Kansas Bioscience BIG THINKERS

Scott Deeter, Ventria Bioscience, President & CEO

Scott Deeter is President and CEO of Ventria Bioscience, a plant-made pharmaceutical company developing affordable life saving medicines. Ventria’s products are the first commercial healthcare products utilizing plants as a factory for production of biopharmaceuticals and have been clinically proven to help children with oral rehydration.

• Instrumental in bringing Ventria’s new bioprocessing facility to Junction City, Kansas – putting Kansas at the forefront of innovation in biopharmaceuticals while leveraging Kansas’s historical strength in agricultural innovation.
• Member of BIO’s Food and Agriculture Section Governing Board and chairman of BIO’s Emerging Plant Technologies Policy Committee.
• Led the startup and development of several successful products and businesses for Cargill and Koch Industries.

Dr. David Franz, International Expert, Biosecurity

Dr. David Franz is an international expert and leader in the area of biosecurity – helping to put Kansas at the forefront of biosecurity related industry growth. Dr. Franz stresses he is, “using science as a common language internationally to build understanding…and a little trust.”

• Director of National Agricultural Biosecurity Center at Kansas State University. Vice President and Chief Biological Scientist at the Midwest Research Institute.
  
• Served as Commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
• Served as Chief Inspector on three United Nations Special Commission biological warfare inspection missions to Iraq and technical advisor for the Trilateral Agreement on biological weapons programs in Russia.
• Kansas Bioscience Authority Member.

Joerg Ohle, Bayer HealthCare, LLC Animal Health Division, President & General Manager

Joerg Ohle is President and General Manager of Bayer HealthCare’s Animal Health Division, North America. He’s been instrumental in creating dynamic industry and community partnerships to position Kansas and the Kansas City area as the global center for animal health research and innovation.

• Advisory Board Chairman of Kansas City’s Animal Health Corridor Initiative with the goal to improve the Kansas City area’s share of the global animal health market, which is estimated at 30 percent of the $15 billion industry.
• Working on new initiatives to link Kansas universities to animal health companies in the areas of collaborative research.
• Supporter of Bayer’s “Making Science Make Sense” program and YouthFriends Uplink education initiative.
• Vice Chair of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Kansas Task Force.

Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Kansas Governor

Governor Sebelius has demonstrated a strong commitment to the biosciences beginning with her stewardship of the Kansas Economic Growth Act and its Kansas Bioscience Initiative component. Governor Sebelius continues to demonstrate “big thinking” and leadership in the following areas:

• Leading the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Kansas Task Force – a $451 million project for the state of Kansas.
• Past Chair of Governor’s Ethanol Coalition.
• Promoting wind energy and biofuels production in Kansas, as well as expanded energy conservation.
• Elected chair of the Democratic Governors Association in 2006 and serves on the National Governors Association’s Executive Committee.
• Named one of the nation’s top five governors by Time magazine.

Dr. Valentino Stella, University of Kansas Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Dr. Val Stella is a distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Kansas. Through the mentoring of Tak Higuchi, Dr. Stella became an inventor and entrepreneur in Kansas.

• His influence as an educator and mentor extends around the world. More than 33 patents and 170 former students working in 15 countries.
• First recipient of the KU Technology Transfer Leadership award for his efforts to transform university discoveries into commercial applications.
• Inventor of two drugs for the treatment of epilepsy and AIDS, an experimental anesthetic drug waiting approval and the novel solubilizer, Captisol, used in four commercialized drug products.
• Spun off three Kansas companies – CyDex, CritiTech and ProQuest.

Tom Thornton, Kansas Bioscience Authority, President and CEO

Tom Thornton is implementing a strategic vision while guiding the state in its investment of over $580 million generated by the Kansas Economic Growth Act. Thornton is leading the state’s mission to develop an infrastructure that makes Kansas a center for bioscience research, innovation and commercialization.

• Recruited as the first President and CEO of the Kansas Bioscience Authority.
• Leading the state’s effort to enhance bioscience Research and Development.
• Organized the strategy behind the public/private team pursuing the $451 million dollar National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Kansas
• Developed the regional strategy behind Heartland BioVentures — designed to provide promising bioscience start-ups with business acceleration and access to capital.

Dave Vander Griend, ICM Inc., President and CEO

Dave Vander Griend is President and CEO of ICM, Inc., a world leader in the engineering and construction of ethanol plants. Heavily invested in advancing the production of biofuels from agricultural products, ICM is building a lab and full-scale pilot plant to support its research in cellulosic ethanol and other biorefining technologies underway at its lab in Colwich, KS.

• Helped build the U.S.’ first licensed commercial fuel ethanol distillation equipment.
• Received Distinguished Service Award for helping the ethanol industry increase efficiencies and refine its methods over the past 20 years.
• Serves on Board of Directors for the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council as well as other biorefining and agricultural organizations.