California Life Sciences Association (CLSA), the statewide public policy and business leadership trade association representing California’s innovative life sciences industry, has added to the diverse background and expertise of its board of directors with the appointment of six new and influential members. The new directors are:

• David Beier, J.D., Managing Director – Bay City Capital
• Ranjeet Banerjee, Worldwide President, Medication Management Solutions – Becton, Dickinson And Company (BD)
• Jane Close Conoley, Ph.D., President – California State University, Long Beach
• Ho Sung Cho, Ph.D., Vice President, Biotherapeutics – Celgene
• Fritz Bittenbender, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs – Genentech
• Steve Kay, Ph.D., D.Sc., Director of Convergent Biosciences – University of Southern California

“As California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) celebrates the 2nd anniversary of its formation from the merger of BayBio and California Healthcare Institute (CHI), we are grateful to have such a distinguished board to help us sustain and grow California’s continued world leadership in life sciences innovation,” said Sara Radcliffe, President & CEO, CLSA. “Throughout our rich 40-year history of advocacy and business leadership, CLSA has worked ceaselessly to inform policymakers and other stakeholders about the importance of California’s extraordinary life sciences ecosystem. The guidance and direction from these six executives and their respective organizations will help our association strengthen our influence and impact across the sector and at the federal, state, and local levels.”

Beier is a Managing Director of Bay City Capital and has been with the firm since 2013. He is a globally recognized leader in health care policy, pricing, intellectual property, government affairs, regulatory affairs, health care economics, and product commercialization. Having spent two decades on senior management teams for Amgen and Genentech, the two largest biotech companies in the world, he contributes invaluable perspective regarding strategy for entrepreneurial biotechs, needs of potential acquirers, and the global healthcare industry. 

Banerjee is the Worldwide President of BD’s Medication Management Solutions (MMS) business unit, a $2.3B business that encompasses the Pyxis Dispensing and Alaris Infusion solutions businesses. He is a member of the BD Medical Segment Leadership Team.

Dr. Conoley serves as the seventh President of California State University, Long Beach. Prior to assuming this role, she was the interim Chancellor of the University of California Riverside. She has also held leadership positions at the University of California Santa Barbara, Texas A&M University, and at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. Dr. Conoley is the author, co-author, or editor of over 120 books, articles, and book chapters. She co-authored her latest book, “Positive Psychology and Family Therapy,” with her husband, Dr. Collie W. Conoley. 

Since joining Celgene in 2014, Dr. Cho has served in a leadership role focused on integrating internal and external capabilities and programs to deliver transformative medicines based on recombinant DNA technologies. Dr. Cho is the site-head for Celgene San Diego Campus Point and serves on the executive team for the Immuno-oncology TCoE. Dr. Cho is a Protein Medicinal Chemist with more than 25 years of experience in recombinant protein design, expression, purification, modification, and analysis. 

Bittenbender is Senior Vice President, Government Affairs for Genentech. In this capacity, he has oversight of Federal Government Affairs, Public Policy and Reimbursement, State Government Affairs, and Alliance & Advocacy Relations. He serves as a member of Genentech’s U.S. Leadership Team. 

Dr. Kay serves as the Director of Convergent Biosciences, and is a Provost Professor of Neurology, Biomedical Engineering, and Biological Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California. Dr. Kay, is one of the world’s top experts on the genetics and genomics of circadian rhythms. Having published more than 200 papers, he was named by Thomson Reuters as one of “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” in 2014 and has been cited in Science magazine’s “Breakthroughs of the Year” three times since 1997. 

California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) is a life sciences advocacy and business leadership organization. With offices in Sacramento, San Diego, South San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington DC, CLSA works closely with industry, government, academia, and others to shape public policy, improve access to innovative technologies, and grow California’s life sciences economy. CLSA serves biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics companies, research universities and institutes, investors, and service providers throughout the Golden State. CLSA was founded in 2015 when the Bay Area Bioscience Association (BayBio) and the California Healthcare Institute (CHI) merged.