Investment Opportunities,
Risks & Strategies
In The Biopharma Industry

October 22, 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM

GSB-BioPharma & Finance Roundtable

Gain perspectives of investment strategies in the BioPharma industry from panelists representing both the biopharmaceutical, and the venture capital industry. Learn more.

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Where:
Gleacher Center
Room 306
450 N. CityFront Plaza Drive
Chicago, Illinois

Who:
John Banta
CEO & Managing Director
IllinoisVENTURES

Robert Okabe
RPX Group

Kristina Burow
Associate
ARCH Venture Partners

Carol D. Winslow
Channel Medical Partners

Cost:
Members & Non Members: Please visit BioPharma Group website for more info

Program:
4:30pm-5:45pm: Panel Discussion
5:45pm-6:00pm: Q&A
6:00pm-6:30pm: Refreshments/ Networking

Registration:
Register Online

Questions:
Arun Bhatia, '06
(773) 412-1666

Speaker Profiles:

John Banta
CEO & Managing Director, IllinoisVENTURES

John Banta serves as the CEO & Managing Director of IllinoisVENTURES, LLC, and the Managing Principal of the Illinois Emerging Technology Fund, an early-stage technology Venture capital fund. In this capacity Banta has established the initial operating environment and infrastructure to facilitate the creation and development of businesses based on a range of technologies. Banta is the former President and COO of DigitalWork, Inc., a Draper Fisher Jurvetson, TL Ventures and Dell Ventures portfolio company, and served previously as its Senior Vice President of Corporate and Business Development. Prior to DigitalWork, Inc., John served as Vice President of Corporate Services for UBS PaineWebber (formerly Kidder Peabody), and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Investment Management Consultant's Association.

Banta currently serves on the Board of Directors of several early-stage life science, medical device and IT businesses, and on the Advisory Boards of the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Chicago West Side Entrepreneurship Center. John earned an MBA in finance and statistics with high honors from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Illinois College of Commerce.

Robert Okabe
RPX Group

Robert Okabe joined RPX Group with a broad range of experience developed at companies from three person start-ups to Fortune 50 multinationals. In the course of his career he has worked in every aspect of management from cost accountant to Chief Executive Officer. Upon leaving the corporate world in 1999 and until he joined RPX Group in 2002 Bob was a consultant, employee, or advisor to a number of companies tackling the issues facing high growth enterprises. These companies have ranged from raw startups to a ten-year-old, family owned equipment leasing company where he served as CFO and Senior Credit Officer. Bob served as an investment banker from 1988 to 1999, most recently as a Managing Director and group head at BancAmerica Robertson Stephens (now Banc of America Securities). Bob also served as a Senior Vice President at Lehman Brothers and a Vice President at Kidder, Peabody where he participated in hundreds of debt, equity, M&A, and advisory assignments.

He began his business career spending nearly six years developing a wide range of core financial and accounting skills while on the fast-track financial management development program at General Electric. After leaving GE, Bob was a senior bond rating analyst for Moody's Investors Service for two years.

As an angel investor he has made eight investments since 1995, with one major liquidity event and two other positive returns of capital. He is also one of the founders of Prairie Angels Capital Partners LLC, an angel fund in the Chicago area. In 2001 Bob led the credit committee for a privately-held company which provided over $7 million in lease and mezzanine debt facilities for early stage companies. Bob Okabe was awarded his Bachelor of Science in Finance and Organizational Behavior from Boston University's School of Management.

Kristina Burow
Associate, ARCH Venture Partners

Kristina Burow joined ARCH Venture Partners in the spring of 2004 and is primarily focused on early stage companies in the life sciences and materials sciences. Ms. Burow joins ARCH From the Novartis BioVenture Fund in San Diego where she was involved in numerous life science investments. Previously, as an early employee at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF), she directed Chemistry Operations and was active in Business Development programs. Ms. Burow was a co-inventor of key technology platforms that formed the core of Kalypsys, a GNF spin-off company.

Ms. Burow works actively with Ensemble Discovery Corp., Achaogen Corp., Nura, Inc., and Accelerator Corporation. Ms. Burow holds an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago, an M.A. in Chemistry from Columbia University, and a B.S. in Chemistry from University of California Berkeley.

Carol D. Winslow
Channel Medical Partners

Ms. Winslow has spent more than 25 years in the medical technology industry, including 17 years of private and public medical technology investment experience. Prior to founding Channel Medical Partners, she was the Senior Medical Device Analyst at Jefferies & Company, Inc., Vector Securities Intl, Inc., and Dain Bosworth Inc with responsibility for those firms' equity research activities within the medical technology industry. Earlier in her career, Ms. Winslow held a variety of management positions with Medtronic Inc. She serves on the board of directors of several private medical technology companies in Channel's investment portfolio and the non-profit American Refugee Committee. Ms. Winslow received her A.B. degree from Mount Holyoke College and an MBA from the University of Minnesota.