Speaker Bios:  (back to Event Summary)

Rada Rodriguez is a senior executive and Non-Executive Director with over 15 years of leadership experience in global industrial technology companies and more than seven years of board experience in listed and international organizations. She has led large-scale transformations, driven strategic repositioning, and shaped organizations through periods of technological and regulatory disruption. Her board roles include James Hardie Industries, where she chaired the Nomination & Governance Committee, as well as leadership positions in European industry bodies such as Orgalim and ZVEI, focusing on governance, ESG, and industrial competitiveness. Rada is particularly passionate about the intersection of technology, strategy, and leadership, bringing a clear board-level perspective on how organizations can navigate transformation while building resilient, future-ready businesses.

With extensive experience across EMEA, the Americas, & APJ, Dion Smith has founded & led high-performing sales, operations, marketing, & partner organizations—developing go-to-market strategies that deliver measurable commercial impact. His work spans hardware, software, services, & industry solutions—building RTM & GTM engines that unlock growth through ecosystems, operating models, & execution at scale. He has led teams & partner networks across 150+ countries, building multi-billion-dollar revenue engines. Recognized as an industry-leading Channel Chief (CRN, IMPARTNER, PCR), his ecosystem relationships span the full partner spectrum—across GSIs, consultancies, systems integrators, service providers, ISVs, OEMs, distributors, resellers, MSPs/CSPs, hyperscalers, digital marketplaces, referral & agency models, & emerging innovators.

Matthew Brown is a member of GSK’s Alliance Management Leadership Team and part of the broader R&D Business Development organisation at GSK.  He is based in the London area and frequently travels to Shanghai, managing two of GSK’s highest profile China based alliances in support of GSK’s R&D priorities.  Matthew has built a strong working knowledge of the local pharmaceutical and biotech environment in China including the aspirations, motivations and unique cultural dynamics at play in partnerships with western based multi-national pharmaceutical companies.

Matthew has been at GSK approaching 10 years, gradually moving towards BD from a starting point in clinical drug development.  Prior to GSK, Matthew held roles of increasing responsibility at Novartis and then Takeda, both in global clinical operations.  He holds a BSc in Chemistry from the University of York, an MSc in Pharmacology & Biotechnology from Sheffield Hallam University and an MBA from Durham University (all in the UK).

Markus combines 30+ years of commercial experience across banking/finance, strategy consulting, and pharmaceutical/healthcare. He currently leads Merck Healthcare’s Global Alliance Management.

Since joining Merck KGaA (Germany) in 2002, he has held leadership roles spanning local, regional, and global organizations, covering strategy and operations, OTC and Rx, marketing and sales, product launches and life-cycle management, business development, and alliance management. Before Merck, Markus worked as a strategy consultant at Booz, Allen & Hamilton and as a finance manager at Procter & Gamble.

He holds an Economics degree from Heidelberg University, is a father of two adult children, and lives with his wife in Frankfurt, Germany. Outside of work, he enjoys traveling, running, and reading.

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.

Julian Kawohl is a Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Applied Sciences (HTW Berlin). Over the past nine years, Julian Kawohl has assisted numerous international clients in reinventing their businesses and identifying new growth opportunities from an ecosystem perspective.

Previously, Julian Kawohl served as Head of Corporate Development at the multinational insurance company AXA in Germany. In May 2022, he published his first management book, Ecosystemize Your Business, which presents frameworks, concepts, and a process for intuitively engaging with business ecosystems.

Today, he is a leading figure in the field of business ecosystems, known internationally for his Ecosystem-to-Human (E2H) approach. He now advises SMEs and large companies worldwide

Maarit Merla, MSc (Econ), eMBA, has 25 years of leadership experience in the life sciences industry, including roles across medical devices, biotech start-up, and pharma. Her career spans strategic roles in materials management, R&D, marketing, business development, fundraising, and commercialisation – most notably at Forendo Pharma, where she helped raise €9M in financing, closed a major research collaboration with Novartis, and ultimately played a key role in the company’s acquisition by Organon. Maarit joined the Finnish Drug Discovery Center in the beginning of 2024 as CEO. The center is a state-owned company with a special mission to drive successful drug discovery and development through various business models, with scientific and business development support. Her most recent roles include Executive Director at Organon R&D Finland (2022-2023) and Head of Business Development at Forendo Pharma (2015-2021). Merla currently chairs the Board of Directors of Finnish Bioindustries and is in the board of StemSight Oy. She has also served as Board Member of Pharma Industry Finland and the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland.

Brian Stewart’s business career now spans over 35 years, with valuable experiences across biotech, pharma, and healthcare. Prior to his current role at Daiichi-Sankyo as Executive Director and US Head Alliance Management, Brian was Head of Global Alliance Management and Regional Business Development at Apellis, a Waltham, MA-based biotech. Prior to Apellis, Brian spent five years at Merck KGaA in Global Business Development & Alliance Management, focusing his alliance leadership on strategic oncology partnerships, from early and late-stage R&D to commercial stage therapeutics and companion diagnostics. Brian started his alliance management career at Walgreens Boots Alliance, prior to which he spent a decade in Global Market Access & Contracting at Schering Plough-Merck & UCB Pharma.  Brian Stewart started his business career as an entrepreneur and small business owner for over a decade, owning a chain of convenience store gas stations and a specialty food manufacturing business. Brian graduated from Indiana University with a B.S. Kinesiology.

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, professor of Management Studies  at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and professor of Military Innovation at the Netherlands Defence Academy. 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 including  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.

Nancy Griffin is the VP of Program and Alliance Management at Valo Health, a biotech organization that harnesses high-quality patient data and powerful AI-driven technology to discover and develop life-changing medicines.   Prior to joining Valo, Nancy was the Principal of Cairn Consulting, LLC, and an Affiliate Consultant with Vantage Partners, where she applied her wealth of experience supporting Biotechs embarking on their first collaborations. Nancy has lead Alliance organizations at Dicerna, Vertex, Novartis and Bayer Healthcare.  Her extensive partnering experience is complemented by her skills and know-how in clinical development, operations, regulatory affairs, project management, business development and commercial functions. Nancy is a frequent contributor to continuous learning in the pharmaceutical and biotech arena, and has recently joined the Faculty in the College of Science at Northeastern University as a Part-time Lecturer in the Masters of Biotechnology program. As of July 1st, Nancy has joined the Board of Directors of the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals.

Nancy has an undergraduate degree in Nursing Science from the University of Toronto, an MBA from Quinnipiac University and an MPH from George Washington University. In 2025, Nancy was awarded an EdD from Northeastern University with a concentration in Organizational Learning.  Her thesis focused on building alliance capabilities in emerging life science companies.

Philip Sailer is the Executive Director of Storage Solutions Product Management and Engineering at IBM. He held a similar role at HPE, leading the Hybrid Cloud Partner Ecosystem team from 2020 to 2024, which enabled innovative SaaS solutions and software offerings. He led the HPE SimpliVity Technology team and managed the SimpliVity Global Platform Alliances from 2013 to 2020. His career in technology partner management started at EMC in 2008 with the Unified Storage Division. He has earned BSEE, MSEE, and MBA degrees from RPI and NEU, holds two patents, is a published author, served for years on the ASAP New England Chapter leadership team, is CSAP certified, and has presented/moderated at the 2019 and 2025 ASAP European Summit here Amsterdam.

An experienced Business Development and Alliance leader and Certified Alliance Management (CA-AM) professional , Ameriga has served for over 18 years in multiple roles across the global Pharmaceutical industry, with background ranging from R&D to Operations. Combining a strong scientific foundation (PhD) with a strategic business mindset and education (MBA), Ameriga has been leading global development and commercialization alliances for Sandoz Biosimilars since 2020. Prior to that, she had established the European Group of Strategic Outsourcing Management for Gilead Sciences, after serving GSK and Aptuit as scientist and Program Leader. During her career, she has been managing multi-regional partnerships and negotiating complex global agreements, showing effective C-suite stakeholders to align priorities and deliver measurable outcomes. She leads alliance teams with passion, confidence and integrity, driving impactful results and measurable value creation.

Anna is a Business Development and Alliance Management professional with 20+ years in the pharmaceutical industry across big pharma and generics, specializing in strategic alliances, out‑licensing, product launch and commercialization and M&A integrations. Her background includes degrees in Pharmacy and Business, as well as an Executive MBA.

She began her career at Esteve Pharmaceuticals in Operational Excellence and moved into Business Development at Esteve and Towa International, driving strategic partnerships and out‑licensing.

Anna is currently Director, Alliance & Integration Management at Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease, where she leads M&A integrations and serves as Alliance Manager, steering global alliances from research and development through commercial launch and lifecycle management.

Jesper Lykkesfeldt is a seasoned legal executive, dealmaker, and strategic advisor working with international biotech and pharmaceutical companies on licensing, partnering, and other strategic transactions.

He brings over 20 years of experience from both the biopharma industry and top-tier law firms. Prior to founding LYKKESFELDT in 2025, he spent nearly a decade at Genmab, most recently serving as Vice President, Head of Legal, Global R&D and Corporate Strategy, where he was a member of Genmab's Global Leadership Team, a standing member of the Business Development Committee, and led legal support for the company's global R&D and business and corporate development activities, including licensing, collaborations, strategic partnerships, M&A, and dispute resolution. In that role, he also held direct responsibility for legal support to Genmab's alliance management function, overseeing all legal aspects of the company's major strategic alliances and partnerships throughout their lifecycle.

Gavin Booth is a Strategic Alliances & Growth Executive recognized for consistently achieving 4x market growth. His track record includes architecting $1B+ revenue engines between Cloud Service Providers and GSIs , leading technology consulting practices for 'Big Four' firms , and designing global service lines for infrastructure outsourcing. Driven by a philosophy of ‘winning with friends,’ Gavin specializes in mobilizing EMEA ecosystems to build repeatable revenue flywheels for digital transformation and Agentic AI. A prominent voice in the alliances community, he is the author of The Strategic Alliances Fieldbook (Routledge), where he shares his proven playbooks for industrializing the sales motion. He holds an MBA from Henley Business School.

Bonnie is a biopharma and healthtech leader with an established track record of delivering measurable value across research, development, and (pre)commercial portfolios. Having spent more than fifteen years managing and negotiating complex third-party portfolios, Bonnie specializes in joint venture governance, regulator exchanges, and public affairs. Known for her people-focused management style and crisis-handling expertise, she has a proven ability to effectively maneuver distressed assets and multi-party organizations. She currently works in Roche's Diagnostics Division, overseeing a highly dynamic ecosystem of external digital, academic, and biotech-pharma partnerships.

At the intersection of cloud innovation and commercial strategy, Valerie serves as a catalyst for high-performance ecosystems by mastering the "human-to-business" bridge.

She believes the true potential of an alliance is only realized when authentic partnership synergy meets rigorous commercial execution.

Bringing a rare "triple-threat" perspective to alliance management, Valerie draws on a career spanning industry operations, enterprise consulting, and global leadership. This end-to-end understanding—from the client’s boardroom to advisory and technical implementation—allows her to navigate the entire value chain with precision.

Valerie is renowned for transforming fragmented relationships into integrated, monetized portfolios that deliver double-digit growth and accelerated time-to-market, ensuring that ecosystems produce not just connection, but consistent commercial scale.

With 20 years of B2B software sales experience, I am currently a trusted advisor to key technology partners at Salesforce, where I drive top line, double digit revenue growth and product roadmap innovation by leveraging Salesforce Clouds and services.

I am a creative person, enjoy to think outside the box and I love empowering people for their personal development to help them show up as their best version.

At STADA Group since 2020, Benjamin leads worldwide commercial alliances (P&L of more than €250m net sales) as well as M&A integrations. Previously, he served as STADA’s VP Global Growth & Innovation, overseeing large-scale growth and investment programs. Before joining STADA, he spent twelve years in strategic consulting, advising global pharma clients on growth, operating model design, and post‑merger integration.

Jekaterina is recognized for her ability to bring structure to ambiguity, accelerate decision-making across stakeholder groups, and ensure that partnership objectives translate into real operational performance. She combines analytical discipline with a pragmatic, market-driven approach with the look into the future, helping partners unlock brand value, streamline execution, and sustain long term collaboration success.

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).

Lisa is a transformation leader focused on simplifying complexity, enabling adoption, and ensuring digital strategies deliver real business outcomes. They lead go-to-market and workplace experience transformation, turning digital workplace solutions into scalable adoption and measurable impact across customers and employees. With a strong focus on value-led service design and portfolio operations, they shape and operationalise integrated offerings that are easy to sell, adopt, and scale globally. They provide strategic leadership across workplace experience, technology investment, and partnerships to support business growth, while ensuring employees have the tools, content, and experiences needed to stay connected, informed, and productive. Known for bridging people and technology, they translate complex digital solutions into clear, actionable messaging that resonates across all levels of an organisation.

Andrew is responsible for driving the Digital Enterprise in the Pharma Industry on behalf of Siemens. His principal focus is to work with different pharma organizations on Industry 4.0 & digital initiatives.. With more than 25 years in a variety of consultative and business development roles around Europe, Andrew has been involved in industrial software and digitalization in pharma for the last 15 years. Andrew is an active member in both the ISPE Pharma 4.0 Special Interest Group and the BioPhorum Technology Roadmap Steering Committee, as well as a co author of BioPhorum's Digital Technology Roadmap.

Kaushik Sengupta is an Alliance Management professional at AstraZeneca with an extended experience of 11+ years working within the cross‑functional collaboration space. He partners with internal teams and external biopharma, academic, and technology collaborators to structure, operationalize, and govern strategic alliances, ensuring scientific value delivery against joint objectives. Kaushik brings expertise in alliance operations for enabling scientific progression and milestone achievement through governance frameworks, joint operating committees, collaboration performance matrices, risk/issue escalation, and contract-to-execution alignment. Kaushik has also contributed to spreading the alliance knowledge through alliance publications. 

Bo Skaaning Jensen is Director in Corporate Alliance Management at Novo Nordisk, where he works with long‑term strategic partnerships that bring scientific and technological innovation forward. He draws on more than a decade of experience managing complex global collaborations and supporting teams and partners through integration, change, and scientific development.  His work has included biotech partners such as Heartseed (JP), Ginkgo Bioworks (US), and several platform and antibody collaborations.

Outside work, Bo is a passionate runner, champagne enthusiast, committed innovator at heart, and a proud granddad — and he enjoys nothing more than walking the dogs in the forests surrounding his home.

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.

Eleftheria Ledaki is a Business Development and Alliance Management professional, currently a Director of Business Alliances at BioNTech. She has a scientific and Intellectual Property law background (Brunel University) having worked in technology transfer offices  (Brunel University, Queen Mary University) and biotech companies (Avacta, Autolus). She has been a LifeArc-AUTM fellow, sequential conference invited speaker, author, non- profit leader for the education and networking of life science graduates. She is passionate about mentoring early-stage professionals and spin out companies. 

Federica Fontani is an Alliance Management professional with over ten years of experience in building and managing strategic partnerships in the pharmaceutical industry. She currently serves as Head of Alliance Management for the CARE business unit at Chiesi Group, overseeing a strategic portfolio of alliances with a focus on neonatology and transplant. Beyond alliance execution, Federica is a strong advocate of Alliance Management culture. She has led immersive simulations, practical workshops, and alliance cultural events to strengthen collaboration, cross‑cultural awareness, and shared ownership of partnerships across the organization. Through these initiatives, she contributes to increase awareness of Alliance Management within Chiesi and its stakeholders, promoting effective governance, knowledge sharing, and cross‑functional collaboration.

Prior to joining Chiesi, Federica spent several years at Menarini Group, working across Belgium, Luxembourg, and Italy, where she led teams responsible for in‑licensing and out‑licensing activities across multiple therapeutic areas and across diverse geographies

She holds a degree in Law, is a Certified Alliance Management Professional (CA‑AM), and a member of Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP). 

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.

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.

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