2025 Speakers | Kisaco Research

Meet the 2025 Speakers

For our 10th anniversary we curated a rockstar group of speakers from across the entire ecosystem.

Find out who spoke at AHNTI 2025 below.

 

Sven Arnouts

Business Development
Ghent University

Sven Arnouts

Business Development
Ghent University

Sven Arnouts

Business Development
Ghent University
 

Karl Aschenbrücker

Associate Partner
McKinsey & Company

Karl Aschenbrücker

Associate Partner
McKinsey & Company

Karl Aschenbrücker

Associate Partner
McKinsey & Company
 

Phil Austin

Managing Partner & Co-Founder
Anterra Capital

Phil Austin

Managing Partner & Co-Founder
Anterra Capital

Phil Austin

Managing Partner & Co-Founder
Anterra Capital
 

Tim Bettington

Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Market Development
Elanco

Tim Bettington

Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Market Development
Elanco

Tim Bettington

Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Market Development
Elanco
 

Greg Blair

Vice President of Business Development
Zomedica

Greg Blair

Vice President of Business Development
Zomedica

Greg Blair

Vice President of Business Development
Zomedica
 

Chris Boyle

Senior Managing Associate
Sidley Austin LLP

Chris Boyle

Senior Managing Associate
Sidley Austin LLP

Chris Boyle

Senior Managing Associate
Sidley Austin LLP
 

Jamie Brannan

Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer
Zoetis

Jamie Brannan

Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer
Zoetis

Jamie Brannan

Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer
Zoetis
 

Sandra Bruckner

Managing Director
AstraSana Animal Health AG

Sandra Bruckner

Managing Director
AstraSana Animal Health AG

Sandra Bruckner

Managing Director
AstraSana Animal Health AG

Andrew Calabrese

Scientific Co-Founder
Animol Discover

Hui Cai

Senior Vice President, Head of Clinical Manufacturing
WuXi Biologics

Paul Casady

Senior Consultant
Brakke Consulting

Louisa Chaves

Principal
L.E.K Consulting

Andrew Curwen

CEO
XLVets

Justine Conway

Vice President of Business Development & External Innovation
Elanco

Robert Darwin

Partner
Sidley Austin LLP

Ellen de Brabander

Executive Vice President R&D and Innovation
Elanco

Paul Dick

President
Paul Dick & Associates

Dr Paul Dick D.V.M. M.Sc. obtained his veterinary medical degree with honours in 1984.

While working in clinical practice he completed his Masters in Immunology and Virology transitioning into the Pharmaceutical industry in 1988. Dr. Dick has over 25 years experience in the pharmaceutical space including general management and leadership roles, business development, commercialization, regulatory affairs, and product development encompassing medicinal, non-medicinal and natural health products.

His work in this sector has ranged from small “start up” companies to medium and large multi-nationals functioning in various capacities from research to COO and CEO.

Dr. Dick has worked extensively with Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on numerous regulatory submissions and on several Departmental Committees.

In addition he has been a recipient of the NSERC Synergy Award and has served as a peer reviewer of NSERC strategic grants. He is currently heading his own consulting firm ( Paul Dick and Associates Ltd.) and is the managing partner and president of a venture capital partnership (Vet Venture Capital Inc.).

Tom Diethe

Head of The Centre for Artificial Intelligence
AstraZeneca

Rimma Driscoll

Executive Vice President and Head of Global Strategy, Commercial and Business Development
Zoetis

Rimma Driscoll is an executive in Global Business Development and Strategic Alliances with 20+ years in the field. Rimma has a depth of experience in a broad range of global transactions including JVs,Strategic Alliances, Collaborations, Acquisitions, Divestitures, Licensing Deals, and Partnerships. This experience span from small Discovery deals to multi-billionaire dollar divestitures. Rimma guides Multi-function teams on the external strategies and then leads all aspects of negotiations, and leverages external relationships to bring transactions to closure. She has worked extensively in Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Healthcare and Consumer Products businesses.

Pierre Ducray

Vice President, Global Technical Development,
Elanco

Roxanne Feller

Secretary General
Animal Health Europe

Michael Fitzke

Senior Director AI, Next Generation Technologies
Mars Science & Diagnostics

Angelo Gatto

CEO
Chanelle Pharma




Megan Grether

Head of Global Business Development and Licensing Animal Health
Boehringer Ingelheim

Candise Goodwin

Founder
Outlier Advisors

Adrian Grosu

Partner, SC Analytics
Stonehaven Cozmix Group

Dr Eve Hanks

Chief Executive Officer & Founder
MI:RNA Diagnostics

Joe Harvey

Head of Animal Health
S&P Global

Dr. Lourens Havenga

Senior Consultant
Brakke Consulting

Mark Heffernan

Senior VP of Biotherapeutics and CEO of Ceva Biotechnology Campus (Philadelphia)
Ceva

Paul Higgs

Chief Veterinary Officer and Internal Medicine Specialist
CVS Vets

Matthias Hofer

Managing Partner
Stonehaven Cozmix Group

Matthias Hofer is the Managing Partner at Stonehaven Consulting AG with over 15 years of experience in Animal Health. He served on the executive committees of two major Animal Health companies for a total of 7 years. Between 2009 and 2013 he led the global Aqua Health business at Novartis Animal Health (NAH). Later on, he was Global Leader Emerging Business at Elanco and a member of Elanco’s global executive committee. During 2014 and with Elanco’s intention to buy NAH, Matthias served as overall pre-merger integration leader on the Novartis side. In that role, Matthias led a large team and efforts to prepare integration pre-closing overall including carve-out preparations of operations linked to Novartis.

Jürgen Horn

CEO
Invetx

Andrea Iucci

CEO
Norbrook Laboratories Ltd.

Charlotte Jennings

Head of Acquisitions, Medivet
CEO, Medivet Spain

Rob Kelly

Senior Vice President, Commercial Leader for EURAM Region
MSD Animal Health

Kathryn Kukla

Founder & Managing Partner
Animal Health Experts

Sebastian Kusmierczyk

Vice President, Corporate & Global Innovation Strategy
Elanco

Julie Lawless

President
Lawless Strategic Communications

Alan Mackay

Managing Partner and Founder
GHO Capital

Jo Malone

Chief Executive Officer
VetPartners

Jo qualified from Glasgow vet school in 1998, she has been actively involved in both clinical and all business aspects of veterinary life throughout her career. Jo has worked for Minster Vets for the last 16 years focusing on small animal clinical practice.

 

In the last 10 years she has become increasingly involved in managing the practice alongside her clinical role. Being instrumental in growing the practice, improving performance and developing the people within the practice. Jo is passionate about the veterinary profession and the people involved in it.

 

In 2015 she became Managing Director of VetPartners and then CEO in 2016.

Carel du Marchie Sarvaas

Executive Director
HealthforAnimals Global Animal Health Association

Carel du Marchie Sarvaas has been working as a senior government affairs and communications advisor in Brussels and Washington DC for 20 years.

He will move to IFAH from EuropaBio, the Association of Biotechnology Industries, where he has been Director for Agricultural Biotechnology for some 4 years. Prior to EuropaBio, Carel worked at international consultancies and think tanks in Brussels and Washington DC, most often serving clients with science-based policy and communications challenges.

Jan Moehlenbrock

Associate Vice President, Operations EURAM
MSD Animal Health

Lourdes Mottier

Business Development Head of Strategy & Chief of Staff
Elanco

Nicolas Naillon

Managing Director, Head of Healthcare EMEA
Nomura

Steve Nanchen

Senior Director, External Innovation EU & APAC Pacific
Elanco

Jesper Nordengaard

CEO
Dechra

John O’Connor

Chief Medical Officer
AniCura

Ron Phillips

Senior Vice President, Policy
Animal Health Institute

Gudrun Ravetz

Group Chief Medical Officer
IVC Evidensia

Currently Gudrun works as a Veterinary Consultant to Pet Health Plans from Denplan and as an external interviewer for prospective veterinary students at University of Liverpool. Alongside practicing as a small animal veterinary surgeon on graduating in 2002, Gudrun furthered her interest in the business side of the veterinary profession by studying for the post graduate certificate in business. Gudrun became President at the BVA Member’s Day and AGM on 22 September 2016.

Todd Richter

Senior Managing Director
Guggenheim Partners

Aaron Schacht

CEO
BiomEdit

Tom Seaman

Senior Advisor, Business Development
Elanco

Robert Shrimsley

Editor Directorial
Financial Times

Jeff Simmons

Chief Executive Officer
Elanco

Emmanuelle Soubeyran

Director General
World Organisation for Animal Health

Lesli Stasiek

Head of Human Resources
MWI Animal Health

Bruce Truman

President and Founder
BLT Technology & Innovation Group

Navann Ty

Lead Analyst for Healthcare
BNP Paribas

Brandon Vasquez

Research Analyst, Healthcare
William Blair

Beatrice Vos, PhD

Partner
Stonehaven Cozmix Group (and CEO @ SC Transactions AG)

Tom Weaver

Co-Founder, PetMedix & Director
BlackHawk Innovation

Dave Westenberg

Managing Director Equity Research
Piper Sandler

Adele Williams

AI & Clinical Data Consultant
AWX Consultancy

Adrienne Woodward

Senior Manager - Discovery & Novel Products
United Animal Health

Todd Zion

CEO and Chairman
Akston Biosciences

Introducing our 2025 Selection Committee

The leaders responsible for identifying and evaluating innovators to present in our AHNTI Innovation Showcase - each with an extensive breadth of experience and knowledge across animal health.

Author:

Sarah Aitchison

Incubation Manager
vHive University of Surrey

Sarah Aitchison

Incubation Manager
vHive University of Surrey

Author:

Justine Conway

Vice President of Business Development & External Innovation
Elanco

Justine Conway

Vice President of Business Development & External Innovation
Elanco

Author:

Paul Dick

President
Paul Dick & Associates

Dr Paul Dick D.V.M. M.Sc. obtained his veterinary medical degree with honours in 1984.

While working in clinical practice he completed his Masters in Immunology and Virology transitioning into the Pharmaceutical industry in 1988. Dr. Dick has over 25 years experience in the pharmaceutical space including general management and leadership roles, business development, commercialization, regulatory affairs, and product development encompassing medicinal, non-medicinal and natural health products.

His work in this sector has ranged from small “start up” companies to medium and large multi-nationals functioning in various capacities from research to COO and CEO.

Dr. Dick has worked extensively with Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on numerous regulatory submissions and on several Departmental Committees.

In addition he has been a recipient of the NSERC Synergy Award and has served as a peer reviewer of NSERC strategic grants. He is currently heading his own consulting firm ( Paul Dick and Associates Ltd.) and is the managing partner and president of a venture capital partnership (Vet Venture Capital Inc.).

Paul Dick

President
Paul Dick & Associates

Dr Paul Dick D.V.M. M.Sc. obtained his veterinary medical degree with honours in 1984.

While working in clinical practice he completed his Masters in Immunology and Virology transitioning into the Pharmaceutical industry in 1988. Dr. Dick has over 25 years experience in the pharmaceutical space including general management and leadership roles, business development, commercialization, regulatory affairs, and product development encompassing medicinal, non-medicinal and natural health products.

His work in this sector has ranged from small “start up” companies to medium and large multi-nationals functioning in various capacities from research to COO and CEO.

Dr. Dick has worked extensively with Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on numerous regulatory submissions and on several Departmental Committees.

In addition he has been a recipient of the NSERC Synergy Award and has served as a peer reviewer of NSERC strategic grants. He is currently heading his own consulting firm ( Paul Dick and Associates Ltd.) and is the managing partner and president of a venture capital partnership (Vet Venture Capital Inc.).

Author:

Charles Hoare

Managing Director, Head of European Healthcare M&A
Stifel

Charles is a healthcare focused investment banker with approximately 20 years’ experience with specialty pharmaceutical companies in the US and Europe. Previously Charles was Managing Director for the international healthcare team at BofA Merrill Lynch and currently leads Commerzbank’s global healthcare team. During this time he has advised multiple companies on public and private capital raises, debt financing, mergers, acquisitions and out-licensing transactions.

He has a particular focus on the veterinary healthcare sector, where he has been involved in transactions for almost all of the top 15 companies in the sector. Recent transactions include advising Virbac on the acquisition of the Sentinel and Sentinel Spectrum brands from Novartis, advising Lohmann Animal Health on its sale to Eli Lilly, advising Pharmaq on Permira’s investment in the company and assisting United Biomedical with creating a global strategic alliance for its swine vaccine portfolio.

Charles also chairs the Commercialisation committee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and serves on the school’s Finance and Planning committee. In addition, he is Chairman of the Bulldog Trust, which funds and supports entrepreneurial charities, and sits on the Boards of Directors of Placehill Limited (growth capital), Laguna Ventures Limited (late stage venture finance) and Atlantic Healthcare plc.

Charles Hoare

Managing Director, Head of European Healthcare M&A
Stifel

Charles is a healthcare focused investment banker with approximately 20 years’ experience with specialty pharmaceutical companies in the US and Europe. Previously Charles was Managing Director for the international healthcare team at BofA Merrill Lynch and currently leads Commerzbank’s global healthcare team. During this time he has advised multiple companies on public and private capital raises, debt financing, mergers, acquisitions and out-licensing transactions.

He has a particular focus on the veterinary healthcare sector, where he has been involved in transactions for almost all of the top 15 companies in the sector. Recent transactions include advising Virbac on the acquisition of the Sentinel and Sentinel Spectrum brands from Novartis, advising Lohmann Animal Health on its sale to Eli Lilly, advising Pharmaq on Permira’s investment in the company and assisting United Biomedical with creating a global strategic alliance for its swine vaccine portfolio.

Charles also chairs the Commercialisation committee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and serves on the school’s Finance and Planning committee. In addition, he is Chairman of the Bulldog Trust, which funds and supports entrepreneurial charities, and sits on the Boards of Directors of Placehill Limited (growth capital), Laguna Ventures Limited (late stage venture finance) and Atlantic Healthcare plc.

Author:

Andreas Kastenbauer

Partner
MIG Capital

Andreas Kastenbauer

Partner
MIG Capital

Author:

Natalie Marks

Executive Committee
VANE

Dr. Natalie Marks is a small animal veterinarian with over twenty years of clinical experience. She owned the largest animal hospital in Chicago. More recently, she has been the founder and president of MarksDVMConsulting, an educational and strategy consulting firm working with companies of all stages nationally and internationally. She is also on the Executive Committee of VANE, the premier veterinary angel network investor group. VANE currently has 28 portfolio companies and provides direction, connection, and funding to start-ups in the animal health space.

Natalie Marks

Executive Committee
VANE

Dr. Natalie Marks is a small animal veterinarian with over twenty years of clinical experience. She owned the largest animal hospital in Chicago. More recently, she has been the founder and president of MarksDVMConsulting, an educational and strategy consulting firm working with companies of all stages nationally and internationally. She is also on the Executive Committee of VANE, the premier veterinary angel network investor group. VANE currently has 28 portfolio companies and provides direction, connection, and funding to start-ups in the animal health space.

Author:

Philippe Moreau

Director
Animal Health Angels

Philippe Moreau

Director
Animal Health Angels

Author:

Julia Stephanus

Partner
Borealis Ventures

Julia Stephanus is a 30 year veteran of the veterinary pharmaceutical industry.  Currently Julia is President of Avviare, a consulting firm specializing in supporting veterinary focused start-ups. 

Julia has been involved in the development and launch of 28 veterinary products.  She has been a senior executive in two start-up pharmaceutical companies (Aratana Therapeutics and Summit VetPharm), and held key positions at multi-nationals including Pfizer (now Zoetis) and its legacy companies.

As Chief Commercial Officer of Aratana Julia provided the commercial leadership resulting in a successful IPO (NASDAQ:PETX), high-impact corporate branding, innovative go-to-market strategies for five therapeutics and the staffing of the inaugural commercial organization.

As founder and CEO of Summit VetPharm, Julia developed and launched a new line of companion animal parasiticides, grew the company to a cash flow positive position with 85 employees in five years and divested the company to Ceva Animal Health in 2010.  A graduate of Indiana University, she has continued her executive training at Harvard, Columbia, University of Chicago and the Wharton School of Business.      

Julia Stephanus

Partner
Borealis Ventures

Julia Stephanus is a 30 year veteran of the veterinary pharmaceutical industry.  Currently Julia is President of Avviare, a consulting firm specializing in supporting veterinary focused start-ups. 

Julia has been involved in the development and launch of 28 veterinary products.  She has been a senior executive in two start-up pharmaceutical companies (Aratana Therapeutics and Summit VetPharm), and held key positions at multi-nationals including Pfizer (now Zoetis) and its legacy companies.

As Chief Commercial Officer of Aratana Julia provided the commercial leadership resulting in a successful IPO (NASDAQ:PETX), high-impact corporate branding, innovative go-to-market strategies for five therapeutics and the staffing of the inaugural commercial organization.

As founder and CEO of Summit VetPharm, Julia developed and launched a new line of companion animal parasiticides, grew the company to a cash flow positive position with 85 employees in five years and divested the company to Ceva Animal Health in 2010.  A graduate of Indiana University, she has continued her executive training at Harvard, Columbia, University of Chicago and the Wharton School of Business.