Mentors & Experts

Antoine has been involved with Startups as a coach, consultant, trainer, investor, advisor on fundraising for over 10 years, with a fair degree of success as measured by their progress. Before that, he had accumulated a rare experience as a global investor in Equities and Private Equity with Capital Group, one of the best firms in the business, continuously visiting companies around the world in a high-paced environment.  As a result he has a great flair for business models of all kinds and in all geographies, for management teams, their potential to create value – and thus can help you best understand investors' expectations, and how to pitch to them.
He is at his best helping companies, in a challenging but friendly and constructive style, to best align their project with their core skills, chose which markets to focus on and why, fine-tune their product strategy, develop a solid financial model. Aside from work, Antoine is a keen long-distance open water swimmer, an enthusiastic mountaineer, a solid amateur singer, and a writer.

Magali holds a MA Honors in Marketing and Economics and a Msc in Business Management and Administration.

After working for 6 years at the World Economic Forum, managing communications and logistics for international diplomatic delegations participating in events, she developped a strong interest in supporting innovation in Switzerland.

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Sharon Brunt is a purpose-driven creative strategist, and passionate advocate for social and environmental change. During Sharon’s three decades of experience in brand, communications and innovation, she's worked on some of the world’s most famous brands, with some of the world’s largest companies including; Boots Healthcare, GSK, Reckitt Benckiser and Unilever—as well as indie brands, and startups. Sharon has been a mentor for Station F and is also a knowledge hub expert for Women of Wearables. Recent healthcare clients include Danone, Forth and Perrigo.

Anna Butterworth is a Femtech pioneer. She has been at the epicentre of the industry for over six years - before the term was even coined. Starting her career in PR she quickly found her calling in wider creative campaign strategy and moved through cause led organisations that support marginalised communities and promote their voices.

Landing at Elvie in 2015 she was the first communications hire and quickly grew the brand across 60+ territories leading the way in Femtech marketing strategy. Since branching out to create the world's first Femtech focused creative agency Ultra Violet, she has worked with global disruptors such as Thinx, Become, Doppel, Wuka, Mooncup, Womanizer, Soho House, The Eve Appeal and more.

Forging new paths and being the very first on the scene is in the fabric of Anna’s being. Not one to settle for the status quo, she consistently breaks barriers to test the waters for the latest innovation or venture. From securing the first live televised feature from a woman’s vagina (ITV This Morning), producing the very first inclusive sex chat show Private Parts (Venus Libido X WowTech) or curating the first above the line ad campaign on Oxford Street for period pants (Thinx launch in Selfidges), Anna is never afraid of pushing the industry forward, whatever it takes.

The latest venture brings future forecasting to the industry in a way that has never been done before.

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Yang is a Vice President at Joyance, focusing on investments in Europe. At Joyance, Yang focuses on companies in healthcare, biotech, and agri-food tech. She is passionate about technology transfer and helping entrepreneurs pioneer new frontiers.

She began her career as a researcher in Neuroscience, Sensory Science, and Public Health. Due to her lifelong passion for food, her interest eventually shifted from neurovascular coupling to multisensory flavour perception.

Yang holds a PhD from the University of Copenhagen, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a BSc from the University College London.  Outside of work, Yang is a trained chef and enjoys exploring the world of fermentation and foraging.

Jennifer Cubino brings many years of experience as a clinical research industry executive, most recently at IQVIA / Quintiles. She has a diverse background including creating and leading strategic partnerships, clinical trial operations, business strategy, precision medicine, technology development, and oncology. Her focus is developing high performing and engaged teams capable of tackling rapidly changing markets. With seven years of experience as a former IRB member at Tufts Medical Center, Jennifer has a deep commitment to patient well-being.

Jennifer has numerous posters and publications on the topic of integrating NGS into clinical research and has presented at international conferences on enhancing Executive Leadership skills.

Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and a Master of Arts in Clinical Research from Boston University, College of Medicine. She is a certified LSS Green Belt and Certified Clinical Research Associate.

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Sonia is an Investment Partner at Joyance focusing on startups in both Europe and the US. She has a background in neuroscience and project management. She worked in labs spanning from cognition to cell culture, most recently dedicating her studies to dementia research.

At Joyance Partners, Sonia focuses on early-stage investing in healthcare and science-based companies with a consumer-facing angle. Sonia is passionate about supporting entrepreneurs with a vision to improve individuals' quality of life.

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Marie Burel-Duton is Business Development Director at Debiotech, an engineering and consulting company dedicated to innovation in medical technologies for 30 years (Switzerland).

Before joining the medical technology industry nearly two years ago, she spent over 20 years in various B2B sectors (automotive, packaging and consulting) in different European countries. She has built her career exclusively on marketing and sales functions, where understanding user and customer needs is crucial.

Her expertise lies in identifying market opportunities and creating a framework of trust through a structured and realistic approach. Sharing and transmission are values she holds dear.

Dr. Veronica Gambillara Fonck is a Partner at Pureos Partners and joined the firm in October 2022.

Veronica is an experienced biotech entrepreneur and has been the co-founder and CEO of two Zurich-based biotech companies, LimmaTech Biologics AG and GlycoEra AG. Veronica started her career in the MedTech field, where she held roles that focused on clinical R&D and international regulatory affairs, initially at Endoart AG. Endoart developed gastric bands for the treatment of obesity. In 2007 the company was acquired by Allergan. In 2009, she left Allergan to join GlycoVaxyn AG, a Zurich-based biotech company that applied its proprietary vaccine technology platform to develop bacterial vaccines. She held different positions at GlycoVaxyn from leading the clinical and regulatory affairs department, to taking care of business development for the company. She was one of the core team members responsible for building GlycoVaxyn’s success and its acquisition by GSK in 2015. Following the acquisition, she co-founded and became CEO of LimmaTech, a biotech company developing bacterial and fungal vaccines itself and in collaborations with GSK, initially Janssen, and others. In 2020, Dr. Gambillara, co-founded and became the start-up CEO of GlycoEra, a biotech company developing so-called protein degraders, biological drugs to treat cancer, autoimmune, neurologic and infectious diseases.

Veronica obtained her Ph.D. in life sciences from the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in the field of cardiovascular diseases and has an engineering degree in the field of Materials Science and Engineering from ETH Zurich. She also holds a MBA from IMD in Lausanne. She is an inventor on numerous vaccine patents and remains on the board of LimmaTech as a director.

Expertise: biotech; medtech; vaccine; entrepreneurial; leadership

Marta is a business development and marketing strategist with track record in Biotech and Medical Devices with leading multinationals and young innovators.

Following a career in marketing and commercial operations with Merck-Serono and then Medtronic, Marta has worked in woman’s health, ophthalmology, headache, hypertension, heart failure, orthobiologics, GI disease, neuropathic pain, biomarkers, digital health and the active implantables space.

Marta has extensive experience working with young innovators to bring their technologies to market. She is member of the Program Management Committee of the School for Biomedical Entrepreneurship (SITEM) of the University of Bern. where she teaches Innovation and medical marketing and sales. She also serves as Western Switzerland Liaison for the Swiss Biotech Association and is a trainer with Innosuisse at the EPFL Innovation Park.

Nanci Govinder is a business angel investor, board member, executive coach, entrepreneurship trainer and a strategic advisor to startups and accelerators. She has worked for more than 20 years in medical device companies (Johnson & Johnson; Medtronic) as Senior Research Scientisit, Director of Marketing and  Business Unit Manager. She then transitioned to startups as CEO for two companies and as a board member and investor.  She was also the Head Coach for the Swiss Federal Innovation Promotion Agency, managing 20 business coaches and evaluating and supporting > 100 deep tech startup companies. She is a highly experienced business angel investor with a portfolio of >25 companies and two exits and was the Deal Leader, Switzerland, for Rising Tide Europe, a group of 270 women business angels across Europe.

Nanci also founded a local branch of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA), an international organization developing and promoting female thought leaders in the healthcare industry. She was a member of the European Board and a mentor.

Nanci has a B.Sc. degree in Chemistry and Applied Chemistry; a B.Sc. degree from the American Institute of Holistic Theology; an MBA; and a diploma in Corporate and Business Coaching.

Doug tries to help innovators deliver on their ideas through connecting them to knowledge, challenge and questions, structure and supporters. He most recently worked to develop and run the DayOne Accelerator for Digital Health solutions based in Basel. Doug helped to co-found the DayOne initiative for Healthcare Innovation that brings together healthcare innovators from Healthcare Providers, Pharma, Academia and startups.

Prior to this he had a career advising companies and start-ups in healthcare, financial services, engineering and media. He spent five years in a Fintech start-up and has also worked in Drug Development with a big Pharma company. He grew up in Australia and has worked in Australia, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland.

I was born in Israel, and here I grew up in a small place tucked away in the mostly empty land between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Life in Tel Aviv was better suited for my personality, and I called this cosmopolitan city home for eight years before the warmth of the weather and of the people of Barcelona caught my imagination.

I have a creative soul with an analytical mind—the very obvious result of growing up in a family made of artists on one branch of the tree, and accountants on the other. My appetite for testing new things led me very early to try any kind of medium in plastic art from oil painting to carving in marble. Growing up with a passion for art, I was certain to eventually become an Architect. This was not a passing phase: I carried this ambition for eight years. All it took was one lecture in the school of Architecture to change my mind, leading me to the resolution that what I really wanted to do is conquer the world. Just kidding.

Jokes aside, I really was increasingly intrigued by the powers that move the world. To study Law and Economics felt a natural choice to satisfy this curiosity. Before proceeding to world domination, however, I had to travel and learn more about it. With a 15kg bag on my back I hiked through the mountains of Chile and chilled at the beaches of Costa Rica, resulting in a new desire to engage in an international environment.

Having returned to Israel and fast forwarding to years later, I began working for a large investment house in Israel, investing in Alternative Assets. Specifically, I was sourcing, analyzing, and negotiating opportunities for investment in private companies, VC/PE funds, and Hedge funds. I love being challenged and creating challenges—and the investment world was filled to the brim with hard problems to solve, new strategies, and ideas predicated on weak assumptions.

However, the desire for an international experience had never truly left me. It eventually led me to pursue a two-year MBA program at IESE business school in Barcelona. My inner architect was also restless, constantly wanting to build. This is what led me to Nina Capital. One email led to an MBA summer internship and eventually to a very fortunate opportunity to stay and work.

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When I am not working, I am probably working out in the gym, roaming the streets of Barcelona with my marvelous (and slightly spoiled) rescue dog, or simply enjoying a glass of wine in one of the many breathtaking terraces that Barcelona has to offer.

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Reto has been is Business Coach at EPFL Innovation Park for the last14 years and is coaching many companies in the lifescience, BioTech, MedTech, B2B fields. He knows what it means to lead a start-up as he was Chairman of DistalMotion for 5+ years and he can pass on his experience on the following topics: business plans, sales & marketing, industrial partnerships, business and product development.

Educated at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA.

Medical doctor turned entrepreneur, creator of period tracking chatbot on Messenger, Super Izzy AI. Business executive with hands-on experience in product development in the health domain, growth hacking, validating B2B and B2C models. My purpose is to help people taking care of their health through technology.

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With more than 30 years in the biopharma industry in areas of drug development, manufacturing, business development strategy, and company building, Sue’s leadership throughout her career spans a broad range of therapeutic areas, including women’s health, neurology, immunology and oncology.

She is presently Life Sciences Advisor at Innovation Factory Ltd guiding investment decisions, strategic planning, executive search, scientific diligence, financing strategies, start-up inception, maturation and out licensing decisions for assets and portfolio companies.

She is also senior consultant at a US Biotech Company (name withheld for confidentiality) providing advice to the CEO for strategic planning and analysis, investment strategy, policy advice and political counsel.  

Until October 2022 Sue worked for Merck Healthcare as Head of Strategic Excellence with global responsibility for Merck’s Healthcare strategy, portfolio management, strategy realisation and global insights. Prior to this she was is member of the Executive board of Merck Serono, the Biopharma arm of Merck, heading up Business Development including responsibility for the Venture investing team.

She is an active mentor and coach for women in bio. Dr Herbert is based in Switzerland and the UK.

Dominnique is a General Partner of Amboy Street Ventures and co-leads the Value Enhancement Team.

With 20 years of experience as a global commercial marketing and brand architect in beauty, health and fashion, Dominnique has personally invested in, and is on the Advisory Board of several companies in the Sexual Health & Women’s Health Technology space, including Mysteryibe and Pureeros.  

Dominnique is also the CEO of Healthy Pleasure Group and drives a commercial portfolio of over 60 companies across four continents and 42 countries.

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Experienced corporate and independent entrepreneur with a passion and a focus on Women's Health.

10+ years of extensive knowledge and experience from strategy, business development, innovation, management, growth, brand building, digital health, fundraising, e-commerce, user involvement. Focused expertise: Reproductive Health, Maternal Health, Business Development, Product Development

On behalf of Ferring Pharmaceuticals she is searching for and supporting innovative products and services in the areas of reproductive medicine and maternal health. In 2019 she co-founded DUSK. A startup on a mission to improve Woman's intimate health and raise the bar for femcare

Holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and International Management from École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris, and M.Sc. in Commercial Law from Copenhagen Business School.

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Daniel co-founded Convergence Partners in 2018 with the vision to establish a VC firm that actively supports the internationalisation and potential exit of EU HealthTech in the world's largest healthcare markets. He has more than 15 years of High tech venture capital investing - and company building experience, focused on sectors that have a positive impact on planet and society. From 2009 to 2017, Daniel was Investment Partner and Investment Committee Member at Jadeberg Partners, a pioneering VC firm in European Cleantech-investing. Prior, Daniel worked for 7 years at Man Group, one of the world's leading alternative investment management firms, in London, Chicago and Hong Kong, focused on environmental technology investments. Before joining Man Group, Daniel worked at the EU headquarters of Intel Corporation. Daniel holds an MBA and BSc in Business Studies from Bayes Business School, London (formerly Cass Business School) and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Daniel loves the outdoors, especially skiing and mountaineering and keeps mentally fit with transcendental meditation.

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Hanne Langmoen is Senior Business Director International at embecta.

Before joining the MedTech industry almost 5 years ago, she spent close to 20 years in Procter & Gamble across various commercial functions. She has extensive leadership experience across a variety of roles within P&L management, Marketing, Sales and Strategy. She is passionate about identifying growth opportunities for businesses through a customer-centric approach, whether it be as an entrepreneur in the eCommerce space or as an executive in an international, corporate set-up. She has lived & worked in emerging as well as developed markets, and is fluent in 6 European languages.

Areas of expertise: B2B & B2C Commercialization(marketing and sales), Digital Marketing, Customer Understanding, P&L management, eCommerce, Diabetes Industry

She holds a Bachelor Degree from HEC Lausanne, Switzerland.

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Nicolas Loeillot is a senior technology entrepreneur and investor.

Back in 2003, he founded a computer vision company in Japan. Pioneering in A.I. applications, his company served hundreds of projects with large companies in Japan, Asia and the US before being acquired by a GAFA in 2017. Since 2010, he chairs the Tokyo Interaction Center, a privately-owned incubator in central Tokyo, focused on early stage deep technologies.

In 2018, Nicolas Loeillot joined the Swiss health insurer Groupe Mutuel as Chief Innovation Officer to set up an innovation strategy, accelerate deployments of A.I. and craft a data-driven, prevention-focused future of the company. In 2021 he joins InnoSuisse as Expert for a 4-year mandate.

I'm a design researcher & human-centred design lead since 1999.

I assist leading organisations such as Sonova, Sivantos, UCB, Medtronic, Merck, Nestlé and Swisscom in providing well-designed products and services to their clients through a unique blend of creativity and method.

From user research through early exploration activities to interaction concepts and usability tests, I can be the "missing HCD guy" of your project team.

I live and work in Zürich, Switzerland.

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Jérôme is an EPFL Alumni, MSc in Material Science Engineering (2011) and CAS in Management of Life Sciences Ventures (2023), Project Management Professional (PMP 2021) and Situational Leadership Trainer (SLII 2022) with 15 years of experience in innovation, operations management, 1 successful exit and two businesses up and running (Augeo Business Coaching and PhenomX Health SA).

Jérôme is currently an active startup coach/mentor at Tech4Eva, FemTechLab, MassChallenge Switzerland and, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of PhenomX Health, an early stage Swiss FemTech startup.

That’s his passion for entrepreneurship that pushes him to create his first company in 2010 while studying and after 5 years and a successful exit, join Procter & Gamble to drive and scale-up innovation. During more than a decade managing corporate innovation Jérôme developed a strong expertise in the consumer goods and healthcare industries, notably managing P&G/Teva Pharmaceuticals JV post dissolution and the integration of Merck consumer health from an end-to-end technical operations point of view.

As a coach and mentor since 2021 Jérôme regularly supports startups and SMEs in the fields of MedTech, Digital Health and BioTech. These activities helped him develop a strong understanding of the Swiss and International startup ecosystem and, network. His fields of expertise include business strategy and operations, portfolio and resources management, digital transformation, organizational design and development, strategic partnerships.

Cédric Morel is the Managing Director of Sensile Technologies, a forerunner in the Internet of Things (IoT) from the EPFL. He has been managing the company since 2004 and made it one of the world leading IoT provider. In 2020, he successfully closed the sales of the company to the WIKA Group.

He holds a Master in Material Science and Engineering from the EPFL and a MBA from the University of Lausanne. Before joining Sensile Technologies, he worked for 3 years in Japan developing reactors for chemical vapour deposition of diamond.

Cédric’s core competences lay in the international business development, growing companies with limited resources and hiring the right talents. He strongly believes in a good work-life balance allowing the team to succeed on the long run.

He is currently active as a mentor for the EPFL students about to graduate, for start-ups at Innosuisse and for DuoL, an organisation offering help to unemployed seniors to get back in the job market.

Cédric speaks French, English, German and still some Japanese. His passions beside technology are mountaineering and ultra-trail running. Fun fact to finish, he used to play with the Swiss tchoukball team and became World Champion in 2004 and European champion in 2003.

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After 15 years in leadership roles in access, pricing, commercial and business innovation roles, I founded Bambooster. ​In my company, we help teams design products and services the way bamboo grows: connected, fast and innovative.

Our clients include companies such as Roche Pharma and Diagnostic, Pfizer, MSD, Biogen, Idiorsa as well as life sciences accelerators and startups.

I support healthcare startups in pre-seed and scaling in accelerators and I teach courses on entrepreneurship at University of Basel and Bern.

I am also an Innosuisse expert, reviewing non dilutive funding applications for the national innovation agency for early stage and scale up startups in healthcare.

Founder of Guidea, a 25 person UX design consultancy serving clients including Adobe, Bloomberg, eBay, Whole Foods, and Johnson & Johnson, and PayPal.

Theresa Neil is an internationally recognized "Top Designer in Tech" and FemTech UX expert, with 4 unicorns and 200 live products in her portfolio.

Recent recognition for her clients include the: Medtech Breakthrough Award & The Most Innovative Digital Health Solutions Platform Award. Theresa's newest endeavor, Femovate, is investing more than $500k in design services to early stage femtech founders.

Author of "Mobile Design Pattern Gallery" O'Reilly 2012, 2014 and co-author of "Designing Web Interfaces" O'Reilly 2009.

Stasia Obremskey is the Managing Director of RH Capital Funds an impact venture capital fund of Rhia Ventures where she is responsible for investing in innovations in women’s reproductive health.  She joined Rhia Ventures at its founding in 2018 after more than twenty-five years of experience as an interim CFO for non-profit organizations and start-up companies and an impact investor and philanthropist in women’s reproductive health.  

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business. She has extensive experience as a member of several nonprofit boards where she has held a number of leadership positions.  Stasia is a founding member of The Maverick Collective, an initiative of PSI.  As the proud mother of three young adults, she is working with scientists and entrepreneurs to find the next generation of hormone-free contraceptives to meet their sexual health needs.

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Emre leads the Global Digital Health agenda and team of Merck KGaA (EMD Serono).

He has 15+ year experience in biopharma, medtech and healthcare consulting with experience across strategy, research, marketing, and operations in several therapeutic areas. In his current role, he holds the accountability for the design and end-to-end delivery of digital health solutions to support Merck Franchise strategies and shape the architecture of the offering "around the drug" including devices and diagnostics.

Prior to joining Merck, he was a Junior Partner at Boston Consulting Group. He is based in Vaud, Switzerland.  

Emre holds BA degree from Yale University; and MPhil and PhD from Oxford University.

Samantha is enabling collaborative innovation in the  Life Sciences and  the Healthcare domains.   Working as Head of Research and Business Development for Life Science Technologies at CSEM, she is responsible for identifying market needs and  for the  strategic planning of internal activities towards specific industrial requests. CSEM plays a key role in the innovation value chain, leveraging public-private partnerships and narrowing the gap between fundamental research and industrialization.  

Samantha has a strong interest and passion for personalized medicine and the development of novel technologies for a precise, robust, and accessible healthcare. She earned her Ph. D. Degree from the University of Fribourg and then worked as Post Doc at the Laboratory of Experimental Immunology in Basel.  Samantha is a diversity and inclusion advocate promoting  gender equity in business and healthcare.

Keywords: diagnostics, biosensors, point of care, digital health, regenerative medicine,  automation, µfluidics, organ-on-a-chip,  organoids, cell therapy, innovation.

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25+ years of experience in strategy, innovation, patient experience management, patient services design, digital care, medical devices development , process optimization,  change management in biopharma and medtech, across multiple therapeutic areas such as Metabolic Endocrinology, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatology, Psoriasis and Epilepsy.

Pioneering patient experience management in pharma environment at UCB, in different positions, she led multiple innovation projects including electromechanical devices, digital platform and software applications to improve the life of the patients living with chronic diseases.

Holds a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Université de Technologie de Compiègne (UTC) and a Master in International Business  from EDHEC Business School in Lille.

Expertise: Innovation process – Digital platform  –  Medical Devices – Patient experience mapping

Sylvia has a background in law and business and provides legal advice to companies, including startups during their foundation and expansion phase. She has deep expertise in the fields of IP, technology, data protection, corporate and mergers and acquisitions, which she has gained internationally at leading law firms as well as in-house. In her last role, she was Head of Legal in Switzerland for the Femtech unicorn Myovant Sciences where she played a key role in the biotech's successful buy-out and integration with the Sumitomo Pharma Group.

She also has a broad business understanding through prior experiences in finance at a Big Four company, in marketing with a tech startup in Hong Kong and as a member of the regional leadership team of a biotech company. She currently also serves as a mentor and expert for different startup competitions.

Highly interested in innovation and people and passionate about health equity, she enjoys working hand-in-hand with customers on new projects to develop practical solutions while ensuring legal protection.

Sapna Rao is a purpose-driven strategy leader for consumer-centric health solutions at Philips. As strategy lead for a corporate venture, she is focused on identifying opportunities and defining solutions that empower consumers to improve their health at home. She is naturally curious and a problem solver, who believes in the power of bringing data, empathy for consumers, and creativity together to create impactful innovation. Working with a cross-functional team of product managers, researchers, and designers, she is unafraid to dive into the details yet keeps an eye on the bigger picture. With this perspective, she is an effective communicator and advisor to key decision makers in her organization.

Sapna enjoys connecting with, learning from, and sharing feedback with individuals in the digital health ecosystem through industry conferences and other forums. She looks forward to meaningful exchanges with the newest startup cohort.

Prior to Philips, she worked in strategic consulting at Accenture with a focus on digital health and consumer experiences in healthcare. Outside of work, she enjoys the great outdoors and creative pursuits like painting, music and cooking. She is based in the greater Boston area.

Cindy is currently the Global Brand Director for Disruptive Innovation & Sustainability at Procter & Gamble for Oral Care Business Unit. She is a business & marketing manager with 11+ years of international experience in Oral Health Care and has led projects across Europe, the United States, Latin America, India, Middle East, and Africa.

In her current role, she leads upstream innovation teams to define the business model, product architecture, product/services portfolio, product and experiences that create value for the brand, consumers and customers. She is an expert practitioner of Design Thinking, Lean Innovation methodologies, as well as Brand Strategy & Consumer Understanding.

She is an effective communicator and translator of business needs and technical concepts across the organization and business ecosystem, given her experience at different organizational levels of Procter & Gamble and her technical background as an Industrial Engineer.

Industry Expertise: FMCG, Retail & Consumer Health

Disciplines:

- Lean/Disruptive Innovation, Business Model Innovation, Market/Opportunity Identification, Design Thinking,

- Brand Building, Strategy & Planning, Brand Equity Development, Product, Packaging & Identity Design, Digital Marketing & Media, Brand Monetization, Agency +Trade Relations, Project Management,

- Human & Behavioral Science Application, Consumer Understanding & Insights.

- Business Sustainability Management, Sustainability Strategy

Bio Marco Rüedi, MD, eMBA, eMMM

Marco is Entrepreneur, Coach and Trainer in the Swiss Start-up ecosystem with 20+ years international experience in strategic and operational roles across the LifeScience Industry and Healthcare Management.

He is a strong believer in well-balanced teams: motivated to challenge the status quo!
Passionate to work with the next generation of Entrepreneurs/Managers for the challenges of tomorrow. He focused on Start-up and Innovation Management, Translational medicine. His motto is “From idea to market”.

He holds a Medical Doctor from the University of Fribourg, Berne and Zurich, an Executive Masters in Medical Management from eMMM PHW Bern, and an Executive Masters in Business Administration from eMBA PHW Bern.

With over 10 years of experience in R&D of medical devices, Laura works as a Team Section Lead at Helbling Technik, a leading engineering and consulting firm in Switzerland.

She holds a PhD in Robotics from EPFL, related to robotic surgery and conducted postdoctoral research at ETHZ, exploring robotics for rehabilitation. Following these two fields she has a lot of interest and tries to keep the team updated on the latest progress in actuator control and neuro-interfaces.

Laura is highly motivated to play her part in driving innovation in women's health by mentoring Femtech startups. She aims to support them by leveraging her experience in risk reduction through systems architecture, electrical safety of medical devices, medical software development, design control, and clinical trial technical support.

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Anna holds a MSc from Stockholm School of Economics, as well as diplomas from the Karolinska Institutet and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). She is passionate about the mix between economics, technology and the human aspect of healthcare. In her current role she is responsible for the Innovation activities carried out at Groupe Mutuel, aiming to constantly bringing new topics and trends to the table.

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Ms. Soteropoulos has more than 30 years of biopharma industry experience in strategic and operational leadership areas, venture creation and company building. She currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Ensoma, where she played an instrumental role in launching the company from its venture seed stage as Founding Executive Chairman.  Ms. Soteropoulos also serves on the Board of Directors for uniQure, Rallybio, Dianthus and Kyowa Kirin North America and is a venture partner at 5AM Ventures and strategic advisor to Chiesi Rare Disease.

Previously, she served as founding CEO and member of the Board of Directors at Akcea Therapeutics, taking the company public through its IPO, building operations in 13 countries and commercially launching 2 rare disease drugs. Prior to Akcea, she was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cardiometabolic and Rare Disease Businesses and Strategic Alliances at Moderna. Before Moderna, Ms. Soteropoulos spent more than 20 years at Genzyme Corporation where she held positions of increasing responsibility including Vice President and General Manager, Cardiovascular, Rare Diseases.

Ms. Soteropoulos earned an executive management certificate from the University of Virginia – Darden Graduate School of Business Administration and both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from Tufts University.  Ms. Soteropoulos is in active mentor and coach for Women in Bio Boardroom-ready program and the Termeer Foundation for next-generation entrepreneurs.

Kai currently is Director Essity Ventures at the leading global health and hygiene company Essity, being home to many global brands in sectors such as feminine care, consumer tissue, and medical solutions.

Essity Ventures is Essity’s venturing and business model innovation vehicle.

Along his +15 year career path, Kai has taken on senior management positions at major CPG companies like Essity, Mondelez, Kraft Foods, and Reckitt Benckiser.

He has worked in e.g. Corporate Venturing, Consumer Marketing, Brand Management, Innovation, Digital Marketing & Media, eCRM, eCommerce (DtC, Pure Play, Bricks & Clicks), Key Account Sales, Field Sales, Employer Branding, Brand Monetization.

Kai has built and developed corporate venturing and business model innovation units in corporates.

Besides that, he led/implemented consulting projects for corporates in the domain of business model innovation as well as business unit design and creation.

Areas of Functional Expertise: Marketing, Brand Building, Digital Marketing & Media, eCRM, eCommerce (D2C, Amazon, Bricks & Clicks), Sales Key Account, Sales Field Force Retail, HR/Employer Branding, Brand Monetization, Digital Retail & Performance Media

Areas of “Methodological” Expertise: Business Model Innovation, Corporate Innovation, Innovation & Media Consulting, Venturing, Team/Unit Building, Agency +Trade Relations

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Martin Velasco is an entrepreneur and Business Angel with extensive experience in the IT, medical and biotech areas.
He is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Anecova, an assisted reproductive technology (ART) company and World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer 2008. He serves on the board/advisory board of several high-tech companies including: AC-Immune, a leader in Alzheimer's and neurodegenerative diseases drug development and World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer 2009, as Vice Chairman; Aridhia, a Health Informatics company, as Board Member and Cocomore, a digital communications agency & IT services firm, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Martin is also the Founder of Infantia Foundation, a philanthropic organisation aiding children in the developing world. He is Member of the Fondation EPFL Innovation Park and member of the Strategic Advisory Board at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).

Alice Zheng has been a women’s health enthusiast throughout her career spanning global health, clinical medicine, and the private sector. She currently a Principal at Rhia Ventures, a women's health-focused impact fund, leading investments in innovative women's health companies. Alice was previously a women’s health practice leader and management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she served biopharma, diagnostics, global public health and private equity clients across R&D and commercial strategy topics.

Earlier in her career, Alice’s passion to improve lives for the underserved led her to work in East Africa and Asia in reproductive health and family planning with EngenderHealth, Marie Stopes International and other nonprofits. As a clinician, she focused on women’s health globally and published articles examining healthcare in low-income countries.

Alice holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and MD and MPH from the University of Michigan, where she was a Dean's Merit Scholar. Alice is a frequent speaker on FemTech and women's health innovation and is a steering committee member for multiple women’s health innovation forums.

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Lan is the Deputy Managing Director of EPFL Innovation Park and an Expert of Innosuisse – the Swiss Innovation Agency.  She has 23years of hands-on professional experience in industry as well as in the ecosystem of innovation & entrepreneurship.

Lan started her career at R&D department of Rolex, in charge of creating new computer aided design and optimisation tools in the product development process. She was later appointed as Head of Operational Planning at Pictet, working closely with a startup to design, develop and implement a management information system for group operation control. As the Managing Director of Geneva Creativity Center, she connected large corporations, SMEs, startups and researchers to initiate innovative joint R&D projects.

Currently at EPFL Innovation Park, she is leading entrepreneurship training and acceleration programs and is helping startups to establish business partnership with large corporations. Lan has a PhD degree from EPFL, an MBA from HEC Lausanne and postdoctoral applied research experience at Stanford University.

Dr. Marcel van Duin is the Head of External Innovation and Emerging Science at Organon, a company with the vision to advance the health of women.

Marcel was previously Vice President, Head of R&D Alliances for Reproductive Medicine and Maternal Health (RM&MH) and Therapeutic Area Head for Research in RM&MH at Ferring Pharmaceuticals and member of the global drug discovery leadership team. Key scientific focus was on projects for Endometriosis, Infertility and Obstetrical complications such as preterm labor and preeclampsia as well as a strong outreach to external opportunities.

Before that his career spanned leadership R&D responsibilities in multiple Women’s Health areas in Merck & Co, Schering Plough and Organon where he started his professional journey in the pharmaceutical industry in Oss, the Netherlands.

Marcel holds a B.S. in biology from Utrecht university and PhD at Erasmus university, Rotterdam, both in the Netherlands.

At present he holds an honorary professorship in Innovation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. 
He has (co-)authored over 60 scientific publications.

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“We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise, why even be here?” Steve Jobs tweeted that in 1985 (well he said it in an interview, these were the 80’s). Meet Jeroen van den Oever, leading finance and operations at SUN bioscience, the Organoid company. Straight talking Dutch financial expert trying to make a remarkable difference in the world around us. Equipped with a wicked sense of humour and a hunger to challenge the status quo he is out to improve drug development through innovation and entrepreneurship. 

Founder of a regulatory technology start-up (sold in 2010) he converted an early technology project into a viable business with clients in the corporate world. Wanting to pay forward what he had learnt Jeroen started sharing his experience with start-ups and corporates alike. Jeroen’s talent was spotted at SUN bioscience that offered him the opportunity to join the company and never be bored again. 

Jeroen is a licensed CPA and experienced board member. He learnt the trade in the first 12 years of his career at KPMG. For inquiries reach out to him on LinkedIn.