Speaker Bios:  (back to Event Summary)

Rada Rodriguez is a senior executive and non executive board member with more than two decades of leadership experience in global industrial and technology driven organizations. She has held full P&L responsibility for multi country businesses with revenues in the billions and has served on boards of listed companies and major European industry institutions.

Her career spans executive leadership, board governance, and European level industry representation, with deep expertise in industrial technology, energy transition, organizational transformation, and regulated markets. She operates at the intersection of strategy, execution, and governance, where decisions carry material, long term consequences.

Thomas is Director at Bosch Management Consulting Innovation for Business & Digital Strategy. He works for more than 8 years "hands-on" on Business Model Innovation and especially Ecosystem approaches. Thomas had been Co-Founder of 2 Bosch Ecosystem approaches  (NEVONEX and Susteco) and had been responsible  - as part of the leadership team - for the business model & biz development as well as for partner acquisition and orchestration. Currently, he is deeply involved in Catena-X, an Ecosystem for the automotive supply chain. Furthermore, he is the initiator and lead of Ecosys@Bosch. Ecosys@Bosch is an internal Ecosystem approach that helps to unleash the power of ecosystems for Bosch's business.

Catriona Hansbauer previously worked as Director, Alliance Management in the Alliance Management Department in Business Development & Licensing. She managed priority and complex alliances across the BioPharma R&D Therapy Areas.

Prior to her current role, Catriona worked as External Innovation Manager in the Strategy and External Innovation Department within the CV, renal and metabolism area (CVRM). In that role, she managed key collaborations and supported the enhancement of the CVRM portfolio through in-licensing opportunities.

Before joining AstraZeneca in 2015, Catriona worked as a patent paralegal for the patent law firm Mitscherlich in Munich supporting patent attorneys in all phases of the patent prosecution process. Catriona has a MSc from the University of Gothenburg and a BA from the University of Regensburg in Germany. She is CA-AM (Certification of Achievement – Alliance Management) certified.

Ard-Pieter de Man PhD is a board room consultant and professor of Management Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He is an internationally recognized thought leader in the areas of organizational forms, ecosystems, platforms, and alliances. As a consultant he advises organizations on these issues on a strategic level. He is the author of over a hundred articles and fifteen books: How to survive the organizational revolution, that helps managers make sense of new organizational forms, and the widely used Alliances: An executive guide to designing successful strategic partnership.

Katherine Kendrick is the Executive Director and Head of Alliance Management at Jazz Pharmaceuticals, a global biopharmaceutical company that develops life-changing medicines for people with serious diseases, who often have limited or no options. Katherine leads the Jazz Alliance Management team and department, delivering alliance portfolio management and value for global partnerships in development and commercial life cycle phases. Prior to joining Jazz in 2019, Katherine was with Eli Lilly & Company and Elanco Animal Health, where she established and led the Alliance Management organization. For more than 20 years, Katherine has focused on global clinical development and strategic alliance partnering in the human and animal health pharmaceutical sector. She is passionate about building and optimizing alliance teams and advising alliance leaders, enabling challenging decision-making with a patient-focused, alliance value-driven approach. Katherine holds a BS in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University and has been an active member of ASAP since 2011 holding a CSAP certification. It’s not all about work for Katherine—in her personal time, she is a veterinary nursing student at Purdue University and volunteers with the veterinary team for Save Elephant Foundation in Thailand, rescuing and rehabilitating endangered Asian Elephants. Also, Katherine will have officially joined the ASAP Board of Directors as of July 1st (Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals).

Gordon Thompson is currently VP of Corporate Development and Partnerships at E.ON ONE. Gordon comes from a private equity back ground focused on Venture Capital and early stage technology companies. He joined innogy Innovation in 2017, where he worked as a Portfolio Manager before joining E.ON after E.On acquired innogy. He was part of the deal excitation teams which acquired gridX and envelio last year, which both are key strategic assets for enabling the energy transition. In his current role at E.ON ONE, he helps structures both Strategic Partnerships and M&A transactions with forward-thinking companies and technology developers. His team’s mission is to secure access to technologies and capabilities needed for E.ON ONE to lead the energy industry toward a greener, more connected, and sustainable future; while continuing to provide their customers and partners with reliable, cost-effective and sustainable energy solutions. Gordon has spent most of his career in the Berlin technology space, but as also made Private Equity investments into technology companies in North America, the UK and Eastern Europe. Gordon will be discussing, Tactics for securing key technologies needed for the energy transition, via the structuring of well-balanced Strategic Partnerships, that work economically for all parties involved.

Signe Maria Christensen currently has two roles at LEO Pharma that give her a unique perspective about her employer. In addition to her role as a Strategic Alliance Manager for in-licensed assets for medical dermatology, she has also served as an employee elected board member on the company’s Board of Directors since 2018.  

Signe has worked in the pharma and biotech industries for more than 25 years and has a master’s degree in chemical engineering and a PhD degree in organic chemistry.  

Louis Rinfret is a highly educated professional with a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the School of Computing and Communications at Lancaster University, a Masters in Business from Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, and a Bachelors in Business from the University of Victoria. He has a diverse academic background with a strong emphasis on technology and business studies.

In terms of professional experience, Louis is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Allianceboard, showcasing his leadership and entrepreneurial skills. Prior to this role, he held various positions including Professor of Strategy and Innovation at Université du Québec, Digital Strategy Lead at CMC Research Institutes, Lecturer in Strategy at the University of Southampton, Senior Director at Expedia Cruiseshipcenters, Director at Business Objects, Product Manager at Infowave, and Research Professional at the Research Institute for SMEs. This demonstrates his broad expertise across academia, research, strategy, innovation, digital technology, and business management.

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Yolanda Stead is a visionary leader in strategic partnerships and digital transformation, with over 25 years of experience driving innovation across global enterprises and mission-critical infrastructure sectors. As Head of Partnerships APAC at Procore Technologies, she leads the charge in revolutionizing the construction industry, helping organizations build smarter, more sustainable infrastructure. Yolanda has held senior roles at Procore, Oracle Aconex, Arup, and KPMG, where she pioneered digital ecosystems, alliance strategies, and technology enablement. At the heart of her leadership is a commitment to human-centered design, believing that meaningful partnerships are essential for delivering lasting value. A passionate advocate for inclusivity and sustainability, and a champion for women in tech, Yolanda brings empathy, clarity, and commercial depth to every engagement, transforming the way construction works — from the ground up, and proving that we are better together through strong, purpose-driven partnerships. 

Jan Twombly, CSAP, is president of The Rhythm of Business, a service provider with expertise in partnering, alliances, and collaboration offering consulting, education, data-rich assessments, and workflow automation. For over 20 years, she has been a leader in advancing the practice of alliance management. Her current emphasis is on ensuring alliance professionals focus on delivering the services of greatest value to stakeholders; upskilling alliance managers, alliance leaders, and team members, and digitizing alliance management workflow. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP), overseeing its editorial and content strategy. She is a frequent contributor to Strategic Alliance Quarterly, regularly speaks on collaboration and partnering, and is co-author of The Partnering Guide™ blog and numerous whitepapers. Visit rhythmofbusiness.com/insights for our most recent publications.

Curtis is the Alliance Manager for childhood cancer at LifeArc where he provides an alliance management framework to ensure strategic alliances like C-Further meet their contractual obligations and strategic goals as well as maintain healthy, equitable and productive relationships. Prior to joining LifeArc, Curtis held several roles covering editorial, project and programme management, as well as stakeholder engagement at Nature Communications, UKRI’s UK Regenerative Medicine Platform, Cancer Research UK and the Microbiology Society.

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