University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
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GSB-BioPharma & The Entrepreneurial RoundtableJanuary 15, 4:15 PM - 6:00 PMBiotech Entrepreneurship Panel-'From Concept to Sustainable Growth'Biotech Entrepreneurship Panel -"From Concept to Sustainable Growth" -Learn how to Position Yourself for Opportunities in Biotech Start Ups -If I wanted to launch a life sciences company, where would I begin? -Talk to the people who have successfully done it before: Featured speakers: Robert Gonzalez, CEO and President, Founder of New Neural, LLC Dr. Mich B. Hein, President and Chief Executive Officer of Chromatin, Inc. Gary N. Keller, MSB CEO, Director of ZelleRx Ltd. Brian Coe, CEO of Litholink Corporation Where: Who: Mich Hein Gary Keller Brian Coe Immanuel Thangaraj Program: Speaker Profiles: Robert Gonzalez Mr. Gonzalez is responsible for leading the company through its early stage of corporate development, financing and overall strategic direction. Mr. Gonzalez brings over 20 years of experience in general management, sales, marketing, process development, business development, strategic relations and manufacturing in the biotechnology, chemical, vitamin, pharmaceutical and food ingredient industries. Most recently with Monsanto, he helped increase sales as he led an autonomous biotech business unit through a successful divestiture. Prior to that, he was responsible for commercial development of Food and Nutrition Biotechnology where he spearheaded food and nutrition biotechnology discovery and development efforts with joint responsibility for developing/implementing value capture strategies for biotechnology food and nutrition concepts. Mr. Gonzalez has also worked at Henkel Corporation, where he had broad and deep experiences including: engineering, production, product management, strategic relations, leadership, P/L responsibility, international business and consumer research in the vitamin E, sterol and food ingredient businesses. Mr. Gonzalez received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA (Finance) from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business. Mich Hein Dr. Hein has over 20 years of experience with commercial and technical aspects of plant biotechnology. He began his career as a research chemist at Monsanto and subsequently moved to PPG Industries where he managed their plant molecular biology research effort. Prior to joining Chromatin in January 2003, Dr. Hein participated in the development of next generation plant biotechnology, first at The Scripps Research Institute, and then as a co-founder and President of Epicyte Pharmaceutical, Inc., a plant-based developer of therapeutic antibodies. At Epicyte, he managed the Company's strategic business development, government relations and key commercial alliances, including relationships with the Dow Chemical Company and Dow AgroSciences, Biovation, and the Centocor division of Johnson & Johnson. Last May, Epicyte announce that it was acquired by Biolex, a privately held protein therapeutics company. In addition to his business experience, Dr. Hein has considerable scientific expertise in analytical chemistry, plant molecular biology and immunology. He was highly involved in the early development of plants for the production of antibodies, vaccine subunits and other high-value proteins and is an inventor on numerous patents. Gary Keller Mr. Keller is the entrepreneurial founder of the Company. Keller is founder and CEO of Xomix Ltd., a biotechnology accelerator, based in Chicago and Pittsburgh focused on the development of cellular and genetic bio-innovations. Keller has more than 18 years of experience in business development for leading biotechnology companies. He is known for his expertise in corporate/product/market development as well as scientific research and development. Keller established the position of National Manager of Cellular Therapy for Cambrex/BioWhittaker, Inc., where he led the corporate expansion of this market area by refocusing and developing products and services for cell, gene, and tissue therapy. Previously, he launched a series of new scientific products into the U.S. market, first for Fison's through Curtin Matheson Scientific, and then Sanyo Scientific. His career began as a product development and research scientist for Alltech Associates. Brian Coe Mr. Coe is the Chief Executive Officer of Litholink Corporation, an integrated diagnostic testing laboratory and disease management company. Litholink focuses on bone and mineral disorders, including recurrent kidney stone disease and osteoporosis. Prior to founding Litholink, Mr. Coe was Assistant Director of Drug Discovery for GenDerm Corporation, a biotechnology company in Lincolnshire Illinois. Mr. Coe received is MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and his BA in Neuroscience and Psychology from Brandeis University. Immanuel Thangaraj has over 12 years of experience in operations and venture capital. He began his venture capital career in 1992 as an Associate and CFO at ARCH Venture Partners (AVP), a $750 million venture capital firm targeting early stage technology and healthcare investments. In his initial tenure at AVP, he managed one of its portfolio companies, a medical information company, until its sale to a large hospital supplies company. In 1995, Mr. Thangaraj become CEO of Integrated Telemanagement, a telecommunications company, which he helped to found, until its sale to a public company. Mr. Thangaraj joined Essex Woodlands in 1997. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of CBR Systems, Halsey Pharmaceuticals, iKnowMed Systems,and Sound ID. He is also responsible for the Partnership's investment in Novacept. Mr. Thangaraj holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Chicago. |
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