Speaker Biography
Denice Torres is CEO of The Ignited Company change management firm and Founder of The Mentoring Place, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women advance in their careers. She has over 30 years of P&L, commercial, and strategy experience in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer healthcare. She served as president for several multi-billion-dollar Johnson & Johnson companies including Janssen Pharmaceuticals (CNS), and J&J Consumer Healthcare. Denice was also chief strategy and transformation officer for the medical device sector. Denice is credited for successfully leading and transforming the Tylenol company through an unprecedented time period marked by product recalls, manufacturing challenges, and a consent decree. She was named the Healthcare Businesswoman of the Year in 2015.
Prior to joining J&J, Denice had a highly successful, 14-year career at Lilly where she served in leadership roles of increasing responsibility, including executive director for women health and head of global marketing for a multi-billion CNS portfolio.
Denice has served on multiple boards and is currently a director of bluebird bio (BLUE), Karuna Therapeutics (KRTX) and Resilience. She holds an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan, a J.D. from Indiana University School of Law, and a B.S. in Psychology from Ball State. She is a member of the Michigan Bar Association.
Lessons in Leadership with Deborah Dunsire
Deborah Dunsire M.D. was President and CEO of H. Lundbeck A/S, a global bio-pharma company, present in 56 countries and helping over 8 million patients every day. The company focuses on restoring brain health so every person can be their best. The Copehagen headquartered company discovers, develops and commercializes therapies in mental health as well as neurological diseases. She served there from 2018-2023.
Prior to her tenure at Lundbeck, Deborah was CEO and President at XTuit Pharmaceuticals, a start up focused on novel drug delivery encapsulation technology to treat tumors and fibrotic diseases. From 2013-2016, she was President and CEO at FORUM Pharmaceuticals a company that focused in therapies for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias as well as therapies to improve cognition in Schizophrenia.
She served as president and CEO of Millennium Pharmaceuticals from 2005 to 2013, during which time Takeda Pharmaceuticals of Japan acquired it for $8.8 billion. Following the acquisition, Deborah became the first woman to be appointed to the board of Takeda Pharmaceuticals in Japan.
Prior to her role at Millenium, Deborah spent 17 years at Sandoz and Novartis and led the Novartis Oncology business in North America, launching a number of transformational cancer therapies.
Deborah currently serves on the boards of Ultragenyx Pharmaceuticals and Syros Pharmaceuticals. She has also served on the board of Alexion Pharmaceuticals until its sale to Astra Zenenca. Until its sale to Actavis in March of 2015, Deborah was a long standing board member of Allergan Pharmaceuticals and has also served for many years as a board member of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization.
Currently Deborah serves as a trustee of the Museum of Science (Boston). She is on the board of trustees for Northeastern University.
Deborah was born in Zimbabwe and completed her medical training in South Africa.
Marc De Garidel – CEO and Interim Chairman, Abivax Former CEO, Ipsen SA
Marc de Garidel is a successful Pharma/biotech entrepreneur. He was recently appointed CEO & Interim Chairman of Abivax to be effective in May 2023. Prior to that, Marc led 2 multibillion exits with CinCor Pharma sold to AstraZeneca in February 2023 for $1.8B in total considerations & Corvidia Therapeutics to Novo Nordisk in August 2020 for $2.1B in total considerations.
From 2010 to 2016, he served as Chairman and CEO of Ipsen SA, where he led a significant transformation of Ipsen, effecting a three-fold increase in market capitalization, launching the blockbuster oncology drug Somatuline Depot (lanreotide) in the U.S., and completing the ex-U.S. commercialization deal with Exelixis on CABOMETYX (cabozantinib).
Prior to his experience at Ipsen SA, Marc spent 15 years with the multinational biopharmaceutical company Amgen. Based primarily in Europe, Marc helped Amgen establish and build a significant business in nephrology and oncology, achieving leadership positions for several portfolio products.
He began his career with Eli Lilly and Company where he worked in the United States, France and Germany. In Europe, Marc has played a prominent role in not-for-profit organizations such as the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA). He is currently the president of G5 Sante’. Marc served on the Board of Directors for Vifor Pharmaceuticals AG as a member and in 2018 as Vice Chair. He remains Chair of the Board of Directors for Ipsen SA.
Marc holds a Master’s degree in civil engineering from École Spéciale des Travaux Publics in Paris and an executive MBA from Harvard Business School.
Paul Sekhri – President and CEO, vTv Therapeutics, Inc.
Paul Sekhri has over 35 years of experience in the Life Science Industry. His experience encompasses senior management in large corporate pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as private equity and venture capital.
Mr. Sekhri is President and Chief Executive Officer of vTv Therapeutics, Inc. Most recently he served as President and CEO of eGenesis, Inc. from 2019-2022 where he remains a Board Member and Senior Advisor to the Chairman. Prior to joining eGenesis, he was President and CEO of Lycera Corp. from 2015-2019. Prior to this, he served as Senior Vice President, Integrated Care for Sanofi from 2014-2015. Previously, he served as Chief Strategy Officer and Group Executive Vice President, Global Business Development for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.
Prior to joining Teva, he spent five years as Operating Partner and Head of the Biotechnology Operating Group at TPG Biotech, the life sciences venture capital arm of TPG Capital. From 2004-2009, Mr. Sekhri was Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Cerimon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to founding Cerimon, Mr. Sekhri was President and Chief Business Officer of ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Previously, Mr. Sekhri spent five years at Novartis as Senior Vice President, and Head of Global Search and Evaluation, Business Development and Licensing for Novartis Pharma AG.
Mr. Sekhri has been a Director on more than 35 private, public company, and nonprofit Boards and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Axcella Therapeutics, eGenesis, Inc., Ipsen, S.A., Longboard Pharmaceuticals, Spring Discovery and Veeva Systems Inc. Mr. Sekhri is also the Chairman of the Board of Compugen Ltd. and was, until recently, the Chairman of the Board of Pharming N.V. Additionally, he is on the Board of Directors of The Metropolitan Opera, The English Concert in America and was a member of the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Hall. Most recently he was nominated as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Young Concert Artists, Inc