As corporate directors undergo transformational changes within their industries and organizations, it is imperative that they are vigilant about the many exciting innovations helping lead this period of disruption and change. These innovations can be found in the form of products and services, many of which are developed and practiced in the incubation hub that is New England. These products and services are disrupting and transcending all industries and are occurring in life sciences, manufacturing, financial services, agriculture, and education, to name a few.

The pace of innovation is fast, and will only continue to build steam. New discoveries are being uncovered, monetized and placed into service daily, from new and improved health care devices to the use of edge computing and the Internet of Things to enhance security or improve supply chain efficiency. These are just a few examples of the transformational  technologies that board members must grasp and put into perspective in order to place their organizations ahead of the disruptive and transformational curve.

On October 8, 2019, NACD New England will showcase four New England-based companies whose products and services are changing the world. The leaders of these organizations will share their company's mission and vision, while  virtually opening the doors to their labs and thought leadership centers. Inquiring minds are encouraged to take part in an expanded Q&A session, moderated by Corey Thomas, CEO, Rapid7.

Disruption and change are imperative—are you prepared?

Panelists:

Alison Lawton, CEO, Kaleido BioSciences

Alison Lawton has served as Kaleido’s Chief Executive Officer, President and as a member of the Board of Directors since August 2018, after initially joining the company as President and Chief Operating Officer in December 2017. Ms. Lawton has more than 30 years of experience in a range of executive and operating roles in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Kaleido, she was COO at Aura Biosciences, and previously held the same role at X4 Pharmaceuticals and OvaScience. Ms. Lawton spent more than 20 years at Genzyme Corporation and subsequently at Sanofi, following its acquisition of Genzyme. She served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Sanofi Biosurgery, a $750 million business that included surgical, orthopedics and cell therapy and regenerative medicine franchises. Earlier, as SVP of Global Market Access for Genzyme, Ms. Lawton led global functional organizations, including regulatory affairs and quality systems, public policy, health outcomes and strategic pricing, product safety and risk management. Additionally, Ms. Lawton worked for seven years in the U.K. at Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis. She previously served two terms as the industry representative on the Food & Drug Administration’s Cell & Gene Therapy Advisory Committee and as Chairman of the Board of the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (RAPS). She is currently an independent Director of ProQR Therapeutics and Verastem, Inc., and was previously a director on the boards of Cubist Pharmaceuticals, CoLucid Pharmaceuticals and Magenta Therapeutics. Ms. Lawton earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacology from King’s College London.

Nicole Sahin, CEO, Globalization Partners

Nicole Sahin’s mission is to eliminate barriers to doing business internationally and building global teams. As founder and CEO of Globalization Partners, she is recognized for having created their innovative Global Expansion Platform, which empowers companies to hire anyone, anywhere within a few business days - expanding their global footprint without the need to set up in country branch offices or subsidiaries.

Nicole’s vision has led to her being named Gamechanger of the Year in 2019 and Entrepreneur of the Year in New England. Globalization Partners has also earned the ranking of No. 6 on the 2016 Inc. 500 list, and the company has won numerous awards for breaking the traditional corporate mold by building a nationally-recognized company culture. She credits the success to an exceptional team with global expansion in their DNA, and to her philosophy of the Triple Bottom Line – what’s good for the clients and the employees is good for the shareholders. From day one, Nicole has built Globalization Partners to scale, with a mindset towards meeting the needs of Fortune 1000 companies, which require the highest compliance standards in the world.  

Prior to launching Globalization Partners, Nicole was a Senior Director at High Street Partners, a firm that provided international HR, tax, legal, and compliance services to CFOs, HR Directors, and General Counsel of fast-growing technology companies establishing subsidiaries and hiring in dozens of countries.  Her experience advising companies ranging from Tesla to HID Global on their international expansions, was a catalyst for founding Globalization Partners in 2012.

Nicole’s primary nonprofit endeavors focus on eliminating extreme poverty through education and economic development. She’s currently on the board of School the World and has spearheaded efforts to build schools in rural communities in Guatemala and Cambodia. She also works on gender and racial equality initiatives and serves as the Vice-Chair of Diversity on the Membership Committee of YPO New England. Nicole holds an MBA in International Management from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. She lives in Boston, loves to travel, and is inspired by the belief that making it easy for people to expand internationally, and work seamlessly across borders, ultimately makes the world a more exciting and open-minded place.

David Perry, CEO Indigo AG

David Perry, President, CEO, and Director, Indigo. He is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and built three innovative companies in the last 20 years, leading the last two through successful IPOs and to multi-billion dollar market capitalizations and raising over $1.2 billion while generating significant returns for investors.

David was most recently CEO and Co-Founder of Anacor Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ANAC), a biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing novel small-molecule therapeutics to treat infectious and inflammatory diseases. The company was acquired by Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) in 2016 for approximately $5.2 billion. David previously cofounded and served as CEO of Chemdex (NASDAQ: CMDX), later creating its parent company Ventro Corporation (NASDAQ: VNTR), a business-to-business marketplace focused on the life sciences industry. At its peak, Ventro was valued at $11 billion and was later sold to Nexprise.

David is Founder and Chairman of the San Francisco-based digital health startup Better Therapeutics (f/k/a FareWell) and a Board Director of the human microbiome company Evelo Biosciences.

In 2000, David was named Entrepreneur of the Year in Northern California by Ernst and Young. He holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Tulsa. He also attended the United States Air Force Academy, where he was a National Merit Scholar.

Andy Ory, Co-Founder of 128 Technologies

Andy Ory, co-founder, 128 Technology, has served as the company’s Chief Executive Officer and board member since inception. Prior to 128 Technology, Andy co-founded Acme Packet in August 2000 and served as its Chief Executive Officer and President until Acme Packet’s acquisition in 2013. Andy also founded Priority Call Management and served as its Chief Executive Officer and Chairman. Andy holds a B.A. from Harvard University.
Moderator:

Corey Thomas, CEO, Rapid7

In addition to being president and CEO, Corey is also a member of the Rapid7 board of directors. In 2018 he was elected to the Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA) board of directors, and he also serves on the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts board of directors, and sits on its audit and health care quality and affordability committees. Corey has extensive experience leading technology companies to the next stage of growth and innovation. His previous positions include VP of marketing at Parallels, Inc., a virtualization technology company; group project manager of the Microsoft Server and Tools division, launching the worldwide availability of SQL Server 2005 and steering product planning for Microsoft’s data platform; and a consultant at Deloitte Consulting. Corey received a B.E. in electrical engineering and computer science from Vanderbilt University and a MBA from Harvard Business School.