Who We Are

Board of Directors

Chair:

  
Alexandra (Sandra) Glucksmann, Ph.D., is currently Senior Vice President of Research and Development at Cerulean Pharma, which she joined in October 2006 at its founding. Cerulean Pharma is developing a proprietary nanoparticle technology designed to improve the safety and efficacy of marketed and development-stage drugs. Prior to joining Cerulean, she spent 13 years at Millennium Pharmaceuticals which she joined in 1993 as one of its first scientists. At Millennium, she held a series of positions of increasing responsibility, ultimately becoming vice president of all platform technology groups before moving into a senior role in strategic program management and operations, where she worked closely with the CEO and led company-wide process improvement initiatives and participated in business development and M&A efforts. During her tenure at Millennium, Alexandra was critical to helping Millennium evolve from a genomics research-focused organization to a fully integrated pharmaceuticals company with products on the market. Her division played an integral role in the numerous Millennium-large pharma collaborations, which raised over $1.8 billion in funding for the company. She serves on the Board of Directors of Taconic Farms and is the Chair of the Board of Women Entrepreneurs in Science and Technology. She is also a member of Genetics Advisory Council of the Harvard-Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics. Sandra was a post-doctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds a Ph.D. with honors from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Abigail Barrow is the Founding Director of the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center (MTTC). She is responsible for the overall management of the MTTC and the development of its programs. Prior to joining the MTTC, Dr. Barrow served as managing director of William J. von Liebig Center at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). The von Liebig Center was created in 2001 to support the commercialization of research being performed in the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering.

Dr. Barrow worked in a variety of roles at UCSD CONNECT from 1990 to 2001. At CONNECT, she developed and expanded many of its programs to support early-stage company formation and technology commercialization. The CONNECT program is internationally recognized and has been successfully replicated in many other regions around the world.

Dr. Barrow is on the board of the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) and on the scientific advisory board of Norway's Simula Research Laboratory.  She has also served as a member of the board of directors of the Center for the Commercialization of Advanced Technologies Consortium (CCAT), which assisted in the identification and commercialization of technologies in the area of crisis and consequence management and received more than $25 million in federal funding primarily from the Office of Naval Research.

Dr. Barrow received her Ph.D. from the Science Studies Unit and a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh. 

Deborah Dean is currently Vice President, General Counsel-Americas for Dassault Systèmes (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), the 3DExperience global software company headquartered near Paris, France, that provides business and people with virtual universes to imagine sustainable innovations. Its world-leading 3D design software, 3D Digital Mock-Up and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions transform the way products are designed, produced, and supported. Dassault Systèmes’ collaborative solutions foster social innovation, expanding possibilities for the virtual world to improve the real world.  Deborah joined Dassault Systèmes in 2006 through the acquisition of MatrixOne, Inc., where she served as General Counsel for several years. Prior to joining MatrixOne, she served as counsel to several clients, including, among others, Lucent Technologies, Kenan Systems Corporation, Vertigo Development Group, and VERSYSS Incorporated, where she also served as Vice President-Legal for 4 years.  She started her legal career as an attorney in the corporate department at the Boston law firm Haussermann, Davison & Shattuck. Deborah received her B.A. from Wellesley College and Juris Doctor from Northeastern University School of Law.

Alison Farquhar (Ali), Principal of GTL Coaching & Consulting, is a respected executive coach, consultant, and facilitator. She works with senior executives and high potentials to help them become more self-aware and effective leaders. As a facilitator, she combines analytical skills with warm human intelligence to help teams build trust, manage conflict, get on track, and deliver results. Ali is recognized for her ability to “cut through the clutter” in complex and uncertain environments, envision the big picture, deal with difficult subjects, and deliver tangible results for clients and organizations.

Ali holds a BA from Exeter University in the UK, an MBA from INSEAD, France, and is a Certified Executive Coach. Prior to forming GTL, her career included international banking, academic research, management consulting, and executive education. She has consulted in a wide range of industries across Europe and North America and worked with leaders in organizations of all sizes up to Fortune 50 corporations. Today, she focuses on high-intellect sectors such as healthcare, biotech, academia, and professional services.

Outside work, Ali is a committed volunteer with leadership roles on several not-for-profit, school, and community boards. She is on the Planning Committee of the annual IOCDF Conference, and runs support groups and classes for parents of children with a range of learning, emotional, and behavioral challenges. 

Kathleen Hagan is President of Hagan & Company, a full-service consulting firm offering business development, strategic marketing, and project management services to emerging and established high technology firms and R&D organizations in the U.S. and abroad. She has 35 years experience in strategic marketing, international business, management consulting, government affairs, economic development and higher education. Previously she was Founding Director of the Northern Ireland Technology and Development Center, a venture center for emerging Irish technology companies; Director of International Programs at Babson College, and Director of Foreign Trade for the Massachusetts Port Authority responsible for the Authority’s overseas offices in London and Tokyo. Earlier in her career she worked in the U.S. Senate for former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke and directed the Senate Massachusetts Office handling a full range of policy, federal funding and regulatory issues. Kathleen holds an MBA cum laude from Boston University and a BA from Trinity College, Washington, D.C. She has taught Global Marketing at Babson College and at Northeastern University.   Ms. Hagan sits on several corporate, professional, and non-profit boards.

William (Bill) Hewins has led the Welch Foods, Inc. International business as Vice President, International from a small export business to a diverse business in over 40 countries, including start up and expansion in business ventures in China, UK, Latin America, Canada and Japan.  Bill’s general management responsibilities include strategic planning, marketing and sales management, innovation development, and P&L management.  He has been actively involved in Washington with the USDA and Congress on Export Assistance Programs and Free Trade Agreements.  He has been a keynote speaker at several World Juice Conferences in Spain, Switzerland, Singapore and Argentina.  Prior to leading International at Welch’s, Bill led New Product and Brand Management functions for this iconic American Brand.  Prior to recent retirement, he has served the private owners, multiple CEO’s and the Board as a strategic and operational advisor at Welch’s. 

Prior to Welch’s, Bill led the marketing function at Shaklee Corporation in San Francisco, a direct selling company in life sciences/ nutritional, personal care and environmental-friendly household products.  Bill began his career in Brand Management at Bristol- Myers, Drackett Division with well-known Brands such as Windex, Endust, and Metrical.   

Bill earned his BA in Political Science at Denison University, Granville, Ohio and his MBA from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management in Chicago. 

Besides serving as Chairman and Representative Director of Welch’s China and Welch’s Japan, he has served on several non-profit volunteer Boards, including the Lincoln-Sudbury High School Committee for 9 years, Board of Governors and President of Nashawtuc Country Club.  Bill has been a leader and volunteer in local organizations including Little League, Buddy Werner Skiing, and the Boston Walk for Hunger.                      

D’Anne Hurd, SEC compliance, finance, business development and legal affairs executive, has a background in law and finance with large (Fortune 500) companies, and smaller, rapidly-growing, venture-backed start-ups. She currently serves as Lead Independent Director and Governance Committee Chair of Micronetics, Inc. (NOIZ), a manufacturer of microwave and radio frequency (RF) components and integrated subassemblies used in a variety of defense, aerospace and commercial applications. In her 35 cumulative years of board service, Ms. Hurd has dealt with the successful settlement of Class Action and Derivative Action lawsuits and the related SEC investigation, M&A preparation, negotiation, implementation and surrounding liability issues, successful negotiations with outside auditors regarding issues of  SOX compliance, CEO evaluation and compensation, CEO succession, Board compensation and Board evaluations and assessment, executive compensation strategy alignment, stock-based compensation, D&O insurance, implementation of anti-takeover measures, “going private” strategy and implementation, special family-owned business challenges, choice and engagement of independent auditors, and implementation of corporate governance “best practices” in all positions. Ms. Hurd has more than 40 years’ experience for a wide variety of medical products, biotech, technology, telecom, transportation, defense/aerospace, energy and consumer companies with significant experience in IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, joint ventures, and strategic alliances. Her strong compliance background includes SEC (1933, 1934 and 1940 Acts), Dodd-Frank, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Patriot Act, FDA approval process, and IRS (not for profit). She served as CFO and General Counsel for five venture-backed, rapidly-growing companies in the Boston area, served as Corporate Vice President and General Counsel for MediSense, Inc. during its successful IPO and practiced corporate and securities law with Burns & Levinson for eight years. Ms. Hurd’s career started in Finance, working with GTE Corporation where she brought the Shareholder Services/Transfer Agent function in-house and then served as an acquisition analyst and with PepsiCo, Inc. as Director of Cash Management and Banking where she managed PepsiCo’s $500M short-term debt portfolio and 52 banking relationships.

Tom Kennedy is a nationally renowned communications consultant and Associated Press award-winning broadcaster with over 15 years of experience helping CEOs and senior executives achieve presentation, public speaking, and media success. Principal of The Kennedy Group and a frequent speaker before high level professional groups including The Harvard School of Public Health, he is a Certified Management Consultant by the Institute of Management Consultants, Director of Communications for IMC USA, a member of the National Speakers Association, and a former adjunct professor in Communications Studies at Emerson College. Prior to forming The Kennedy Group in 1992, Tom had top-rated on-air TV and radio experience, as well as program management experience, in five major markets in all regions of the U.S. He thoroughly understands regional communications strategies within the United States and has a broad knowledge of worldwide strategic corporate communications and cross-cultural protocols.

Susan Riley Keyes is currently the Vice President of Nemucore Medical Innovations, Inc. and provides leadership and guidance for Nemucore’s business strategy as well as overseeing many of the company’s day-to-day operations. Previously Dr. Keyes was the Associate Director and Technology Transfer Executive of Northeastern University’s Office of Technology Innovation & Commercialization and was responsible for marketing and licensing of the university intellectual property to established and early stage companies. Prior to joining Northeastern, Susan was involved for over 15 years in drug development in academia and industry, including positions at Yale, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Ipsen Pharmaceuticals/ Biomeasure Inc, focusing primarily in Oncology. Susan a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Connecticut Medical School (Farmington) and a J.D. from Suffolk University School of Law. Dr. Keyes is an active member of Association of Univ. Tech. Managers (AUTM), especially as a member of the AUTM Eastern Regional Meeting Planning Committee, and recently completed a term on AUTM’s Board of Directors as the VP, Regional Meetings. Susan also served a number of terms on the Board of Trustees and Scientific Advisory Board for National Tay-Sachs and Allied Diseases, the oldest genetic disease foundation in the USA.

Alice Koehn Benson, EVP joined Coulter Partners in 2012 bringing many years experience recruiting for the technology and life sciences sectors to the team. Alice plays a lead role in expanding their North American capabilities, building out their Princeton and Boston offices, and working with colleagues serving clients globally. Before starting her search career, Alice had an impressive track record in Human resources leadership and worked for major organizations including Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC), Lotus Development Corporation and BBN Software Products Corporation.

Alice utilizes her client-side background in human resources to great effect for clients, leading searches for pivotal strategic positions. Prior to joining Coulter Partners, Alice worked for a major global search firm headquartered in the USA, and was previously President of Prestonwood Associates, leading it to be a recognized search leader focused on the Technology and Innovation, Healthcare, and Life Science sectors. Her decade at Prestonwood included conducting searches for major bio-pharma, medical technology, CRO, health Care services and technology clients. Alice is committed to extending her corporate experience to various community causes and recently gathered a diverse group of community leaders to found the Weston Community Health Coalition, an organisation that develops resources and solutions for the wellness needs of the youth and elderly. Alice also has volunteered extensively in the local schools. 

Joel MacAuslan, Ph.D., is Chief Executive and Chief Science Officer of STAR Analytical Services, which provides mathematical and analytical capability for clients' innovation projects that require expertise in system modeling, signal processing, and nonlinear dynamics - from brain surgery to rocket science. He has spent over twenty years in mathematical speech, signal, and image-processing analysis. He founded STAR on an NIH grant to apply techniques of chaos theory to the dynamics of the larynx. Joel has participated actively in WEST since early 2000. Joel holds a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Cornell and has spent over twenty-five years in mathematical speech, signal, and image-processing analysis.

Deborah Smith, Enterprise Sales Manager, Microsoft. Deborah joined Microsoft in 2010 as a Sales Manager for the high-tech and manufacturing companies in the Northeast. The clients she works with include EMC, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Parametric Technology Corporation, Aspect Communications, UTC, Albany International, Praxair, Crane, Covidien, Hasbro, Bose, Stanley Works, Sensata, Northeast Utilities and NStar. She brings extensive selling and sales leadership experience to Microsoft along with a genuine passion for customers and technology. Prior to joining Microsoft, she worked for several early stage Software-as-a-Service companies to deliver solutions to Fortune 500 enterprises such as BP, DuPont, UBS and Chevron and was responsible for leading the sales, marketing, and client services team of a start-up that had a successful exit. Deborah also has a background in consulting, having worked for both Booz-Allen & Hamilton and Mercer in addition to founding her own business development consulting practice. She began her career in sales at Dow Chemical where the concepts of solution selling, teamwork, and people development became an integral part of her leadership style. Her academic allegiance is to the Big Ten, completing her undergraduate work at Michigan State and earning her MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Chair Emeritus:

Janice Bourque is former Senior Vice President and Group Head-Life Sciences for Comerica Bank where she was responsible for leading Comerica’s national strategy for the life sciences. Prior to that, Ms. Bourque was President/CEO of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MBC) where she led the organization for 12 years. In 2004, she was awarded the Woman of Valor Award by the American Diabetes Association and the 2004 Distinguished Leadership Award by the Huntington Disease Society for her work in public policy and public health. In 2003, Boston Magazine named her one of Boston’s 100 most influential women and the Cambridge Chamber Commerce awarded her Business Person of the Year. Ms. Bourque received her MBA degree in finance and accounting and her BS degree in veterinary science from the University of New Hampshire.