Speakers Bio

James  Heywood, founder of ALS TDI

An MIT engineer with a background in product development and neuroscience Jamie entered the field of translational research when his 29 year old Brother Stephen was diagnosed with ALS. 
Jamie is the Chairman and co-founder of PatientsLikeMe, a web 2.0 company where patients can share in depth information on treatments, symptoms, and real world information on managing life changing diseases.  PatientsLikeMe is working with the pharmaceutical industry, providers, non-profits and patients to align and illuminate value and improve medical care. 
Jamie founded ALS TDI the world's first non-profit biotechnology company and was its CEO from 1999 to 2007.  Jamie implemented an industrialized therapeutic validation process and built the world's largest ALS drug discovery program. Jamie pioneered an open research model, posting in real time the results of its studies for patients, doctors, and the research community.
Jamie is an active advisor to companies and non-profits working to improve the way in which biomedical research is conducted. His work has been profiled in the New Yorker, 60 Minutes, Pulitzer Prize winner Jonathan Wiener's book, His Brothers Keeper, and in the Sundance award winning documentary So Much So Fast.  

Peter D. Kiernan, III, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation
Mr. Kiernan is CEO of Kiernan Ventures, a venture capital firm committed to growing companies of consequence. He spent nearly 18 years at Goldman Sachs, most of them as a Partner and was instrumental in advising companies and wealthy families around the globe in ways to expand their business. His specialty was forging unique relationships and finding creative and unconventional ways to help growing companies both large and small achieve their promise. After leaving Goldman, Peter founded and led numerous companies including Tech Health, a high growth medical services company where he serves as Chair of the Board. Kiernan was also President and Partner at Cyrus Capital Partners, a hedge fund based in New York and London where he continued to serve as Senior Advisor. He continues as Senior Adviser there. Kiernan was asked by Dana Reeve in the days before her untimely death to lead the organization she and her husband Christopher founded. In the past two years, as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, Kiernan has led a dramatic turnaround in the organization's fight to cure paralysis. He also served as past Chairman of the prestigious Robin Hood Foundation for nearly five years. He serves on the Board of the Darden School at the University of Virginia and served on the Williams College Board and Finance Committee for many years.

Glenn E. Mangurian, Founding Partner, Frontier Works and Patient Advocate
Glenn Mangurian has over three decades of experience driving innovation and results with his clients.  Through personal experience he has discovered that we are capable of overcoming challenges that seem insurmountable. As a skilled partner, Glenn teams with both individuals and organizations to aim high, take action and realize aspirations.
As a former, SVP with CSC Index he was responsible for commercializing the concept of Business Reengineering.  Glenn has experienced many of growth challenges including geographic expansion, market reinvention and acquisition.  In 1989, the Index Group as acquired by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC).  He was a member of the leadership team that reinvented the firm after acquisition and grew it from $25 million to $200 million in annual revenues.  In addition, he orchestrated the acquisition of two professional services firms into CSC Index and had operational responsibility for one of them. 
In May 2001 Glenn suffered an injury to his spinal cord resulting in the paralysis of his lower body. Undeterred by his injury, Glenn remains active in his consulting, speaking and writing. He combines his decades of business experience with his personal experience in overcoming adversity to inspire individuals and organizations to achieve extraordinary results. He has published several articles on change management, business reengineering and resilience. Drawing on his personal experience and others, he is the author of an article published March 2007 in the Harvard Business Review: "Realizing What You're Made Of."  He is a frequent speaker to executive audiences on the subjects of leadership and resilience.
Glenn has an undergraduate degree in mathematics and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts where he also serves as an executive-in-residence. In partnership with University President Wilson he is host to several leadership programs. An accomplished networker and coach, he is a trusted confidant to many successful business leaders.

Brock Reeve, Executive Director, Harvard Stem Cell Institute
Brock Reeve, a graduate of Yale and the Harvard Business School, is Executive Director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. In partnership with the Faculty Directors, he has overall responsibility for the operations and strategy of the institute whose mission is to use stem cells, both as tools and as therapies, to understand and treat the root causes of leading degenerative diseases.
HSCI is comprised of the schools of Harvard University and all its affiliated hospitals and research institutions. The institute currently has 60 principal faculty and 70 affiliated faculty.  Under the leadership of the Executive Committee, HSCI invests in scientific research in three main areas - seed grants, core facilities and large-scale disease programs.  Beyond the science, the institute also has programs to address ethics and public policy issues, to provide lab experiences for undergraduates, to educate high school science teachers, science journalists and the public at large.
Brock comes to this role from the commercial sector with extensive experience in both management consulting and operations for technology-based companies, with a focus on life sciences. 
Brock's business career started with the Boston Consulting Group.  Prior to Harvard, Brock was COO and Managing Director of Life Science Insights, an IDC company, a consulting and market research firm specializing in information technology in life sciences.  Previously, Brock was an Associate Partner in the Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences practice in IBM's Business Consulting Services group, working with biotech and pharmaceutical clients on issues ranging from R&D portfolios to operations strategies.  Brock also has had hands-on operational responsibility in product management and marketing roles in software start-ups as well as additional experience in IT and the healthcare/life science market as the Healthcare Practice Director at Viant Corp. and a Principal at SRI Consulting, where his clients included some of the leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies.

 Larry Steranka, Managing Director of Cancer Research Technology, Inc.
Larry Steranka is Managing Director of Cancer Research Technology, Inc.  Previously, he worked in the field of academic technology transfer, most recently as Executive Director of the Office of Technology Licensing at Brandeis University, before that as Associate Director for Licensing in Harvard University's Office for Technology and Trademark Licensing and, before that, as Director of the Office of Technology Transfer at Vanderbilt University.  Prior to entering academic technology transfer, Larry held research management positions in the pharmaceutical industry, first with a startup and then with a multinational company.  Larry has a Ph.D. in pharmacology, completed one of Harvard Business School's Executive Education Programs (PMD), and is the author of over 40 peer-reviewed scientific publications.