With over 20 years of teaching experience and research in molecular biology and genetics, Dr. Laurie Jackson-Grusby brings experimental expertise and outstanding mentoring skills to her work as a high school teacher. She has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Whitehead Institute, an Assistant Professor at Boston Children’s Hospital, and has taught undergraduate, graduate and post-doc students at the Harvard Extension and Medical Schools. Dr. Jackson-Grusby transitioned to teaching high school, working in the Science Department and the Teacher Residency program at Newton North from 2015-2017. Laurie began teaching at Brockton High School in 2017, where she continues to guide students through engaging lessons and capstone project presentations, including the freshmen Synthetic Biology Expo and Senior Independent Lab Research in Antibiotic Discovery, which in 2020 will be at Tufts Medical School. Outside of the classroom, she co-leads the Brockton cohort of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Apprenticeship Challenge. The after-school 10-week training program prepares 24 primarily underrepresented students for work in academic or commercial life sciences laboratories as summer interns. She also participates in ongoing workshops and seminars, which models life-long learning for her students. Laurie has created a novel Health Care Innovation Pathway at Brockton to help students navigate to STEM careers that will feed into and diversify the Biotechnology ecosystem of the Commonwealth. She holds a B.A. in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in Genetics from Harvard University.

Mike Kennealy is responsible for advancing the Baker-Polito Administration’s agenda to create economic opportunity for residents, collaborative leadership in communities, an environment that supports job creation and business growth, and new housing for residents through targeted investments. In early 2015, Kennealy joined the Administration as Assistant Secretary for Business Growth, where he played an integral role in advancing the administration’s strategy for job creation and business development across the entire Commonwealth and provided leadership in key sectors, including serving as co-chair of the board of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. Kennealy combines a successful track record in the private sector with a strong commitment to the public good. He began his career in private equity at TA Associates, a Boston-based firm. In 1997, he joined Spectrum Equity, a private equity firm founded in 1994 with offices in Boston and San Francisco. During his more than 15 years at Spectrum, he helped grow the firm to become an established market leader with nearly $5 billion in assets under management and investments in over 100 high-growth internet, software and information services companies. After his career in private equity, Kennealy spent two years as Special Advisor to the Receiver at Lawrence Public Schools, where he worked with the state-appointed superintendent/receiver on strategic and financial initiatives to support the school district’s turnaround plan. Kennealy and his family live in Lexington, Massachusetts, where they have been highly involved in town government, education and youth sports. He previously served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees at St. John’s Prep in Danvers and currently serves on the Board of Visitors for The Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences at Dartmouth College. Kennealy received a A.B. in Government from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Since 2002, Dr. John Maraganore has served as the CEO and a Director of Alnylam. Prior to Alnylam, Dr. Maraganore served as an officer and a member of the management team for Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. As Senior Vice President, Strategic Product Development for Millennium, he was responsible for the company’s product franchises in oncology, and cardiovascular, inflammatory, and metabolic diseases. He was previously Vice President, Strategic Planning and M&A and, prior to that, he was General Manager of Millennium BioTherapeutics, Inc., a former subsidiary of Millennium. Before Millennium he served as Director of Molecular Biology and Director of Market and Business Development at Biogen, Inc. At Biogen, Dr. Maraganore invented and led the discovery and development of ANGIOMAX® (bivalirudin) for injection, formerly HIRULOGTM and currently marketed by The Medicines Company. Prior to Biogen, Dr. Maraganore was a scientist at ZymoGenetics, Inc., and the Upjohn Company. Dr. Maraganore received his MS and PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Chicago. He is the Chair of the Board for Agios Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Maraganore is Chair of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) Board, and is a member of the BIO Executive Committee.

Dan joined Thermo Fisher Scientific in 1998 as a controller, and over the next four years held a number of leadership positions within finance and operations. In 2002, he was appointed business leader for the company’s Elemental Analysis product line and a year later became Vice President and General Manager of that business. In 2007, he was promoted to President, Process Instruments, and in 2011 became President, Chemical Analysis. Dan was named President, Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry, in 2012, and in 2016, became Senior Vice President and President, Analytical Instruments. In September 2017, he also assumed responsibility for Unity Lab Services. Prior to joining Thermo Fisher, Dan worked for international accounting firm Arthur Andersen for eight years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in professional accounting from the University of Hartford. An advocate for STEM education and inspiring the next generation of innovators, Dan has served on the Massachusetts STEM Advisory Council and Executive Committee since his appointment in 2017.

Belinda Termeer is the President, Co-Founder, and Member of the Board of Directors of The Termeer Foundation. She is also the head of the Termeer family office. Belinda brings unparalleled passion to The Termeer Foundation, as well as significant experience serving on boards of directors for both nonprofit and for-profit organizations, both within and beyond the life sciences industry. In 1998, together with her late husband, Henri Termeer, she started the Termeer family office and has since managed its assets. In 2011, she and Henri established the Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies at Massachusetts General Hospital with the goal of developing a best-in-class center for personalized medicine, building on Henri’s work as Genzyme’s CEO focused on rare diseases. Belinda also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of PIC Therapeutics, the Board of Directors of BIO Ventures for Global Health, the Board of Fellows and the Discovery Committee at Harvard Medical School, the President’s Council at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Board of Directors of Celebrity Series of Boston, the leadership council of the Silent Spring Institute, the Board of Directors of GBH, the Women in Science and Engineering Committee at the Museum of Science, and as Trustee Emerita of the Boston Ballet.