As Executive Director of George Mason University’s Institute for Biohealth Innovation, Amy Adams is responsible for nurturing and advancing biohealth research and innovation interests of more than 300 faculty and thousands of students who represent a broad range of academic disciplines. Her role includes fostering partnerships with industry, healthcare, government, and academic partners; overseeing core laboratory facilities including Mason’s Regional Biocontainment Facility; advancing research development; establishing the Northern Virginia BioHub; and supporting development of an Innovation District on Mason’s SciTech campus. Valuing the importance of creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, Amy is committed to working with partners across the state and region to grow the biohealth ecosystem.  

Prior to leading the development of the Institute for Biohealth Innovation in 2017, Amy served in several different capacities since 2002 at Mason. Amy brings experience as a scientific researcher using genomic and proteomic technologies to study signaling pathway networks in cancer. She led outreach efforts and created programs to engage high school and undergraduate students in research across STEM disciplines, communicate science to the public, and foster internal and external collaborations. Amy earned a M.S. in Chemistry, B.S. in Biology, and is an author on one patent and fifteen peer reviewed articles. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Association of University Research Parks (AURP).

Mr. Bendis is the Founder, President and CEO of BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI). BHI is a private/public partnership and innovation intermediary which focuses on accelerating the commercialization of BioHealth science and research based entrepreneurs and SME’s. BHI created and manages a unique Entrepreneur and Residence program with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and also provides business and commercialization services to its National and International portfolio of clients .BH has a for profit subsidiary BHI Management Ince. Which owns equity in 28 companies and has successfully exited 7 of its portfolio companies. 

He is a successful entrepreneur, corporate executive, angel investor, investment banker, innovation and technology-based economic development leader, international speaker and consultant in the technology and healthcare industries. He also served as the founding President and CEO of Innovation America, a national public-private partnership focused on accelerating the growth of the innovation economy in America. He was also the founding Chairman of The Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation and Founder and CEO of Innovation Philadelphia. He also serves as the Co-Chairman of the AURP BioHealth Caucus.

As one of the most recognized experts in the field of the innovation economy, Mr. Bendis has served on numerous distinguished boards and task forces including the White House U.S. Innovation Partnership Advisory Task Force, the Small Business Innovation Research Committee, the National Association of State Venture Funds Board; State Science and Technology Institute Board and the Ernst and Young Entrepreneurial Institute as a National/Regional Judge and Entrepreneur of the Year winner.

Mr. Bendis has provided global consulting services to over 16 countries and 22 states, several cities, and regions, along with international organizations including the United States Department of State, United Nations, NATO, UK Trade and Industry, European Commission, French Embassy, the German Marshall Fund, The Canadian Consulate, METI, AKEA, the International Science Parks and Innovation Expert Group and other global entities. Mr. Bendis serves on Governor Hogan's Life Science Advisory Board. He was voted one of the Top 5 Speakers on innovation and creativity, voted 4th best Innovation Blogger, a 2017 most influential Marylander award and a 2017 Maryland innovator of the year award. Mr. Bendis is also the host of the BioTalk podcast series.

Matthew Cimino has over 30 years of experience in life sciences, business development, and entrepreneurship. Matt has founded and directed numerous companies, including ones that manufacture, wholesale, warehouse, and sell products on an industrial scale, as well as companies that perform environmental and analytical testing. A champion of innovation, Matt has launched multiple new brands and numerous award-winning products across Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia. In his post-graduate career, Matt was featured in US News and World Report and served as a forensic research and development Laboratory Director funded by the National Institutes of Health and multiple Defense agencies. He has authored peer-reviewed publications on plant systematics, identification, and quality assurance, including a discovery of plant species that were new to science. Matt has served as a Maryland lobbyist and has held numerous board positions.

Brian Darmody is Chief Strategy Officer for AURP and former CEO. Previously he worked at UMD College Park and University System of Maryland in a variety of economic development and research administration roles, including forming public-private partnerships and earlier served as a staff member for a U.S Congresswoman, member of Maryland House of Delegates and served in the U.S Health Care Financing Administration Office of Attorney Advisor. He holds a Juris Doctor degree and is a member of the Maryland Bar Association.

Donna has 35+ years of healthcare experience bridging both the provider and industry segments of HealthCare. She began as critical care nurse, migrating to operations and hospital administration, was a GM of a large Specialty physician group practice and then was recruited to industry, in clinical and business leadership positions. 

She spent 8+ years with Baxter Int. in senior (group) global executive positions in business development, sales and marketing of clinical products aimed at improving care and reducing health care costs. She has served in senior C level management roles for 10 diagnostic companies, focused on commercialization in her career and was in key leadership roles in two company exits. 

She is a recognized leader in Cardiovascular Diagnostics, changing clinical practice in this space, as part of the discovery, development, and commercial launch of a series of the key diagnostic products in the field.

She is a founder of Virginia Life Sciences Investments, Inc. There they funded several international technology startups, and she led the Series A investment in ImmunArray, the original home of the broad portfolio of biomarkers for Neurological Disease Diagnosis, and Monitoring (including TBI). It was spun out in late 2018 to BRAINBox Solutions, where she is a founder and CEO. 

She was a Governor appointed member of the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park Authority, serving for 9 years, from 1999-2008 and a member of the Board of the Intellectual Property Foundation of Virginia Commonwealth University, serving for 8 years.

In July of 2023 she is again appointed by the Governor to the now renamed Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority, Activation Capital.

She is an elected member of the Board of Directors of Bio Health Innovations, the founding member of the BioHealth Capital Region, the Board of Directors of SouthEast Life Sciences, and an active member of Va Bio. She is also an Advisor to Optivio Inc a Digital Health Platform as well as Back Bay Life Science Advisors. 

She also serves on the investment committee and chairs the advancement committee for Chesapeake Academy, an independent school in the Northern Neck of Virginia.

As Senior Director, Seed Funds, Teddy is responsible for helping to define strategy and leading seed team members with the dual objectives of investor returns and economic development for the state of Maryland. He provides thought leadership, develops investment themes, structures and executes investments, and proactively manages portfolio companies.

Teddy initially joined TEDCO as part of the Venture Fellows program, jumped at the opportunity to come on board full-time as an Investment Analyst, and worked his way up to be promoted to the Senior Director, Seed Funds. Teddy has evaluated hundreds of early-stage technology companies, holds active Board Observer seats on 7+ boards, and has led investments across verticals ranging from AI, HealthTech, Cybersecurity, SaaS, Life Sciences, FinTech, Advanced Materials, Robotics, Drones, and more. Teddy also brings to the table experience co-founding an angel investing syndicate focused on Climate Tech, working alongside founders through the Techstars Equitech Accelerator, and is Adjunct Faculty at the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business.

Teddy earned his MBA, with a Graduate Certificate in Investments and Portfolio Management, at The George Washington University and his BA in Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Conley Jones is a Vice President of Science & Technology with Alexandria Real Estate Equities and Alexandria Venture Investments, where he supports the company’s tenant and investment portfolios in Canada, Maryland, New York City, and Texas. Conley has worked in the healthcare and life science industry for over 15 years; prior to joining Alexandria in 2016 he worked in a number of roles including as a post-baccalaureate researcher with Harvard Medical School, a Healthcare Informatics Specialist with Inova Health System, and a Business Analyst with liquid biopsy company Sevident. Mr. Jones holds a B.S. in Biology from the College of William & Mary and a M.Eng. in Bioengineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

As Chief Investment Officer, Jack leads TEDCO’s Strategic Direct Investment programs which has over $200 million in Assets Under Management. The team is consistently recognized as one of the Mid- Atlantic Region’s most prolific investment programs according to PitchBook. Jack stewards TEDCO’s diligence and investment processes, leads Social Impact, Seed, and Venture investments. He provides input to over 300 portfolio companies to maximize the dual mandate of financial returns and economic development for a lasting impact in the State of Maryland. He reports to the CEO providing insight to advance TEDCO’s investment activities, supports the TEDCO Board Investment Committee, completes all investment transactions, effectively maintains portfolio development, and ensures compliance with all investment policies and guidelines reporting to the Maryland Venture Fund Authority.

Jack is a leader for venture-stage technology start-up companies with a deep understanding and affinity for the Venture Capital industry. He successfully partners with Research & Development, strategic investors, and investment colleagues to create and communicate the vision and launch strategy optimizing the success of pipeline assets. Jack is adept at vetting companies and teams, evaluating investment strategies, and measuring results. He is focused on designing and implementing corporate venture processes using the most current techniques and trends to attract investors, improve company valuations, and bottom-line return to stakeholders.

Jack’s most recent prior position was President of HealthSpark in Traverse City Michigan where he led an effort to invest in, scale, startup, and enable rural healthcare providers to access telehealth and telemedicine for rural patients. Before that, he was with Cleveland Clinic Ventures as Managing Director where he spearheaded the development of a new corporate venture team for investing in a CCF-startup and external early-stage companies and managing these companies with appropriate governance and oversight. Jack had a $40million annual allocation to deploy in a robust investment process and co-invest in companies that were both strategic and financial opportunities.

Before joining the Cleveland Clinic Ventures, Jack was with University of Michigan as Director, Venture Center where he managed the Mentor in Residence Program, the Business Formation Team, and the Venture Accelerator under the Office of Technology Transfer to help new startup ventures move quickly to the marketplace.

John Newby is the CEO at Virginia Bio, the statewide non-profit trade association for the life science industry. Nearly 300 entities spanning biopharmaceuticals, medical device, med tech, diagnostics, digital health, bioinformatics, agriculture and industrial bio and related fields are based in Virginia, mainly clustered around research universities and medical institutions. Virginia Bio is the sole state affiliate and works closely with key national industry organizations Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), AdvaMed, Medical Device Manufacturers Association (MDMA), Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) and We Work for Health.

Newby was formerly the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Veterans Services (VDVS), where he led an 850-member Agency located across 50 Virginia locations, delivering employment, education, benefits, behavioral health and long term health care services to Virginia’s Reservists, Guardsmen, transitioning service members and 725,000 veterans. Prior to leading VDVS Newby practiced corporate, intellectual property and Hatch-Waxman biopharmaceutical law at international law firms in Richmond and Washington DC, and at a multinational company. Newby previously commanded an Air Force special operations unit supporting the U.S. Army’s 3rd and 7th Special Forces Groups (Airborne), and served in Iraq as an aviator aboard the Boeing B-1B Lancer strategic bomber. Newby received a B.S. from the United States Air Force Academy, with Military Distinction, and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Diana is a senior manager in the advocacy & stakeholder engagement department within Global External Affairs. With the objective of convening stakeholders through Sectors of the USP Convention, her portfolio includes the healthcare practice sector which includes academic institutions (both schools of pharmacy and schools of medicine), state medical and pharmacy associations and health practitioner professional associations. Programming in 2023/24 included mitigating drug shortages, supporting healthcare practitioners’ work guiding patients/consumers to choose for quality products, health literacy and digital therapeutics. Before joining USP in 2022, Diana supported a grassroots effort during the COVID-19 pandemic to increase access to information and vaccines in marginalized communities across the US. 

She also previously served as Policy Advisor to the CMS Administrator and Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She has a M.P.H. in global health promotion from The George Washington University, and an B.S. in comprehensive science from Villanova University.

Scott T. Shepherd is the Innovation Activation Manager for Johnson &Johnson Innovation – JLABS @ Washington, DC. He develops and executes strategies to elevate the position of JLABS as a leader and key partner in the greater Washington, DC life sciences ecosystem.

Scott leverages innovation activations through marketing strategies, program development and execution, and development and management of key strategic partnerships to engage with potential JLABS resident companies and drive value for current portfolio companies.

Prior JLABS, Scott spent more than a decade working with high-growth early stage fintech companies, helping to design and build marketing strategies and the team to execute those strategies. Scott is native of Jamestown, NY, and a graduate of Buffalo State College, before moving to the Washington-Baltimore region as a journalist.

Matt Tremblay, PhD, is the Chief Executive Officer of Blackbird Laboratories, a nonprofit technology development platform, and Managing Director of Blackbird BioVentures, an early-stage biotech investment fund. Blackbird and Blackbird BioVentures aim to catalyze the creation of new medicines and enabling technologies in Baltimore.

Prior to joining Blackbird, Tremblay was Chief Operating Officer of Scripps Research and its drug discovery division, Calibr. He earned his PhD in Chemistry at Columbia University. Following postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Peter Schultz, PhD, at Scripps Research, he led a group at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation until helping to launch and run Calibr for 10 years.

Steve Wolpe, PhD -- Steve received his undergraduate degree from Amherst College and his
Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He conducted post-doctoral work at Rockefeller
University, where he developed one of the first monoclonal antibodies to TNF and discovered a
group of proteins called chemokines, both of which are important mediators in immunology and
inflammatory disease. After his post-doctoral work, Dr. Wolpe joined Genetics Institute (now part of
Pfizer), where he worked on a variety of projects in hematology, inflammatory diseases and stem
cell biology. Steve was recruited to Maryland to join the Wellstat family of companies, a group of
privately-held biopharmaceutical companies whose CEO also founded Amgen, Applied Biosystems
and IGEN/Bioveris. Steve led the largest research group at Wellstat and provided research support
across all five companies - Therapeutics, Diagnostics, Biologics, Vaccines and Ophthalmics. Steve's
group played a major role in developing a novel drug for diabetes, leading to a $350 million dollar
development deal with Sanofi. Steve is an entrepreneur-in-residence at BHI, NIH and ARPA-H as
well as working independently with a number of biotech companies. Steve has published 28 articles
in the peer-reviewed literature and is an inventor on over 50 patents, primarily in the areas of stem
cells, inflammatory disease and diabetes.