Women Leaders in Life Sciences

Editor’s Note: The Mid-Atlantic region is chocked full of high-profile health care companies that call Maryland home. Many of them are led by brilliant, innovative leaders who just happen to also be women. Below we feature just a handful of these amazing women.

Margot Connor, Chief Executive Officer, RoosterBio Inc.

Margot Connor has over 25 years of experience in diversified Life Science industries bringing executive level expertise to business operations, corporate development and mergers and acquisitions. When Connor took the helm at RoosterBio in 2015, the start-up had only five employees. The company has since grown rapidly to become a leader in the stem cell biomanufacturing industry. It now has about 40 employees in a state-of-the-art facility in Frederick.

The cell manufacturing platform technology that RoosterBio developed simplifies and standardizes how stem cells are purchased and utilized in development. It saves time and money for its customers. RoosterBio raised funding upwards of $22 million by 2019 and under Connor’s leadership the company continues to grow. Connor joined RoosterBio after four years at her own consulting company dealing mostly with corporate development and mergers and acquisitions. She has been involved in about 20 transactions valued at $1.5 million over the course of her career.

Connor has served as Corporate Development Director for LONZA Group in Basil, Switzerland, and as Vice President and Head of Business Development for LONZA Walkersville, Inc. She held senior positions at FMC, Chr. Hansen and Unilever. Conner holds a degree in Textile Chemistry/Marketing from the University of Maryland.

Leigh T. Howe, President & CEO, Maryland Photon Treatment Center

Leigh T. Howe has built her career on health care, banking and financing expertise. As President and CEO of the Maryland Photon Treatment Center since 2018, she has helped secure the future of the Center through the sale of $277.4 million in tax-free municipal bonds. This influx of capital has reduced debt and insured that the Center can continue to offer photon treatments to cancer patients. Prior to this Howe was Executive Vice President and Chief Credit and Risk Officer for CFC Community Bank in Baltimore.

Howe was a founding principal in Windsor Healthcare Equities in 2007 and served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer for the Baltimore based company. At Windsor Howe built a portfolio of health care assets in senior housing, assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing, medical office buildings and medical technology amounting to $500 million. 

From 1978 to 1995 Howe served as a senior vice president at Equitable Trust and NationsBank in the first health care banking group in Maryland. She joined M&T Bank in 1995 as an administrative vice president in health care banking where she managed a portfolio of $4 billion. Howe is a native of Baltimore and holds an MBA in Finance from Loyola University Maryland.

Megan Bailey, Chief Executive Officer, Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc.

Megan Bailey has served as Chief Executive Officer of Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc. (PGDx) since April of last year. When she joined the company in 2018 she served first as Vice President of Marketing and then as Chief Commercial Officer. Her leadership in marketing, sales, customer support and communications along with her ability to develop and execute global strategies led to her current position. Bailey’s extensive knowledge of clinical diagnostics has been proven while at PGDx with her contributions to obtaining CE marks for products and building collaborations with the Mayo Clinic, PathGroup and others.

Bailey spent more than 14 years at Roche before joining PGDx. She held various marketing leadership roles for the Tissue Diagnostics division, which included multiple product launches, and development and execution of commercial strategies for different product lines. She was integral in developing collaborations with some of the largest Integrated Health Networks. Then, as Senior Director of Commercial Operations at Roche, Bailey led sales teams across Roche’s Clinical Chemistry/Immunoassay, Molecular, Tissue, and Point of Care divisions in the Southeast. 

A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, she holds a Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina.

Wendy Perrow, Maryland Life Sciences Advisory Board

Wendy Perrow is a skilled business leader in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields. She currently serves as a member of the Maryland Life Sciences Advisory Board and is an advisor to the Maryland Momentum Fund, Maryland TEDCO Review Board, and Co-Chair of Executive Women in Bio. Formerly, Perrow served as CEO of AsclepiX Therapeutics, Inc. and Alba Therapeutics, Inc. and has held senior executive positions with private and public pharmaceutical companies.

When at AsclepiX Therapeutics, Inc. Perrow’s team building skills led to the development of novel ophthalmology and oncology peptide therapeutics. She was also successful in raising private sector and non-dilutive funding for the company. In 2017 Perrow was named Entrepreneur of the Year in Maryland and in 2020 was selected as CEO of the Leadership Excellence Campaign by JP Morgan Chase.

While CEO of Alba Therapeutics Perrow was able to complete a licensing agreement with Innovate Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., and do work regarding clinical trials for Celiac Disease. In the course of her career she has held positions in marketing, marketing promotion, international business research analysis, training and sales. Perrow has an M.B.A. from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in international finance and marketing.

Rachel K. King, Co-Founder and CEO, GlycoMimetics, Inc.

Rachel K. King co-founded GlycoMimetics, Inc. (GMI) in 2003 and has served as its CEO since its inception. In 2013 and 2014 King shepherded the oncology-focused biotech company through the IPO process. Under her leadership, GMI secured an exclusive global licensing agreement with Pfizer for work on a drug to help sickle-cell blood problems. She was also successful in raising significant capital for the company. In 2013 King was honored with the Executive of the Year Award from the Maryland Tech Council in recognition of her leadership and innovation in the technology and life science community in Maryland.

Prior to GMI, King was Executive in Residence at New Enterprise Associates, a leading venture capital firm. This followed her time as a Senior Vice President at Novartis Corporation, which followed 10 years with Genetic Therapy, Inc. where she moved with the company through its early stages, IPO and eventual sale to Novartis Corporation. After the sale she served as CEO for the wholly owned subsidiary.

King also worked previously for ALZA Corporation in Palo Alto, and at Bain and Company in Boston. She is on the board of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and other biotech boards. She holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

 

Martine Rothblatt, Founder and CEO, United Therapeutics

Martine Rothblatt is founder and CEO of United Therapeutics (UTHR), located in Silver Spring. She is also a lawyer, entrepreneur, author and one of the highest paid females in biotech. Rothblatt early saw the potential of satellite radio and was one of the co-founders of Sirius XM radio. After its IPO she left to move into biotech. Rothblatt’s motivation was to find a way to help her then five-year old daughter, who had been diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension, considered fatal at the time.

Her research paid off. Rothblatt was able to get GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to license a molecule to her scientists at UTHR which they were able to develop into Remodulin. It saved the life of her daughter, and countless other lives since then. Other FDA approved drugs followed this first success. UTHR is now exploring organ manufacturing, specifically lungs that resist rejection by the human body.

In 2016 Rothblatt was one of three recipients of an award from the Maryland Tech Council recognizing the impact of their work locally and globally. Rothblatt holds a B.A., J.D., and M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Ph.D. from Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. I95