Dr. Houston is President and Chief Executive Officer of Arvinas. Previously, he was the SVP of Specialty Discovery at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). He spent more than 18 years at BMS in roles of increasing responsibility and had accountability for all Discovery Biology disease teams as well as various Discovery technology departments. He was also the site head of the BMS Connecticut facility. Dr. Houston was a member of the BMS R&D Executive Leadership team and chaired the Target Portfolio Committee which had governance oversight in the discovery space. With his teams and research colleagues, he progressed over 200 compounds into early development, several of which advanced into late stage clinical trials, and toward commercialization.

He was also the principal architect and driver of the ‘Leveraging Technology’ initiative at BMS which oversaw the design and implementation of an industry-leading integrated lead discovery and optimization process. This initiative created revolutionary changes in the discovery process at BMS with significant improvements in capacity, speed and cost control resulting in marked increases in research productivity and success rates.

Dr. Houston has over 30+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Bristol-Myers Squibb, he worked at Glaxo Welcome Research and Development in the UK, where he served as head of the Lead Discovery Unit.

Dr. Houston obtained his B.Sc degree in Medical Microbiology from Glasgow University and obtained his Ph.D. with Professor Brian Catley in Microbial Biochemistry from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. He also completed his post-doctoral studies on an MRC grant with Professor Julia Douglas at Glasgow University.

Thong Q. Le currently serves as Senior Managing Director and CEO of Accelerator. Mr. Le has over 20 years of experience identifying, investing in, managing, and successfully exiting numerous seed and early-stage investments in the biotechnology sector. He has served as the founding CEO and director of numerous Accelerator Life Science Partners portfolio companies, including Petra Pharma (substantial acquisition by a global pharmaceutical company in May 2020), Rodeo Therapeutics (acquired by Amgen Inc. for up to $721 million in March 2021), and Lodo Therapeutics (acquired by Zymergen in May 2021). He currently oversees the firm’s investments in ALSP ORCHID Acquisition Corporation I (NASDAQ: ALORU | ALOR), Lydian Neurosciences, Magnolia Neurosciences, and Proniras Corporation, where he also serves as CEO and Director of each company.

Prior to joining Accelerator, Mr. Le served as a Managing Director at WRF Capital, the venture capital investment arm of Washington Research Foundation where he played a significant role in the early sourcing, financing, and development of numerous life science companies, including Alder Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALDR | acquired by H. Lundbeck A/S), Corus Pharma (acquired by Gilead Sciences), Halosource (LSE: HALO), Hyperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ: HPTX | acquired by Horizon Pharma plc), Lumera (NASDAQ: LMRA), Pathway Medical Technologies (acquired by MEDRAD), and VLST (asset acquisition by major international pharmaceutical company). Prior to joining WRF Capital, Mr. Le was the founder, president and CEO of MiniMeals, Inc. and a consultant for Capital Management Consulting, Inc. Earlier, he was at Raymond James & Associates, Singer & Xenos Investment Management Company and Capital Management Group LLC, a private investment firm specializing in biomedical ventures.

Mr. Le completed post-graduate studies at the Templeton College of Oxford University and received his A.B. cum laude in Government from Harvard University. He serves on the advisory board for the Alexandria Seed Capital Platform and on the boards of Acylin Therapeutics, Briotech, and Ravenna Pharmaceuticals. He was previously named one of the region’s “40 Under 40” by the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Axel Trautwein, Ph.D., is Head of Small Molecules at Bayer AG, Crop Science Division. Small Molecules comprises chemistry, biology, biochemistry, analytics, formulation technology and data science functions to build a sustainable pipeline of effective and safe new active ingredients with insecticidal, nematicidal, fungicidal and herbicidal activity. Axel joined Bayer Central Research in 1999, working on life sciences, and moved to Bayer CropScience Research in 2002, subsequently joined Corporate Strategy before holding a variety of roles with increasing strategic responsibility in R&D in Germany and France, most recently, Head of Small Molecules Research.

Sara Olson is a Director of Venture Investments Agriculture at Leaps by Bayer, the impact investment unit of Bayer. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University and has always been fascinated by the process of turning scientific discoveries into world-changing technologies. She has invested across crop protection, biologicals, and digital agriculture technologies on behalf of Leaps and previously as a member of FMC Ventures. Prior to becoming an investor, she led the Agrifood and Consumer Health innovation program at Lux Research, helping corporations develop cellulosic ethanol feedstock crops, build strategies on sweeteners for the future of food, and identify new tools to harness the power of biology in crop protection. As an investor, her goal is to eradicate hunger in her lifetime. She believes the future of agriculture must emphasize not just calorie production, but nutrition and health – of people and environments.

Dr. Randy Teel serves as interim Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer at Arvinas. In addition, Dr. Teel is responsible for corporate strategy, business development, investor relations, and communications.

Previously, Dr. Teel was Vice President and Head of Strategy at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for long-range planning, partnering with the R&D and Commercial organizations as they developed inline and lifecycle management strategies. Dr. Teel also led enterprise risk management and numerous strategic initiatives across the company. Prior to Alexion, Dr. Teel was an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he advised biopharmaceutical clients on issues in commercial, medical, and development.

Dr. Teel received his B.Sc. in Biology at Gonzaga University and his Ph.D. in Immunobiology from Yale University.

Jeff Hurst is the President and Chief Operating Officer at Oerth Bio, where he leads the company’s daily operations, finance, and strategic initiatives to drive growth and operational efficiency. He works closely with R&D leadership and key stakeholders to implement strategies that enhance performance, encourage innovation, and ensure alignment with Oerth Bio’s long-term vision.

Since joining Oerth Bio in December 2020, Jeff has taken on roles of progressively greater responsibility, including serving as Chief Financial Officer, before assuming his current position as President and COO. Prior to Oerth, Jeff was a Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he gained extensive experience in audit processes and financial management. At PwC, he managed engagements with clients ranging from pre-revenue startups to multi-billion-dollar public companies across industries such as pharmaceuticals, life sciences, biotechnology, and manufacturing. He also played a key role assisting companies through mergers, acquisitions, and capital market transactions.

Jeff is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.S. from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Rob Cicchillo is the Chief Scientific Officer at Oerth Bio, where he provides strategic scientific leadership, overseeing the company’s research and development programs. He leads and mentors the R&D team, fosters key strategic partnerships, and engages with investors and stakeholders to drive the company’s scientific initiatives forward. Rob ensures that Oerth Bio’s scientific strategy aligns with its overall business goals.

Before joining Oerth Bio, Rob spent over 15 years in the agricultural industry, with a focus on biotechnology and crop protection R&D. At Corteva Agriscience, he led the biochemistry group responsible for characterizing new insecticidal and herbicide tolerance traits. In this role, Rob collaborated across discovery, regulatory, legal, and commercial teams to guide the Enlist® product lines through late-stage development. He also served as the leader of herbicide discovery biology for six years, where his team focused on discovering herbicides with new modes of action.

Rob also co-led Corteva’s efforts in Natural Products discovery, modernizing the platform using advanced ‘omics approaches in collaboration with biotechnology and digital colleagues. Most recently, he led external collaborations within Corteva’s Crop Protection Discovery & Development organization, fostering partnerships that drove value through investments in innovative and disruptive technologies.

Rob holds an M.S. in organic chemistry from Youngstown State University and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Penn State University. He also completed a Howard Hughes post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before joining Dow AgroSciences.