Dr. Hill joined Targacept in December 2012 and serves as President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. He brings over 20 years of industry experience to the role, having served previously as President and Chief Executive Officer of Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he led an organization of over 1,200 employees until its acquisition by Abbott Laboratories in 2010, and ArQule, Inc., where he led a successful transition from a fee-for-service discovery chemistry model to an enterprise with a proprietary clinical-stage pipeline. Prior to ArQule, Dr. Hill held several leadership positions with F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., including Global Head of Clinical Development. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and holds degrees in medicine and surgery from St. Catherine’s College at Oxford University.

James B. Hunt, Jr.
Governor of North Carolina (1977-1985; 1993-2001)

He joined the company in 1993 working in the Infectious Diseases Clinical organization with increasing levels of accountability. He then transferred to the Consumer Healthcare R&D team to lead an Rx to OTC switch initiative and subsequently became head of Consumer Health Medical and Regulatory Worldwide. Next he returned to Pharma R&D as head of the Infectious Diseases Therapy area based in the UK. Over the next 10 years, he had the opportunity to grow and learn from varying organizational changes with resultant shifts in accountability as head of the Infectious Diseases Development group, and returned to be based in the US. Subsequently, he transitioned to lead the Center for Project and Study Excellence in 2008 which has now expanded to become the Projects, Clinical Platforms & Sciences team.
Dr. Marks is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. Before joining GSK, he was on faculty at the University of South Alabama Medical Center with joint appointments in Infectious Diseases, Microbiology and Pharmacology. In addition to teaching and patient care responsibilities, he led a NIH grant funded research lab focused on the molecular genetics of bacterial pathogenicity.

 

Fred McCoy
President & CEO, NeuroTronik Limited

 

Fred McCoy is President and Chief Executive Officer of NeuroTronik Limited, an innovative medical technology company, initially bringing-forward a novel approach for the treatment of acute heart failure syndrome. He is Vice Chairman of Synecor, LLC, a successful business accelerator focused on creating high-value technology platforms in the largest medical device markets. Among his industry pursuits, he is a member of the Board of Directors of ibiliti, the North Carolina Advanced Medical Technologies Center of Innovation. Mr. McCoy built his career in medical technology through Eli Lilly and Company and its split-off, Guidant Corporation, where he led Japan and Asia-Pacific Operations, then global Cardiac Rhythm Management.

 

 

The Honorable Pat McCrory
Governor of North Carolina

After graduating from Ragsdale High School in Jamestown, Pat McCrory attended Catawba College in Rowan County. He graduated with degrees in Education and Political Science, then packed his bags for Charlotte and went to work full time for Duke Energy. A management-training program put Pat through a rotation of digging ditches and climbing electric poles as well as stints in various management jobs from human resources to economic development.

After being inspired to make a difference in the city of Charlotte, Pat threw his hat into the political arena and decided to run for an at-large city council seat, and won. He won two more times, serving as Mayor Pro Tem in the process. In 1995, Pat was elected Mayor of Charlotte and went on to serve a record seven terms. The city was on the cusp of an explosion of growth, but it took a visionary leader to help bring Charlotte to the next level and become one of America’s great cities.

Mayor Pat brought together teams of people from both parties and across the public and private sectors, showing great leadership on Charlotte’s major issues like economic development, job-creation, infrastructure, transportation, public safety, and education. Tens of thousands of net new jobs were created during Pat's tenure as Mayor and Charlotte became an economic hub in transportation, banking, manufacturing, energy, and tourism. Pat successfully reduced property taxes as well as the city’s crime rate.

Pat founded the Mayor’s Mentoring Alliance in 1995 and personally served as a mentor to youth in the city. In 2005, Charlotte was named in the 100 Best Communities for Youth by America’s Promise. Pat has been involved in many local charity boards, and served as the honorary chair for the Charlotte chapter of the Alzheimer’s Foundation and the Arthritis Foundation. He also served as the Chair of the Republican Mayors Association and received a presidential appointment to the Homeland Security Advisory Committee. In 2001, Pat founded the North Carolina Metropolitan Mayors Association, a bipartisan group of mayors working together to find common solutions to problems facing North Carolina’s cities.

After leaving the Mayor’s Office in 2009, Pat joined the Charlotte-based firm Moore & Van Allen to consult on energy issues, economic development, and strategic initiatives and began serving on the boards of two great North Carolina-headquartered companies, Lending Tree and Kewaunee Scientific.

In 2012, Pat McCrory decided to make a second run for governor and won. His focus on the campaign was fixing North Carolina's broken economy and broken government. In his victory speech on Election Night, Pat stated, "We need to exceed our potential. Every one of us… And if we all exceed our potential, North Carolina will be number one again." It was with that spirit and the lessons instilled in him by his parents many years ago that Pat took the oath of office, becoming the 74th governor of the great State of North Carolina.

He and his wife, Ann, live with their dog, Mo.

 

James McDeavitt, M.D.
Chief Academic Officer, Carolinas HealthCare System

As founding Chief Academic Officer for a system which comprises one of the largest academic medical centers in the region, Dr. McDeavitt is at the forefront of educating the next generation of medical providers. His work shapes the education of approximately 300 physicians in 18 accredited residencies and fellowships from 93 different medical schools, and 650 student nurses.

Specifically, Dr. McDeavitt is responsible for all education and research activities across Carolinas HealthCare System, including its:

• schools of nursing and allied health (Carolinas College of Health Sciences, Cabarrus College of Health Sciences and Mercy School of Nursing)
• medical student education
• graduate medical education
• continuing medical education through the Charlotte Area Health Education Centers

Under his leadership, Carolinas College of Health Sciences was recently named by www.StateUniversity.com as the best two-year college in the nation. Medical education program graduates’ first-time licensure pass rates annually exceed national benchmarks of excellence, and the system’s residency training programs are among the most competitive nationally, attracting young physicians to the region from around the country. To help address the looming nationwide physician shortage, Dr. McDeavitt co-chaired the inter-institutional task force responsible for expanding the University of North Carolina School of Medicine to include a Charlotte campus.Expanding the School’s presence in Charlotte will increase UNC’s capacity to train more physicians, with a focus on training for practice in under served areas, for which the need is most urgent. In addition, Dr. McDeavitt has management responsibility for the Faculty Physician Network, Outreach Development & Coordination, and MedCenter Air, CHS’s emergency air transport system.

 

 

Jacques Mulder
Principal &Chief Strategy Officer for Life Sciences

Jacques has over 18 years of Life Sciences experience and is the National Chief Strategy Officer for Life Sciences. He is guiding some of Deloitte Consulting’s most important engagements for leading global biopharmaceutical companies. He has deep experience across the entire pharmaceutical value chain, particularly in Research & Development and Commercialization (U.S. and global). Jacques focuses on high end advisory consulting services and has lead similar strategy engagements for a number of large and mid-sized global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Jacques served as Senior VP of Integrated Strategic Solutions for a large pharmaceutical research consulting firm. He has held responsibility for several consulting functions, including corporate and competitive strategy, R&D portfolio and marketing strategy.

Jacques has worked extensively with CEOs, board and other executive members for a wide range of Life Science companies from small cap to large cap Biopharmaceutical companies and medical device, amongst others. These projects have included working with the CEOs to develop strategies for Breakthrough Growth requiring dramatic change in Business and well as Operating Models with global reach and implications.

 

 

Samuel Nussbaum, M.D.
EVP, Clinical Health Policy & Chief Medical Officer, WellPoint, Inc.

Dr. Samuel Nussbaum is Executive Vice President, Clinical Health Policy, and Chief Medical Officer for WellPoint, Inc. He is the key spokesperson and policy advocate for WellPoint. He oversees corporate medical and pharmacy policy to ensure the provision of clinically proven effective care. Dr. Nussbaum collaborates with industry leaders, physicians, hospitals and national policy and health care organizations to shape an agenda for quality, safety and clinical outcomes and to improve patient care for WellPoint’s 34 million medical members nationwide. In addition, Dr. Nussbaum works closely with WellPoint business units to advance international and innovative health care services strategy and development.

In the decade that Dr. Nussbaum has served as Chief Medical Officer at WellPoint, he has led business units focused on care and disease management and health improvement, clinical pharmacy programs, and provider networks and contracting with accountability for over $100B in health care expenditures. He has been the architect of models that improve quality, safety and affordability, and was instrumental in developing an innovative contracting approach linking hospital reimbursement to quality, safety and clinical performance. In addition, he guided an extensive set of public and private sector partnerships which have improved community health. Under his leadership, WellPoint’s HealthCore subsidiary has built partnerships with Federal agencies, including CDC and FDA, and with academic institutions to advance drug safety, comparative effectiveness and outcomes research.

Dr. Nussbaum currently serves on the Boards of the National Quality Forum (NQF), the OASIS Institute, and BioCrossroads, an Indiana-based public-private collaboration that advances and invests in the life sciences. Dr. Nussbaum is a Professor of Clinical Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine and serves as adjunct professor at the Olin School of Business, Washington University.

Dr. Nussbaum has served as President of the Disease Management Association of America, Chairman of the National Committee for Quality Health Care, as Chair of America's Health Insurance Plan's (AHIP) Chief Medical Officer Leadership Council, as a member of the AHIP Board, and on the Secretary of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society. Dr. Nussbaum received the 2004 Physician Executive Award of Excellence from the American College of Physician Executives and Modern Physician magazine and has been recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of the "50 Most Influential Physician Executives in Healthcare” in 2010 and 2011.

Prior to joining WellPoint, Dr. Nussbaum served as executive vice president, Medical Affairs and System Integration, of BJC Health Care, where he led integrated clinical services across the health system and served as President of its medical group. He earned his medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He trained in internal medicine at Stanford University Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital and in endocrinology and metabolism at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, where he directed the Endocrine Clinical Group. As a professor at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Nussbaum’s research led to new therapies to treat skeletal disorders and new technologies to measure hormones in blood.

 

Seth Rudnick, M.D.
Venture Partner, Canaan Partners

Seth Rudnick’s comprehensive experience bringing new medicines to fruition provides invaluable perspective to Canaan. He is passionate about working hand-in-hand with innovative companies to develop and market new drugs to help cure the most nefarious diseases.

Since he joined the firm in 1998, Seth has led investments in Chimerix, developer of orally bioavailable antiviral therapies for immunocompromised patient populations, including transplant and oncology, HIV and HBV; CombinatoRx, a pioneer in the field of synergistic combination pharmaceuticals (CRXX); Esperion, a biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular disease (acquired by Pfizer); Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, a pioneer in personalized medicine through population genomics and informatics (public, acquired by Clinical Data which was acquired by Forest Laboratories); Immunicon, developer of proprietary cell- and molecular-based human diagnostic products (IMMC); Liquidia Technologies a nanotechnology company that designs and manufactures precisely engineered particles and films for life and material science applications; Pozen, a pharmaceutical company developing therapeutic advancements for treatment of acute migraine (POZN); and VaxInnate, a biopharmaceuticals company that is developing novel vaccines for pandemic and seasonal influenza.

Prior to Canaan, Seth led many drug discovery and development projects, gaining deep operational experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. He served as CEO and Chairman of CytoTherapeutics (CTII), a company developing stem cell-based therapies to combat chronic diseases, and also helped start and headed R&D for Ortho Biotech, a division of Johnson & Johnson that provides life-improving products to individuals with chronic illnesses. At Ortho Biotech, Seth was instrumental in creating a portfolio of products that still provide significant Johnson & Johnson revenue today. Seth began his career at Schering-Plough, a global science-based healthcare company, leading clinical trials, and also directed pharmaceutical development efforts at Biogen.

Seth was a Yale Fellow in medical oncology where he was a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar. He received his medical training at Washington University Barnes Hospital. He earned his medical degree at the University of Virginia and holds a BA in history from the University of Pennsylvania. Seth has twice been named to the Midas List, a prominent venture capital ranking of the best dealmakers in technology and life science. He is currently a Clinical Professor of Medicine at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, teaching and advising faculty members on biotechnology issues.

He currently sits on the boards of Liquidia Technologies, ORTHOCON, Pozen, Spine Wave, VaxInnate, Square 1 Financial and Square 1 Bank and serves on the Chimerix Scientific Advisory Board.

 

Melissa Stevens
Deputy Executive Director, FasterCures

Melissa Stevens is deputy executive director of FasterCures. In this capacity she leads planning and implementation of FasterCures’ priorities and programs. Specifically, Stevens directs the Philanthropy Advisory Service, a consulting service that provides philanthropists with data to make informed investments into high-impact nonprofit medical research; leads efforts to identify, evaluate, and construct new financing vehicles for capitalize early-stage research; and, helps coordinate Partnering for Cures, an investor-style conference event that facilitates innovative, collaborative business models. She also manages strategic partnerships across pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, foundations, the investor community, and other stakeholders. Previously, Stevens worked in the health sciences practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers, advising commercial and federal clients across the health-care continuum. Melissa received both her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and MBA from The Pennsylvania State University.

 

David Strong
President, Rex Healthcare
COO, System Affiliations, UNC Health Care

David became president of Rex in September 2004 and oversees all aspects of the health system's operations and its 5,300 co-workers at six campuses across Wake County. David brings a hands-on leadership style that focuses on quality care, patient safety, technology, physician loyalty and community involvement.

David also serves as chief operating officer for system affiliations at UNC Health Care. In this role, David provides leadership and direction for hospitals and regional care sites outside of Chapel Hill. He is responsible for the development, implementation and achievement of strategic plans and partnership opportunities with health systems and physicians.

During David's tenure at Rex, the hospital was named a Thomson-Reuters Top 100 Hospital and a Thomson-Reuters Quality Improvement Leader. Rex also was named one of the Best Places to Work in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare magazine for three out of four years. And, Rex was named by Becker's Hospital Review to the list of 50 Best Hospitals in America.

David currently serves on the boards of North Carolina Prevention Partners and the North Carolina Symphony. He also serves on Wake Technical Community College Foundation’s The Ripple Effect campaign cabinet. He served as chair of the American Heart Association’s 2011 Triangle Heart Ball and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s 2012 Triangle Light the Night Walk.

 

Jack W. Szostak, Ph.D.
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute;
Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School;
Alex Rich Distinguished Investigator, Dept. of Molecular Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital

Dr. Szostak is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, and the Alex Rich Distinguished Investigator in the Dept. of Molecular Biology and the Center for Computational and Integrative Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Szostak is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Dr. Szostak’s early research was on the genetics and biochemistry of DNA recombination, which led to the double-strand-break repair model for meiotic recombination. At the same time Dr. Szostak made fundamental contributions to our understanding of telomere structure and function, and the role of telomere maintenance in preventing cellular senescence. For this work Dr. Szostak shared, with Drs. Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol Greider, the 2006 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award and the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

In the 1990s Dr. Szostak and his colleagues developed in vitro selection as a tool for the isolation of functional RNA, DNA and protein molecules from large pools of random sequences. His laboratory has used in vitro selection and directed evolution to isolate and characterize numerous nucleic acid sequences with specific ligand binding and catalytic properties. For this work, Dr. Szostak was awarded, along with Dr. Gerald Joyce, the 1994 National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology and the 1997 Sigrist Prize from the University of Bern. In 2000, Dr. Szostak was awarded the Medal of the Genetics Society of America, and in 2008 Dr. Szostak received the H.P. Heineken Prize in Biophysics and Biochemistry.

Dr. Szostak’s current research interests are in the laboratory synthesis of self-replicating systems and the origin of life.

 

Brian S. Williams
Global Healthcare Strategy, PwC

As a member of PwC's Global Healthcare Strategy team, Brian advises healthcare executives on strategy, innovation and corporate and entrepreneurial ventures. Prior to joining PwC, Brian served as an executive for two healthcare firms, including one early stage company where he quadrupled revenues in three years, leading to a sale of the company returning 10x invested capital. Prior to these management roles he organized and capitalized two top decile performing private equity funds, whose investments included healthcare and technology concerns. He is a frequent contributor to PwC's Health Research Institute and its publications and a frequent speaker at industry events on the global dynamics of regulatory reform, the revolution in care and the personalization of care. He is a graduate of Indiana University.

 

Ronald Wooten
Managing General Partner, NovaQuest Capital Management, LLC

Ron Wooten is the Managing General Partner of NovaQuest Capital Management. Fund III has a current commitment of $431 million. Ron has over 15 years of healthcare/financing experience and previous to NovaQuest Capital, served as President of the former NovaQuest (NQ) business unit of Quintiles. From its formation in 2000 through November 2010, he led the NQ business unit in creating and managing unique partnerships with more than $2 billion committed in capital or services to companies of all sizes. Mr. Wooten's previous experience includes nine years with First Union Securities where he served as a Managing Director of Investment Banking. He was also a member of the New England Patriots football team from 1981 to 1990. Mr. Wooten received his Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned an MBA from Boston University.

 

 

Nicole Walker
Director, Abbott Ventures, Inc.

Nicole Walker, Director of Abbott Ventures, Inc., has 15 years of operational and investment experience in the healthcare industry. Currently, she is responsible for the evaluation, execution, and management of equity investments in emerging pharma and biotech companies of strategic interest to Abbott.Prior to joining Abbott Ventures, Nicole held roles in Global Strategic Marketing at Abbott Diabetes Care, where she managed the strategic planning, market development, and portfolio initiatives for multiple blood glucose monitoring brands. Nicole joined Abbott in 2005 from ONSET Ventures, where she specialized in seed and early-stage medical investments, after spending 10 years with Guidant Corporation. At Guidant, Nicole, held a variety of roles within operations, product design & development, engineering management, and lastly marketing, as the Sr. Marketing Manager for Asia, based in Hong Kong, where she was responsible for the market development & expansion strategies for the implantable and surgical product lines in China, India, Korea, and SE Asia.Nicole earned her MBA from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management and her MEM (Masters of Engineering Management) from the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. She also holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.

 

Anne Whitaker
President, North America Pharmaceuticals

Anne leads Sanofi’s pharmaceuticals business in North America. She oversees all operations within the region including the Diabetes, Oncology, Cardiovascular and other Business Units, U.S. Medical Affairs, Commercial Strategy & Planning, Commercial Excellence, Chattem (Consumer Healthcare), and Canada Pharmaceuticals. Anne serves as a member of the Global Management Committee, the Global Operations Committee and the U.S. Regional Strategic Management Committee.

A distinguished and dedicated professional with more than 20 years of experience, Anne began her pharmaceutical career at the Upjohn Company in 1991 as a metabolic disease specialist. She joined GlaxoSmithKline in 1992 as a sales representative and held various leadership positions in the commercial organization. In 2007, she became Vice President of Critical and Supportive Care before being appointed Senior Vice President of Leadership and Organization Development from 2008 to 2009. In 2009, Anne became Senior Vice President and Business Unit Head, Cardiovascular, Metabolic and Urology (CVMU) at GlaxoSmithKline where she had full commercial responsibility for leading, developing and managing strategic performance of the CVMU business. She was appointed to her present position at Sanofi in September 2011.

Anne holds a bachelor's degree in Chemistry with a minor in Business Administration from the University of North Alabama.