Advisory Committee
Paul Dick
Founder & President, Paul Dick & Associates
Paul Dick, DVM, MSc has over 30 years of experience in the animal health industry with responsibilities ranging from product development, regulatory affairs, business development, product commercialization and general management. Roles in this sector have involved both large and medium multi-nationals, and, small start-up companies in various capacities including COO and CEO level positions. Dr. Dick worked for Elanco Animal Health for 20 years in a variety of management roles including Manager of R & D, Manager of Regulatory Affairs, and, Manager of Quality Control and Corporate Affairs. He eventually became the Chief Operating Officer of Naturagen: a global Elanco Apollo team that was charged with the acquisition, development and commercialization of natural health products for food animals. He successfully led this virtual team and managed a large number of projects simultaneously.
Dr Dick has worked extensively with Health Canada’s Veterinary Drugs Directorate (VDD) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on numerous regulatory submissions and on departmental committees, including Health Canada’s Animal Antimicrobial Resistance Advisory Committee from 1999 to 2002. He has served a number of organizations including as Director of the Canadian Animal Health Institute, President of the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association, and peer reviewer of NSERC strategic grants. Paul has authored / co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, literature reviews and scientific reports for regulatory agencies, veterinary organizations, and, small and large animal health companies.
He also served on the Expert Advisory Committee for Veterinary Natural Health Products, which provided the Health Products and Food Branch of Health Canada with recommendations regarding policies related to the development of a suitable regulatory approach for veterinary natural health products. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Veterinary Drugs Directorate’s Low Risk Veterinary Health Products Interim Notification Program (now the Veterinary Health Products Notification Program).
Paul Dick
Founder & President, Paul Dick & Associates
Lauren Ledwell
CEO, Prince Edward Island BioAlliance
Lauren Ledwell, CEO, PEI BioAlliance is an Atlantic Canada-based leader with a proven track record in business transformation, venture capital, and innovation strategy. Prior to assuming leadership of the PEI BioAlliance, Lauren was with Sandpiper Ventures, where she led Seed and Series A investments focused on inclusive, high-growth technology companies across Canada.
Lauren has a breadth of cross-sector experience — spanning early-stage startups to global multinationals. Her previous roles include a global leadership role in driving digital customer experience at Manulife, corporate strategy and digital innovation at RBC, and commercial operations at Maple Leaf Foods. Before joining Sandpiper Ventures, Lauren was CEO of discoverygarden.
An advocate for Canada’s innovation economy, Lauren co-founded the Atlantic chapter of Women’s Equity Lab and is a mentor with Creative Destruction Lab, Emergence, and Junior Achievement. She also serves as Chair of the Board for the PEI IT Alliance, recently unveiling The Foundry, a new tech hub in PEI. She recently joined Venture for Canada as a Board Director.
Lauren holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management, with executive education from Ivey and BI Norwegian Business School. She is a graduate of the Innovation Governance Program.
Lauren Ledwell
CEO, PEI BioAlliance
Ashley Kalinauskas
CEO, Torigen
Ashley Kalinauskas is the founder and CEO of Torigen, a biotechnology company helping our furry best friends live longer, healthier lives. Their initial product, VetiVax, is a personalized cancer vaccine that was originally developed to move forward for human clinical studies, but was repositioned to help the millions of dogs, cats and horses after a cancer diagnosis. Ashley has grown the company from an idea on the scientific benchtop, to a company of over 30 employees poised to help grow the animal health industry. Ashley has been named to Forbes 30 under 30, Connecticut Entrepreneur of the Year and currently serves on multiple boards and advisory committees advancing innovation within universities and with startup animal health companies.
Ashley Kalinauskas
CEO, Torigen
Austin M. Howes
Director of Global Business Development & Licensing, Merck Animal Health
Austin M. Howes is a Director of Global Business Development & Licensing at Merck Animal Health, where he is engaged in transactions contributing new products and technologies to the division’s biopharmaceutical and technology solutions business units. Since joining Merck in 2013, Mr. Howes has had the privilege of working within Merck’s Canadian human health business, Merck Canada; at Global Headquarters in the Treasury and Corporate Business Development departments; and most recently in the animal health division, Merck Animal Health. Mr. Howes began his career in 2011 as an Analyst in Mergers & Acquisitions at Lazard, based in London, UK.
Mr. Howes is a graduate of Boston College (B.A., 2010) and the London School of Economics (M.Sc., 2011), and he is a CFA charterholder (awarded in 2016). Born in Montreal, Mr. Howes is a Canadian and American dual citizen.
Austin M. Howes
Director of Global Business Development & Licensing, Merck Animal Health
Karen Cunningham
Commercial and Business Development Director, Bimeda
Karen Cunningham is the Commercial and Business Development Director for Continental Europe at Bimeda, a global veterinary pharmaceutical company.
A dynamic and results-oriented senior executive, Karen has over 20 years of experience in international commercial roles within the animal pharmaceutical industry.
Karen holds a master’s degree in Sales Management and is a passionate advocate of the role of generic veterinary pharmaceuticals in democratizing animal health. She actively contributes to the EU regulatory landscape through her involvement with ACCESS VetMed, the body responsible for representing the generic animal health industry at an EU level.
Karen Cunningham
Commercial and Business Development Director, Continental Europe, Bimeda
Ken Rotondo
Founder and President, Rehavior
Dr. Ken Rotondo, an entrepreneur, President and Founder of Rehavior, Inc (formerly Mind Genomics Advisors), has collaborated with a variety of organizations to optimize patient/client & team engagement.
He specializes in effective client communication, customer experience engineering, and consumer insights. He has operated 5 veterinary hospitals, is a Past President of the NYS Veterinary Medical Society, Past Delegate to the AVMA House of Delegates, a member of AVMA Futures Commission, Board Mentor to the Canadian PEI BioAlliance, SPCA International Board of Directors, He currently collaborates with the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, National Cancer Institute (NCI), AMA and others to improve patient engagement and medical outcomes.
Dr. Rotondo has presented at Thought Leadership Summits and conferences including: IBM THINK, IBM Watson, HIMSS, Global Exchange Health Conference, VMX, WVC, Vet Health Global, etc,
Dr. Rotondo lectures annually at several universities including: The Wharton Business School (2012-2020), RPI, Cornell, and other universities on such diverse topics as behavioral economics, marketing analytics and applying machine learning & AI principles to patient/client/consumer communication.
Dr Rotondo holds a DVM degree from Cornell University and MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).
He resides in historic Saratoga Springs, NY with his wife Jill and their dog Lucy.
Ken Rotondo
Founder and President, Rehavior Inc.
Dr. Klaus Hellmann
Head of Europe CRO, Argenta
In the eighties, Klaus studied veterinary medicine followed by a thesis in applied biochemistry in boar reproduction at the Veterinary University in Hannover, Germany.
He started his professional career at Pfizer Animal Health in Germany. Klaus is consulting the animal health industry on the development, registration and placing on the market of animal health products. He has been planning, supervising and conducting safety and efficacy studies testing veterinary medicinal products (VMPs) in all commercially relevant animal species and was involved in numerous registrations of VMPs and Feed Additives during the last 3 decades. He founded and served as the CEO of the contract research organisation and regulatory consultancy KLIFOVET, Munich, Germany. Since May 2022, he is the Chief Veterinary Officer of ARGENTA, as he divested KLIFOVET to be now part of the Argenta Group. Argenta is a unique CDMO focussing exclusively on Animal Health Product development including manufacturing, the conduct of pre-clinical and clinical studies and regulatory support. He is also the founder and CEO of ANISERVE, a company dedicated to support companies to place animal health products on the European markets.
As board certified veterinarian, Klaus has been active in various animal health and veterinary organisations including the Association of Veterinary Consultants (AVC), the European College for Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology and the European Board of Veterinary Specialisation (EBVS). He is member of the ethical committee of the Government of Upper Bavaria, represents practitioners at the stakeholder bureau of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and has been providing input on several committees of EMA for VMPs. He has a strong interest in animal health product innovation and serves on several advisory committees of animal health start-ups. He has been involved, sometimes initiated, organised and hosted multiple international conferences and workshops on animal health and VMPs.
Multiple scientific publications on antiparasitics, antimicrobials, vaccines, biologicals and novel therapies in various animal species and indications, but also on various topics on the regulation and legal requirements on animal health products show his broad spectrum of expertise.
Dr. Klaus Hellmann
Head of Europe CRO, Argenta
Lalit Gaur
Global Head Business Development & Licensing, Vetoquinol
Lalit Gaur is Global Head of Business Development and Licensing for Vetoquinol, one of the leading animal health pharmaceutical company. In this role, Lalit leads a team responsible for new product portfolio enhancement and strategic partnership opportunities. Lalit has accumulated over two decades of progressive experience in business development and licensing function across many segments of healthcare and bio-pharmaceutical industries and consulting.
He started his career in human medical diagnostics, and gained experience in platform technologies, consulting, life science research, animal diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Vetoquinol, Lalit was founder and president of LG Biopartners, LLC, a boutique firm providing consulting services and helping clients build value through strategic options. Before that Lalit was Director of BD&L for Novartis, leading their business development in North America for the animal health division. He joined Novartis from IDEXX, world leader in animal health diagnostics, where he led the licensing and strategic partnerships function.
Lalit Gaur
Global Head Business Development & Licensing, Vetoquinol
Michael Hemprich
Director, Business Development & Strategy, Ceva Sante Animale
Dr. Michael Hemprich is a veterinarian by training. He graduated as veterinary surgeon from Giessen Veterinary Faculty (Justus-Liebig-University) and obtained his PhD (Dr.med.vet) from Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich and also attended a MBA course (Biotechnology) from the University of Potsdam in Germany.
Over the last +26 years, Michael has held multiple global roles in the veterinary industry in Regulatory Affairs, R&D, and Business Development. He also has experience working in the human generic and innovative pharmaceutical industries. Amongst others, Michael has worked for Bremer Pharma, Intervet, LAB International in Canada (Veterinary and Human Pharma), Dechra Pharmaceuticals in the UK and recently for Ceva Santè Animale, France.
Together with two partners he also created Vet Venture Capital Intl. Previously, Michael worked at IDT Biologika in Germany as Global Head of Business Development and Regional Head of Asia and Americas, and was responsible for IDT's Global Autogenous Vaccine Strategy. Following the acquisition of IDT's Animal Health business by Ceva Santé Animale in July 2019, he joined the Ceva Strategy and Business Development (SBD) Group in a Director role, responsible for both Asia and Europe, which he left in mid 2024 to take a sabbatical. After his return end of 2024, he will be revisiting his next career move.
Michael Hemprich
DVM, PhD, MRCVS
Tom Campi
CEO, Modulent Biosciences
Dr. Tom Campi is the CEO of Modulant Biosciences, an animal health biotechnology company focusing on therapies for infectious and chronic diseases. The current pipeline includes drugs for FIP, a fatal coronavirus in cats; Parvo, a serious enteric disease in dogs, PRRSv, a continuing problem for the swine industry; and in oncology, a series of drugs with broad effectiveness.
He is also Chief Scientific Officer for Veloviapharma, a drug development company with several compounds ready for clinical trials.
Dr. Campi was formerly a founding partner in Reliance Animal Health Partners and Covenant Animal Health Partners, two other drug development companies, from which he recently retired.
He was also Head of Research & Regulatory Affairs for Huvepharma. His responsibilities included establishing regulatory strategies and directing R&D for vaccines, pioneer and generic drugs for food animals.
Prior to Huvepharma, Tom worked for Elanco Animal Health and held various positions over a career spanning more than 25 years. His roles included directing regulatory affairs in the US and Western Europe, and directing Technology Acquisitions, where he was responsible for leading a team of scientists who evaluated novel medicines and vaccine candidates for further development in companion and food animals.
Tom received his DVM and Master of Preventive Veterinary Medicine (MPVM) degrees from the University of California, Davis.
Tom Campi
CEO, Modulant Biosciences