BIO Investor Forum Advisory Committee
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Bruce Booth, D.Phil. Bruce is a Partner with Atlas Venture, focusing on novel biopharmaceutical products, therapeutic platforms and innovative biomedical technologies. He currently sits on the Boards of Avila, Bicycle, Miragen, Nimbus, OnQity, ProtAffin and Zafgen. He also works or has worked closely ARCA Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABIO), Archemix, NxStage Medical (NASDAQ:NXTM), Prestwick (sold to Biovail), Proprius (sold to Cypress) , and Stromedix. Previously, Bruce was an investor with Caxton Health Holdings, and before that he was a consultant with McKinsey & Company on pharmaceutical R&D issues. Bruce serves as a Trustee of the New York Academy of Medicine and a member of the UCB Pharma Scientific Advisory Board. As British Marshall Scholar, Bruce earned a Doctorate in Immunology from Oxford University, and received his B.S. summa cum laude in Biochemistry from Pennsylvania State University. He also writes a blog on venture capital and life science topics (www.lifescivc.com), and can be followed on Twitter @LifeSciVC. Bruce lives in Wellesley, MA with his wife and three wonderful kids. |
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Francesco De Rubertis, PhD Francesco is a Partner in the firm's life science practice which he helped create in 1997. He has served on the board of directors of numerous companies. The list of companies that Index has been involved with from very early stages include; Genmab (GEN DC), PanGenetics (sold to Abbott ABT US), Addex (ADXN SW), Parallele (sold to Affymetrix), Bioxell (sold to Cosmo COPN SW), Aegerion (AEGR US), Cellzome and Molecular Partners. Prior to joining Index, Francesco was involved in post-doctoral research in Genetics at the Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is also the author of several publications in international scientific journals. Francesco has a BA in Genetics and Microbiology from the University of Pavia and a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Geneva. He is a CFA charterholder and is also a member of the Strategic Board of the University of Geneva. |
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Patrick Enright Patrick Enright is a founder and Managing Director of Longitude Capital. He focuses on investments in biotechnology. From 2002 through 2006, Mr. Enright was a Managing Director of Pequot Ventures where he co-led the life sciences investment practice. Prior to Pequot, he was a Managing Member responsible for the Delta Opportunity Fund, where he invested in privately-held and publicly-traded biotechnology companies. Mr. Enright began his investment career at PaineWebber Development Corporation, a direct investment group focused primarily on biotechnology companies. Mr. Enright also has significant life sciences operations experience including senior executive positions at Valentis, Boehringer Mannheim Pharmaceuticals (now Hoffmann-La Roche) and Sandoz (now Novartis). He currently serves on the boards of Corcept Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CORT), InfaCare Pharmaceuticals, Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: JAZZ) and Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals. He has previously served on the boards of Codexis (NASDAQ: CDXS), DiObex Pharmaceuticals, Horizon Therapeutics (acquired), MAP Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MAPP), Prestwick Pharmaceuticals (acquired), Threshold Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: THLD) and Sequenom (NASDAQ: SQNM). Mr. Enright holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Stanford University. |
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Mark Kessel Mr. Kessel co-founded Symphony Capital, a private equity firm investing in the clinical development programs of biopharmaceutical companies. He is also currently a Senior Advisor to Sagent Advisors Inc., an independently-owned private investment bank. He is widely recognized as the leader in structuring product development investments for the biopharmaceutical industry. Mr. Kessel was formerly the Managing Partner of Shearman & Sterling, with day-to-day operating responsibility for one of the largest international law firms. He received a B.A. degree with honors in Economics from the City College of New York and a J.D. degree magna cum laude from Syracuse University College of Law. Mr. Kessel is a director of Dynavax Technologies Corporation, the Foundation for Innovative Drug Development, and Fondation Santé. He also served as a director of the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, OXiGENE, Inc., Antigenics, Inc., Heller Financial Inc. and Harrods (UK) Limited and a Trustee of the Museum of the City of New York.
He has written on financing for the biotech industry for Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Nature Biotechnology, The Scientist, Start-Up and other publications and on issues related to governance and audit committees for such publications as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Deal, and Euromoney. |
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Jonathan MacQuitty, PhD Jonathan has headed Abingworth’s West Coast office since May 1999. Abingworth is a leading trans-Atlantic life science venture capital investor with three offices and over $1.3 billion under management. Abingworth has invested in over 120 companies over the last 25 years, the majority having been acquired or gone public. In 1988, following positions at Genentech and Genencor, Jonathan co-founded GenPharm International where he was CEO from inception until 1997 when its US operations were acquired by Medarex. GenPharm’s European operations were spun out as Pharming BV (listed on Euronext). Jonathan has an MA in Chemistry from Oxford, a doctorate in Chemistry from University of Sussex, and an MBA from Stanford. He has served on the Board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization ("BIO") and the Boards of private companies such as Acorda (now NASDAQ), Dicerna, Guava (acquired), Gynesonics, Hydra, Labcyte, Myelos (acquired), ParAllele (acquired), Personalis, Quantum Dot (acquired), SFJ Pharma, Sosei (now listed in Tokyo), and Sunesis (now NASDAQ). |
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Gail Maderis Gail Maderis is President & CEO of BayBio, the industry organization representing and supporting Northern California’s life science community. As a former biotech CEO, Ms. Maderis brings deep experience and commitment to supporting the industry through enterprise development, peer-to-peer experience sharing, advocacy and support of education and workforce development. From 2003 to 2009, Ms. Maderis served as President and CEO of Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held protein discovery and development company. At FivePrime, she successfully funded the company’s rapid growth through substantial private equity financings and corporate partnerships and took the company’s first novel cancer therapeutic from discovery into clinical trials. Prior to FivePrime, Ms. Maderis held senior executive positions at Genzyme Corporation, including founder and president of Genzyme Molecular Oncology (GZMO). Ms. Maderis practiced management and strategy consulting with Bain & Co. She currently serves on the boards of BayBio, NovaBay Pharmaceuticals (NBY), a publicly-traded anti-infective company, Opexa Therapeutics (OPXA), a publicly-traded cellular immune-mediated disease company, the Mayor’s Biotech Advisory Council of San Francisco and the HBS Healthcare Initiative. She received a BS in business from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Harvard Business School. |
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Michael Martino Mr. Martino joined Ambit as President and Chief Executive Officer in November 2011, bringing a nearly 30-year track record in leading privately held and publicly traded life sciences companies through late-stage clinical development, fundraising, commercial and business development activities, including new product launches and mergers and acquisitions. From 1999 to 2008, Mr. Martino served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sonus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly traded cancer therapeutics company. During his tenure, he refocused the company on oncology drug development, and oversaw development of the company’s lead cancer therapeutic through a pivotal Phase 3 trial conducted under a special protocol assessment. In addition, he played an integral role in establishing and managing collaborations with partners, raising capital from public markets and completing a reverse merger with Oncogenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In 2009-10, Mr. Martino was President and Chief Executive Officer of Arzeda Corp., a privately held company based on enzyme design and development technology licensed from the University of Washington. In 2010 until joining Ambit, Mr. Martino held multiple positions with CareFusion Corporation, including Senior Vice President and General Manager of Diagnostics and Senior Vice President of Innovation, Business Development and Strategy. Earlier in his career, he held multiple positions during a 17-year tenure at Mallinckrodt in strategic planning, business development, marketing and general management. Mr. Martino received an M.B.A. from Virginia Tech and a bachelor’s degree from Roanoke College. He currently serves on the board of directors of Ambit and Arzeda Corp. |
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Brian McVeigh CPA, CMA, CLP, MBA Brian McVeigh is the Vice President of Worldwide Business Development Transactions and Investment Management at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). In this capacity he leads a global team of Business Development professionals responsible for GSK’s business development deals including in-licenses, out-licenses, research collaborations, co-development and co-promotion arrangements, joint ventures, product acquisitions, newco startups, equity investments, and M&A deals. He also has responsibility for managing GSK’s portfolio of equity investments in R&D collaboration partners and GSK’s portfolio of LP investments in venture capital funds. Brian has held a number of positions of increasing responsibility within the R&D Finance, Marketing, Corporate, and Worldwide Business Development organizations throughout his 20 year career with GSK. Brian has extensive business development experience having successfully led a broad range of business development transactions including the acquisitions of Domantis, Praecis, Sirtris, and Genelabs, and the in-licensing of ambrisentan (Volibris®). Brian is a member of GSK’s Business Development Executive Committee, Transactions Leadership Team, and the Technology Investment Board. He serves on the Board of Directors of the SB1 Federal Credit Union and on the LP Advisory Committee of the Longwood Founders Fund and the Hatteras Venture Partners III Fund and IV Fund. He is based at GSK’s R&D Headquarters in Upper Merion, PA. Brian holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Accounting and Finance from LaSalle University, an MBA with a Concentration in Finance from Villanova University, a Post MBA Certificate in Pharmaceutical Marketing from Saint Joseph's University, and a CPD from the Wharton Business School. He is a member of the Licensing Executives Society and is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, and a Certified Licensing Professional. |
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Bryan Roberts, PhD Bryan Roberts, Ph.D. joined Venrock as a Kauffman Fellow in 1997. He is based in Venrock's Palo Alto office and focuses on a broad range of healthcare investments. Bryan is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Achaogen, Castlight Health, and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IRWD) and also serves on the Board of several other private companies, including Ariosa Diagnostics, Ikaria, Intarcia, and Kyruus. Past investments include athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN), CodeRyte (acquired by 3M), Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN), Sirna Therapeutics (acquired by Merck) and Xenoport (NASDAQ: XNPT). Bryan was named a Henry Crown Fellow by the Aspen Institute in 2006 and has been the highest-ranking healthcare investor on Forbes’ Midas List since 2008. Immediately prior to joining Venrock, Bryan received his Ph.D. in Chemistry & Chemical Biology from Harvard University. He previously held positions in corporate finance at Kidder, Peabody & Co and received his B.A. from Dartmouth College. |
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Katya Smirnyagina, PhD Katya joined Alta in 2002 and focuses on European investment opportunities. She currently represents Alta on the board of directors of Cerenis Therapeutics, Innate Pharma and Kiadis Pharma. She also led Alta’s investment in Ablynx. Prior to joining Alta, she worked in business development and finance at Genset, a French genomics-based biotechnology company, where she negotiated a number of licensing agreements and strategic partnerships. Prior to Genset, Katya was a manager with the Mitchell Madison Group, a global management-consulting firm, from 1997 to 2000. She obtained a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry with high honors from Moscow University in Russia. Katya completed her scientific training as a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She has co-authored a number of scientific papers. |
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Steven Tregay, PhD Prior to joining FORMA, Steven Tregay was a Managing Director for the $200M Novartis Option Fund. He led the fund’s investments in and served on the Board of Directors of FORMA Therapeutics, Adenosine Therapeutics (acquired by Clinical Data: FRX) and Cequent Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Marina Biotech: MRNA). Prior to joining the venture group, he was the Executive Director and Head of Strategic Alliances-Oncology, Ophthalmology and Technologies at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. He managed a team who were responsible for identification, negotiation and management of collaborations for the oncology and ophthalmology disease areas and all the technology areas. Prior to Novartis, he had roles in business development at Array BioPharma and research. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. in organic chemistry from Harvard University and a B.S. from Davidson College. |
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Geeta Vemuri, PhD Geeta Vemuri joined Baxter in January, 2012 as Senior Managing Director - Baxter Ventures, the corporation’s $200 million venture fund. Prior to joining Baxter, she was a General Partner at Quaker Partners, where she spent the last 8.5 years leading investments in Biopharmaceutical and Healthcare companies and being integral part of the team in raising capital for the funds. Dr. Vemuri's role in building and mentoring portfolio companies has helped lead their exit through either acquisition or through Initial Public Offering. Some of her representative Quaker portfolio board member or observer responsibilities include Protez, Cempra, Corridor, Regado and Tranzyme Pharma. Prior to Quaker, she was an Associate at Toucan Capital, where she was responsible for investments in seed-stage and start-up biotech opportunities. She participated in raising capital and helped start several portfolio companies by identifying technologies from universities. Prior to that, she was an Associate Equity Analyst at SalomonSmithBarney and First Union Securities covering specialty pharmaceuticals and healthcare sectors. Geeta was also a research scientist at The Wistar Institute and completed her postdoctoral fellow program at Thomas Jefferson University. Dr. Vemuri received her M.S. from Central University in India, her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Sciences, and her M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Until recently she served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Southeast BIO, and the Advisory Committees of BioAdvance Greenhouse and the Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator. |
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Asish Xavier, PhD Asish Xavier, Vice President, Venture Investments, joined Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation in 2004. Dr. Xavier previously worked in business development at BioRexis Pharmaceutical Corporation which was acquired by Pfizer in 2007. While at BioRexis, he assisted the company in raising a $30 million second round of financing. Dr. Xavier has worked in business development at Structural GenomiX, Inc., acquired by Eli Lilly in 2008, and was a project leader at Message Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Xavier received a PhD from the University of Houston and a MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with honors. He received a Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India. Dr. Xavier was a postdoctoral research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University.
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