”What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes
Leslie J. Williams
OPERATING PARTNER
Ms. Leslie Williams is a 25-year biopharmaceutical veteran and is an experienced biotech CEO and board of directors’ member. She has experience in healthcare, management, commercial product development and marketing. In 2010 she founded ImmusanT, Inc. and served as Director, President & CEO of ImmusanT until 2019 with the reverse merger. Prior to that she was President & CEO of Ventaira Pharmaceuticals and under her leadership the company became a significant player in the pulmonary drug-delivery market until it was sold at the end of 2007. Prior to Ventaira, Ms. Williams was director of sales & marketing for INO Therapeutics, Inc. and additional experience includes commercial positions at Merck and GSK, and drug-delivery and -monitoring experience at Datex-Ohmeda (formerly Ohmeda, Inc.). She was a venture partner at Battelle Ventures where she sourced and evaluated deals and assisted early-stage technology companies with strategy, management, business development and M&A. She has served on several private, public and non-profit boards. She currently serves on the Board of Ocular Therapeutix (Nasdaq: OCUL), Windtree Therpaeutics (Nasdaq: WINT), CSCRI (Coral Sea Research Institute), and the Board of Advisors of Life Science Cares. She advises biopharma companies and serves as an EIR at the University of Iowa and University of Virginia. Williams is a founding member of MassVX, and is a mentor at the GLG Institute. She also serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Life Science Leader as well as The Journal of Advanced Therapies and Medical Innovation Sciences.
Ms. Williams holds an MBA from Washington University, John Olin School of Business, and a B.S. degree with honors in nursing from the University of Iowa. Before entering industry, she was a critical-care nurse at Duke University, Medical College of Virginia and at the University of Iowa.