Innovation Unleashed: Rethinking Life Science Sales & Marketing

As Founder of LINUS, Hamid has dedicated his career to redefining the way we persuade technical audiences. A biochemist turned marketer, he has a unique understanding of the thought processes of technical minds and how to effectively persuade them with marketing, sales, communications and experiences. His two books, Persuading Scientists and Catalytic Experiences, bring to life the strategies that are paramount to understanding the way a scientist makes a decision, and that also make up the foundation of LINUS’ key methodologies to helping life science marketers thrive. Hamid is the recipient of the 2024 Pinnacles Award for lifetime achievement in the field of Medical Marketing & Media.

Richard has over 30 years of successful commercial experience in the life sciences industry.Currently, he is a Commercial Leader for the Advanced Cell Diagnostics Division of Bio-techne Corp, a market leader in the rapidly growing field of spatial genomics.  Prior to Bio-techne, Richard held commercial leadership roles at Applied Biosystems, Life Technologies, Affymetrix, IntegenX, etc. During his career, he has been intimately involved in the commercialization of many market disrupting innovations such as Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), qPCR, Perfusion Chromatography, Rapid DNA, RNAscope and other novel technology platforms commonly used in research laboratories today. Richard also served as General Manager, Life Technologies in Canada during the integration of Applied Biosystems and Invitrogen companies. His commercial experience includes academic, biopharma, government and clinical customer segments. Richard earned a B.S. in Biology from Jackson State University, a Ph.D. in Biology/Biochemistry from Indiana University and conducted post-doctoral studies at the University of California, San Francisco in the field of molecular endocrinology.

Jessica holds a PhD in Cancer Biology from Stanford University. After working at several biotechnology companies in Marketing where she held several field marketing and demand generation positions, she transitioned to leading Marketing Operations, Technology and Analytics and is a thought leader in the space. She leads global teams driving technology that powers marketing organizations innovating in the space to increase the effectiveness of marketing.

Jenn Perkins is a seasoned commercial executive known for accelerating revenue, breaking into new markets, and fortifying brand presence within the life sciences industry. Prior to founding Crevi, she served as the Vice President of Global Marketing at Emulate. As part of the executive leadership team, her primary areas of focus were driving growth, enhancing profitability, and securing market leadership. She oversaw corporate affairs, corporate communications, brand management, digital experience, demand generation, marketing operations, and product marketing. During her tenure, Emulate catapulted platform placements, closed an $82M Series E, attained 65% share of voice, and clinched 7 industry

A biotech industry leader for over 15 years, Grace specializes in scaling businesses through strategic digital and ecommerce solutions. Her expertise lies in translating complex life science concepts into user-friendly digital experiences, bridging scientific intricacy with customer needs. By continually leveraging emerging technologies, Grace helps life science companies evolve their digital presence, fostering meaningful customer interactions that drive commercial growth and engagement. Grace has dedicated her career to advancing genomics through oligonucleotide technologies and now leads as the Senior Director of Ecommerce at Integrated DNA Technologies.

Chris Conner creates custom content for companies and thought leaders in the life sciences that want to attract, grow and educate an engaged audience. Our conversation is the raw material for your thought leadership on multiple channels in video, audio, and text.

Over the last 10 years he has interviewed over 300 marketers, scientists, CEOs and authors, as well as a 6-year-old sciencepodcaster and 2 Nobel Laureates.

He produces two podcasts for his own audience of marketers and scientists: Life Science Marketing Radio and cc: Life Science, both available on Substack.

Mary Canady has a PhD in biochemistry and is the founder of Biotech Networks, the leading resource for more than 150K life scientists to connect, learn, and grow. Dr. Canady has worked with morethan 250 life science brands since the early 00’s, empowering marketing and business development teams to reach their objectives. In 2024 Dr. Canady joined the global marketing agency UP THERE, EVERYWHERE as a Brand Strategist where she will complement her work at Biotech Networks to fuel growth in the industry.

Dara Wright is a life sciences and diagnostic industry veteran known for building high-performing teams with a focus on growth strategy execution supported by commercial, innovation, and operational excellence practices.   

Dara is currently the CEO and President of Madison Medical (part of Madison Industries) responsible for a portfolio of healthcare, life science, and medical device companies.  

Prior to joining Madison Industries, Ms. Wright served as the Executive Vice President and President of Clinical Diagnostics Group at Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE: BIO). There she led a global business comprised of a broad product portfolio including instrumentation, reagents, and software for a variety of clinical diagnostic applications such as Transfusion medicine, Immunology, and Diabetes.

She previously served as the Vice President and General Manager for the Protein and Cell Analysis Business Unit of Thermo Fisher Scientific. Prior to Thermo Fisher Scientific, she held various product management and strategic marketing leadership roles at Affymetrix, Boreal Genomics, Becton Dickinson and Millipore. She earned a double Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Spanish from Willamette University and an MBA (Marketing and Finance emphasis) from San Diego State University.

Andy is a seasoned executive with over 35 years in the LifeScience and Diagnostics industry. He has significant experience in defining growth strategies, driving business turnarounds, leading organizations and developing and launching multiple market leading products. He has held senior executive leadership positions in multiple leading innovators in the industry.

For the last 5+ years Andy held the position of EVP & COO at Bio-Rad Corporation where he led the transformation of Bio-Rad’s strategy and operations. Prior to this he was CCO for Berkeley Lights as they built a fast-growing revenue base leading up to their subsequent IPO and also EVP& COO of Intrexon Corporation where he provided leadership across a broad range of synthetic biology and drug development programs and operations. Before joining Intrexon, Andy was EVP & COO of Affymetrix  and a key part of the management team which turned around the business over 6 years prior to its acquisition by ThermoFisher in 2016.

Andy’s earlier career included key strategy and leadership roles in several highly successful companies. These included BD Biosciences helping to double sales to ~$1 Billion over 5 years. Prior to BD Andy held varying roles of leadership at Applied Biosciences, Incyte Genomics and Monsanto.

Andy holds Ph. D. and MS degrees from Cranfield University, UK and a BS degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.

Lisa V. Sellers, PhD, CEO of Vector Laboratories, drives expansion and business strategies for Vector Laboratories, a trusted reagent and critical component manufacturing partner thatempowers biopharma, life science tools and diagnostics companies to accelerate their ability to provide value to their customers. Dr. Sellers identifies unmet market opportunities, while prioritizing the development of a people-first work environment.

Dr. Sellersled Vector through two acquisitions in 2023, with Click Chemistry & Fluoroprobes and Quanta BioDesign. In 2024, under Dr. Sellers’ guidance, Vector entered into a collaboration agreement with Swedish company Navinci Diagnostics to develop novel biodiscovery tools and merged with Absolute Biotech, solidifying its position as a comprehensive supplier of both custom-engineered and catalog antibodies and sophisticated bioconjugation linkers and as a leader in providing deep bioconjugation expertise.

Before joining Vector Laboratories, served in executive and senior management roles in marketing, sales, and for general management of specific product lines in companies such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, 10x Genomics, Life Technologies, and Applied Biosystems, among others. Dr. Sellers earned a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Colorado Boulder and a BS in Chemistry, ACS Certified from Santa Clara University.