Archives: Speakers

Andreas Seidl has 25 years of experience in development of biosimilars and NBEs in the biopharma industry. He is Chief Scientific Officer at Formycon AG and in this role responsible for the overall scientific strategy of the company. In the management board of the company he is accountable for pre-clinical and clinical development of the biosimilar pipeline of the company as well as drug product development, bioanalytics and IP. Before joining Formycon he was from 2019 to 2022 COO at Leukocare AG/Munich. In the managing board of Leukocare he was responsible for research & development activities, intellectual property and quality management. Until 2019 he held different local and global positions at Hexal AG, Sandoz Biopharmaceuticals and Novartis in the area of development of biopharmaceuticals. In the early days of biosimilars he coordinated the pioneering analytical and pharmaceutical development activities of the first wave of biosimilars and contributed so far to the development and approval of eleven biosimilar products. He holds a Ph.D. in the area of protein analysis and mass spectrometry from the University of Constance/Germany where he also studied chemistry.

Clinical Data Strategy Advisor @ the European Institute for Innovation through Health Data

Peter Casteleyn MSc, is a Technology Director whose mantra is enabling business to work smarter. With a career of over 24 years in the pharmaceutical industry, Peter has made significant contributions across various domains, including Commercial, Supply Chain, Development and Analytics. His work places him at the forefront of technological innovation in the field as he contributed to and triggered cross-industry collaborations in the area of bridging clinical care with clinical research.

His passion for being intellectually challenged in order to create solutions, combined with his eagerness to guide and work with teams with a positive can-do mentality in order to grow, have been key elements throughout his career.

End 2024, Peter retired from Johnson & Johnson after the successful introduction of a scalable Electronic Health Records integration capability.  He firmly believes in the importance of insights from data for the health care industry supported by the interoperability of health data. He’s also a big proponent of industry wide collaboration as the key to achieve this.

Experienced Clinical Operations Director with 17 years of experience in Clinical Operations.
Establishing and managing multi-center, multi-national clinical studies across diverse therapeutic areas (including: immunology, gastroenterology, oncology, hematology, dermatology).

Rebeckha Magnusson has over 20 years of experience in Clinical Development, with a strong and diverse background across Clinical Operations, Project Management, Operational Excellence and Quality Assurance. She has held key roles in both large pharmaceutical organizations and small biotech companies, contributing to programs from early development through clinical execution.

Rebeckha is certified in Lean Six Sigma and has led multiple successful process-improvement initiatives within R&D. In addition, she has established and maintained Quality Management Systems for multiple biotech companies, supporting high-quality and efficient clinical development environments.

Dr Bernhard Glombitza, a senior leader in Clinical Operations has evolved through progressively increasing responsibilities in project and people management, beginning as a project leader in R&D and culminating in roles as Head of Clinical Operations for EMEA, APAC, and LATAM. He played a pivotal role in the successful launch of the Xarelto project, managing an interdisciplinary team of over 500 global employees, which significantly contributed to its market approval and commercial success. Transitioning into Clinical Operations, he leads large organizations with up to 1000 FTEs across 40 countries, achieving > 25% increase in productivity through innovative resource management and organizational restructuring.  Currently, he is introducing the Dynamic Shared Ownership model in Clinical Operations, empowering decentralized decision-making and optimizing talent allocation to drive impactful results.

Naveen Gangwar leads the Solution Consulting team for Planning at Workday EMEA. He has extensive experience, having helped over 200 companies with the sale and deployment of Accounting, Finance, and Planning solutions.

Dr. Michael Blumenfeld is a recognized expert in lubrication science and tribology with a career dedicated to advancing industrial performance. He earned his BA in Chemistry from Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Arizona, where he focused on the fundamental principles that underpin modern lubrication technology.  A Certified Lubrication Specialist, Dr. Blumenfeld has spent more than 15 years designing high-performance lubricants for demanding applications—from wind turbines operating in harsh environments to race cars pushing the limits of speed and endurance.  He is an active member of the American Gear Manufacturers Association (AGMA) and the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE), contributing his expertise to advance industry standards and best practices. In his current role as OEM Technology Advisor, he partners with major industrial equipment manufacturers to solve complex lubrication challenges.

Robert Roome has 20 years of experience in wealth management and private banking, working for companies specialising in technology, wealth management and management consulting.

He previously worked at Wealth Dynamix, as well as at companies such as Barclays and RBS, and more recently in wealth management and private banking at management consultancy Sionic.

This extensive experience puts him in a unique position to support the acceleration of commercial, technological and human performance.

Jack is CEO and a co-founder of Templi, an agentic financial planning software that focuses primarily on writing suitability reports. Before Templi, Jack worked in wealth management for over 5 years, spending time in the largest wealth firm in Ireland: Davy Group, Evelyn Partners in Newcastle upon Tyne and a small IFA in Belfast. Outside of work he is a lifelong rugby player and a very mediocre golfer.

Yawwani Gunawardana is a seasoned AI leader with a PhD in Machine Learning and over a decade of experience driving innovation in financial services. As Group Head of AI at Quilter, she spearheads the firm’s AI transformation—building scalable, ethical AI systems that accelerate business value. Previously at JP Morgan, she led global teams to deliver cutting-edge GenAI and Graph AI solutions.

Yawwani holds multiple industrial patents, has published extensively in AI and computational biology, and is a recognized voice in tech forums such as Women in Data and SheCanCode. Her leadership blends deep technical expertise with a passion for responsible AI, governance, and talent development.