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Spencer Maughan
Vice President, Venrock
Spencer joined Venrock in 2009 and is focused on cleantech and life science investing.
Prior to his study at Stanford, Spencer spent over a decade performing and managing
genetic research around the globe. In collaboration with Aventis CropScience (acquired
by Bayer), Spencer investigated new genes connecting environmental signals to plant
growth. As a Marie Curie Fellow, at the Institute of Biotechnology (University of
Cambridge), he described new components of stem cell division. Spencer's research
has received numerous awards including honors at the UK Houses of Parliament for
work that has led to the identification of a new set of compounds for treatment
of malaria.
He received his B.Sc. (Hons) at the University of Melbourne. He later obtained his
Ph.D. from the University of Melbourne. Afterwards, he earned his M.B.A. from Stanford
University, Graduate School of Business.
Sam Dryden
Director, Agricultural Development, Global Development Program
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Link to bio, please click
here.
Dr. Yuri Gleba
Co-founder & Managing Director, Icon Genetics
Founder, Nomad Bioscience
Dr. Gleba has over 30 years of research and management experience in plant genetics
and biotechnology. (M. Sc., Kiev University, 1971; Ph.D., Institute of Botany, Academy
of Sciences of Ukraine; D.Sc., Leningrad University, 1980).
Dr. Gleba’s pioneering research in plant genetics, physiology and biotechnology
was published in more than 200 research papers, books and over 30 patent families,
and has earned the respect of the international scientific community as is evidenced
by his election to the World Academy of Arts and Science (Rome), the European Academy
(Academia Europaea, London), the National German Academy Leopoldina (Halle), the
National Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (Kiev), the Lithuanian Academy of Science
(Vilnius) and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (Munich). He received a Doctor Honoris
Causa title from his alma mater, Kiev State University. In recognition of his outstanding
scientific contributions, he also received numerous international and national awards
and prizes, including Koerber Prize (Hamburg), A. von Humboldt Prize (Bonn), USSR
State Prize, State Prize of Ukraine (Kiev), etc.
He founded the Institute of Cell Biology and Genetic Engineering, Ukrainian Academy
of Sciences, Kiev, Ukraine, in 1989, and was serving as its Director until 2010;
currently, he is a Honorary Director of the Institute.
Dr. Gleba left former USSR in 1991 and joined American Cyanamid Company, Princeton,
NJ, where he developed research efforts in plant biotechnology and genomics and
crop engineering, first as a group leader/manager, and, since 1997, as a Director
of the Crop Engineering Department. Dr. Gleba left American Cyanamid/American Home
Products in 1999 and founded Icon Genetics, Princeton/Munich/Halle, a plant biotechnology
company group; he has been serving since its inception as its CEO. Under his leadership,
Icon has developed multiple plant expression technologies, including the magnICON®
transient technology that has been recently brought to a commercial level and cGMP
compliance and is being used to support clinical trials of the product candidates
developed by Icon/Bayer. Icon has created one of the best IP portfolios in plant
biotechnology that currently includes over 320 issued patents representing 42 patent
families of patents/applications. He also co-founded two other companies, Phytomedics
Inc., USA, and Nomad Bioscience GmbH, Germany. In January 2012, Dr. Gleba engineered
the acquisition of Icon Genetics from Bayer by Nomad Bioscience.
During his entire carrier, Dr. Gleba was involved in university education. He was
a supervisor of 35 Ph D students and was lecturing or holding adjunct positions
for many years at Kiev State University, Kiev Mohyla University, Yerevan University,
University of Brussels, Rutgers University, and currently, Arizona State University.
Dr. Gleba actively managed or supervised many international foundations: UNESCO
Plant Biotechnology Program (Paris), International Soros Foundation (New York-Moscow),
International Soros Science Education Program (Washington-Moscow), Renaissance Foundation
(Kyiv), INTAS (Brussels), EPSO (Brussels), etc.
Dr. Alok Adholeya
Director, Biotechnology & Bioresources Division
TERI, India
Link to bio, please click
here.
William S. Niebur, Ph.D.
Vice President, DuPont General Manager
Pioneer China
Link to bio, please click
here.
Pratik Shah, Ph.D.
Partner
Thomas McNerney & Partners
Link to bio, please click
here.
Fernando Reinach, Ph.D.
Managing Partner
The Pitanga Fund, Brazil
Fernando is a general partner at Fundo Pitanga. From 2001 to 2010 he was a general
partner at Votorantim Novos Negócios, the venture capital and private equity arm
of Votorantim, a large private industrial group in Brazil. He is a member of the
Board of Directors of Amyris Biotechnologies and writes a weekly column in O Estado
de Sao Paulo, a major Brazilian newspaper. He holds a biology degree from the University
of Sao Paulo and a Ph.D. from Cornell University Medical College. He was a Biotechnology
Research Fellow from the Rockefeller Foundation and a Research Scholar of the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute. He was a Professor at the University of São Paulo, was
involved in the creation of two technology companies and in the coordination of
the first Brazilian Genome Project.
Daniel Cosgrove
Vice President
DuPont Ag Biotech Business Development
Link to bio, coming soon.
Andy Renz
Sr. Manager Technology Acquisition, Americas
BASF Plant Science
Link to bio, coming soon.
Rick DeRose*
Lead, Technology Strategy and Integration
Syngenta
Link to bio, coming soon.
Howard-Yana Shapiro*
Global Director of Plant Science and External Research
Mars Incorporated
Link to bio, coming soon.