Providing strategic, financial and business development leadership for Stem Pharm's neuroscience drug discovery, therapeutic pipeline and biomaterials platforms.About Stem Pharm:Stem Pharm is a neurological drug discovery platform company developing the next-generation of neurologic drugs using a human-first approach. Stem Pharm’s proprietary drug discovery platform is based on human 3D neuro-immune organoids that feature microglia and model neuroinflammation, which play a critical role in many neurological diseases. The company applies this platform to discover and validate disease targets and therapeutics for its internal programs in epilepsy, neurodegeneration, and brain cancer as well as for its biopharma partners’ therapeutic programs. Stem Pharm is based in Madison, WI, a hub for innovative stem cell and biosciences research.

Led business and commercial development strategy and execution. Established a research collaboration with Verge Genomics to develop a Parkinson's Disease model based on Stem Pharm's 3D neural organoid platform. Joined the inaugural cohort of the Merck Digital Sciences Studio accelerator program, and helped the Stem Pharm obtain $1M in new NIH grant funding to develop and validate 3D organoid disease models in Alzheimer's Disease neuroinflammation and Glioblastoma.

Led development and execution of Rion's business, financing, and commercialization strategies.Rion is a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company focused on developing innovative exosome therapeutics that are clinically impactful and broadly accessible. Rion has developed Purified Exosome Product (PEP), an innovative biologic platform that harnesses the therapeutic power of exosomes for regenerative medicine. Rion was established in 2017 through the Mayo Clinic Employee Entrepreneurial Program and is headquartered in Rochester, Minnesota.PEP (Purified Exosome Product) is the world’s first clinical-grade room temperature stable, truly off-the-shelf regenerative medicine with the potential to drive tissue healing in conditions affecting millions of patients globally. The key to PEP’s efficacy and accessibility is Rion’s proprietary manufacturing process, which maintains exosome bioactivity and yields PEP as a powder that is pure, potent, and stable at room temperature for prolonged periods. This enables PEP to be administered in a wider range of clinical settings without the need for highly specialized equipment or infrastructure – a unique feature for regenerative medicine, typically requiring specialized tertiary care centers for storage and administration. Rion has established clinical-grade PEP CGMP manufacturing with customized formulations and routes of administration to target specific tissues and diseases.

Industrialized and commercialized human stem cell-derived 3D organoids and data analytics for high throughput phenotypic screening applications in neurological, cardiac, metabolic, and neuro-oncology drug discovery and development.Pioneered market development and built the commercial business focused on the target ID, drug discovery and toxicology segments, securing 100+ pharmaceutical customers, and research, co-marketing, licensing and business partners in 3 years.About StemoniX:StemoniX is accelerating the discovery of new medicines to treat challenging diseases via the world's first ready-to-use assay plates containing living human microOrgans®, including electrophysiologically active neural (microBrain®) and cardiac (microHeart®) cells. Predictive, accurate, and consistent, StemoniX's products combined with its proprietary data management and analytical tools (Assay AnalytiX™) are revolutionizing traditional drug discovery and development. Through its Discovery as a Service offering, the company partners with organizations to screen compounds as well as to create customized microOrgan models and assays tailored to specific discovery and toxicity needs.

Developed the world’s first cGMP fecal-derived microbiome drug evaluated in a multi-site clinical trial.Managed the research and development, product and process development, manufacturing operations, supplier management, and quality functions associated with the commercialization of the company's microbial biopharmaceutical technology platform.Led the technical operations team that met CMC regulatory documentation, scale-up, and cGMP clinical supply manufacturing milestones for the biologic drug-device combination RBX2660, which enabled on-time completion of the world's first multi-center Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of recurrent Clostridium Difficile Infection.To build value and position the company for commercial success:* Created and implemented strategic and operational plans for technology development, product and process development, manufacturing scale-up, and quality system evolution, including budgets, capital expenses and resources.* Led the development and execution of the company’s technology development roadmap and intellectual property strategy, and successfully negotiated contracts to establish consulting, contract manufacturing and academic research partnerships to further development of the company’s technology.About Rebiotix:Rebiotix Inc is a clinical stage biotechnology company founded to revolutionize the treatment of debilitating gastrointestinal (GI) diseases by harnessing the power of the human microbiome. The company is on the forefront of an exciting potential medical breakthrough with our MRT™ drug platform. The MRT drug platform is for delivering healthy, live, human-derived microbes into a sick patient’s intestinal tract to treat disease. Rebiotix looks to deliver on the promise of restoring the gut microbiota via a standardized and stabilized drug that has been developed and tested under the auspices of a regulatory authority.

Strengthened the market leading position for transdermal component films and led expansion into Asia-Pacific markets.In this global role:* Managed 3M Drug Delivery Systems Division's OEM pharmaceutical film business - transdermal components and heat-sealable polyester laminate packaging films.* Responsible for U.S. key account management and business development, and managed the commercial product portfolio and new product pipeline.Led the global cross-functional business team to achieve strategic and operational goals, including P&L attainment and sales growth in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Our team delivered annual sales growth by successfully meeting increasing demand from global accounts, securing price growth, and capturing new business from existing and new customers. In addition, we implemented initiatives to reduce factory cost across the 60+ product portfolio.This role involved significant engagement with customers, across executive, management, and contributor levels in supplier management, purchasing, R&D, manufacturing, and quality functions, at small, midsize, and large pharmaceutical, specialty pharmaceutical, and contract manufacturing organizations. By developing trusted relationships with our customers, our team gained customer and market insights that allowed us to identify new product and market opportunities to meet our customers' unmet needs.

Enabled success for global pharmaceutical customers by delivering world-class service and products.* Led global technical service, new product development, product support, technical sales, and supplier management of 3M Drug Delivery Systems Division's pharmaceutical film business - transdermal film components and heat-sealable polyester laminate packaging films.* Managed a high-performing engineering team that consistently and successfully met annual operational goals, project milestones, DMF requlatory requirements, and customer needs.This role involved significant engagement with 3M's film manufacturing sites to address and solve manufacturing and quality issues, and qualify product and process changes. This role was also significantly customer-facing, across the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and involved working closely with customer representatives in R&D, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and regulatory functions on topics involving product quality, product support, and new product development. By engaging customers and developing trusted relationships, our team reinvigorated the new product pipeline by translating customer insights into new product concepts, resulting in commercialization of five new film products and 50+% sales growth of the top three key accounts.

Improved commercialization processes for transdermal and inhalation drug delivery technologies.As a Black Belt in 3M Drug Delivery Systems Division:* Responsible for raising the bar on the Division's commercialization competencies through effective utilization of Design for Six Sigma.* Supported the Division's global product and technology development projects, from ideation through launch phases, by coaching cross-functional product commercialization teams on stage-gate commercialization processes, project management methods, and Design For Six Sigma tools.* Created and implemented a stage-gate commercialization process customized for the Division's business model in developing drug delivery technologies and device components.* Developed a Quality by Design methodology for the Division's product development teams to assess risk and develop a risk mitigation strategy associated with a product’s critical quality attributes and critical process parameters.* Delivered a comprehensive market analysis of the transdermal and inhalation drug delivery segments to support the Division's entry into select emerging markets.

During my first five years with 3M Drug Delivery Systems Division, held positions of increasing responsibility, including formulation development team leader, project leader, lab group supervisor, and business development technical lead.* Contributed to the Division's growth through preclinical and clinical development of several new transdermal and inhalation pharmaceutical products, and collaborated with business development to secure over 10 new transdermal feasibility and development projects with partner companies.* Provided technical leadership to advance transdermal patch technologies and improve product development methodologies.

As a member of the wafer manufacturing team at Seagate Recording Head Operations:* Responsible for optimizing photolithography processes to improve cycle time and yield associated with the volume production of disk drive recording heads.* Cut my teeth in manufacturing operations in a fast-paced environment.* On one process improvement project, reduced wafer scrap and rework related to oxide liftoff process from 50+% to 1%, and implemented the process improvements across all products in the Bloomington, MN and N. Ireland manufacturing plants.

As part of ALZA's E-TRANS Transdermal Technology Group:* Contributed to the development of a fentanyl iontophoretic transdermal patch product (eventually approved in 2006 as IONSYS)* Helped solve a critical failure mode in the product which resulted in design changes to improve product stability.* Advanced R&D on ALZA's next-generation iontophoretic and microneedles drug delivery technology platforms.