in diverse industries, including life sciences, energy, aerospace, high technology and consumer goods. In 2000, he founded Decision Options, a pioneer in economic value based decision-making, risk, and portfolio management. Decision Options has created a technology with broad applications in valuation, risk management, portfolio optimization and deal structuring. It has 3 patents pending on the technology and business processes deployed. Decision Options also managed a Long/Short US Equity fund that used proprietary analytics and risk management principles.
Currently, he is the chairman and CEO of Decision Options, providing advisory and analytical services and software in the area of decision-making and portfolio management. Previously he was an executive at Charles River Associates, a leading global consulting firm that offers economic, financial, and business management expertise to major law firms, industries, accounting firms, and governments around the world. Previously, he was a member of the R&D leadership team at Pfizer, responsible for the planning of the entire R&D portfolio including internal allocation of capital and external assessments of business development deals. Before that he was engagement manager at Deloitte Consulting, where he provided strategic and operational advisory services for companies in many industries including software, consumer goods, commodities and manufacturing.
Mr. Eapen is the author of two textbooks. The first book, Decision Options: The Art and Science of Making Decisions, provides the theory and practice of real options in economic valuation and investment decision-making in private assets. The second book, Flexibility: Flexible Companies for the Uncertain World is a comprehensive discussion of the structure, systems and strategies needed for companies to survive and succeed in an increasingly uncertain world. He is a CFA charter holder, a member of the Boston Society of Security Analysts and a frequent speaker in conferences worldwide.

Bernat is a young entrepreneurial business consultant with international experience. An engineer with a minor in management, he has focused on innovation and value creation. This crucial phase in any company (all from the smallest start-up to the multinational) needs both technical and know-how, and Bernat has this multidisciplinary approach. He has consulted in Switzerland for 3 years at Innobridge supporting new business development for established companies and supporting some of the start-ups from the investment fund the company is managing. One of his biggest contributions has been the business development of Xemtec AG, a smart metering start-up. Moreover, he has co-founded SurfingDinner, a new concept to share and meet people while cooking and discovering other gastronomic wonders. His experience includes as well a position in innovation consulting for Schott AG in Mainz, a German high-tech glass company. Native of Barcelona, Bernat speaks not only with Catalan/Spanish, but also English, French and German. He is currently living in Lausanne, Switzerland.