Record Attendance Expected

Some people today reported that record attendance is expected at the organization’s national conference, which will take place May 24-27 in San Diego, CA.

With its central theme “Financial Leaders in Bioscience, Innovation.  Integrity.  Influence.”, the Conference is seeing pre-registration numbers close in on 200, driven by the strong interest in a broad range of keynote and guest speakers, and breakout sessions.  This year’s conference has registrations from every major biotechnology geographic “hub” in the United States, extending into Canada.  Topics and seminars will include a negotiation master class, public speaking, bridging the gap between financial and science leaders in business and how we think about innovation, communication and risk. In addition, expert panelists will discuss trends in mergers and acquisitions, a CEO’s view of managing and interacting with Boards of Directors, and more. Featured speakers and sessions include:

• Shankar Vedantam, NPR’s social science correspondent, author and the host of the Hidden Brain podcast
• Jim Thomas, a Washington attorney, author, speaker, trainer and one of the most acclaimed and respected negotiators in the United States
• Joe Quinlan, Managing Director, Chief Market Strategist at Bank of America
• Darren Snellgrove, Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation
• Andrew Fastow, former Chief Financial Officer at Enron
• A motivating and inspiring glimpse into patient’s perspective on surviving cancer, and emphasis on the importance of innovation in drug discovery, hosted by the Susan G. Komen San Diego Foundation