IDA BEERHALTER

Ida Beerhalter is Co-Head of IOME, a private investment partnership of women principals from the Gulf region with its head office in Riyadh, KSA.

Additionally, Mrs Beerhalter also serves as Member of the Board, Trustee, Advisor and Expert to various for-profit and not-for-profit organizations around the globe (amongst others Astia, Auma Obama Foundation Sauti Kuu, Omnia Strategy, First Light Trust, Women Political Leaders (WPL) Global Forum, slavefreetrade.org, Professors Without Borders, Yunus Social Business, TBLI Group The Netherlands, Charité Foundation Summit Germany). She is specialized in a wide range of issues including investing & wealth management , entrepreneurship, social business & impact investment, gender inclusiveness, women empowerment, education, emerging markets and family governance and succession planning.

Charlie Cameron

Charlie Cameron has over 25 years of business development, investing and management consulting experience in more than 30 countries. His experience ranges from working on strategy with Fortune 500 companies, to counseling emerging technology and life science companies, to venture investing. In addition, he mentors emerging companies, judges numerous business plan competitions and is a frequent speaker on innovation and entrepreneurship.  He founded the Hub Angel Investment Group, which is on its fifth fund.  He works with a plethora of entrepreneurs, innovators and investors in Europe, with special focus on DACH countries. Charlie is also Senior VP of Strategy at Cooley LLP, a global law firm with deep experience working with life science and tech companies and venture funds.  He is on the board of the German American Business Council, Boston, the advisory board of the German Accelerator Life Science, and several other boards and advisory groups. During the past decade, Charlie has built a global network of entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, and others.  He is a frequent speaker on panels and at forums related to venture capital and entrepreneurship. He has an MBA from MIT, an MPH from Harvard University, and a BA, Economics-honors, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Massachusetts.

CRAIG CURTIS GARNER

Prof. Craig Garner received his doctoral degree in Biochemistry at Purdue University and did his postdoctoral studies at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, CH and was a junior group leader at the Center for Molecular Neurobiology in Hamburg.  His most recent faculty appointment was at Stanford University as Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, where he co-directed the Stanford Down syndrome Center. In 2014, he became a Scientist/co-Speaker of the DZNE-Berlin: German Center for Neurodegenerative diseases and Professor at the Charité –Universitätsmedizin Berlin. In 2015, he co-founded SPARK-Berlin to help educate academic scholars about translation and entrepreneurship.  He has also founded three biotech companies, “Balance Therapeutics”, “Stealth Biosciences” and Navan Technologies. He maintains an active basic research program focused on the molecular and physiological mechanisms of synapse assembly and function in health and neurodegenerative diseases.

JOHN HALLINAN

John Hallinan joined MassBio in 2012 as the Chief Business Officer and oversees the MassBio Innovation Services programs, which include Pharma Days, MassCONNECT, and the Family Office BioForum. 
John’s experience in the life sciences reflect positions of increasing responsibility across a broad range of strategic and operational disciplines. His background encompasses venture financings, corporate development, technology licensing, and mergers and acquisitions.
Prior to MassBio, John was the Chief Financial Officer at Cytel, a leader in the design and implementation of adaptive clinical trials, and he had been active with MassBio—serving on the Economic Development Advisory Group and as co-chair of the Finance Committee & Entrepreneur’s University.
Before joining Cytel, John served as CFO at Signet Laboratories, a leading supplier of diagnostic assays to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Prior to Signet, John was interim CFO at Cambium Learning, a private equity-backed publishing company that completed two acquisitions during his tenure. John was the Chief Financial Officer of AnVil, Inc. a venture-funded silico drug discovery company, where he led the company’s healthcare market business development efforts. At CambridgeSoft Corporation, John rose to CFO of that leading biopharma applications and enterprise solutions supplier. As Animation Technologies’ CFO, he guided the company’s first and second rounds of venture funding.
John serves on the Advisory Board of the Charité BIH Entrepreneurship Summit and the Advisory Board of the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center (MTTC), and proud to serve as a mentor in MassCONNECT, the premier mentoring program for early-stage companies and aspiring entrepreneurs. 
 

JOANN HALPERN

Dr. Joann Halpern is the New York Director of the Hasso-Plattner-Institut für Digital Engineering (HPI) and an Adjunct Professor of International Education at New York University. Before joining HPI, Halpern lived in Cologne, Germany and helped to prepare a new, global university for accreditation. She moved to Cologne from New York City where she was Founding Director of the German Center for Research and Innovation (GCRI).

Prior to joining the GCRI, Dr. Halpern was Director of Academic Affairs and Senior Studies and Assistant Professor of International Education at Global College of Long Island University. She also co-founded Knowledge Transfer Beyond Boundaries, an NGO with projects in Cameroon, Nigeria, and Yemen. From 1996 to 2001, Halpern was Director of International Programs at Harz University of Applied Sciences in Wernigerode, Germany. She received her B.A. from Dartmouth College, her M.A. from Harvard University, and her Ph.D. from New York University. Dr. Halpern is a recipient of the Harvard Award for Distinction in Teaching as well as scholarships and fellowships from the Fulbright Association, German Academic Exchange Service, Robert Bosch Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She serves on the advisory boards of the Charité Entrepreneurship Summit, German Accelerator, Technical University of Dortmund, University Alliance Ruhr, and Virtual Enterprises International.

ANULA JAYASURIYA

Anula Jayasuriya is an experienced health care and Life Sciences executive and investor. Anula’s expertise consists of a unique combination of business, basic science and medical knowledge.  

Recognizing the growing yet under-invested opportunity in Women’s Health, in 2013 Anula launched eXXclaim Capital, focused on catalyzing innovation, entrepreneurship and investment in this field and has already made several investments. In 2006 Anula co-founded the “Evolvence India Life Science Fund” (EILSF), to make investments in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and contract services companies based in India. EILSF has garnered three successful exits to date and India Life Science 11 has had its first close.

She was previously a partner with Skyline Ventures in Palo Alto, and prior to that with the German – US venture capital firm TVM, in San Francisco. Her prior positions include VP-Corporate development at Genomics Collaborative Inc., and Vice President, Global Drug Development at Hoffman-La Roche for opportunistic infections in AIDS and Transplantation. Anula received a BA from Harvard summa cum laude, and an MD and PhD (in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics) from Harvard Medical School. She interned in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and received an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. Anula also has a M. Phil. in pharmacology from the University of Cambridge, in England. Anula sits on the boards of Ocimum BioSolutions, and MapMyGenome, Hyderabad and nVision, San Francisco. She was previously a board member of Health Care Global which was exited to Temasek, Lipomics which was acquired by Tethys and Triesta BioSciences which was acquired by Health Care Global. She also serves on several non-profit boards, including Astia, EPPIC, and The Gruter Institute for Law and Behavioral Research.

MARKUS MÜSCHENICH

Markus Müschenich is a board certified pediatrician and has a degree in Public Health. He is the founder of ConceptHealth, a think tank with longterm expertise in strategic business development based on health care's future foresight analysis. After more than ten years membership of executive boards in private and nonprofit hospital companies, Dr. Müschenich co-founded FLYING HEALTH a German company builder and business developer for health startups. FLYING HEALTH partners with founders, connects geeks and healthcare professionals and supports R&D for innovative products and services gaining market access. Dr. Müschenich is member of the board of directors of the German Association for Internet Medicine.

ANNIKA PIERSON

Through various roles in the German and the US healthcare industries, Annika has extensive experience building strong global networks by bringing together investors, entrepreneurs, and senior industry executives. As Chief Operating Officer of ACI, she facilitates the successful US market entry of emerging companies from Europe and connects US-based startups with European investors and industry groups. Prior to joining the German Accelerator Life Sciences (GALS) and founding ACI in Cambridge, MA, Annika headed the innovation and entrepreneurship programs of Charité Foundation in Berlin, including the highly successful international healthcare industry conference, Charité Entrepreneurship Summit.

JOACHIM RAUTTER

Joachim Rautter is a co-founder of Peppermint VenturePartners and Managing Partner of Peppermint Charité Biomedical Fund.

Prior to the launch of Peppermint VenturePartners, he was Investment Director at Peppermint Holding GmbH. There he was responsible for the investment activities of the Peppermint Venture Capital Fund. He has over 15 years of experience in the venture capital industry and was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Scienion AG, as well as Chairman of the Advisory Board of JADO Technologies GmbH and Innolume GmbH. He is currently Chairman of the Board of CEVEC Pharmaceuticals GmbH and CellAct Pharma GmbH, and also serves on the Board of CryoTherapeutics GmbH and Labfolder GmbH.

Prior to joining Peppermint, he guided innovative start-ups in the field of start-up financing and entrepreneurial development. In addition, he was involved in key functions in the design and implementation of regional innovation strategies.

Joachim Rautter has a degree in physics and completed his PhD at the Max Volmer Institute for Biophysical Chemistry at the Technical University of Berlin.