Investor Views on What to Consider for Technology Investment in Clinical Trials

Andrea Jackson is a Partner at Northpond Ventures. Ms Jackson joined Northpond in 2020 after 12 years of operating and finance roles in small and large scientific and technology companies. Her work at Northpond focuses on leading the people operations and portfolio management of the investment team.

Ryan Jones is CEO of Florence Healthcare. Florence advances cures for disease by enabling clinical trial sites to do their best work.As the site-enablement category leader, Florence was chosen as the system of record for Pfizer’s COVID-19 trials, is an AJC Best Place to Work, a Deloitte Fast 50 winner, an Inc. Top 500 fastest growing company and a DPharm Innovation winner.Before joining Florence, Mr Jones was president of Pubget (acquired by the Copyright Clearance Center), a research platform serving clinicians at over 600 hospitals and research institutions worldwide. Mr Jones joined Pubget from Microsoft’s SharePoint team, where he helped the web’s largest sites make information understandable and accessible with document management technology.Mr Jones has an AB from Dartmouth College and an MBA from UC Berkeley, where he was a Price Fellow. In his free time, he is a pretty good pilot and a terrible golfer.

Bari Kowal joined Regeneron in 2015 and became Head of Global Clinical Operations in 2017. Ms Kowal currently serves as Senior Vice President, Development Operations and Portfolio Management and is responsible for clinical trial strategy and execution, along with overseeing our development shared services functions. Prior to Regeneron, Ms Kowal was previously at Pfizer where she held the positions of Vice President, Business Operations and Analytics, and, prior to that, Vice President, Strategic Alliance and Development Operations Lead. Ms. Kowal also served as Vice President, Clinical Operations, on the clinical research organization side of the industry at a number of biotech organizations in a variety of clinical research roles early in her career. She holds a BS in Biology from the State University of New York at Binghamton and an MS in Neuroscience from New York University.

Andy Lee is Senior Vice President and Head, Global Clinical Trial Operations (GCTO). In this role, Mr Lee leads and manages GCTO, with particular focus on global, in-patient clinical trials, designed and executed to meet cost, speed and quality standards. Mr Lee is also responsible for the design and study/data management of clinical protocols in all regions and countries, as well as the tools, systems and processes to conduct Merck clinical trials.Mr Lee joined Merck in September 2014 from Sanofi, where he served as Senior Vice President and Deputy Head of Clinical Sciences and Operations (CSO) and Head of the CSO Clinical Operations Cluster. In addition to directing the CSO, Mr Lee led the integration of Sanofi with Genzyme, where he was Senior Vice President, Global Clinical Operations. Earlier in his career, he spent more than 16 years in a range of positions of increasing responsibility at Pfizer.Mr Lee holds leadership positions in a number of professional societies, including the role of Treasurer of TransCelerate Biopharma, Inc, a non-profit organization that comprises the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies. He also serves as a member of the TransCelerate Operating Committee. Mr Lee received his Masters in Bioenergetics and Physiology from Ball State University in Indiana and two undergraduate degrees from Rhodes University in South Africa.

Nick Slack, MBE, is the Chairman and CEO of The START Center for Cancer Research, bringing nearly two decades of leadership experience to the clinical research industry. He is a transformative healthcare executive with a proven track record of driving growth and innovation, all while focusing on the mission, vision, and values an organization delivers to the broader research community. Most recently, Mr Slack served as an Executive in Residence at Warburg Pincus. During this time, he was a member of Warburg's Healthcare Team, where he worked on life sciences and pharma services strategy. In this role, he supported Warburg's portfolio companies as an advisor, contributing his extensive knowledge and experience to enhance their strategic initiatives and operational efficiencies. Before joining Warburg Pincus, Mr Slack was the President of WCG Clinical. During his decade-long tenure, Mr Slack was responsible for developing and growing WCG’s relationships with the industry’s leading sponsors, CROs, and hospital systems. Mr Slack worked with partner-clients to design and implement solutions that accelerate the activation of clinical trials, eliminate the duplication of efforts in research, and promote the highest standards of safety for research subjects. Throughout his career, Mr Slack has provided guidance to more than 150 sponsors, CROs, and sites. He was previously the director of consulting services for HRP Consulting Group and the Associate Director of Accreditation for AAHRPP. A trained ethicist, Mr Slack earned a master’s degree in bioethics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Bryan Spielman is Chief Growth Officer at Advarra and is responsible for driving Advarra’s corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships, and corporate marketing. Mr Spielman brings over 25 years of business development and corporate strategy experience from leading technology companies including those with a focus on life sciences.Prior to Advarra, Mr Spielman served as SVP of Corporate Development and Strategy for Internet Brands’ Health Division, which includes WebMD and Henry Schein One. Mr Spielman also previously served as executive vice president of strategy and corporate development at Medidata, where he was responsible for defining and evolving the company’s corporate strategy and building impactful relationships with customers, partners, and key industry stakeholders. Mr Spielman also helped catalyze important new areas of growth, including Medidata’s focus on deep data and analytics. Earlier in his career, Mr Spielman held leadership roles in investment banking at Centerview Partners, UBS Investment Bank, and Bear Stearns. Mr Spielman is a member of Datavant’s Advisory Board, the Board of the Galien Foundation, and the Partnership Fund for NYC’s Healthcare Advisory Board. Mr Spielman also actively mentors technology start-ups through NYU’s Entrepreneurial Center. Mr Spielman holds an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.