The TDG Board of Directors is comprised of distinguished UCLA faculty and executives from a range of industries, including biopharmaceuticals, engineering, finance, private equity, and venture capital. Board members provide guidance in making strategic investment decisions, oversight and direction to TDG's activities.
Board of Directors
Andrei Iancu, Chairman
Partner, Irell & Manella LLP
Andrei Iancu was Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). He was confirmed unanimously (94-0 floor vote) by the Senate in February 2018, and enjoyed strong bipartisan support throughout his tenure. In this role, Mr. Iancu provided leadership and oversight to one of the largest intellectual property offices in the world, with approximately 13,000 employees and an annual budget of over $3.5 billion. He was also the principal advisor in the Administration on domestic and international intellectual property policy matters.
Mr. Iancu has been recognized as one of the country’s top intellectual property lawyers. Prior to his service in government, Mr. Iancu represented clients in a wide variety of industries, appeared regularly in federal courts and at the USPTO, published and spoke often on intellectual property and law firm management issues, and taught patent law at the UCLA School of Law. He was also the firm-wide Managing Partner of Irell & Manella LLP.
Mert Aktar
Head of Corporate Development, Kite, a Gilead Company
Mert Aktar joined Kite in 2020 as Head of Corporate Development. He is responsible for helping to identify and assess business development opportunities, potential partnerships, acquisitions, and other strategic initiatives. He also provides business, financial, scientific, and strategic analysis to deliver on Kite’s corporate strategy.
Before joining Kite, Mert served as Vice President and Head of Business Development and Corporate Development at Unum Therapeutics where he was responsible for external innovation strategy, business development, due diligence, competitive intelligence, and commercial assessment. Prior to Unum, Mert served as the Global Head of Hematology and Immunology Business Development at Shire (now Takeda) leading a team responsible for identification, evaluation, and execution of in-licensing agreements, asset collaborations, divestments, and mergers and acquisitions transactions. While at Shire, he facilitated the company’s acquisitions of Baxalta Inc. and Dyax Corp., and orchestrated Shire’s inaugural SEC-registered debt offering.
Mert received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a master’s degree in Engineering Management from Tufts University, and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Fabrizio Bonanni
Executive Vice President, Amgen (Retired)
Dr. Fabrizio Bonanni retired in 2013 from his position as executive vice president at Amgen, the world’s largest independent biotechnology company. In his 14 years with Amgen, he served as senior vice president, Quality and Compliance and corporate compliance officer, senior vice president, Manufacturing, and finally EVP Operations, overseeing the company's global production and supply chain activities as well as Quality, Process Development, Drug Delivery Devices, Engineering, and Environment, Health and Safety.
While at Amgen, Bonanni served as a Trustee of the California Science Center, of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, of the Science Technology and Research Trust of Puerto Rico, and as a member of the Board of the California Healthcare Institute. He also served on the Executive Committee of the Board of BIO, the Biotechnology Industry Association and co-chaired its Intellectual Property Committee.
Previously, he was corporate vice president, Regulatory and Clinical Affairs and corporate vice president, Quality System for Baxter International Inc., a company he joined in 1974, in Italy. At Baxter, Bonanni spent half of his career in international operations, including more than eight years at the company's European headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Bonanni earned his doctorate in chemistry, summa cum laude, mention of honor, from the University of Florence and did postdoctoral work in physiological chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is an alumnus of the Institute for International Management, Northwestern University, J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, and of the Executive Program in Manufacturing, Harvard University, Graduate School of Business Administration.
Currently, Dr. Bonanni is a member of the board of directors and chair of the Internal Audit Committee of the Stevanato Group, an Italian company developing and manufacturing high quality primary containers, equipment, and devices for the bio-pharma industry. He also serves on the Advisory Board of InCube Labs, a San Jose, California, based company dedicated to the discovery and development of innovative medical technologies.
Michael J. Cleare
Associate Vice Provost for Research, University of Pennsylvania
From 2000-2007, Mike was the Executive Director of Science and Technology Ventures at Columbia University in New York. This position included responsibility for all technology transfer activities at Columbia and involved licensing, spin off/start up companies, industrial research funding and domestic and international partnerships relating to IP. In August 2007, Mike joined the University of Pennsylvania as Associate Vice Provost for Research, responsible for all technology transfer, IP management and industrial liaison activities.
Before joining Columbia University, Mike Cleare worked for 30 years at Johnson Matthey, a UK-based multinational world leader in advanced materials technology. His experiences range from the Senior R&D Executive through Business Development to a range of senior business management positions, and included service on the main Board of the Company for four years. While in R&D, Mike was involved in the discovery and development of a major new class of anti-cancer drugs; he is credited as one of the inventors of the platinum-based drug carboplatin. He served as President of several of the company's major divisions, including Pharmaceutical Materials, Chemicals and Metals, Catalytic Systems and Electronic Materials. He has managed complex global business, negotiated and closed multi-million dollar licensing and technology transfer deals, and entered into multiple research funding agreements with major universities. For nine years, Mike was a member of the board of directors of the Canadian biotechnology company, AnorMed, which he helped to spin off from Johnson Matthey in 1996. He has published more than 40 articles and papers and holds 10 patents.
Dr. Cleare serves as a member of the Board of Directors, Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE), the exclusive intellectual property management and technology transfer organization for Arizona State University.
Gay Crooks
Director, Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA
Gay M. Crooks is the Rebecca Smith Professor in the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics in the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA. She is Co-director of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center and Director of the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA.
Dr. Crooks graduated from medical school at the University of Western Australia and completed her FRACP (pediatrics) at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children prior to her fellowship training in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). In 1993, she joined the faculty of the University of Southern California and established her laboratory and clinical programs in the Division of Research Immunology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at CHLA. In 2009 her research program moved to UCLA, where in addition to running her research program, Dr. Crooks is a pediatric bone marrow transplant physician in the Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Mattel Children's Hospital, UCLA.
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Michael Dal Bello
Investment Partner of Healthcare at Pritzker Group Private Capital
Michael is an Investment Partner at Pritzker Private Capital leading the firm’s Healthcare sector investing. Prior to joining Pritzker Private Capital, Michael was a Managing Director at Blackstone Capital Partners, with an aggregate $63 billion of assets under management in private equity. During his tenure at Blackstone, Michael helped lead sourcing efforts in healthcare and insurance, investing more than $7 billion of equity capital in 13 transactions. Michael also served on ten corporate boards, working with management teams to drive value through operational improvements, acquisitions and divestitures. Before joining Blackstone, Michael was an Associate at Hellman & Friedman where he was involved with the analysis and execution of private equity investments in the media and professional services sectors. Prior to that, Michael worked as a consultant at Bain & Company and also was a Research Associate at the China Center for Economic Research in Beijing, PR China as a Luce Scholar.
Michael earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MA from Oxford University and undergraduate degrees from the Wharton School and the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Sylvio Drouin
Vice President, Research Labs Unity Technology
As Vice President of Unity Labs, Sylvio Drouin leads Unity Technologies’ advanced research efforts, looking 3-10 years ahead. Unity Labs creates prototypes, releases new technologies, publishes scientific papers, shares best practices, as well as works with academia and partners on advanced research related to the future of content authoring, content consumption as well as novel forms of applications for the Unity engine. Unity has 2 billions monthly active players as well as 12 millions developers using their technology. Unity Labs's work has already resulted in cutting-edge graphics, AI, AR and VR technologies that demonstrate what developers and consumers will be doing in the near future.
Prior to Unity, Sylvio served as the CTO of Xtranormal, a 3D storytelling company and before that, CTO of Tiny Pictures, which was acquired by Shutterfly. Before moving to Silicon Vallet, Sylvio was CTO for multiple companies around the world; architected an interactive TV infrastructure in South East Asia as well as creating on of the first Machine Learning startup in Canada. Sylvio has been working in the fields of AI and computer graphic for over 30 years, from large-scale companies to startups and continues to serve as a strategic advisor, with a focus on innovation, core technology, and product vision.
Craig Ehrlich
Investor, Entrepreneur
Craig is the former chairman of the GSMA, the world’s largest trade association for the mobile industry, a position that he held for seven years. He is also former chairman of Carmel Ventures Asia, now known as Viola Ventures, a leading Israeli venture capital Company. Craig currently serves as the lead independent director of Bharti Airtel, the world’s fourth largest telecom company and has sat on public boards in Hong Kong, Israel, India, the Philippines and the United States.In the Philippines, Craig was vice chairman of publicly listed ISM and formerly a board member of publicly listed Philweb, the country’s leading gaming company. He served as chairman of Taiwan’s largest cable television company, kbro.
Craig was also chairman and co-founder of Novare Technologies Inc. (recently sold), an onshoring and outsourcing software development company, based in Hong Kong that serves clients around Asia). He is also chairman of GTI Beijing, a virtual open platform that advocates cooperation among global mobile operators. Craig formerly served on the board of Israel based company Lumos Global which provides mobile electricity to customers in Africa.
Craig has been involved in Hong Kong’s communications industry since he first settled in Hong Kong in 1987. He joined Hutchison Cablevision as managing director in October 1987 and was a founding member of the team that launched STAR TV, Asia’s first satellite delivered multichannel television network. After four years with Hutchison Whampoa, he became the group operations director at Hutchison Telecommunications and was responsible for the company’s operations in 10 countries.
In 1993, Craig left the Hutchison group and established companies involved in the introduction of cable television and paging services. He sold these companies in September 1996 and started Hong Kong mobile operator. SUNDAY Communications Ltd. in November 1996. Craig was formerly a board member of ECI (NASDAQ) Hutchison Telecom Group, Roamware and ITU Telecom. He is also a member of UCLA/Peking University Joint Research Institute Advisory Committee and former board chair as well as a founding member of Center for Global Management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. In 2015, Craig, became a member of UCLA Foundation Board and subsequently its Executive Committee. He established the Norma Ehrlich Scholarship Fund, which to date has helped 78 women attend UCLA, all from California public schools. He is also a former student body president at UCLA.
Craig holds a B.A. degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, a master’s degree from Occidental College and a postgraduate fellowship with the Coro Foundation. He resided in Hong Kong for 29 years and now splits his time between Los Angeles and Hong Kong.
David Gilman
Chief Business & Strategy Officer, ADC Therapeutics
David has spent the past 25 years working to assist clients’ life science innovation strategies. This work has included a range of portfolio, drug development, investment, transactional and partnering strategies. While the therapeutic span of David’s work has crossed a broad swath of medicine, particular areas of focus have included: oncology, immunology, infectious disease as well as rare and orphan segments.
Prior to joining ADC Therapeutics, David was a partner at Clearview Healthcare Partners. David also spent the majority of his career as a Managing Director of The Frankel Group in NYC and Israel ultimately serving as Managing Director and lead of Huron’s Life Science Strategy team. Most recently, David served as Global Head-Portfolio Management, Business Development & Licensing, at Novartis Oncology. In addition to client work, David has spent time teaching life sciences to business students and business to medical students and has published across drug pricing and reimbursement as well as innovation ecosystem economics.
David holds a A.B., with honors, in East Asian History from the University of Chicago and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.
Thomas Herget
Head, Silicon Valley Innovation Hub
Thomas studied Biology in Germany, USA and UK. He became R&D Director with biotech start-up Axxima Pharmaceuticals AG (Munich, Ger) working on drug development in infectious diseases. Thomas joined Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in 2004 and lead large global R&D teams focusing on evaluating new business opportunities in the Life Science arena. In 2017 he accepted the offer to become corporate "Head of Silicon Valley Innovation Hub", Menlo Park, CA, to tap into the local and NA eco system.
Thomas is member of several boards of Merck KGaA incl the Innovation Steering Committee, MBAP (Merck Bioethics Advisory Panel) and chairing the SCROC (Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee). He is professor at the TU Darmstadt University teaching novel technologies in pharma research; he received several awards (e.g. Boehringer Ingelheim Research Award, MERCK Award, EMBL, ICRF and BIF Fellowships) and published more than 70 peer-reviewed papers and 25 patents. Focus of his expertise is signal transduction, novel modalities, cultured meat and biosensors.
Eva Ho
Partner, Fika Ventures
Eva is a General Partner at Fika Ventures, an early stage technology fund investing in companies that leverage the power of data as a core component of their business model. Prior to Fika, Eva was a founding GP at Susa Ventures. She is a serial entrepreneur and founder, with a company experience portfolio including Applied Semantics (AdSense), Factual, Google, Youtube and Navigating Cancer. She is active in the non-profit sector, serving on the boards of California Community Foundation and UCLA's Technology Development Group. She was recently the Entrepreneur-in-Residence for the city of Los Angeles working with Mayor Eric Garcetti and his team. Eva holds an MBA from Cornell and a BA from Harvard.
Rajit Malhotra
Executive Chairman, AmperSand Biopharmaceuticals
Rajit Malhotra is a Technology Entrepreneur, Executive and Investor. He invests in, advises and helps build rapidly growing, early stage companies. He has a deep expertise in healthcare, as well as extensive experience across a broad range of industries, including Biopharma, Artificial Intelligence, Energy, and Real Estate. He is the Executive Chairman at AmperSand Biopharma, a rapidly growing company. He is also the Executive Chairman of Tour Engine, a novel combustion engine technology based business. He also advises other companies, both within and outside his investment portfolio.
Rajit founded his first business while still in college, building it into the largest retail chain of Paint Technology stores in Oman & Dubai. He was a co-founder and board member of one of India’s largest biotech companies, Shantha Biotech, which was sold to Sanofi Aventis for over $850M in 2009. Amongst a few other ventures, he engineered a rapid performance turnaround at one of the largest pharmacy chains in Oman.
In 2002, Rajit joined the LA office of McKinsey, and eventually took over as the Managing Partner for the SoCal region, until leaving in 2016. While at McKinsey, he counseled CEOs, Boards and senior executives at Fortune 500 companies He was a leader of the healthcare, public sector and EPNG practices. His healthcare clients include biopharma, medical products manufacturers, providers and distribution companies. He accumulated extensive experience across a broad range of C-suite level issues, including organizational transformation, growth strategy, commercial excellence, capability building, mergers and acquisitions and driving change at scale.
Rajit lives in Los Angeles with his two children and golden retriever. He is actively involved with several civic and charitable projects. Rajit is on the Board of the UCLA Technology Development Corporation and the CAFAM Museum. He has been on the Dean’s Alumni Leadership Council at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, a member of the Southern California Leadership Council, and the Board of the Saban Free Clinic. He was a founding member of the Oman Chapter of YEO in the mid 1990s and is currently a member, and on the Executive Committee, of the Bel Air Chapter of YPO.
Rajit received an MPA/ID from Harvard University’s Kennedy School and his MBA from Kellogg at Northwestern University. He has dual undergraduate degrees in Business and Liberal Arts from the Wharton School and the College at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude.
John T. Mapes
Managing Partner, Aurora Capital Partners
John is a Partner of Aurora Capital Partners (“Aurora” or the “Firm”). Aside from two years in investment banking after college, John has spent his entire professional career in the private equity industry at Aurora where he has served as the Firm’s Managing Partner and Chairman of the Investment Committee.
Aurora was founded in 1991. With assets under management in excess of $4.5 billion, Aurora is a private equity investment firm that invests across a number of funds in middle market companies across the country. Aurora is currently investing out of its sixth fund. The Firm acquires controlling interests in companies in three sectors: engineered products, distribution and tech-enabled services. John’s corporate board experience spans numerous companies including: Roller Bearing Co of America, Coast Gas Industries, Western Nonwovens Inc., Impaxx Inc., Autocam Corporation, Douglas Dynamics, K&F Industries, Ames Taping Tools, Mitchell International, RecoverCare, National Technical Systems, Pace Analytical Services, and Restaurant Technologies.
Following his graduation with a BA degree in Economics/Business in 1990 from UCLA, where John played varsity tennis for the Bruins, he spent two years with Salomon Brothers, Inc. in both New York and Los Angeles, in their Corporate Finance Group. He left Salomon Brothers to join Aurora in 1992 and then rejoined the Firm after graduating from Harvard Business School in 1995.
At UCLA, in addition to serving on The UCLA Foundation Board (as Board Chair from 2018-2020), the UCLA Investment Company Board as the current Chair, and on the UCLA Technology Development Corp Board, the Mapes’ endowed five student-athlete scholarships — two in men’s tennis, men’s basketball, football, and women’s beach volleyball. Additionally, the Mapes funded a gift to support the construction of new beach volleyball facility at UCLA which is known on campus as Mapes Beach. John formerly served as Chairman of the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame Committee and on the UCLA Centennial Campaign Executive Committee.
John has been involved in the Los Angeles community with the Special Olympics and the St. Matthew’s Vestry, which oversees the Church and Episcopal Day School at St. Matthew’s Church. He is also active on behalf of Harvard Business School.
John’s wife Carrie earned a BA in History from UCLA in 1990 and a Master’s in Education and Multiple Subject Instruction Credential from UCLA in 1991 and is a co-founder of Hello Again Products, a women’s wellness product company. Carrie belongs to UCLA Women & Philanthropy and is a lifetime member of the Alumni Association. John and Carrie have a son who graduated from UCLA in 2020 and a daughter who graduated from Duke in 2022.
William Mitchell, Chairman Emeritus
Founding Partner, Sequel Venture Partners, LLC
William E. (Bill) Mitchell is the founding partner of Sequel Venture Partners, LLC, formed in January 2010 to invest in managed IT services companies utilizing venture capital, private equity and other investment vehicles. Prior to this, Mr. Mitchell was chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Arrow Electronics, Inc., a $20 billion Fortune 150 company providing advanced supply chain solutions to the technology industry. He joined Arrow in February 2003 as president and chief executive officer. He was named chairman of the board in May 2006. Mr. Mitchell retired as chairman of the board and chief executive officer on January 1, 2010.
Mr. Mitchell began his career in 1973 at Raychem Corporation, where he spent 20 years in various roles of increasing responsibility in finance, manufacturing operations, international operations, and worldwide sales and marketing. In 1993, he was named president and chief executive officer of Nashua Corporation, a manufacturer of specialty products and services for print application needs. In 1995, he became chairman, president and chief executive officer of Sequel, Inc., then a privately held computer services and maintenance company. Prior to joining Arrow, Mr. Mitchell sold Sequel, Inc. to Solectron Corporation, and then led the successful formation of Solectron Global Services, a $1.2 billion technology services company, now part of Flextronics International.
Currently, Mr. Mitchell serves on the Boards of Directors of Rogers Corporation where he serves as lead independent director; Humana Incorporated, where he serves on the Audit and Nominating/Governance Committees; and Spansion Incorporated, where he serves as chair of the Nominating/Governance Committee as well as the Compensation Committee. He served on the Board of Directors of National Semiconductor prior to its sale to Texas Instruments, as well as the Brown-Forman Corporation, where he was chair of the Audit Committee. He is chair-elect of the UCLA Foundation and serves on the Board of the UCLA Foundation, the UCLA Investment Company, and the Board of Trustees at the Menlo School in Atherton, California, where he serves on the Executive Committee.
Al Osborne
Senior Associate Dean, External Affairs, UCLA Anderson School of Management
Alfred E. Osborne, Jr., is UCLA Anderson’s senior associate dean for external affairs, with oversight of a variety of key initiatives for the school, including resource development, alumni relations, corporate initiatives and executive education.
Osborne also holds an appointment as Professor of Global Economics, Management and Entrepreneurship and is the founder and faculty director of the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. The Price Center serves to organize faculty research, curricula and student activities related to the study of entrepreneurship and new business development at UCLA Anderson.
He served as UCLA Anderson's interim dean from July 1, 2018 to July 1, 2019.
His academic expertise and interests include social entrepreneurship and the development of a leadership approach that applies business models and methodologies to the nonprofit world. He holds four degrees from Stanford University, including a Ph.D. in business economics and an MBA in finance.
Cat Oyler
Vice President, Global Head, Clinical Excellence and Transformation Vice President, Integration Leader – Momenta Pharmaceuticals
Cat Oyler serves as Vice President, Global Head Clinical Excellence and Transformation (CET), Janssen Immunology. In this role, Cat built a new organization leading Janssen Immunology’s cross-functional clinical trial efforts to ensure the therapeutic area is as strong a leader in immunology clinical trial execution as in immunology science. Cat and her team partner closely with Global Development, Medical Affairs, Data Science, Translational Science and other organizations on clinical trial execution for the Immunology Therapeutic Area across all phases, including those in rare disease, which can be particularly difficult to enroll and execute. CET also collaborates closely with Translational Science and Medicine on execution of healthy normal volunteer and Phase 2 trials.
In addition, Cat co-chairs the Immunology Operations Committee focused on ensuring operational excellence across all immunology trials. Cat also plays an active role as a key stakeholder in other Immunology Therapeutic Area (TA) governance committees, including the Protocol Review Committee (PRC) and the Immunology Portfolio Committee (IPC), and serves on both the Immunology R&D Leadership and the Therapeutic Area Leadership teams.
Cat’s contributions to the Immunology TA began in 2020, when she served as Vice President, Integration Leader for the Momenta acquisition, and as the interim site head for the Cambridge campus. Prior to that, she held various roles in Janssen, including Vice President, Global Public Health, Tuberculosis; Global Head, Strategy & Operations, Johnson & Johnson Global External Innovation; and Vice President, Strategy and External Innovation for Janssen Research & Development. In these roles, Cat delivered a 250% increase in use of Sirturo for the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis, led strategy development for the company’s cross-sector Lung Cancer Initiative, managed the creation of the “World Without Disease” strategy and led the Janssen R&D China Innovation Initiative.
In support of Johnson & Johnson’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, Cat served as Executive Sponsor for the University Pillar of WiSTEM2D (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, Manufacturing and Design), an initiative which supports and inspires girls and women in their pursuit of STEM2D studies and careers, no matter where they are located around the world. In this capacity, Cat created the Johnson & Johnson Scholars Award which every year recognizes 6 women at the Assistant Professor level (or equivalent) from across the globe who are research leaders in their STEM2D disciplines and provides 3 years of funding support to accelerate their academic careers
Before joining Johnson & Johnson, Cat held business development roles at AstraZeneca and Myriad Genetics Inc., and marketing and scientist positions at Alza Corporation, Alkermes Inc., and Amgen Inc. She has a B.A. in Biology from Williams College and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Robert Pacifici, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer, CHDI Foundation
Robert Pacifici is the Chief Scientific Officer of CHDI Foundation, a private, not-for-profit research organization that works with an international network of scientists to accelerate therapeutics development for Huntington’s disease. Previously he was the Site Director and Chief Scientific Officer at the Research Triangle Park Laboratories of Eli Lilly and Company. There he oversaw the company's global screening and quantitative-biology efforts. Prior to joining Lilly, Pacifici was Vice President of Discovery Technologies at Xencor, a pri¬vately held biotechnology company that applied rational design principles to the development of protein therapeutics. At Amgen for nearly ten years, Pacifici held positions of increasing responsibilities including leadership for their automation, high throughput screening, and information technologies groups.
Pacifici received a BS in Biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Southern California. Outside of CHDI, Pacifici currently participates in several external boards and advisory com¬mittees including:
- USC Board of Supervisors of the International Center for Regulatory Science
- Member, Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation Scientific Advisory Board
- Member, Akashi Scientific Advisory Board
Pacifici has previously served on:
- Council member for National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH/NINDS) from 2011 till 2014
- Chair, Working Group for the NINDS Anticonvulsant Screening Program
- Chair, NIH/NINDS Spinal Muscular Atrophy Project's Scientific Steering Committee
- Advisor, Marigold Foundation for Myotonic Dystrophy
- Advisor, Cooperative International Neuromuscular Group (CINRG) the clinical research arm of the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Research Center (DMDRC) and the Center for Genetic Medicine Research at the Children’s National Medical Center (CNMC)
- Member, Science Advisory Board for Edison Pharmaceuticals
- Member, TREAT ALS Steering Committee
- Member, Pathogenesis of Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy advisory board
- Panel of Experts for National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at NIH, in the NIH Center for Translational Therapeutics (NCTT). This division is home to two programs that seek to advance promising therapeutic agents through late-stage preclinical development: Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND), and Bridging Interventional Development Gaps (BrIDGs)
Robert also serves in the non-scientific capacity of President with the Asia America Symphony Association. Robert, his wife Eunjoo, and his two children Sarina and Noah, live in Palos Verdes Estates California. Robert is an avid amateur road-cyclist and a classic BMW enthusiast.
Matt Pendo
Oaktree
Mr. Pendo joined Oaktree in 2015 from the investment banking boutique of Sandler O'Neill Partners, where he was a managing director focused on the financial services industry. Prior thereto, Mr. Pendo was the chief investment officer of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he was honored with the Distinguished Service Award. There, he built and managed a team of 20 professionals overseeing the Treasury's $200 billion TARP investment activities across multiple industries including AIG, GM and the banks, and all levels of the capital structure. Mr. Pendo began his career at Merrill Lynch, where he spent 18 years, starting in their investment banking division before becoming managing director of the technology industry group. Subsequently, Mr. Pendo was a managing director at Barclays Capital, first serving as co-head of U.S. Investment Banking and then co-head of Global Industrials group. He received a bachelor's degree in economics from Princeton University, cum laude and is a board member of SuperValu Inc.
Jessica Richter
Chief Operating Officer, Experien Group
Jessica joined Experien Group in 2017 to expand the firm’s business development activities and to direct strategic growth initiatives. As Chief Operating Officer, she works closely with the founders on the organization’s thoughtful expansion and management responsibilities such as planning, hiring, business operations and performs due diligence for scalability that ensures the continued delivery of high-value services to all clients. She interfaces with U.S. and international executives, investors, legal representation, and clinical and policy advisors to expand industry networks and to deliver meaningful support to the firm’s clientele and partners. Jessica oversees Experien Group’s operations, leads the business development team and coordinates with senior team members around client communications, deliverables definition, resource planning, budget estimates, project accounting, and results tracking to ensure client satisfaction. She delivers industry presentations representing Experien Group and informs the firm’s collaterals and training materials. Prior to joining Experien Group, Jessica spent six years in leadership roles within Medtronic, where she led sales and market development activities within the Early Technologies division. While at Medtronic, she spearheaded successful, high-impact projects in the areas of strategic sales planning, physician education, collaboration with patient advocacy groups and corporate project management. Previous to that experience, Jessica drove commercial sales activities within the medical device, software, and communications field. She concentrated on driving adoption of paradigm shifting technologies and she remains passionate about patient-centric medical device advancement. Jessica is a health care leader with experience in both medical devices and diagnostics. Jessica earned her BA in Communications and Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley.
Anne W. Rimoin
Professor of Epidemiology, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
Dr. Anne W. Rimoin is an internationally recognized expert on emerging infections, global health, surveillance systems, and vaccination, and has been engaged in pandemic preparedness and response for more than two decades. She is a Professor of Epidemiology at the UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health (FSPH) and Infectious Disease Division of the David Geffen School of Medicine. She is the UCLA FSPH Director of the Center for Global and Immigrant Health and the founding Director of the UCLA-DRC Health Research and Training Program. Dr. Rimoin has been a strong advocate for capacity building in low resource settings and conducting disease surveillance in complex emergencies.
Dr. Rimoin’s pioneering research in emerging diseases includes the identification of new pathogens in humans and epidemiologic studies of Ebolavirus, human Monkeypox and other emerging infections. She is currently leading a series of research studies on COVID-19 locally and globally, including the COVID-19 asymptomatic infection and immunity study in Los Angeles health workers and first responders and a study of vaccine hesitancy in essential and frontline workers.
Dr. Rimoin has published more than 80 research articles and book chapters. Her expertise has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Economist, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, WIRED, Discover, Scientific American, Popular Science, Forbes, National Geographic, Nature and Science. She also appears frequently on television and radio discussing major issues surrounding disease emergence and has recently been a leading voice on the COVID-19 pandemic in local, national, and international news media outlets including regular appearances on ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN, CNN International, Fox News, Fox Business News, KCBS, KNBC, KTLA, KTTV, MSNBC, NBC and Spectrum News.
Dr. Rimoin earned her BA at Middlebury College, MPH at UCLA and PhD at Johns Hopkins University. She started her career in global public health in as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin, West Africa. She has been recently recognized for her achievements in the fields of Epidemiology and Global Health as a Fellow of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the Alumni Achievement Award from Middlebury College and the Global Achievement Award from the Johns Hopkins University.
Laura Schoppe
Board Member
Laura A. Schoppe founded Fuentek in 2001, and under her leadership the company has become one of the world’s leading technology transfer consulting companies. Fuentek serves university, government, corporate, and nonprofit research organizations throughout the United States as well as in the European Union, the Middle East, and Asia.
Recognized as a leading expert in technology commercialization, Laura has an impressive track record of success in helping clients manage their technology proactively, efficiently, and effectively. She has helped clients move their technologies into new markets as well as find sources for technology solutions to address their own R&D needs and product development. Her expertise includes restructuring/establishing technology management organizations; intellectual property portfolio management; open innovation; technology marketing and strategic communications, including the use of social media tools; negotiating licenses, collaborative R&D partnerships, sponsored research agreements, and other deals; and entrepreneurship training for innovators/researchers. She also has numerous publication and speaking credits.
Laura is frequently invited to serve on key advisory panels at the state and national level, including multiple White House panels and the strategic advisory board for the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Carolina State University. She previously served as AUTM’s vice president of strategic alliances, spearheading the design, development, and deployment of what is now known as the AUTM Innovation Marketplace (https://aim.autm.net). Continuing her service to AUTM, she currently serves as the board chair for the AUTM Foundation.
Laura is passionate about encouraging women and minorities to pursue careers in STEM fields. She served on the board of FIRST North Carolina for five years and is still a sponsor and a judge during robotics competitions.
Laura also has 12 years of experience leading research. She worked for several defense contractors as an engineer and manager. For example, at GE-Aerospace/Lockheed Martin, she was responsible for national and international new business development and R&D projects for advanced submarine and surface ship programs.
Laura holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University and Princeton, and she earned her MBA at the University of North Carolina.
Tom Unterman, Chairman Emeritus
Founding Partner, Rustic Canyon Partners
Tom is the founding partner of Rustic Canyon Partners, one of the largest venture capital firms in Los Angeles. Through Rustic Canyon, he has raised venture funds in excess of $800 million. Among his notable investments are Netscape, LoopNet, Glass Lewis, and Fulcrum Bioenergy. Prior to forming Rustic Canyon Partners, Mr. Unterman had a long career as a corporate executive. From 1992 to 1999, he held several executive positions at Times Mirror Company, including Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. At Times Mirror, he led the acquisition and divestiture activity and oversaw the investment program. Prior to joining Times Mirror, Tom was one of California’s leading corporate attorneys, practicing first with Orrick, Herrington from 1969 to 1986 and then with Morrison & Foerster from 1986 to 1992.
Tom also serves as the Chairman of the Board of MediaSpan Group, Inc., and a Director of Agribuys, Bassoe Offshore, FoodLink Online, LLC, The Deal, LLC, SLS Breeze Holdings, Inc., Practice Technologies, and RiverOne, Inc. He has been a Director of Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inc. since August 2007, Element K Corporation since February 2000 and WorldRes.com, Inc. since March 1999. He serves as a Director of Néo-Soft NSI SA, Transonic Combustion, Inc., ODS-Petrodata, Inc.(alternate name IHS-Petrodata, Inc.), Good Technology, Inc., Intrepid Learning Solutions, Inc., Navigating Cancer, Inc., RealPractice, Inc. and iCopyright, Inc. He serves as a Member of the Advisory Board at US Renewables Group, LLC. He has been a Member of Advisory Board at BlackLine Systems, Inc. since March 10, 2011.
Tom serves actively on the boards of the California Community Foundation, CalArts, Heal the Bay, and MOCA.