Community & Career Development

On January 19, 2023, Michelle Lipkowitz and Mintz co-hosted the Women’s White Collar Defense Association Winter Cocktail Reception with Baker Donelson. The networking event for the DC chapter had an excellent turnout.

Mintz is proud to sponsor Women In Bio, an organization committed to promoting careers, leadership, and entrepreneurship for women in biotech and life sciences — a mission deeply aligned with our global life sciences practice. The women-owned businesses event included speakers who detailed their real work experiences with founding, fundraising, and investing in women-owned businesses.

Speakers:

• Melanie Ruthrauff Levy, Mintz Member
• Sabrina Johnson, President and CEO of Daré Bioscience
• Pascal Krotee, Investment Associate at RiverVest
• Lily Li, Principal at Northpond Ventures
• Victoria Smith, Moderator, Vice-Chair, Women In Bio Entrepreneur Center

At our annual Bay Area Diversity event, professional women and allies came together to discuss topics and challenges critical to the advancement of women in leadership. This year’s panel focused on taking risks, and how the results — whatever the outcome — can shape careers and create opportunities.

Speakers:

• Terri Shieh-Newton, PhD, Mintz Member
• Gwen Cheni, Co-Founder of a stealth start-up
• Jeni Lee, Partner, Pivotal bioVenture Partners
• Kristi Hawkins, Co-founder, CSO, Scientist at Antheia, Inc.

Mintz had the opportunity to sponsor and participate in the Boston 10K for Women, the first all-women’s sporting event in New England. The race strives to uplift and empower women while making a difference in the Boston community through its charity program.

Mintz’s diversity event, moderated by Member Kathryn Edgerton, featured panelists sharing their personal journeys and experiences of becoming board members and demystifying the process for aspiring board members.

At this event, panelists dove into key topics, including finding board opportunities, the essentials of board service, questions to ask when considering a board position, identifying the right board fit, effective self-promotion, and the role of male allies in advancing women to leadership roles.

Speakers:

• Ako Shimada, Vice-President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of Ushio America, Inc. and Independent Outside Director of Fujitec Co., Ltd.
• Michelle Johnson, Senior Partner at WittKieffer, a global executive search firm and Board Member of CentraCare
• Jen Rubin, Mintz Member, Co-chair of the Mintz ESG Practice Group, Board Member and Governance Chair of the USS Midway Museum, and Co-Chair of the San Diego 50/50 Women on Boards Leadership Committee

Mintz’s New York Office hosted a Black Women’s “Women, Wine, and Community” event, bringing together Black women entrepreneurs, in-house counsel, compliance officers, and industry professionals. The networking event, hosted by Litigation Member LisaMarie Collins and co-hosted by Litigation Member Natashia Tidwell, and Corporate Member Rachel Gholston, involved the exchange of business ideas over premium wine catered by Nyam, a black women–owned catering business.

Mintz’s San Diego office hosted Women in Bio’s event “The Age of AI-Pioneering the Future of Medicines.” The event focused on the role of AI in medicine, covering regulatory and intellectual property aspects, as well as the impact of AI on drug discovery and development. The speakers discussed how AI is transforming each stage of the drug discovery process and redefining the industry’s speed and economics.

Speakers:

• Qi Zhang, Mintz Associate
• Krishna Allamneni, DVM, MS/PhD, DABT, Moderator, Chief Development Officer at Concarlo Therapeutics, Inc.
• Krithi Bindal, CEO and Founder of Aroga Biosciences
• Jessica Gibson, CEO and Co-founder of Ariel Precision Medicine
• Vaishnavi Narayan, Senior Machine Learning Engineer at GATC Health