James D. Herbert, PhD, President, University of New England

James D. Herbert is the sixth president of the University of New England, serving since July 2017. President Herbert has led the university in developing and executing a strategic plan that centers UNE’s mission to enhance the health of individuals, communities, and the natural world, overseeing growth in academic, research, and athletic programs, new facilities, and strategic external partnerships. He is a champion of the university as the ultimate marketplace of ideas and an advocate for the transformational marriage of active classroom instruction with experiential learning.

Kevin Mills, PhD, President & CEO, BioKansas, Keynote Speaker

Kevin Mills has been President & CEO of BioKansas since March 2024. Prior to his current role he was the Chief Scientific Officer for the National Hemophilia Foundation. He previously co-founded two biotechnology startups, Cyteir Therapeutics and Zubibio. Dr. Mills was a faculty member at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor (ME) from 2005 to 2016. He received his PhD from MIT and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School.

Patrick Woodcock, President & CEO, Maine State Chamber of Commerce

Patrick joined the Maine State Chamber in October 2023 as President and CEO after returning to his home state from serving in a number of state energy leadership positions in New England. Prior to joining the Chamber, Patrick was the Commissioner of the Department of Energy Resources under Governor Charlie Baker in Massachusetts, where he oversaw offshore wind procurements, new building codes, solar policies, and all other state and regional energy policies. He also served on the Board of the National Association of State Energy Officials, and several state and regional energy boards. Prior to working in Massachusetts, Patrick was Director of the Maine Energy Office from 2013 to 2016 in the Governor LePage Administration where he led efforts to expand air source heat pump adoption and other energy efficiency investments. He previously served as an adviser to former U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe in her Washington, D.C. office. Patrick graduated from Bowdoin College in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government.

Dana O’Brien, Founder & President, BioHarbor Strategies

Dana O’Brien: Dana is the founder and president of BioHarbor Strategies, a boutique public affairs consulting firm centered on boosting the blue bioeconomy through sustainability and science. He is an accomplished government and association executive with significant experience in public policy, communications, and coalition building. Dana has a record of securing lasting and impactful policy wins in complicated political environments and holds deep connections with players in government and across the food and agriculture value chain. He began his career on Capitol Hill serving as Legislative Director for Congressman Ike Skelton, a bipartisan and respected leader on rural development and military affairs. He then served as Executive Vice President for Food and Agriculture and Chief Sustainability Officer at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and as President of FocusMaine. Dana is a member of the BioME advocacy committee and the Maine Ballot Question Committee seeking voter approval of the Maine Research and Development Bond (Question #2) this fall. He is also a passionate advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and serves on the Board of Directors of The Cultivating Change Foundation, an organization dedicated to valuing and elevating LGBTQ+ people in food and agriculture. Dana is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia and resides in Oguniquit with his husband Kevin Kelley and his dog, Murphy.

Michael Brigham, President & CEO, ImmuCell Corporation

Mr. Brigham was appointed to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer in February 2000, while maintaining the titles of Treasurer and Secretary, and was appointed to serve as a Director of the Company in March 1999. He previously had been elected Vice President of the Company in December 1998 and had served as Chief Financial Officer since October 1991. He has served as Secretary since December 1995 and as Treasurer since October 1991. Prior to that, he served as Director of Finance and Administration since originally joining the Company in September 1989. Mr. Brigham served as a member of the Board of Directors of the United Way of York County from 2012 to 2019, serving as its Treasurer until June 2016 and as Chair of the Board of Directors for one year and as a member of its Executive Committee. Mr. Brigham served as the Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Kennebunk Free Library from 2005 to 2011. He re-joined the Finance Committee of the library in 2012. Prior to joining the Company, he was employed as an audit manager for the public accounting firm of Ernst & Young in New York City. Mr. Brigham earned his Masters in Business Administration from New York University in 1989 and a Bachelor of Arts degree (with a double major in Economics and Spanish) from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut in 1983.

Julia Brown, PhD, Research Scientist, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences

Julia is a Research Scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. Julia has a multidisciplinary background, having earned an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Carleton College, a PhD in Microbiology from Cornell University, and postdoctoral experience in Systems and Computational Biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Brown came to Bigelow as a Bioinformatician for the Single Cell Genomics Center in 2016, was promoted to Bioinformatics Scientist in 2020 and Research Scientist in 2022. Brown has worked on several high-impact research projects resulting in highly cited publications, including discovery of novel marine viruses, development of techniques to link physical traits of wild microbial cells to their genomes, and discovery that viruses serve as a food source for the ocean’s smallest eukaryotes.

Julia’s current research aims to characterize the diversity and roles of marine viruses and microbes in order to better understand their activity and potential within climate relevant ecosystems. Her research utilizes integrated field-based sampling approaches coupled with state-of-the-art nucleic acid sequencing technologies and advanced bioinformatic analyses to draw out novel, otherwise unseen connections and relationships. Julia is also involved in educational activities at Bigelow such as mentoring undergraduate interns, teaching for Bigelow’s Sea Change Semester, and hosting data carpentry and bioinformatics workshops.

Shane O’Neill, Forest Industry Business Development Manager, University of Maine

Shane O’Neill is the Forest Industry Business Development Manager at the University of Maine in Orono. Shane serves as a forest sector ombudsman for Maine’s forest economy, identifying resources and capacities within the University of Maine System, state agencies and non-profits to support forest-focused businesses and communities across the region and coordinating impactful projects to advance forest-based innovations.

Shane works across the forest supply chain and products markets with established businesses and startups to increase competitiveness, commercialize new products, advance business development, and increase workforce access and participation. Shane is also deeply involved in diverse multi-partner collaboration efforts across the state and region, including the Forest Opportunity Roadmap/Maine, Maine’s EDA Forest Bioeconomy Tech Hub, and an NSF Engines regional forest economy innovation accelerator across Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Shane’s education is in Wood Science focused on industrial processing and composites, with degrees from Michigan Technological University and the University of Maine. Prior to his current role at UMaine, Shane spent 18 years in technical, manufacturing, and management roles across the building products, injection molding, and packaging industries, founding two consulting LLCs focused on product innovation and forest-based composites technical research.

Kaitlyn Haase, Director of Quality & Research, Kinotek

Kaitlyn Haase is the Director of Quality & Research at Kinotek, a Portland, ME-based startup revolutionizing how people understand and track movement health through advanced technology. In this role, Kaitlyn oversees and guides Kinotek’s research and quality management strategies, ensuring alignment with business goals and product development. With a strong background in data science and UX research, she brings extensive experience from her previous positions, including as Research Manager at the VEMI Lab and Research Analyst at the Spatial Knowledge & Artificial Intelligence Lab at the University of Maine.

Kaitlyn earned a B.S. in Mathematics and Secondary Education from the University of Maine at Farmington in 2013, and an M.S. in Spatial Information Science & Engineering from the University of Maine in 2018.
She is also a passionate advocate for women and children in STEM, actively promoting gender equality and inspiring the next generation of innovators through outreach programs, mentoring, and workshop opportunities.

Janet Yancey-Wrona, PhD, Technology Business Development Manager, University of Maine

Janet is the Technology Business Development Manager for the University of Maine, helping to commercialize important new discoveries from the University. This position follows a variety of management positions in life sciences-based companies. After beginning her professional career as a research scientist at IDEXX Labs, Janet served as the founding President of the Maine Technology Institute, overseeing more than $40 million in investments for R&D in Maine-based organizations. From there, she moved on to manage two pharmaceutical start-ups, a research products company and served a variety of marketing roles, most recently as Director of Marketing for the testing business at Lonza, one of the world’s largest healthcare manufacturing companies. Janet’s background includes a doctoral degree in biology from the University of North Carolina, and a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health.

Patrick Breeding, Co-Founder & CEO, Marin Skincare

Patrick is a biotechnology entrepreneur and co-founder of Marin Skincare, which develops active skincare ingredients from sustainable marine sources, and brings products to people through their brand Marin Skincare. Marin creates gentle and effective skincare products for people with eczema, psoriasis and dry skin using a glycoprotein found in lobster as the key ingredient. He is also a co-founder of KinoTek, an innovative movement analysis startup using motion capture and virtual reality to visualize, analyze and communicate biomechanical information to decrease risk of musculoskeletal injury.

Patrick earned his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering in 2017 and M.S. in Biomedical Engineering in 2019 from the University of Maine. He is passionate about biotechnology research and commercialization in various fields, spanning skincare, marine bioresources, drug development, medical education and sports performance innovation, and enjoys participating in regular K-12 outreach experiences motivating and mentoring students for careers in STEM.

Aileen Huang-Saad, PhD, MBA, Director of Life Sciences and Engineering Programs and Associate Professor of Bioengineering, The Roux Institute at Northeastern University

Aileen Huang-Saad is the Director of Life Sciences, Health, and Engineering Programs at Northeastern’s Roux Institute (Portland, Maine) and an Associate Professor of Bioengineering. Leveraging her experience with design, entrepreneurship, education research, and industry, she seeks close the gap between higher education and professional practice. Specifically, she is designing interdisciplinary experiential education life sciences, health, and engineering programs to attract, retain, and advance talent in the state of Maine. These programs are designed to re-imagine how higher education and communities can work together to impact economic and talent development. Dr. Huang-Saad currently serves as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Springer’s Biomedical Engineering Education and is a member of the Maine State Workforce Board and the National Academies’ Roundtable on Systemic Change in Undergraduate STEM Education. She is also an American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Fellow.

Michael McKernan, Director, Government & Community Relations, The Jackson Laboratory

Michael McKernan is Director of Government and Community Relations, The Jackson Laboratory (JAX), Bar Harbor. JAX is an independent, non-profit, biomedical laboratory and a world leader in the development and use of mouse models for human disease research. Mike advocates for JAX and life sciences R&D at the state and federal level, builds and sustains community partnerships, and helps support a range of JAX strategic operating initiatives including housing, childcare, and transportation. He works with JAX scientists to establish points of connection between their research and statewide health concerns including aging, cancer, and addiction. Mike brings to his work a special focus on education and workforce development. For over 20 years prior to his current role, he directed STEM and undergraduate education programs at both JAX and the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory.

Phoenix McLaughlin, Director of Strategy Implementation, Maine Department of Economic and Community Development

Phoenix McLaughlin is the Director of Strategy Implementation at the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development. In this role, he oversees the Maine Economic Development Strategy and manages numerous Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan initiatives. Previously, Phoenix led the department’s business incentives programs, including the development of the Dirigo Business Incentives program, and worked on legislative affairs. Additionally, he managed special projects for the Commissioner and the Office of Business Development, including the creation of the State’s Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Tech Hub. McLaughlin received a B.A. in International Political Economy from Colorado College and a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. He resides in Lewiston.