Jonathan is a highly respected and valued thought leader on entrepreneurship and innovation. His work as a venture investor, innovation consultant, university professor and media commentator allows him to experience and connect the many threads of entrepreneurship and technology innovation. He is currently a Partner in Ruxton Ventures a seed stage venture capital investment company located in the Washington, DC region. Jonathan is also an academic expert on innovation and entrepreneurship, and he is currently a Visting Executive In Residence at John Cabot University in Rome, and was most recently the founding Dean of Marymount University’s College of Business Innovation, Leadership and Technology. He has been a policy advisor on innovation and economic development at the federal, state and local level, and his activities in this area include advising the Obama Administration on Innovation policy, assisting the Department of Defense and DARPA in reaching non traditional sources of innovation, and authoring many research papers and reports on economic development for well-known national interest groups. His life science experiences include service as a Board member of the Virginia Biotechnology Association, advising Governor Mark Warner on the development of a biotechnology industry in the Commonwealth of Virginia and serving as an advisor to many medical device, biotechnology and healthcare startups. When not working Jonathan is the host of a national radio show/podcast “What’s Working in Washington” and the lead guitarist of Two Car Living Room.

Maria is an IP lawyer. She focuses on patents and trade secrets, in particular in the Life Sciences sector. She has more than 20 years’ experience in dispute resolution both in Italy and in complex transnational cases in various sectors, including the chemical-pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields, as well as telecommunications, design, fashion, and luxury goods. She has successfully worked on numerous cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as administrative procedures before the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the European Patent Office (EPO), and the Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM). She is. Unified Patent Court (UPC) Representative. Maria also assists clients with licensing, technology and knowhow transfers, privative transfers, distribution, coexistence, confidentiality, and protection of trade secrets. Her experience also includes trademarks, design, unfair competition, and copyright. She currently serves as secretary of the IP and Antitrust Commission of the Milan Bar Association. She is also a member of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) Italy, the European Patent Litigation Association (EPLIT), and the Chiefs in Intellectual Property (ChIPs) network. She is ranked in the IAM Patent 1000 2024 in the “Individuals: Litigation” category. She has co-authored numerous publications, and she has written widely and incisively on the Unified Patent Court.

Silvia received her MA in Modern Languages and Literature from Oxford University, and her MBA from the Harvard Business School. Grounded in her international experience in investment banking, in Europe and in South America, she then explored entrepreneurship for over 20 years in multiple geographies, contexts, and roles, including founding and running her own telecommunications company, being an intrapreneur at ThermoElectron in the US, and a consultant for entrepreneurs getting ready to internationalize their operations. She then put her experience to the service of education, becoming associate professor of business administration at John Cabot University, where she developed and taught multiple courses at the cross-roads of entrepreneurship and finance. She also founded and directed the university's Institute for Entrepreneurship, and is currently the director of the Frank J. Guarini School of Business. Silvia lives in Rome and enjoys helping others shape and then realize their ambitions.

Antonella is a partner of Bird&Bird with a broad experience in Italian and European intellectual property law as European and Italian patent attorney. She has assisted clients in contentious and non-contentious patent and design-related matters and provides specialist knowledge of the chemicals and pharma sectors, drawing from her wide-ranging experience of Italian and European intellectual property law. With an in depth knowledge of patent proceedings, she has expertise in obtaining patents, defending and opposing patents in opposition procedures before the European Patent Office and in nullity suits before the Italian Courts. Over the years she has built substantial experience in Opposition and Appeal procedures before the European Patent Office, attending and successfully conducting an amazing number of hearings. She has considerable experience in handling patent and design portfolios, providing advice and opinions on design infringement and on patent infringement or patent validity in the chemicals sector, most notably in the area of organic and pharmaceutical chemistry, as well as in other fields including surfactants, food, oils and polymers. After working as an Italian and European patent attorney for 20 years and in the last five years as patent department manager in her previous firm, she joined Bird & Bird in Italy in 2011 as Italian and European patent attorney. In 2015, she obtained the qualification of European Patent Litigator in view of future practice before UPC Court.

Ilaria leads the Investigations and White Collar Crime Group of Portolano Cavallo. She focuses on criminal investigations assisting clients on white collar crime, corporate criminal liability, compliance, and whistleblowing, especially for clients in the Life Sciences sector. She also advises on crisis management and ESG matters, focusing on the control of the supply chain. She also has specific expertise in the area of trade compliance, assisting leading multinational groups on complex export control issues. Ilaria is ranked by Chambers Europe 2024 for the Compliance and the White Collar Crime areas. She is the author and co-author of numerous publications in her areas of expertise and is a regular speaker or lecturer at seminars, conferences and specialist courses on corporate criminal law. She is a member of the Women’s White Collar Defense Association (WWCDA) and the International Bar Association (IBA).

Michael Labriola is a partner based in Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's London office, where he counsels public and private technology, life sciences, and emerging growth companies through all stages of their growth. Michael has a particular focus on supporting companies that undertake transformative events, such as growth financings, IPOs, acquisitions, and exit sales. He counsels clients in matters ranging from formation and early-stage venture financing to listings of publicly traded securities on U.S. and foreign exchanges to seasoned public offerings and private and public company acquisitions. He also has considerable experience in counseling publicly held companies on disclosure matters, SEC compliance, NASDAQ and NYSE listing matters, and other securities laws issues. In addition, Michael frequently represents investment banks, venture capital funds, and private equity firms in a broad range of investment transactions. Prior to joining the London office, Michael was resident in the Washington, D.C., office, where he supported Wilson Sonsini's clients across the U.S. East Coast and Europe. Prior to his legal career, Michael was a certified public accounting in the assurance practices of Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young, where he audited public, private, and not-for-profit entities in several sectors, including telecommunications and technology.

Dr. Lotta Parviainen received her MSc in Clinical Biochemistry from Kuopio University, Finland, and her PhD in neuroscience from the Kings College London, UK. Lotta started her career in drug discovery, research and development focusing on the CNS and rare lysosomal storage disorders. Subsequently, she moved to market access, pricing & reimbursement, and commercial leadership by working in various international consulting companies (Paraxel, Evidera and Creativ-Ceuticals) and specialty pharmaceutical companies (Diurnal and Neurocrine Biosciences company). Currently, she works as the Head of Global Market Access at Zambon. She has experience in new drug launches in a range of therapy fields, rare and orphan disease, as well as medicines developed exclusively for use in the paediatric population. Lotta loves working within market access and being part of cross-functional collaboration ensuring that life-changing health products and medicines reach the people who need them most. She is also a passionate snowboarder and cross-country skier.

Alice has a background in biomedical engineering. Alice is an expert in the certification of innovative medical devices and a seasoned business angel, she has actively contributed to projects focusing on the development and certification of medical devices across various medical domains, with a particular emphasis on digital medicine.

Elizabeth became the Division President of REQ in May of 2024 after it was acquired in July of 2023 by private-equity backed Agital. Elizabeth came to REQ through the strategic acquisition of her public relations and content firm, SpeakerBox Communications, in 2019. Over five years, she led growth initiatives and doubled her team size. With 30+ years of active involvement in the technology and entrepreneurial ecosystem, Elizabeth supports the company's clients with strategic communications direction and counsel. Elizabeth co-founded the Technology Marketing Alliance in 2006 and serves as its board chair, bringing together technology CMOs to share, advocate, and inform on industry best practices. She also serves on the board of MindShare, an invitation-only, member-based organization of CEOs as they partake in their first startup entrepreneurial journey, and is the chair of The Leadership Foundry, a nonprofit organization dedicated to support women’s ascension to a role of corporate board service. Elizabeth is also a member of the Forbes Communications Council where she contributes insights on public relations and strategic communications trends. Elizabeth holds a BS in marketing from Santa Clara University. She resides in Northern VA and is a foster parent to Labrador Retrievers, with now two "foster-fails" that are a part of her family.

Laura works at Bird&Bird as an Italian and European Patent Attorney for several Italian and foreign companies in the biotechnological and pharmaceutical fields. Her long experience in research, both in academic laboratories and in biotechnological companies leaders in the sector, together with the knowledge of Italian and European patent laws, has allowed her to better understand the details of the research and the inventions proposed by the researchers, helping them to transform their inventions into strong patents all over the world. She has extensive experience in the management of patent portfolios in Italy and abroad, working both within private companies and as an external consultant. She also provided assistance to clients for due diligences and in drafting opinions on patents validity and interference, mainly in the biotechnological, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical fields. During her work experience she assisted clients as a technical consultant in various judicial proceedings before the most representative Italian courts and she participated as assistant in drafting various expert witness reports (CTU) in the biotechnology sector.

Dr. Carly Speranza is a Global Leadership Consultant, Speaker, Coach and Principal Owner of her company Speranza Leadership Solutions. She also serves as an Adjunct Faculty member at Creighton University where she instructs in their Leadership Ed.D. Program, and an Adjunct Faculty Member at Indiana Tech University where she instructs in their Global Leadership Ph.D. Program. Previously she was the Associate Dean of the College of Strategic Intelligence and Associate Professor of National Security and Leadership Studies at the National Intelligence University, an accredited federal university, in Washington DC. She is a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. Air Force where she served on active-duty as an Intelligence Officer for over 20 years. Over the course of her career, she has served in an academic capacity at five universities and deployed across the globe eight times with the military, to include South America, the Middle East, Europe, and Korea in support of multiple war and crisis operations. She has published over 15 works and has been invited to speak at multiple universities, corporate events, and academic conferences across the globe on a range of leadership topics to include cross-cultural collaboration, expatriate leadership, and organizational behavior and trust.

Alberta is a global health strategist, policy expert and advisor and digital health thought leader with 10+ years of experience working at the intersection of industry and academia. She co-founded and directed multiple health innovation programs worldwide, effectively integrating digital health technologies across healthcare systems. As SVP of Health Innovation at Eversana-Intouch, Alberta leads health innovation advisory programs enabling co-ideation, scouting and development, commercialization and system readiness. She is also Knowledge Partner of the Digital Therapeutics Alliance on DTx Policies in Europe; member of the External Advisory board of the HealthData@EU Project and a TedX speaker on enhancing access to quality care worldwide. Alberta is also Adjuct Professor of Development Economics and Social Policies at the University of Pavia (Italy).

Jovan Stevovic, CEO and co-founder of Chino.io, a company offering a unique combination of legal and tech expertise, and tech solutions to help digital health companies solve data protection challenges. Jovan has over a decade of experience in the health IT industry, including his PhD work in healthcare, innovation and data protection, which led to setting up Chino.io. He holds a PhD in Computer Science at the International Doctoral School of the University of Trento in collaboration with GPI Spa, a large company working in the healthcare sector in Italy. His research activity covered design and development of services in the healthcare and welfare domain considering privacy, security and regulatory compliance requirements. He has different research publications on topics such as privacy and healthcare data management, business process design and management, IT systems architectures and interoperability. He has a patent application together with researchers from HPLabs, Palo Alto, California, USA, on compliance-aware medical record sharing in cloud environments. As a founder of Chino.io he helps health tech companies and entrepreneurs to understand and solve the data protection challenges that are on their roadmap to success.

Angela received her B.S. in Dietetics and worked as a Registered Dietitian (RD) and Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE). She transitioned into product management after getting her MBA from University of Maryland. Angela contributed to the growth of companies like Evolent Health (series B to IPO) and Somatus (series B to series E), specializing in tools for healthcare service organizations and population health. Now serving as VP of Product Management at Accolade, a personalized healthcare company for employers, health plans, government agencies, and consumers, she oversees products for the front-line care team, including primary care providers, specialists, nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, and care advocates. She also advises seed stage and series A startups in product management and go-to-market strategy. Finally, Angela co-hosts Concept to Care, a podcast to foster a community of innovators and entrepreneurs in health tech, sharing insights to enhance healthcare delivery. Angela lives in Washington DC and enjoys reading, gardening, and spending time with her husband and two boys.

As REQ’s Executive Vice President, Lisa Throckmorton oversees day-to-day operations, marketing, and business development for the Public Relations team. Lisa brings creativity and strategy to her work giving voice to innovative organizations and companies, helping them stand out from their competitors. She brings a keen understanding of clients’ markets, growth mechanisms, and measures of success to help them own their stories and realize their visions. She serves on Radford University’s Board of Visitors, the Advisory Board for Radford University’s College of Humanities and Behavioral Science, Board of Directors for the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Educational Foundation, the Advisory Council for the Vinetta Project DC, and the Organizing Board of MindShare. In 2017, Lisa was named to Washingtonian Magazine's “Top 100 Tech Titans” as well as the Techweek 100 for DC. Lisa holds a BA in English from Radford University. Currently, she resides in Northern VA with her husband Josh and their English Bulldog Scherzer. Outside of work, she loves live music, DC sports, cooking, and running vacations with her friends.

Marie Helene brings 20 years of experience in the MedTech and Consulting industries most recently with Livanova, a medical device company headquartered in London. She was the VP of Global Strategic Marketing for the Cardiopulmonary business unit, overseeing the business's product and service strategy as well as its branding and communications strategy. In the role, she enabled the transformation of the business from a hardware organization to one driven by software and service solutions. Prior to Livanova, Marie Helene worked at Danaher in its Dental platform, in positions of increasing responsibility in marketing and general management. In her last assignment, she was General Manager of the Endodontic business unit overseeing its business strategy, R&D teams and marketing initiatives. Marie Helene has earned a BA in International Relations from Brown University and an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the Kellogg School of Management.

Rachel Bartholomew has been involved in the start up community for the past 15 years working in various roles in small businesses, venture capital, innovation labs and ecosystem partnerships. She is currently working on her second business, Hyivy Health, focused on creating a medical device for women with pelvic floor conditions after her own cervical cancer battle in 2019. Her last start up, an automotive ecommerce software, worked with large corporate clients, such as eBay and Canadian Tire. She is a graduate of the Masters of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology program at the University of Waterloo and after graduation, she became an entrepreneurial advisor to over 250 formation stage businesses. She has worked as a professor in entrepreneurship for quantum computing, an Analyst for a venture capital firm, an Innovation Manager at a large Canadian Financial Institution and helped restart Laurier University’s incubator program. She is the Founder of Femtech Canada and a Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University in Biotech Innovation.

Dan is a co-founder and Managing Director at OMX Ventures, a U.S. based early stage venture capital fund. Dan has over 18 years of experience in venture capital investing, life science strategy consulting, and biomedical research to the team, including deep expertise in early-stage company building and investing. Prior to co-founding OMX Ventures in 2020, Dan was a Principal on the venture capital team with Merieux Equity Partners. He also spent 5 years with L.E.K. Consulting in their life sciences strategy consulting team. Dan holds a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from U.C. San Diego, and a Bachelor’s degree in biology from Rhode Island College.

Anula is a private equity executive and venture capitalist. She co-founded Kidron Capital, an early-stage venture fund focused on catalyzing innovation, entrepreneurship and investment in Women’s Health. Prior to that, she founded EXXclaim Capital, also focused on the theme of closing the gap and accelerating the health of women. Previously, Anula co-founded the “Evolvence India Life Science Fund”, the first fund in India to focus on health care and invest in Indian pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and contract services companies. She was a partner with Skyline Ventures in Palo Alto, and with the German/US venture capital firm TVM, in San Francisco. Her prior positions include VP Business Development at Genomics Collaborative Inc., and Vice President, Global Drug Development at Hoffman-La Roche for opportunistic infections in AIDS and Transplantation. Anula received a BA from Harvard, and an MD and PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Harvard Medical School and an MBA from Harvard Business School, as well as a M. Phil. in pharmacology from the University of Cambridge, in England.

Dominnique Karetsos is CEO and Co-Founder of Healthy Pleasure Group, the first and only global professional services company dedicated to the sexual health & technology industry. Dominnique leverages over 20 years’ experience spanning 40+ markets, collaborating with major brands (Intimina, L’Oréal Maybelline, MysteryVibe and O’Boticario) reshaping and reengineering brand strategy for profitability. Coupled with a career-long nurtured talent for pinpointing trends and predicting market change, she has become an established authority in the sexual health and technology industry acting as an investor, advisor and global brand expert to guide startups, market leaders and challenger brands in increasing market share, expanding distribution channels and maximising investment opportunities. Dominnique has served as a UN Delegate for CSW65 and the Future of Innovation, a humbling experience understanding the fabric of global pain points echoed in each country’s socio-political system. As a born leader, she foresaw the need for investment as a key driver of business growth in the industry. This led her to co-establish the first investment fund dedicated to investing in sexual health and women’s health technology businesses, Amboy Street Ventures, where she also holds a seat as General Partner.

Dr. Zafir-Lavie completed her PhD in 2010 at the Technion, in antibody engineering and cancer immunology. Upon completing her PhD, Dr. Zafir-Lavie worked at Bio-Rad R&D site. Next, Dr. Zafir-Lavie joined Aevi Genomic Medicine as a team leader for the development of the antibody gene-therapy platform and later as Head of Israel R&D Site. Later, she relocated to Philadelphia, PA USA to work as a Senior Scientist collaborating with the Center of Applied Genomics (CAG) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). In her work in the USA, Dr. Zafir-Lavie developed innovative diagnostic assays and cutting-edge therapeutics for autoimmune diseases. Upon returning from the USA, Dr. Zafir-Lavie worked for Merck group as a senior scientist where she was responsible for transferring innovative projects from the academy to the industry towards IND. In 2020 Inbal joined Nevia Bio as CEO and co-founder. Inbal is leading Nevia Bio to develop a Machine-Learning enabled home-use platform for early detection of ovarian cancer and additional women related diseases. Inbal is an Advisory Board member at the Arizona State University program for Clinical Research Management and Regulatory Science, a member of the 8400-health network, and a Mass Challenge winner. Throughout her career, Dr. Zafir-Lavie is seeking to use deep science and out-of-the-box thinking to promote translational work, which will prolong patients’ lives. Dr. Zafir-Lavie is keen to promote technologies for improving women’s health.