Speakers

Martin Rosendale

Chief Executive Officer, Maryland Life Sciences

Martin is the Chief Executive Officer of the Maryland Life Sciences, a division of the Maryland Tech Council, a partner with Newport LLC, and a partner at WMCS Investments. An engineer turned microbiologist and industry leader, Martin is passionate about the human and business value of technology, life sciences, and biotechnology. A five-time CEO and twice company founder, his experience spans public, private and not-for-profit businesses. He has launched, branded, acquired or commercialized more than 10 products and companies. Over 30 years of experience, and a strong drive to achieve and help, enable Martin to work through complexity toward insight and solutions to grow businesses.

Martin has raised equity capital for public and private companies and non-dilutive capital through strategic partnerships. He led a biotherapeutics company through a period of hyper growth taking the company from first sale to $200 million in annual revenue in three years. He worked with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to establish Medicare reimbursement for a complex product category. He also facilitated the merger of the two largest technology industry organizations in Maryland, forming the Maryland Tech Council and strengthening its industry presence.

Bill Enright

Chief Executive Officer, Vaccitech

William “Bill” Enright is a seasoned biotech executive with more than thirty years of experience in building and financing both privately held and publicly held companies. Bill spent more than ten years at Altimmune (NASDAQ: ALT) as a Director, President & CEO, moving multiple programs into clinical testing, completing several acquisitions and eventually taking the company public. Prior to joining Altimmune, Bill spent six years with GenVec, Inc. (acquired by Intrexon) with increasing responsibilities, which included a role as Head of Business Development. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Gravitas Therapeutics, Inc.

Sarah Meeks

Senior Vice President, Global Business Development, MaxCyte

Sarah has over 20 years of senior-level management experience in business development in biotech sector. She is currently Senior Vice President of Global Business Development at MaxCyte, Inc. and has been with the Rockville, Maryland biotechnology company since 2019.  In her current role, she is responsible for establishment of Strategic Partnerships with cell therapy companies world-wide in addition to directing the company’s Value for Patients Initiative. Previously, she was the Vice President of Business Development for Synpromics Ltd. from 2016 until its acquisition by AskBIO in 2019.  From 2013 to 2018, she served as Adjuvant Partner’s Chief Scientific Officer, leading business development and corporate strategy for a number of clients, including large cap pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, technology providers, and major medical centers with a focus on cell and gene therapy. She is on the founding team of Cardiogen Sciences, Inc. (acquired in 2015 by Audentes Therapeutics) and was the Senior Director, Technology Sections at the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine including launching and managing the Gene Therapy Section and the Genome Editing Task Force. Prior to Adjuvant Partners, Sarah held the position of Vice President, Business Development for Orasi Medical, Circle Biologics and BioE. Sarah holds a Doctorate in molecular biology and bioethics from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin. From 1995-2004, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship with James M. Wilson, MD, PhD in the University of Pennsylvania’s Human Gene Therapy Program focused on in vivo muscle directed gene therapy as well as served as a licensing manager for the UPENN Center for Technology Transfer and continued her education taking classes in the MBA program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. She is an active director on the board of the Shakespearean Youth Theatre (2021-present) and formally the Director of Advancement on the Minneapolis United Youth Soccer (2017-2020) Board.

Brad L. Stewart

Chair, Maryland Tech Council

Senior Vice President, Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC)

Brad is a serial biotech entrepreneur now working to grow Montgomery County’s economy, which approaches $100 billion per year and is the leading economic driver of Maryland. He leads strategy and innovation, and also a team of economic development specialists focused on growing a diverse cross-section of businesses – including life sciences, technology, cybersecurity, defense, and hospitality. Brad is also a dedicated advocate for the life sciences industry.  He chaired Maryland Life Sciences for a decade, the State affiliate of BIO, and is Chair of the Maryland Tech Council.  Brad is a fearless leader who’s invested his career in building, and turning around, life sciences companies to maximize shareholder value.  He thrives on complex strategic opportunities and has successfully executed against challenges repeatedly while commercializing companies on a global scale. Brad has served in multiple Chief Executive, Board and Board Advisory roles across a diverse range of specialty-areas of the life sciences industry including: immunology, oncology, transplant, orphan drugs, diagnostics, development and management of joint ventures, plus extensive management consulting and corporate strategy assignments.  He also has extensive management consulting experience from leading the life sciences corporate strategy practices for two major international consulting firms. Previously Brad served as Chief Executive Officer of Immunology Partners and Chief Executive Officer of Cylex, Inc., where he executed a turnaround for an early stage, venture capital backed company (Roche, Siemens, Canaan Partners).

Kelly Schulz

Chief Executive Officer, Maryland Life Sciences, a Division of Maryland Tech Council Kelly Schulz is a mother, wife, successful small business owner, and served seven years in Governor Hogan’s administration as the Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Commerce. In her most recent role as Secretary of Commerce, Kelly oversaw the state’s primary economic development agency, responsible for attracting new businesses, job growth, and workforce development. Under Kelly’s leadership, the department also served as the largest resource to provide financial assistance to struggling Maryland companies adversely impacted by COVID-19. Prior to entering her career in public service, Kelly was always focused on her community. While raising her boys, Kelly put herself through college and worked as a server and bartender in the evenings and on weekends, yet always made time to serve on the school PTA and to volunteer with Brandon and Bradley’s sports teams. Kelly went on to work as a program manager for a defense contractor and then became a partner in opening a small business – a cybersecurity firm. Wanting to continue to serve her community, Kelly was successfully elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, representing Frederick County. As a Delegate, Kelly took her knowledge and experience as a small businesswoman and served on the Economic Matters Committee where she focused on legislation relating to banks and other financial institutions, business occupations and professions, economic development, labor and employment, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation. Recognized by newly-elected Governor Hogan for her knowledge and expertise on economic matters, she was appointed as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) in 2015. At DLLR Kelly managed nearly 2,000 employees and oversaw an annual budget of $375 million. Under her leadership, Maryland’s apprenticeship program grew to its highest level since 2008, with more than 10,000 apprentices statewide and received national recognition as one of the top programs in America. Additionally, Kelly worked tirelessly to work with businesses regulated within the department to have a clear voice on how to work successfully within the state as a partner as opposed to the preexisting adversarial relationship. In 2018, after Governor Hogan’s reelection, Kelly assumed her role in the Department of Commerce where she continued her positive approach to building relationships with a variety of industries to improve their opportunities within the state. Kelly likes to promote Prosperity with a Purpose – bringing more opportunities to the state has an effect on those that would not otherwise have opportunities. Kelly currently lives in Frederick County, Maryland with her husband John Nowell.

David Anderson

Senior Director, Quality Site Head, Kite, a Gilead Company David Anderson leads the Quality team at Kite’s newest cell therapy manufacturing facility in Frederick, Maryland. He has a combined18 years of biopharmaceutical experience with experience in GMP/GCP, development of small molecules, mAbs, ADCs, vaccines, plasmids, combination products and cell therapies. Throughout his career he has had direct experience with 25 products spanning the lifecycle from discovery to post commercial retirement. David has held roles from hands-on manufacturing, process and analytical development, qualification/validation, project management, and Quality Systems design. Prior to joining Kite, he worked at MedImmune and Wyeth.

Steven Walker

Chair, Maryland Life Sciences
Senior Director, Global Marketing - Early Portfolio Strategy, GSK

Steven is currently the Head of Global Marketing - Early Commercial Strategy for Vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). He has provided strategic and tactical leadership to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies around the world for over 20 years. His past business and research experience, has been focused primarily on life science products and companies with a focus on new product strategy and in-line product commercialization within the fields of immunology, respiratory, inflammation, dermatology, rheumatology, infectious disease, vaccines, cardiovascular disease and neuroscience. Steven has diverse global experience creating corporate, regulatory and commercial strategies for life-science companies. Steven is also the founder of the Cellandtech Group, LLC an international commercial strategy and analytics firm, serving life-science companies. Prior to joining GSK, Steven was Chief Business Officer for an international regulatory consulting firm based in Alexandria, Virginia and also worked for other industry leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Outside of work, Steven continues to demonstrate his passion of science and shares his leadership, as a Board Director for Maryland Tech Council and as an Advisor to life science entrepreneurs. He holds an MBA, MHA and BS in Neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh.

Peter Marks, Ph.D.

Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D. is the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the Food and Drug Administration. The center is responsible for assuring the safety and effectiveness of biological products, including vaccines, allergenic products, blood and blood products, and cellular, tissue, and gene therapies. Dr. Marks and center staff are committed to facilitating the development of biological products and providing oversight throughout the product life cycle. Examples of these activities include:

• reviewing and providing advice during product development
• evaluating applications and making approval decisions based on safety and effectiveness data
• monitoring the safety of biological products
• conducting research that supports product development and characterization

"The center regulates and does research on complex biologic products that touch people's lives on a daily basis," says Dr. Marks. "Many of the products that we regulate are vital for promoting and protecting the public health, including vaccines, blood products, and tissues for transplantation. I'm very proud to lead a team of highly committed individuals whose efforts help to ensure the timely development of safe and effective products to meet important medical needs." Dr. Peter Marks received his graduate degree in cell and molecular biology and his medical degree at New York University. Following this, he completed an Internal Medicine residency and Hematology/Medical Oncology fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where he subsequently joined the attending staff as a clinician-scientist and eventually served as Clinical Director of Hematology. He then moved on to work for several years in the pharmaceutical industry on the clinical development of hematology and oncology products prior to returning to academic medicine at Yale University where he led the Adult Leukemia Service and served as Chief Clinical Officer of Smilow Cancer Hospital. He joined the FDA in 2012 as Deputy Center Director for CBER and became Center Director in 2016.  Dr. Marks is board certified in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. In 2022, he became a Member of the National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honors in the fields of health, science and medicine.

Sarah Meeks

Senior Vice President, Global Business Development, MaxCyte

Sarah has over 20 years of senior-level management experience in business development in biotech sector. She is currently Senior Vice President of Global Business Development at MaxCyte, Inc. and has been with the Rockville, Maryland biotechnology company since 2019.  In her current role, she is responsible for establishment of Strategic Partnerships with cell therapy companies world-wide in addition to directing the company’s Value for Patients Initiative. Previously, she was the Vice President of Business Development for Synpromics Ltd. from 2016 until its acquisition by AskBIO in 2019.  From 2013 to 2018, she served as Adjuvant Partner’s Chief Scientific Officer, leading business development and corporate strategy for a number of clients, including large cap pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, technology providers, and major medical centers with a focus on cell and gene therapy. She is on the founding team of Cardiogen Sciences, Inc. (acquired in 2015 by Audentes Therapeutics) and was the Senior Director, Technology Sections at the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine including launching and managing the Gene Therapy Section and the Genome Editing Task Force. Prior to Adjuvant Partners, Sarah held the position of Vice President, Business Development for Orasi Medical, Circle Biologics and BioE. Sarah holds a Doctorate in molecular biology and bioethics from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin. From 1995-2004, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship with James M. Wilson, MD, PhD in the University of Pennsylvania’s Human Gene Therapy Program focused on in vivo muscle directed gene therapy as well as served as a licensing manager for the UPENN Center for Technology Transfer and continued her education taking classes in the MBA program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. She is an active director on the board of the Shakespearean Youth Theatre (2021-present) and formally the Director of Advancement on the Minneapolis United Youth Soccer (2017-2020) Board.

Bill Enright

Chief Executive Officer, Vaccitech

William “Bill” Enright is a seasoned biotech executive with more than thirty years of experience in building and financing both privately held and publicly held companies. Bill spent more than ten years at Altimmune (NASDAQ: ALT) as a Director, President & CEO, moving multiple programs into clinical testing, completing several acquisitions and eventually taking the company public. Prior to joining Altimmune, Bill spent six years with GenVec, Inc. (acquired by Intrexon) with increasing responsibilities, which included a role as Head of Business Development. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Gravitas Therapeutics, Inc.

Kelly Schulz

Chief Executive Officer, Maryland Life Sciences, a Division of Maryland Tech Council Kelly Schulz is a mother, wife, successful small business owner, and served seven years in Governor Hogan’s administration as the Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Commerce. In her most recent role as Secretary of Commerce, Kelly oversaw the state’s primary economic development agency, responsible for attracting new businesses, job growth, and workforce development. Under Kelly’s leadership, the department also served as the largest resource to provide financial assistance to struggling Maryland companies adversely impacted by COVID-19. Prior to entering her career in public service, Kelly was always focused on her community. While raising her boys, Kelly put herself through college and worked as a server and bartender in the evenings and on weekends, yet always made time to serve on the school PTA and to volunteer with Brandon and Bradley’s sports teams. Kelly went on to work as a program manager for a defense contractor and then became a partner in opening a small business – a cybersecurity firm. Wanting to continue to serve her community, Kelly was successfully elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, representing Frederick County. As a Delegate, Kelly took her knowledge and experience as a small businesswoman and served on the Economic Matters Committee where she focused on legislation relating to banks and other financial institutions, business occupations and professions, economic development, labor and employment, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation. Recognized by newly-elected Governor Hogan for her knowledge and expertise on economic matters, she was appointed as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) in 2015. At DLLR Kelly managed nearly 2,000 employees and oversaw an annual budget of $375 million. Under her leadership, Maryland’s apprenticeship program grew to its highest level since 2008, with more than 10,000 apprentices statewide and received national recognition as one of the top programs in America. Additionally, Kelly worked tirelessly to work with businesses regulated within the department to have a clear voice on how to work successfully within the state as a partner as opposed to the preexisting adversarial relationship. In 2018, after Governor Hogan’s reelection, Kelly assumed her role in the Department of Commerce where she continued her positive approach to building relationships with a variety of industries to improve their opportunities within the state. Kelly likes to promote Prosperity with a Purpose – bringing more opportunities to the state has an effect on those that would not otherwise have opportunities. Kelly currently lives in Frederick County, Maryland with her husband John Nowell.