Hear from leading life sciences industry CEOs about leadership in their companies and the changing landscape of life sciences across Pennsylvania. Attendees can enjoy the benefit of a Q+A interactive panel, breakfast, and networking with industry leaders.
Also at this event, we will present the President's Service Award to Tom Hess for his contribution to the organization through volunteering his time, leadership and energy. Please join us in congratulating Tom and thanking him for his leadership and support.
Agenda
7:15 a.m. - 8:15 a.m. Registration & Networking
8:15 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Panel Discussion
Panelists:
Sue Dillon, President & CEO, Aro Biotherapeutics Company
Bethany Edwards, Co-founder and CEO, LIA Diagnostics
Gerri Henwood, President & CEO, Recro Pharma, Inc.
Moderator:
Amy Dorfmeister, Partner, Ernst & Young
Biographies:
Sue Dillon, President & CEO, Aro Biotherapeutics Company
Sue Dillon is a co-founder of Aro Biotherapeutics, focused on Centyrins, a unique protein platform deigned to enable optimized delivery of multiple drug payloads including nucleic acid and genetic therapeutics for diseases with high unmet need.
Previously, from 2001 through 2017 Sue held multiple leadership roles at Centocor and Janssen Research & Development, a division of Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals. In 2009, Sue was appointed Global Therapeutic Area Head for immunology for Janssen, Research & Development. In this role, Sue had end-to-end responsibility for immunology small and large molecule drug discovery, biomarkers, translational medicine and clinical development of a series of blockbuster products for autoimmune diseases, including REMICADE® (infliximab), SIMPONI® (GOLIMUMAB), STELARA® (ustekinumab), and TREMFYA® (guselkumab), a first in class anti-IL-23 antibody approved in 2017.
Sue earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from Thomas Jefferson University and completed an NIH-sponsored postdoctoral fellowship in Immunology at Duke University. Sue has published over 50 scientific articles, and is inventor on six issued patents.
In 2007, Sue was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from Thomas Jefferson University and in 2013 was appointed to the Board of Directors of the renowned Wistar Institute in Philadelphia.
Bethany Edwards, Co-founder and CEO, LIA Diagnostics
Bethany is the co-founder and CEO of LIA Diagnostics, developers of Lia: the first, FDA-cleared, flushable and biodegradable pregnancy test.
In 2015, Bethany co-founded LIA Diagnostics to expand upon her research and commercialize Lia. As CEO, Bethany has led the charge transforming Lia from a thumbnail sketch to a tangible, efficacious product with a rapidly growing brand presence in under three years with minimal funding.
She holds a Master’s degree in Integrated Product Design from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to attending the University of Pennsylvania, Bethany spent over a decade working in advertising and marketing and holds a B.A. in Advertising from Temple University. She is a DreamIt Ventures’ and Springboard Enterprises’ alumna and was a U.S. delegate for the 2015 and 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Summit.
Bethany was named one of Philadelphia Business Journal’s "15 women who are changing the face of tech in the region”. In 2017, she was crowned the winner of TechCrunch’s StartUp Battlefield Berlin, and most recently has been featured in the pages of Fast Company, and is a semi-finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year® Awards in the Greater Philadelphia region.
Gerri Henwood, President & CEO, Recro Pharma, Inc.
Gerri Henwood is President and Chief Executive Officer and Director of Recro since 2008. Previously, Ms. Henwood was a founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., or Auxilium, a Nasdaq-traded biopharmaceutical company from late 1999. Prior to Auxilium, Ms. Henwood was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of IBAH, Inc., or IBAH, a contract research organization. IBAH was NASDAQ-listed with revenue of $150 million, before being acquired by Omnicare in 1998. Ms. Henwood began her career with Smith Kline & French, now part of GlaxoSmithKline plc, in the pharmaceutical management program. She rose through the ranks to be a brand manager, Director of New Business Development for CV Products, then the head of Regulatory and Medical Affairs for the U.S. business, and finally to the position of Group Director—Marketing, in the International Pharmaceutical Division. Ms. Henwood currently serves on the board of directors of Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, a position she has held since May 2015, and one private company. She previously served on the board of directors of Alkermes, Inc. and its successor company, Alkermes, plc, a global biopharmaceutical company, from 2003 until March 2015. Ms. Henwood also serves on the compensation committee of the board of directors of Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Ms. Henwood holds a B.S. in Biology from Neumann University.
Moderator:
Army Dorfmeister, Partner, Ernst & Young
Amy Dorfmeister is a partner in Ernst & Young’s Philadelphia office with over 23 years of experience primarily serving clients in the life sciences industry. Amy works closely with and for multi-location, complex public and private high growth companies bringing experience in accounting and auditing services, financial reporting, SEC registration statements and reporting, public and private offerings and advisory services related to mergers and acquisitions and transaction support. Amy serves publicly traded global organizations and venture and private equity backed companies in the region.
Amy is a member of the EY Philadelphia office Diversity & Inclusiveness Council and plays an active role in EY’s professional women’s network. Amy also served as the North East Region’s Initial Public Offering Leader responsible for responsible for EY’s strategy and service for initial public offerings.
Amy received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from American University and is active in several Philadelphia organizations, including Life Sciences Pennsylvania, the Healthcare Financial Management Association, the Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT) and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Club of Philadelphia.