At COO (Boardroom Media) we track over 1,000,000 startups and over 5,000,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top California based COO’ operating in the Biopharma space. If you think a COO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on [email protected].
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Don Calabria
COO of Endonovo Therapeutics
Don Calabria Chief Operating Officer brings over seventeen years of leadership and experience in national business operations to emerging growth companies, mergers and acquisitions, finance, and business development. Mr. Calabria has a deep level of experience in analyzing companies, determining the operational efficiencies, and conducting operational due diligence on targeted acquisitions. Previously, Mr. Calabria served as President of Gemini Consulting Group, Inc., a boutique consulting firm which specialized in providing consulting services to companies in multiple marker segments with a core focus directed towards capital structuring and investments, brand strategy and marketing, M&A activities, and operational efficiencies. Prior to this, Mr. Calabria was the VP of Operations for TrinTel Communications; the largest privately held Infrastructure Company in the wireless telecommunications industry. As part of the Company’s initial Senior Management team, which grew the company to a $350+ million valuation in under three years, Mr. Calabria specialized in managing joint venture agreements and strategic alliances as well as directing all subsidiary operations including regional sales, marketing, and business development practices. Prior to this, as the Director of Operations for Wireless Solutions, LLC, he helped facilitate the sale of the company to TrinTel Communications. Mr. Calabria holds an MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University and a BS in Management from Arizona State University.
Follow Don Calabria:
About Endonovo Therapeutics: Endonovo Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing off-the-shelf regenerative products.
Kyle Giffin
Co-founder, Chief Operating Officer of LatchBio
Kyle Giffin is a Co-founder at Latch Bio.
Follow Kyle Giffin:
About LatchBio: Latch Bio builds and disseminates free to use data infrastructure for the the biocomputing revolution.
Stelios Tzannis
Founder and COO of Aeovian Pharmaceuticals
Stelios Tzannis is the Founder and COO of Aeovian Pharmaceuticals.
Follow Stelios Tzannis:
About Aeovian Pharmaceuticals, Delos Pharmaceuticals: Aeovian Pharmaceuticals aims to discover, develop, and commercialize therapeutics for the treatment of rare and age-related diseases.
Suma Krishnan
Founder & Chief Operating Officer of Krystal Biotech
Suma Krishnan is the Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Krystal Biotech. She earned a degree of Master of Science in Organic Chemistry from Villanova University.
Follow Suma Krishnan:
About Krystal Biotech, Light Matters Foundation: Krystal Biotech provide significant clinical benefit for patients suffering from rare debilitating disorders..
Keita Funakawa
COO of Nanome
As a scientifically minded artist, Keita grew up in Tokyo then moved to Honolulu where he attended middle and high school. As the lead programmer for his high school robotics team, he led his team to two time (2009,2010) state championships at the East Oahu VEX robotics competitions. As an award winning filmmaker, his film Foliage: Roots of the Tree Barrel won the 2014 HIFF (Hawaii International Film Festival) student showcase and was named San Diego Surf Film Festival’s Emerging Filmmaker. During my undergraduate career, after reading about Mt.Gox in late 2013, I found a new passion for cryptocurrencies and blockchain which made me switch my degree from Computer Science to Management Science (Quantitative Economics). Being the Assistant Curator for the UC San Diego Film Festival, I was exposed to VR since 2014. When I first experienced the google cardboard and the HTC vive, I decided that I could no longer be a painter when photography just got invented, sort of speak. This led me to learn as much as I could about VR. At the Festival I met Steve, who told me about his idea for Nanome (formerly NanoVR) in April 2015. Nanome is a software company that democratizes Science to accelerate innovation using Virtual Reality and Blockchain Technologies.
Follow Keita Funakawa:
About Nanome: Nanome is a virtual reality software company that offers a collaborative XR software platform for molecular design.
Willis C. Lee
Chief Operating Officer of Emmaus Medical
Mr. Lee has more than 25 years of management and consulting experience with influential companies in the semiconductor and healthcare industries. Prior to joining Emmaus, Mr. Lee led worldwide sales and business development of Yield Dynamics’ product group at MKS Instruments. He joined the Comapany in 2009 and has served as Chief Operating Officer since May 2011. He has held various managerial and senior positions at companies including HPL, Syntricity and Reden & Anders, a subsidiary of United Healthcare that provides actuarial services including capitation and risk assessment analyses for healthcare insurance carriers. Mr. Lee received his B.S. and M.S. in Physics from University of Hawaii and University of South Carolina, respectively. He was a member of the American Physical Society, completed TQM/SPC programs, and has published papers in Nuclear Instruments and Methods.
Follow Willis C. Lee:
About Emmaus Medical: Emmaus Medical is a pharmaceutical company developing new treatments for rare diseases and conditions.
Douglas Bonhaus
Chief Operating Officer of Neuropore Therapies
Chief Executive Officer at Neuropore Therapies, Inc.
Follow Douglas Bonhaus:
About Neuropore Therapies, Neuropore Therapies: San Diego-based Neuropore, a biopharmaceuticals firm developing treatments for Parkinson’s disease.
Douglas Bonhaus
Chief Operating Officer of Neuropore Therapies
Chief Executive Officer at Neuropore Therapies, Inc.
Follow Douglas Bonhaus:
About Neuropore Therapies, Neuropore Therapies: San Diego-based Neuropore, a biopharmaceuticals firm developing treatments for Parkinson’s disease.
Nicholas Hodge
President & Chief Operating Officer of SeaChange Pharmaceuticals
Nick Hodge received a Ph.D. in Organic and Analytical Chemistry from Cornell University. He has held senior leadership positions at DuPont Merck, Caliper Technologies, Amphora Discovery (founder) and Ruga. Inventions from his corporate R&D labs include drugs for human clinical trials in several therapeutic areas, computational methods for drug design, and biological screening technology. Nick has extensive experience in the conception and execution of platform drug discovery startups, including commercialization strategy, fund-raising, business development, sales and management.
Follow Nicholas Hodge:
About SeaChange Pharmaceuticals: SeaChange develops chemoinformatic and statistical methods to uncover links between drug molecules and the biological targets.
Nicholas Hodge
President & Chief Operating Officer of SeaChange Pharmaceuticals
Nick Hodge received a Ph.D. in Organic and Analytical Chemistry from Cornell University. He has held senior leadership positions at DuPont Merck, Caliper Technologies, Amphora Discovery (founder) and Ruga. Inventions from his corporate R&D labs include drugs for human clinical trials in several therapeutic areas, computational methods for drug design, and biological screening technology. Nick has extensive experience in the conception and execution of platform drug discovery startups, including commercialization strategy, fund-raising, business development, sales and management.
Follow Nicholas Hodge:
About SeaChange Pharmaceuticals: SeaChange develops chemoinformatic and statistical methods to uncover links between drug molecules and the biological targets.
Toshi Maruyama
Founder and COO/CSO of Abwiz Bio
Follow Toshi Maruyama:
About Abwiz Bio, Chiba University: We provide researchers world-wide with top-quality monoclonal antibodies