Sept 10: BioWest Includes State's Top BioScience CEOs + FDA Commissioner Hamburg as Lead Keynote

Colorado BioScience Association has confirmed three of Colorado’s top CEOs for its ‘Colorado Companies: From Concept to Market’ presentation at the 2014 BioWest Conference and Expo. Participating CEOs include Bill Aldrich, EndoShape; David Brunel, Biodesix; and Byron Hewett, SomaLogic. The announcement is made by CBSA President and CEO April Giles, who says, “Bringing a product to market is becoming an increasingly difficult task. BioWest attendees will have the unique opportunity to share in the personal insights of three of our state’s most accomplished CEOs, detailing how they lead their teams to successfully cross the finish line.”

Bill Aldrich, CEO, EndoShape – Boulder -- Mr. Aldrich has held executive and engineering positions at Ampex, BioTrack, CVIS, Cartesian Data, CardioThoracic Systems, Integrated Vascular Systems and, most recently, at EndoVx, which he founded and raised $5M in venture financing. Bill brings 28 years in the medical device and magnetic recording industries to EndoShape and has 40+ issued U.S. patents and has over 40 pending applications. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the California Polytechnic State University. For more information, visit: http://www.endoshape.com.

David Brunel, CEO, Biodesix– Boulder -- Mr. Brunel has been involved in enterprise software for over 25 years and has been involved in molecular diagnostics since 2000. Mr. Brunel was a founder and CEO of Unidata, Inc. when it merged with Vmark Software to create Ardent Software, Inc., where he was President and COO. He was also a member of the Board of Ardent until it was sold to Informix in 1999. Mr. Brunel, also a co-founder and President of SomaLogic, Inc., serves on the boards of Anark Corporation and Xyleme, Inc For more information, visit: http://www.biodesix.com.

Byron Hewett, CEO, SomaLogic– Boulder -- Mr. Hewett joined SomaLogic in December, 2013, most recently serving as Chairman and CEO at BioBehavioral Diagnostics, Inc. He previously held executive positions with Immunicon Corporation, Qiagen; Bayer Diagnostics, Chiron Diagnostics and Abbott Laboratories. Mr. Hewett holds a B.S. from the McIntire School of Commerce at University of Virginia and a Masters in Management from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. For more information, visit: http://www.somalogic.com.

“Colorado Companies: From Concept to Market” will be moderated by Jim Langley from The Mead Consulting Group, sponsoring the segment. For more information, visit: http://www.meadconsultinggroup.com.     Link to the full release at PitchEngine.com 

Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D.,
Commissioner
U.S. Food and Drug Administration

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg leads the Keynote Lineup for BioWest 2014 (her ‘Update on the FDA’ keynote will occur at 4:45 p.m.).

Additional keynote presenters include Jandel Allen-Davis, M.D., Vice President, Government and External Relations, Kaiser Permanente Colorado; James Hill, Ph.D. is Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine; Len Tacconi, President, HMR Weight Management Services Corp., a subsidiary of Merck and Co. Inc.; and Russell Slifer, Director, United States Patent and Trademark, Rocky Mountain Regional Office.

The schedule of the day’s events is found at: http://www.cobioscience.com/biowest/schedule.

Conference Registration is now open at http://www.CoBioScience.com/BioWest. Rates for members start at $325 and $375 for non-members and passes for the expo hall and reception only are $125 for members and $150 for non-members. Group rates are available for companies and organizations.

The conference also includes an Exhibit Hall with over 40 exhibitors showcasing new technologies, products and services to attendees; plus the Venture Showcase, where finalists pitch their technologies and business plans in front of a live audience to a panel of bioscience experts and venture capitalists. The winner, announced at the end of the conference day, will receive a $7,500 cash prize. The three finalists in the 2014 Venture Showcase competition include:

dBMEDx - Littleton -- dBMEDx is developing breakthrough, real-time clinical decision and patient monitoring devices using our patented, non-invasive scanning technology. Visit: http://www.dbmedx.com.

KromaTiD, Inc. - Fort Collins -- KromaTiD is dedicated to creating new products for disease research, mutation detection and chromosome analysis. Visit: http://www.kromatid.com.

Mighty Oak Medical - Englewood -- Mighty Oak is developing a prize-winning spine technology that features an affordable and disposable option for surgical navigation. Visit: http://www.mightyoakmedical.com.

Link to the related Aug 19 Venture Showcase release on Business Wire.

BioWest 2014 Media Credentials Request form: http://www.cobioscience.com/BioWest%202014/Biowest2014_Media_Credentials_Form%20NotFillIn.pdf