Mou Sarkar is currently the Workforce Director at the Pearland Economic development Corporation

(PEDC) where she leads community wide workforce development initiatives and works to build

connections between the local talent pipeline, workforce development efforts and the business

community. Mou comes to the PEDC with 20 years of experience that spans the field of Workforce

development, Training, Information Technology, Curriculum and Financial management. She has a

Master’s in Information Sciences and a Master’s in Business Administration. She also holds several

current and technical industry certifications such as Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, a Microsoft

Certified Database Administrator, and a Microsoft certified trainer.

Before joining the PEDC, Mou served as the Director of Training, leading the workforce development

training program for a prominent Non-profit Community organization in the Houston metropolitan area

managing all areas pertaining to training, budgeting, credentialing, curriculum management and

manpower development, working towards its mission of helping individuals from low-income

communities transform their lives through education and training. Mou has also served as Program

Chair of the Computer Networking Department at a leading For-Profit National Institute of Higher

learning where she managed and supervised the academic and technical operations of the department.

As a first generation American, Mou values education and has experienced the tremendous

transformative impact of education and training firsthand and is happiest when she is working to

envision and engineer those transformations for individuals and communities. Mou is a firm believer in

the power of choice and her favorite quote is by Graham Brown – “We are what we chose to be”. Mou

currently serves on the Gulf Coast Workforce Board and the United Way Brazoria County Board.

Justin serves as Executive Managing Director of Transwestern’s Healthcare & Life Sciences Advisory Services Group and leads the Houston Healthcare & Life Sciences Brokerage Team. With 16 dedicated professionals, the Team leases over 8 million square feet of clinical & lab space, more than any other local firm, and has transacted over 2,000 lease and building sales in the last 5 years. The team specializes in agency leasing, tenant representation, investment services and strategic account management.

Justin has been with Transwestern since 2007 and specializes in providing real estate solutions within this niche space to investors, developers, end users and VC firms. His expertise in leasing, investment services, development, construction and asset management, allows him to apply a holistic lens to any real estate opportunity, resulting in optimal outcomes for Transwestern clients

Monique serves as the Executive Director for the venture capital firm

Portal Innovations in Houston; where their mission is to provide

crafted capital to enable life sciences innovators to build their

companies where they live. Monique has more than 15 years of

experience in supporting the growth of research scientists and

clinicians committed to developing translational life-saving

therapeutics into the clinic. She served as a technical sales

consultant for Miltenyi Biotec for ten years where she strategically

developed and progressed pipelines pertinent to organizational and

revenue growth targets primarily in the immuno-oncology therapeutic

market in the Texas Medical Center. Prior to joining Portal, Monique

was the regional sales manager for Sartorius Stedim North America in

the Bioprocessing Solutions division where she established and led a

team of dynamic account managers across the Central US.

Shawn W. Cloonan serves as Life Science Lead & General Counsel of McCord

Development, Inc., where he oversees all legal aspects of the firm, advises on strategic development projects, and leads McCord’s efforts in developing assets to serve the life science and biotechnology industry.

Prior to joining McCord in 2020, Cloonan served as Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President & General Counsel of Texas Medical Center since 2013. In his role at TMC, Cloonan was responsible for all operations, planning and development as well as all legal aspects of the corporation including compliance with the TMC covenants.

Before joining the Texas Medical Center, Cloonan was a public finance attorney

representing health care, governmental and higher education clients for Vinson & Elkins LLP and Bracewell LLP. In addition to representation on bond financing, Cloonan represented clients on general counsel matters and real estate and development.

Cloonan holds a Bachelor of Arts – Magna Cum Laude in government from the

University of Texas at Austin and earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence with Honors from The University of Texas School of Law.

He currently serves as Chairman Emeritus of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership and is

active on its Executive Committee and Board of Directors. Cloonan was honored to receive the Houston Business Journal 40 Under 40 Award in 2013 and was named to the Top 100 Irish Lawyers in America List in 2015.

Dr. Verena Kallhoff serves as Sr. Director, Global Life Sciences at the Greater Houston

Partnership. She works together with local, state, national, and international players to spur

and support the growth and development of the greater Houston region’s life sciences

ecosystem and assists companies looking to relocate or expand in the region.

Verena first moved to Houston in 2003 to attend Baylor College of Medicine, graduating in 2008

and subsequently obtained an MBA from University of Houston – Clear Lake. Verena has held

positions with Harris Health System as Quality Assurance Analyst, and Houston Methodist

Research Institute, where she began as Administrative Fellow and later served as the Innovative

Managing Director of CyBHOR, an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center sponsored

by the National Science Foundation.

In 2017, Verena relocated to Austin joining the innovation initiative at Dell Medical School at

The University of Texas at Austin where she developed and led programs to build an innovation

ecosystem. Organizing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Verena is a founding member of

TEXGHS, the Texas Global Health Security Consortium and was instrumental in developing and

implementing business strategies for the consortium’s activity.

Verena also served as the VP for Omics and Precision Medicine at Equideum Health, a health

tech startup, where she developed partnerships with research organizations and built networks

to accelerate omics-related research to enable authentic, personalized precision medicine.

Leading our Health Science group, Cathryn Horan specializes in healthcare and health science projects providing planning and project management services for a variety of clients from small start-ups to large complex institutions. Cathryn is recognized for her ability to integrate interactions between the user and the built environment to create aesthetically and functionally successful spaces. Her extensive design and planning experience allows her to navigate the challenges of complex projects. Integrating architecture and design to create significant spaces and humanizing environments are central to Cathryn's professional practice.

Gray McCracken is a construction management professional with over 20 years of experience, offering a deep understanding of both the owner’s perspective and the development process. A Texas A&M University graduate, Gray has been instrumental in the creation of outpatient catheterization labs across Texas and has managed projects in diverse industries, including healthcare, life sciences, real estate, and municipal infrastructure. With expertise in risk management, policy implementation, and team leadership, Gray has delivered multimillion-dollar projects that align with client goals and exceed expectations. An Eagle Scout and community advocate, he is dedicated to crafting impactful, innovative solutions that drive success

William “Bill” McKeon is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Texas Medical Center.

He is responsible for driving strategic, operational and programmatic initiatives across the Texas

Medical Center’s member institutions to enhance its leadership position in the life sciences.

McKeon joined the Texas Medical Center in 2013 as executive vice president, chief operating

officer and chief strategy officer.

McKeon attended Roger Williams University on the Harold G. Way Scholarship for Leadership

and Academic Excellence. He worked throughout his college years as a legal intern at

Asquith, Merolla, Anderson, Ryan & Wiley – a prestigious law firm in Providence, Rhode Island.

He graduated with top honors with a Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies. He earned his

master’s degree from University of San Francisco School of Management.

McKeon began his professional career at Du Pont de Nemours. He initially led the

implementation of large news publishing systems around the world and was later promoted to

run marketing and business development. During his time at Du Pont, McKeon lived throughout

the United States, United Kingdom and Sweden. His career shifted to health care when he was

recruited to Stanford University Medical Center, where he initially led the Cardiovascular

Medicine and Cardiothoracic Surgery business. He was then promoted to Director of Market

Development for all 17 business lines at Stanford.

He then went to Raytel Medical Systems - the largest cardiac monitoring business in the United

States. He served as Executive Director and digitized all businesses so that physicians could see

patients’ EKGs online from anywhere in the world. At Raytel, he won the Computer World

Smithsonian Award in Medicine.

McKeon came to Houston to join U.S. Oncology, which provides cancer care for over 25 percent

of the U.S. population. There, he served as Senior Vice President of Marketing and

Pharmaceutical Business Relations. During McKeon’s tenure, U.S. Oncology grew from $250

million to $1.4 billion, filed for IPO and was later acquired by the McKesson Corporation.

McKeon then moved to Medtronic Inc., the largest medical device company in the world. He led

Strategy and Emerging Technologies across all of the Medtronic businesses. His main focus was

to define the digital strategy for all Medtronic medical devices so that they could connect to

cellular devices.

McKeon was then recruited to serve as President and CEO of Microport Inc. in Shanghai. He

grew the business from $17 million to $157 million in two years. Additionally, he diversified the

business from one line to four lines and prepared the company for IPO. Today, Microport is

listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

McKeon then moved to London to serve as President and CEO of Cellnovo, the first mobile

diabetes management system in the world. He raised $10 million for its Series A round and $57

million for the Series B. Cellnovo is public on the European Exchange.