Archives: Speakers

Ryan Lemand

Dr Ryan Lemand is a seasoned finance professional with a diverse and extensive career as an Investment Manager and a Financial Regulator. He has deep experience in Fixed Income, Credit, Quantitative Asset Allocation and Risk Management, having managed significant portfolios of institutional assets in Paris, London and New York.

As a Senior Advisor to the UAE’s Federal Government, Dr Ryan worked principally on financial regulatory subjects where he both led and contributed to key initiatives that developed many of the core Financial Regulations in the UAE, including Regulations on Collective Investment Schemes, Financial Analysis and Consultancy Services, Market Making and others topics.

He was also principally responsible for leading the Funds and Investment Management team that handled the licensing and approvals for local and foreign mutual funds and investment managers. In addition, he advised on a variety of subjects relevant to the UAE’s macroeconomic policy.

Dr Ryan has a proven track record in green field projects and in growing and scaling companies, as demonstrated by his founding of the Wealth and Asset Management arm for the Abu Dhabi based ADSS Group, which grew to become one of the largest asset managers in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).

As a former Regulator, he is also well versed in advising on regulatory matters that range from obtaining financial services permissions to assisting in solving complex regulatory issues.

Mario Maric

I focus on AI projects that enhance customer understanding and improve customer experience. I have worked on international projects, including 12 years at Intesa Sanpaolo’s International Bank Division, implementing and scaling machine learning across various banks and markets. I believe success comes from aligning AI initiatives with well-defined strategic objectives, a strong operating model and clearly measurable results. With a technical background, I understand both AI technology and its practical applications.

Wissem Mareghni

With over three years of audit experience, Wissem Mareghni specializes in modernizing the audit function through technology. At DataSnipper, he leads initiatives around audit digitalization, data-driven decision support, and agile risk management approaches. He combines a solid understanding of business challenges with mastery of innovative tools to help internal audit departments anticipate the challenges of tomorrow.

John Lunger

John Lunger served as Chief Patient Supply Officer at Adaptimmune and was a member of their executive team. John led the teams responsible for producing and delivering products to patients, accelerating supply execution, and optimizing the supply chain to be ready for commercialization.

Previously, John was Head of Supply Chain and Commercial Product Supply at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals where he led clinical and commercial supply chain as well as the cross functional supply team for Merrimack’s first commercial product launched in October of 2015. Earlier in his career, he held various senior manufacturing, operational, and strategy roles with VWR International, Pfizer, and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. In his nearly 10 years with Wyeth he held a number of leadership positions, including operations and supply chain strategy, supply management, procurement and strategic sourcing, business systems implementation, generic pharmaceutical business management, and site operations management in a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Ireland. John began his career serving as a nuclear trained officer on a U.S. Navy submarine followed by strategic consulting with Accenture. He currently serves as a consultant and Technical Advisory Board member of Nkarta, Inc. (Nasdaq: NKTX). He previously served as a non-executive director of Genocea Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GNCA).

John holds a Bachelor of Science degree (with distinction) in Ocean Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and an MBA in economics and operations management from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

Bruce Thompson

Bruce Thompson brings more than 25 years of experience to his position as Chief Technology Officer. Bruce is the Founding CEO of Kincell where he built the technical and operations team and launched Kincell’s tech-savvy CDMO offerings in the marketplace. Prior to his role with Kincell, Bruce was Vice President and Technical Lead for the Cell Therapy Franchise at Resilience, Inc., where he helped to build the development and GMP manufacturing capabilities and served as a technical advisor.

Bruce has over 18 years of CMC strategy, product development and cell therapy manufacturing experience. As Vice President of Process Sciences at Lyell Immunopharma, he was responsible for Process and Analytical Development, as well as tech transfer of processes and methods to a newly built state-of-the-art cGMP facility. Before Lyell, Bruce served as the Sr. Director of the Therapeutic Products Program at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), where he led GMP manufacturing of cell and gene therapy products. He supported more than 15 active clinical programs and contributed to the filing of 6 INDs for various cell therapy programs. Bruce also spent nearly 10 years at Pfizer in the Pharmaceutical Sciences division where he gained expertise in analytical and process development.

Bruce received his B.A. in Biology, an M.S. in Biochemistry from The Ohio State University and Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Louisville.

Thomas Heathman

Tom currently serves as the president for Ori Biotech, responsible for commercial launch of Ori’s technology, the IRO Platform, including deployments to initial customer base of Pharma and CDMOs. Prior to this, Tom served as the Business Leader for North America for Minaris Regenerative Medicine, a leading CDMO for the ATMP industry. During his time with Minaris, he led the growth of the North America business including the signing of commercial manufacturing agreements with leading therapy developers. Tom has a PhD in Cell and Gene Therapy Manufacturing from Loughborough University in the UK.