Bay Area Life Sciences & Biotech Conference

Seasoned commercial real estate professional with 22 years of expertise in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a focus on value-add investing in the last 5 years as a Principal at Paceline Investors. Prior to moving to the principal side of the business, Tyler enjoyed a successful career as an investment sales broker, completed 289 closed transactions representing $18.3 billion in volume. Most recently as a Senior Managing Director at Newmark, Tyler demonstrated a proven track record in business generation, creative deal structuring, and successful strategic organization and development. Tyler played a pivotal role in driving significant market share, closing $4.4 billion in transactions within 24 months and propelling the firm to a 33% market share in the San Francisco Bay Area. His expertise spans office and industrial investment properties, serving a diverse clientele of institutional investors, operators/developers, corporate users, and private investors. Prior to his role at Newmark, Tyler spent twelve years at CBRE, where he was an integral member of a top-performing investment sales team. During his tenure, he played a key role in the $1.323 billion Mission West transaction, the largest real estate portfolio sale in Silicon Valley history. Tyler's career progression at CBRE saw him rise from analyst to Partner, consistently demonstrating exceptional performance and leadership. Tyler holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Economics and Finance from the University of Kansas.

Chris has responsibility for all aspects of the JLABS @ San Francisco Bay Area, as well as supporting the broader ecosystem through external presence and partnerships. He leads sourcing and diligence for JLABS portfolio companies in alignment with J&J focus areas to assess strategic fit. He collaborates with the broader JJI organization, in particular the JJI West North America regional team, to position and enable partnerships and investments between J&J and JLABS companies to strengthen the innovation pipeline. He leads the JLABS @ San Francisco Bay Area team, with responsibility for site operations and budget. Chris joined JLABS from Bayer’s West Coast Open Innovation Center. The Open Innovation Center supported Bayer’s Drug Discovery activities by developing and managing partnerships with U.S. academic research institutions and life science companies. Chris was also responsible for cultivating life science startups within the CoLaborator, a biotech incubator space developed to foster collaboration between Bayer and emerging innovators. Concurrent with this role, Chris actively participated in the local Bay Area startup ecosystem, contributing to various initiatives that aimed to support the growth and success of early biotech companies. He has served as a mentor in various startup support programs affiliated with organizations such as QB3, SkyDeck, and the California Life Science FAST program. In addition, Chris served as Chair of the California Life Science Institute’s Board of Advisors. This organization (now merged with California Life Sciences) plays a crucial role in fostering entrepreneurship, science education, and workforce development in the San Francisco Bay Area. In previous roles at Bayer, Chris held various scientific leadership positions in drug development, including the Acting Head of Applied Research, the unit responsible for hemostasis research and drug development. Following the founding of the Open Innovation group, Chris directed a group that led alliances between Bayer and early innovators in the biotech and academic sectors, including programs in gene therapy, ophthalmology, oncology and cardiovascular disease. Chris earned his PhD in Cell Biology from the University of California, Davis followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at The Gladstone Institute in San Francisco. He also earned a B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of California at Berkeley. Throughout his career, Chris has worked closely with emerging startups in the Bay Area, from strategy development to execution of strategic partnerships, across many domains including antibody discovery, genomics, and immune-oncology cell therapy.

Sara Andersen is Director of Real Estate Management, part of Workplace Effectiveness at Genentech, the organization responsible for ensuring the work environments support desired business outcomes for the business units at Genentech’s South San Francisco site and beyond. Sara’s role at Genentech allows her to exercise her passion for providing healthy, sustainable, financially performing environments which allow people to do their best work. As a Real Estate and Financial services professional with more than 25 years of experience, she has focused on setting overall business strategy for her group, running business units, building relationships and developing cross functional teams. Her engagement with Genentech began in 2012, through design (Perkins + Will) and program management (CBRE), which resulted in Genentech’s most successful building to date. The building is a success because of the emphasis on the social engagement of the employees, user friendly technology that allows a “work anywhere” philosophy, and a healthy and sustainable work environment. Her ongoing work focuses on using workplace to support business initiatives, measuring success in faster time to market vs. square foot per person.. Prior to joining Genentech as an employee, she led the CBRE Occupier Strategy team in San Francisco, translating client business objectives into real estate strategy, informing lease sizes, terms and execution. She led vision sessions with senior executives to align goals across business units, spearheaded the development of solution scenarios with client and brokerage partners and ensured successful project delivery through strategic planning, design process, budget and schedule management, and the integration of IT, HR and communications. Prior to CBRE, Sara held positions as a Principal, Director of West Coast Interiors for Perkins + Will; Managing Director (Atlas Capital Strategies); and ran her own project management practice with clients such as SAP Labs and TD Waterhouse. Sara is educated and licensed as an architect, her education includes a Masters in Architecture from Washington University with an undergraduate degree from Lehigh University in Architecture and Computer Science. She was honored as a Northern California Real Estate Woman of Influence by the San Francisco Business Times and has spoken at both CoreNet and NeoCon.

Darren Cooke is the interim Chief Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer at UC Berkeley. He is also the executive director of UC Berkeley’s Life Sciences Entrepreneurship Center, a professional faculty member at the Haas School of Business, and past chair of the Bio Track at the Berkeley SkyDeck startup accelerator. Cooke teaches entrepreneurship at Haas and for the Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program for the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation. He is an investor and former chair of Medical Device and Digital Health at Life Science Angels. As an attorney, Cooke led the IP legal team for the life science tools group of Bio-Rad Laboratories, and was a life sciences patent litigator at Covington & Burling. Before law school, he was a mechanical engineer developing cochlear implants at UCSF.

CRISPR QC is at the forefront of biosensor innovation, enabling the Internet of Biology through its groundbreaking platform. As Chief Executive Officer with over 6 years in biotechnology, leadership focuses on empowering teams to revolutionize diagnostics, therapeutics, and bioinformatics. The organization thrives under a vision of operational excellence and strategic business development. Previous roles include co-founding and scaling Cardea Bio Inc., where contributions transformed the biotechnology sector. Expertise spans corporate strategy, process improvement, and analytical decision-making, ensuring impactful outcomes. Dedicated to leveraging cutting-edge science to deliver meaningful value for customers, partners, and society.

Coached 52 life science startups to achieve more than $1.5 Billion in exits and funds raised over 5 years as founding Executive Director. • Lead recruitment and mentorship programs for startups in collaboration with UC San Diego's Office of Innovation and Commercialization. • Develop and deliver programming and operations for pre-seed and seed-stage life sciences and digital health accelerators, driving innovation initiatives across campus. • Form strategic partnerships between the university and industry groups, cultivating an entrepreneurial culture on campus. • Received $1.5M matching grant for seed fund initiative empowering early-stage entrepreneurs with an emphasis on diversity and inclusivity, especially for underrepresented communities.

As Executive Director of Biocom’s South San Francisco office, Michelle is responsible for building the framework for enabling the creation of a strong, well-connected life science community in the Bay Area. She leads Biocom’s programming and benefits efforts and helps raise awareness of the region’s innovations and accomplishments. Michelle has spent over 20 years in Bay Area life science sales, marketing and business development. She has held leadership roles at a large lab supply distributor and at a biotech tools startup, which fostered her broad view of the Bay Area market, its challenges and its opportunities.

Claire serves as the Vice President and Market Executive for Wexford’s first development in California- Aggie Square. She is responsible for overseeing the design, construction, leasing, operations and deal management. Aggie Square is a 1 million SF development on UC Davis’ Sacramento campus. With two 7-story lab buildings, one academic office tower, a mixed-use residential component and parking- the Project is estimated to bring over $1.1 billion of development to the Sacramento market. This development will also showcase Connect Labs by Wexford, Wexford’s marquee shared lab and office offering. Prior to joining the Wexford team, Claire was a Senior Program Manager at Arizona State University; leading the place-based innovation efforts for the Entrepreneurship + Innovation team. This included the oversight of design & construction of new spaces for the program; programmatic and operational design & daily oversight of the existing portfolio sites; leading a team of six; and launching a premier, community-facing makerspace. Before her time at ASU, Claire worked at CIC (the Cambridge Innovation Center), curating a diverse portfolio of clients for the CIC Boston location; helping to design and implement data analytics for the company-wide sales goals; and eventually leading the expansion into Providence, Rhode Island. She received her Bachelor of Science and of Arts in Operations Management and in Spanish from the University of North Carolina- Asheville and a Masters of Global Affairs in Innovation Ecosystems from the University of Toronto.

Steve has dedicated his career to ensuring science thrives. He leads CannonDesign's award-winning Science & Technology Practice and guides teams in designing projects that supercharge discovery—from buildings designed to develop life-saving cancer treatments to environments that further exploration of space’s outer limits. Steve’s goal on any project is to ensure scientists and researchers across government, health and commercial sectors have optimized, healthy and exhilarating environments where they are able to perform at their best. He partners with top organizations to break barriers, demand more change and take the next steps to achieve their research potential.

Zachary Russi serves as President of Western Allied Mechanical, a design-build mechanical contracting firm delivering premier HVAC, plumbing/process, controls and service to buildings across the San Francisco Bay Area for more than five decades. He brings a practical, real-world perspective on how the built environment can accelerate decarbonization while delivering smarter, higher-performing buildings. His team reduces environmental impact by integrating long-term sustainability strategies into client projects, including all- electric retrofits and comprehensive decarbonization initiatives that balance performance, constructability, and lifecycle cost. With more than 25 years of experience spanning commercial construction, design-build educational facilities, and complex life science laboratories, Zach partners with developers and general contractors to provide conceptual HVAC design and preliminary budgeting that evaluates feasibility and drives cost-effective, sustainable outcomes. Zach holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and maintains his Professional Engineering license and LEED Accredited Professional credential.

John, an Education and Science Principal for HDR’s California practice, is a seasoned design professional with more than 35 years of experience in program management, architecture, strategic leadership and project management. He has successfully led multidisciplinary teams across global offices, delivering complex capital programs with consistent success in budget alignment, project execution, and client satisfaction. His leadership has played a key role in expanding market share and building inclusive, high-performing teams. He has been involved in facilities that empower scientists to discover cures for devastating diseases, develop clean energy solutions, protect natural resources and improve public health, enriching people’s lives around the world.

A name partner of the firm, Anton N. Natsis is Chair of Allen Matkins’ Real Estate Department and is one of the top real estate attorneys in the United States. His practice focuses on development, leasing, purchase and sale, and portfolio investment sales transactions involving office, retail, and industrial projects, as well as arbitrating numerous fair market value disputes, CAM disputes and other significant landlord/tenant disputes. He also has extensive experience in debt, equity, and joint venture workouts, and the purchase of distressed assets and distressed debt. Tony is continually sought out by some of the largest national land owners, such as J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Blackstone Real Estate, Brookfield Properties, HCP, Vornado Realty Trust, Regent Properties, The Irvine Company, Boston Properties, Equity Office Properties, Kilroy Realty, Inc., Beacon Capital Partners, MPG Office Trust, Kamehameha Schools (The Bishop Estate) and Westfield Corporation. He represents many governmental entities, including the LAUSD, State of California, and City of Anaheim. Tony is also frequently retained as counsel for major national office tenants, such as AT&T, Citicorp, the FDIC, AIG, The Walt Disney Company, and the Los Angeles Times. A frequent lecturer and author, Tony is the chief consultant for the California Continuing Education of the Bar Commercial Leasing Series, the legal education reference book on leasing for California attorneys, is an adjunct professor of law at Loyola Law School for a course covering commercial real estate transactions, and has spoken before such national real estate groups as ULI and BOMA. Tony is a founding board member of The Ziman Real Estate Center, which is governed under the joint auspices of the UCLA Anderson School of Business and the UCLA Law School. In the past decade, Tony has closed commercial office leases exceeding 50 million square feet. He has worked on real estate purchase contracts with a total consideration of more than $30 billion and on development transactions with a total consideration in excess of $25 billion. Since 2006, Tony has represented clients in office building portfolio investment sales transactions involving over $75 billion of consideration. One of Tony's most significant transactions is the largest real estate acquisition deal in the history of the United States. He provided extensive real estate services in connection with Blackstone Real Estate's purchase of Equity Office Properties Trust, at that point the largest owner of office space in the U.S. other than the Federal Government, for $43 billion. Subsequently, Blackstone contracted to sell over 50% of the properties it purchased with such sales closing in the first and second quarter of 2007. Tony assisted Blackstone in its acquisition due diligence related to EOP and the subsequent sales of the properties. The transactions related to this deal included Maguire Properties' purchase of Blackstone/EOP in Orange County for $2 billion, Irvine Company's purchase of Blackstone/EOP in San Diego for $1 billion, Morgan Stanley's purchase of Blackstone/EOP in San Francisco for $2.5 billion, and Beacon Capital Partners’ purchase of Blackstone/EOP Seattle for $6.3 billion.