Fifth Annual BioSciences Forum to be Held October 30

The BioSciences Management Initiative at the NC State College of Management presents the annual forum to provide an opportunity for open discussion of management issues unique to the biotechnology and biosciences industries. [View driving directions. Parking is available in the NC Biotechnology Center’s new parking deck at their site.]

The agenda, including featured presenters, follows:

• 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. – Registration and continental breakfast

• 8:00 a.m – 8:30 a.m. – Welcome and introductions

• 8:30 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. – Scott Uknes, Vice President, Business Development, Athenix Corporation. Presentation topic: Agricultural Biotechnolgoy

• 9:15 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. – Michael Luther, President, David H. Murdoch Research Institute. Presentation topic: Opportunities for Life Sciences at the Public-Private Interface

• 10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. – Networking Break

• 10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. – William N. Starling, Chief Executive Officer, Synecor, LLC Presentation topic: Medical Device Entrepreneurship in the Research Triangle Park
• 11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Fred van Eenennaam, Ph. D, Professor of Strategy and Dynamics of Strategy at Universiteit Nyenrode, Nyenrode Business Universiteit, Breukelen, the Netherlands. Presentation topic: A European Perspective on Developing the Life Sciences & Healthcare Cluster in the Netherlands

• 12:00 p.m. – 12:15 p.m. – Richard Kouri, Ph. D, Professor and Executive Director, Biosciences Management Initiative, NC State College of Management. Presentation topic: Conveying Market Signals into Actionable Business Intelligence.

• 12:30 p.m. – Forum concludes

The bioscience industries are complex, fast-evolving, highly entrepreneurial, science-driven, and ethically-charged. As a group, they are arguably the most important technology of the next 20 years. Industry leaders and managers, entrepreneurs, investors, graduate students, faculty, and others interested in the biosciences industries would benefit from the presentations and networking at the BioSciences Forum.

There is no charge to attend the event, but pre-registration is required. Please fill out the brief online registration form.

Event sponsors are NC Biotechnology Center, RTP, N.C., co-host, and Biogen Idec, North Carolina Drug Discovery Center of Innovation, Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Athenix Corp., and VWR International.

Those interested in sponsorship opportunities may contact Trudi Brown, director of development and external relations at the North Carolina State University College of Management.

About our Presenters

• Scott Uknes came to Athenix with significant leadership experience in the agricultural sector of the biosciences industries. Most recently, he was president of Cropsolution, Inc., where he was responsible for business development. Prior to that, he was a co-founder and vice-president of business strategy of Paradigm Genetics. Before Paradigm, Uknes managed the scientific effort aimed at understanding the mode-of-action of “plant activators” at Novartis (now Syngenta), and previously, he was research director for the Seeds Disease Control project at Ciba-Geigy Corp. He received his Ph.D. in plant molecular biology from Washington University in St. Louis and his B.S. in honors biology from the University of Illinois.

• Michael Luther, before joining the Murdock Research Institute, held senior positions at both Merck Frosst Centre in Montreal, QC, and at GlaxoSmithKline. He is a founding director of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Research Foundation at North Carolina State University, and serves on the boards for the Quebec Drug Discovery Consortium, Agile Biosciences and the North Carolina Biopharmaceutical Training and Education Foundation. Luther received his bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from NC State University, his doctorate degree in biochemistry from St. Louis University School of Medicine and his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

• William Starling is a co-founder of BaroSense, Inc.; Bioerodible Vascular Solutions, Inc.; (Guidant/Abbott), InnerPulse, Inc.; and TransEnterix, Inc. – the initial four companies incubated at SyneCor, LLC. Starling currently serves as chairman of the board of InnerPulse, Inc., and chief executive officer of TransEnterix. He has been primarily responsible for raising over $300 million in private and public capital for the companies that he has co-founded, whose combined revenues exceed $2.75 billion annually. Starling serves on the boards of visitors at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and The Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at UNC, and the external advisory board at the Stanford Stroke Center at the Stanford University Medical Center.

• Fred van Eenennaam is a leading authority on strategic decision making of management boards under uncertainty (moments of truth), corporate governance, strategic policies and the education of board directors. Van Eenennaam founded and is serving as chairman of the Nyenrode Life Sciences and Healthcare Institute. He also founded and chairs the Nyenrode Powerhouse on Corporate Governance in conjunction with leading global experts on corporate governance. He has taken the initiative and leads the Nyenrode Strategy Center’s Executive Education programs of the New Board Program, NCD-Nyenrode Commissarissencyclus and the Nyenrode Strategic Leadership Program. Van Eenennaam co-chairs the Impact Council of the Harvard Business Schools’ Microeconomics of Competitiveness Initiative.

SPONSORS

• NC Biotechnology Center, RTP, N.C. – co-host
• Gold Sponsor – Biogen Idec
• Silver Sponsor – North Carolina Drug Discovery Center of Innovation
• Bronze Sponsor – Athenix Corp.
• Bronze Sponsor – Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
• Friends – BioDelivery

• Friends – VWR International