War on Talent: Upskilling Life Sciences in Scotland

Keynote Speaker - Sara Thiam

As the CEO of Prosper, Sara helps ensure members’ thinking shapes government and industry action for the better. She co-chairs the Green Heat Finance Task Force with the Scottish Government’s Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings and the New Deal for Business Wellbeing Group. Sara is a former Director for the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in Scotland and member of the Infrastructure Commission for Scotland. Her non-exec roles include Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (now BE-ST).

Sara’s career in economic development includes the Glasgow Edinburgh Collaboration Initiative and EU projects designed to stimulate Scottish innovation. Her early career involved the setting up of the Eurodesk youth information service subsequently replicated throughout the EU. Sara holds a BA (Hons) in modern languages from the University of Stirling.

Speaker Linda Scobie - Professor Scobie has been at GCU since 2007 and originally moved from Glasgow University Veterinary School. She is involved in teaching on the Biomedical Science and Microbiology programmes. In addition, Professor Scobie leads a research group interested in viral zoonoses in the context of novel technologies such as xenotransplantation, and the contribution and/or reactivation of viruses in chronic disease conditions. Professor Scobie is a member of the World Health Organisation committee for the global consultation on regulatory requirements for xenotransplantation trials.

Speaker Maureen Wedderburn - Non-Executive Chair, Director, Coach and Advisor. She is currently the Supervisory Board Chair for the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre at CPI in Glasgow and is an advisor to Biotech and Digital start-up companies.

Maureen has 35 years of experience, principally at GSK, as a senior digital and technology executive with global responsibility and deep expertise in the management of manufacturing and supply chain operations. This experience spans operational and technology remits, where she has both led and strategically directed global product and transformational programmes across complex multi-national businesses. In addition, Maureen serves as an advisory board member for CIONET UK – helping digital leaders achieve their global ambitions and, as a member of the UK innovation council, identifying future trends and industry responses.

Speaker Eleanor Shaw - A values-led, inclusive entrepreneurial leader with more than 25 years’ experience of working with entrepreneurs, complimented by a portfolio of entrepreneurship research that has informed the design and delivery of entrepreneurial education, influenced entrepreneurial policy, and guided the development of successful growth interventions which have supported the scale up of numerous Scottish ventures. Eleanor is a senior leader within the Higher Education sector and is passionate about using her knowledge, expertise, and networks to unlock entrepreneurial potential across Scotland’s economy and she is especially committed to using data and evidence to provide equal access to entrepreneurial opportunities and the resources, including access to finance and networks, to be able to act on these. . She holds an MA and a PhD from the University of Glasgow and was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours List 2022 for her services to Entrepreneurship and Education.

Eleanor holds a number of board and external appointments, in addition to the Beatson Cancer Charity she sits on the boards of Enable, the Chartered Association of Business Schools, and the Gender Index. .She also sits on the People, Talent & Leadership Committee of the Scaleup Institute.

Speaker Yvonne Crabbe - Head of People Strategy Execution at Merck. Her key responsibility is to ensure employee engagement and personal development which are the key factors in employee happiness and retention. This work involves advocating the company culture, values, and policies, oversee and seek to improve the end to end employee journey experience from identifying strong talent, recruiting and onboarding to the training and development they receive.

An experienced coach and mentor with the ability to develop people and support them to realise their potential through effective coaching and utilising approaches such as Strengths Finder, Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Unconscious Bias using her breadth of experience of over 20 years in various leadership roles across 4 different business sectors.

Yvonne is actively involved in Women in Leadership Programmes, Employee Resource Groups and is the Merck UK Ambassador for Diversity Equity and Inclusion.

Speaker Sean McGrath - Sean McGrath was appointed Chief Executive of Entrepreneurial Scotland in July 2021.

He is on the Advisory Boards of Scottish EDGE Fund and Glasgow City Innovation District and is a member of the Advisory Council for Economic Transformation, chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy.

Sean is a Chartered Accountant and joined the Foundation in May 2019 as Finance Director. Prior to this he worked with leading brands including Red Bull, NorthgateArinso and Monster.com and held a number of financial management roles within organisations such as Deloitte and London & Scottish Investments.

A passionate advocate of entrepreneurial thinking, Sean firmly believes that Scotland’s future will be shaped by those who think, act and lead in an entrepreneurial way.

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