Speaker Biographies

Kundini is a strategy and operations leader with more than 17 years of experience applying business acumen to pharmaceutical and biotechnology product development and partnering with leadership teams and executives to develop strategies to realize corporate objectives. Her career has spanned integrated drug development planning and execution, regulatory strategy, agency engagement and submissions, project, program, and portfolio management, business and functional strategy planning and execution, and people leadership and coaching across therapeutic areas and modalities, start ups, small and large companies, and variable portfolios. She has a Bachelors in Biology, Minor in Sociology from UC Irvine and a Masters in Quality Assurance & Regulatory Affairs from Temple University. Currently, she is the Head of Portfolio Leadership Analytics and Insights at Biogen, a team that enables disciplined actions, decisions, and changes that deliver increased short and long-term value to Biogen’s development portfolio guided and informed by enterprise strategy, new technology, and distilled data, insights, and strategic options.

Currently Head of R&D Strategy, Mathilde started at Sanofi as Portfolio Strategy Director. She joined Sanofi from Vertex Pharmaceuticals, London-UK, where she held the role of Senior Manager New Product Planning. Prior to that, she was a Pharmaceuticals Equity Research Analyst at Exane BNP Paribas and previously held several Finance roles at Johnson & Johnson. As a pharmacist with a Business degree, Mathilde offers a multidisciplinary experience across Therapeutic Areas

Stephen Cho is currently the Founder and President of SSC Strategic Advisors LLC, a consulting and advisory firm focusing on corporate strategy, organizational transformation, and PPM engagements with biopharma and med tech sectors. He recently retired from Novartis after a thirteen-year career where he was most recently Head Portfolio Strategy & Analytics/Enterprise Portfolio Insights in Strategy & Growth at Novartis. In this role, Stephen led enterprise-wide portfolio governance, analytics, long-term forecasting, executive reporting, and systems innovation spanning the breadth of the Novartis portfolio across Research, Development and Commercial, including in-market brands. Since joining Novartis in 2012, Stephen held roles of increasing responsibilities, including Global Head of Portfolio Management & Learning (NIBR), Global Head of Strategy & Operations for Clinical Development & Analytics in (GDD and Pharma Development), and Program Clinical Head and Development Project Lead within Novartis Vaccines. Prior to joining Novartis, Stephen was at McKinsey & Company where he was a leader in their Pharmaceutical and Medical Products practice, advising top global pharma and med tech companies on strategic topics. Earlier in his career, he was medicinal chemistry lab head and research project leader at Pfizer and a medicinal chemist at Eli Lilly & Company, contributing to discovery and development of five clinical candidates and two marketed drugs across neuroscience, metabolic disorders and infectious diseases. Stephen has a PhD in organic chemistry from Stanford University, where he studied under Prof. Barry M. Trost, and a BS degree in chemistry from the University of Michigan.

Starting as a PhD academic bench scientist and professor, Paul transitioned to the life science industry consultant and program management leader working on business process projects and product development from research to commercialization. His passion is in the transition space between research and development where companies need to shape their vision and strategy.

Jennifer serves as the lead for Jazz Rhythm (Planisware Timecard) and is responsible for system capabilities, processes, standards, and training. With improved timecard data, we plan to develop and enhance the resource forecasting algorithms. Prior to joining Jazz, Jennifer spent 3 years at Janssen, responsible for the development and maintenance of the resource forecasting algorithms across R&D as part of a centralized support model. Before J&J, Jennifer served in various roles with increasing responsibilities at BMS as part of the R&D operations organization. Over eight years, she supported resource forecast for the clinical operations, lead the Planisware timecard application and user group and served as the lead of the supply management database and processes. Jennifer’s first job was as an Assistant Professor, Industrial Engineering at the University of San Diego teaching introductory probability and statistics, engineering economics, and systems development and design. Jennifer has a B.S. in Mathematics from Penn State University and a PhD in Industrial & Systems Engineering from Lehigh University. She lives in Whitehall, PA with her husband, Matt, daughter Emily, and son Matthew.

Mel serves as the business owner for Jazz's enterprise project & resource management system, Planisware™. His team is responsible for the drug development project management process, the “functional book of work,” resource forecasting in support of the annual and portfolio processes. This is achieved by advocating the development and adoption of business processes and tool enhancements that promote and support good project management practices, accurate resource forecasting informed by timecard data. Prior to joining Jazz, Mel served as Planisware business owner at BMS, were he led his team in standardizing the project, resource management and time tracking processes across 5 therapeutic areas, reducing the budget cycle process by 30% while increasing transparency and accuracy of dates and forecasts. At Merck, he led the preclinical functional planning teams. He served as a Senior management consultant for PricewaterhouseCooper (PWC) and managed the pharmaceutical development technology transfer team to successfully introduce 3 new products at Barceloneta, Puerto Rico for Abbott Labs. Mel earned a B.S. in Pharmacy from Rutgers University and a MBA from Columbia Business School. He lives in Yardley, Pennsylvania with his wife, Stephanie, and their two daughters, Sophia and Olivia.

Thomas De Vis, originally from Beerse, Belgium, has forged a dynamic career path marked by a fusion of academic achievements and professional milestones. Graduating with a Bio-Engineering degree from the Catholic University of Leuven in 1999, Thomas embarked on a journey through academia, earning certifications such as APICS's Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) and pursuing specialized studies at esteemed institutions like VLERICK Management School and ENSAT. Since March 2019, Thomas has been an instrumental figure at Johnson & Johnson, serving as an Associate Director in the Portfolio, Resource, and Performance Management (PRP) department. Here, he oversees the intricate resource management of expansive portfolios, showcasing his adeptness in orchestrating data-driven methodologies and implementing artificial intelligence tools to drive transformative initiatives. Prior to his current role, Thomas held the position of Associate Director in the PMO Operational Planning and Strategy (OPS) division, where he spearheaded strategic planning processes and led business intelligence initiatives, fostering substantial cost savings and operational efficiencies. Thomas's journey with Johnson & Johnson commenced in 2005, where he began as a Manager in the DPDS Clinical Supplies Unit (CSU), progressively ascending through the ranks while leaving an indelible mark through his leadership in supply chain optimization and cross-departmental collaborations. Before joining Johnson & Johnson, Thomas contributed his expertise to Inbev as a Production & Capacity Planner and gained valuable experience at Nestlé France, where he worked on system projects within the logistics department. Beyond his professional endeavors, Thomas finds fulfillment in his familial roles as a devoted husband and father of two. His leisure pursuits, including cycling and football, reflect his active lifestyle, while his commitment to community and environment is evident through his involvement in initiatives like the creation of a food forest and coaching his daughter's hockey team. Additionally, his passion for music shines through his role as a pianist, where he brings joy to individuals with mental disabilities through his performances. Thomas De Vis epitomizes a harmonious blend of professional excellence, personal enrichment, and altruistic endeavors, shaping a narrative defined by resilience, innovation, and compassion.

Michael Ferrante is the Executive Director, Business Analytics, Global Regulatory and Clinical Safety (GRACS) within Merck Research Labs. In this role, Mike is responsible for tracking and analyzing time reporting effort, forecasting resources for 1-5 years, prioritizing the portfolio, and aligning metrics and analytical tools for the 2500-person global organization. Mike was most recently Head, R&D Business Capabilities, at Bristol Myers Squibb in Princeton, where he led the R&D project, portfolio, clinical study management and headcount planning capabilities. Before joining BMS, he served as Managing Director of Consulting Solutions at YourEncore. Mike previously worked at Merck, where he was Senior Director, Business Operations, supporting clinical grants planning and budgeting, functional objectives development and execution, and strategic analysis for global clinical development and regulatory. He also led R&D operations for Merck’s subsidiary in Japan. Mike earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan, an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He lives in Cranbury, New Jersey, with his wife Deanna and have two grown children.

Stuart Fort is Senior Director in the Project Management Strategy and Capabilities group with 34 years of experience at Eli Lilly and Company. His career spans process development, technical leadership, capacity and strategic resource management, resource modeling, and project/portfolio reporting and analysis. He earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Indiana and holds a CPIM certification from APICS.

After graduating with a BA in Biology, Sean briefly taught Biology and Physical Science at Kensington High School in the School District of Philadelphia. He then went on to join the Bioprocess and Bioanalytical Research department at Merck & Co., Inc. where he spent almost eight years working in the field of Vaccine R&D working on projects such as GARDASIL, RECOMBIVAX, VAQTA, and several pre-clinical vaccine candidates. In 2008 Sean completed both his MS and MBA at Drexel University and made the leap from Bench-to-Business joining the Resource and Decision Management team in the Merck PMO. In 2012, Sean moved to the PMO at Janssen R&D where he increased his breadth of PM knowledge across multiple disciplines and now leads a team of Capacity Managers. Sean and his wife Kim spend most of their time outside of work hiking and fishing with their two beagles Isaac and Linus.

Andrea has over 20 years of experience within the healthcare industry across the disciplines of strategy, project, portfolio, and resource management. She has worked for organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Merial Limited, Eli Lilly, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Roche. In her current role as Head of Portfolio Resource Forecasting for Merck, her responsibilities include strategy, management, and governance of resource forecasting, capacity management, and related systems and tools. Andrea holds a Master of Science in Immunology and a Bachelor of Science in Medical Microbiology from the University of Wisconsin. Andrea completed the Project Management Professional certification and has a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification.

Elayne Ko has 20 years of experience in applying decision analysis process, tools, and methodologies to facilitate investment decision-making under risks and uncertainties. Her work focuses primarily in the pharmaceutical industry; in particular, drug development decisions, long-term planning, and disease area/portfolio prioritization. She has worked with R&D teams to develop business case recommendations, and with senior management who makes investment funding decisions. Elayne has gained experience – in consulting and in corporate settings – across several industries including healthcare information technology, oil & gas, and mining.

Educated as a Medical Doctor, Board certified I supplemented my education with an MBA and a Master in Mathematics. I started my career in the French Navy where I reached the rank of Captain at 25 years old. I spent over 7 years at Abbott Laboratories (90-97) and nearly 5 years at Medtronic (97-01). For 7 years I worked at a private Swiss bank (Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch) where I managed (with a team of five reporting to me) more than USD2bn invested in healthcare private and public equities. I then drove the mid-long term strategic effort for EMD Serono, the US subsidiary of Merck-Serono. I then headed the Medical Affairs at Arthrocare (sold to Smith & Nephew for 1.3 billion). I now head the pharmaceutical portfolio management and decision science function at Merck, as well as R&D Governance and resource management.

Christopher Larson is a PhD candidate in Finance at Tilburg University. His presentation is based on original research that explores how biopharmaceutical firms make critical choices when sourcing external R&D projects to balance value and risk.

As Associate Director Capacity Management at J&J, I act as a trusted advisor for senior leadership in delivering business insights related to capacity management and resource utilization to drive strategic decision-making. With a background in Strategic Partnerships spanning 3.5 years, I've honed my skills in fostering collaborative relationships and identifying synergistic opportunities. My passion lies in maximizing operational efficiency by leveraging internal strengths and strategic alliances.

Leslie Lippard joins us from Alnylam, where she is Senior Director, Portfolio Analytics. Leslie has been working in the portfolio space since 1995. Prior to Alnylam, she was part of Genentech’s research and early development pipeline and portfolio planning group in San Francisco. She has a broad background in the pharma portfolio space, and has consulted at Pfizer, Amgen, Abbott/Abbvie, Genentech, JNJ, and Mallinckrodt Medical. She’s also worked in market research, collecting information used to support portfolio and other decision making, founded two successful companies to provide those services, and has worked in project management at Intermune. She’s currently the President of the Society for Decision Professionals, and a frequent contributor to the Decision Analysis Affinity Group Conference. She has been involved in the leadership of the San Francisco Chapter of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association and looks forward to becoming involved in the HBA in Boston. She has a BS in Physics from Caltech and an MBA from the University of Oregon (Go Ducks!). Outside of work, you are most likely to find Leslie exploring Boston on foot with binoculars and a sketchpad or in the pool swimming laps.

Dr. Mike Myers has worked >30 years in pharma and has spent his career contributing to the discovery and development of new drugs. He is an inventor on 35 patents and has led teams in the pursuit of innovative treatments for cancer, CNS, infectious and cardiovascular disease. Mike recently retired from Ely Lilly as Associate Vice President LRL Project Management - Due Diligence and was involved in Lilly’s activities as part of the larger External Innovation team.

Charles Naaman is Vice President in Global Portfolio and Project Management, responsible for Project Management, Portfolio Management, Governance and Data/Systems teams within GPPM. Charles reports to Anne-Claire Gerbaldi. Charles joined AstraZeneca in 2017 as Head of Late Oncology Project Management, with his role expanding in 2019 to include Early Project Management. In 2021, Charles was appointed Vice President, Global Portfolio and Project Management for Oncology. In 2024, after an interim appointment as Head of GPPM, Charles has assumed his current role which expands beyond Oncology to incorporate Governance, Data/Systems and leadership of the Annual Business Cycle for AZ. Prior to joining AZ, Charles held roles in portfolio management and governance at Roche / Genentech. Prior to coming to industry, Charles was an Associate Partner at Oliver Wyman, where he spent almost 10 years in management consulting for health and life sciences companies. Charles holds an MBA and Masters of Engineering Management from the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University and a BSME from the University of Michigan. Outside work, Charles enjoys coaching, playing tennis and travel, usually with his wife and 3 kids.

Mary Lou Panzano is founder and CEO of Panzano Enterprises, where she focuses on helping leaders prosper in times of change and beyond. She is a communications executive with over 30 years of experience leading successful programs to support transformational change initiatives at global companies. She served as vice president, internal communications at Bayer, and held senior communications roles and Pfizer and Prudential. Today, she is a highly-sought-after speaker, coach, and author. Her 4Cs Change Framework and article series, “The 11 Principles of Prosperity,” are change-maker success essentials.

Charles Persinger is an Executive Director in R&D Strategy at Eli Lilly and leads their Decision Sciences group. He joined Lilly after receiving his MBA from Duke University. Charles has over 20 years of experience helping enable organization decision quality at Lilly, with a focus on drug development and portfolio management decisions within Research and Development. He and the Decision Science team at Lilly work directly with decision-makers and drug development teams to enable decision quality across the R&D organization through a combination of direct decision consulting, developing and enabling decision processes, and education efforts.

Peter is a life sciences executive with a unique perspective on the R&D productivity and sustainability challenges facing biopharma companies at different stages of their evolution, and deep knowledge of the enterprise capabilities needed to address them. He has extensive experience in translating data and analytics into value-creating and optimizing strategies at the asset, franchise, and portfolio level, and he is an expert in characterizing and assessing risk and uncertainty. He has led process and organizational redesign efforts, integrating and collaborating across functions to improve both the speed and quality of decisions.

Alex currently serves as a Director in the R&D Strategy team at Sumitomo Pharma America (SMPA). He leads the process development and business engagement for SMPA's Planisware and Tableau instances. He is responsible for managing financial and operational planning of headcount for R&D and supporting Program Management in their use of Planisware. His work helps estimate the R&D Fixed Costs for budget planning, estimating increased effort for new projects, aggregating actual hours worked, and justifying service fees between partners. He aggregates headcount and project planning data in Tableau to report to the broader organization program progress and to inform governance decisions. Prior to Joining SMPA, Alex supported many functions at Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb in Resource planning and their use of Planisware. Alex earned a B.A. in Pure Mathematics and an M.E. in Chemical Engineering from Rutgers University. He lives in Burlington City, New Jersey with his wife, Colleen their two sons, Leo and Max, and daughter Lyla.

Michelle Shogren, CEO of Innovate In What You Do! LLC boasts 25+ years in clinical research, beginning as a patient participant. Her journey led her through roles in nursing, monitoring clinical trials, and a pivotal tenure at Bayer Pharmaceuticals. Michelle's innovation-driven career culminated in founding her own innovation company in 2022. She's passionate about revolutionizing clinical trials, promoting user voice, and fostering innovation in healthcare.

Joe Stalder, PharmD, PMP, is Vice President of Project Management at Zentalis in San Diego, CA, co-founder of Groundswell Pharma Consulting, and editor of the book "Project Management for Drug Developers." Joe has over 10 years of project management experience in pharmaceutical development in large and small companies. His experience includes Project Management department head, PMO head, and Lead Project Manager on several early- and late-stage development assets in oncology, infectious disease, cardiology, metabolism, and pulmonology. Joe is also a regular speaker at biopharma PPM conferences and is involved in biopharma PPM community organizations including PIPMG and BiopharmaPM.

Gary Summers is a Director of Oncology Portfolio Decision Sciences at GSK, where he applies decision analysis to drug development. Complimenting this work, Dr. Summers studies how uncertainty impacts decision-making. His paper, “Friction and Decision Rules in Portfolio Decision Analysis,” won the 2021 Clemen-Kleinmuntz Best Paper Award. Dr. Summers earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in Management Science from Northwestern University.

Greg leads the Decision Sciences Group (DSG) at AbbVie. DSG enables clarity of action through economic analysis, insights, and facilitative leadership for its business partners dealing with complex issues and trade-offs. Greg advises AbbVie’s senior R&D leaders on portfolio and resource investments. He has over 25 years’ experience in the pharma and medtech industry, with prior roles in drug development, program management, corporate strategy, and business integrations. He received his PhD in chemistry from the University of Chicago and his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Saeid Yazdani is a seasoned biotech executive with over 20 years of experience driving global drug development programs from discovery through commercialization. He has played a pivotal role in securing multiple FDA approvals, leading cross-functional teams, and delivering patient-focused innovation across immuno-oncology and next-generation therapies. Known for his strategic vision and executional rigor, Saeid brings deep expertise in preclinical and clinical operations, portfolio strategy, and stage-gate governance. His leadership spans top-tier organizations, including Pfizer, Gilead, Genentech, Merck, Nestlé Health Science, Thermo Fisher, and Caribou Biosciences. Saeid holds an MBA from the University of Southern California, a BS in Chemistry, and certifications in Six Sigma Black Belt and Project Management.