Explore the Agenda
8:00 am Registration & Networking
9:00 am What it Takes to Make a LEAP a Reality
9:10 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
Building Leadership That Scales Science
9:20 am Discover: Transforming Leadership Capability to Enable a New Strategic Era at BioMarin Pharmaceutical
- How can a mature biotech redefine its leadership model after shifting from ultrarare, competition free markets into larger, highly competitive indications?
- Learn how BioMarin overhauled its leadership profile following major strategic pivots under a new CEO, reorganizing the enterprise, reshaping culture, and replacing legacy leaders to align with a commercial scale, competition ready business model
- Hear how this transformation is informing new standards for leader selection, cultural fit, and performance expectations, offering practical lessons for HR teams navigating organizational reinvention during volatile market conditions
9:40 am Discover: Session Reserved for Aon
10:00 am Discover: Embedding Leadership Competencies to Drive Talent Development at Tarsus Pharmaceuticals
- How can fast-growing life sciences organizations create bespoke leadership frameworks that strengthen agility and culture?
- Learn how Tarsus Pharmaceuticals built leadership competencies from scratch and integrated them into every stage of the talent cycle, from interview guides to high-potential programs
- Explore the roadmap for rolling out these competencies and measuring impact through KPIs such as internal mobility, turnover reduction, engagement scores, and course NPS, paving the way for a culture where development happens at all levels
10:20 am Develop: Transforming Leadership for Agility & Strategic Impact
Question & Answer Session
This session explores how organizations can redefine leadership models and embed competencies that drive agility, cultural alignment, and sustained growth. Learn practical strategies for reshaping leadership profiles during strategic pivots and integrating bespoke frameworks into every stage of the talent cycle to strengthen capability and resilience.
- Overhauling leadership expectations to align with new strategic priorities
- Embedding leadership competencies into recruitment, development, and succession planning
- Building cultural fit and performance standards for competitive markets
- Measuring impact through KPIs such as engagement, mobility, and retention
10:40 am Action: Embedding Leadership Competencies to Drive Culture & Development
Building on the Q&A insights, this roundtable invites participants to share approaches for operationalizing leadership frameworks that enable organizational agility and talent development. Together, we’ll explore how to codify competencies, integrate them into the talent cycle, and sustain cultural transformation during periods of change.
- What leadership behaviors are critical for agility in your organization?
- How do you embed competencies into everyday processes without adding complexity?
- What metrics best demonstrate the impact of leadership transformation?
- How do you balance cultural fit with performance expectations during reinvention?
11:00 am Speed Networking Break
Scaling Without Losing Culture
11:40 am Discover: Preserving Culture & Driving Engagement During Hypergrowth & Hybrid Work at Nuvation Bio
- How can organizations maintain a strong, inclusive culture while scaling from 60 to 350 employees globally and integrating diverse teams across the US and China?
- Explore Nuvation Bio’s practical strategies for sustaining culture during rapid growth, including a “Kindness” policy, pro-parent flexibility, and a hybrid model of just four in-office days per month
- Learn how these initiatives delivered measurable impact: engagement scores remained high, turnover stayed below industry benchmarks, and onboarding time improved despite remote challenges – ensuring culture scaled alongside commercial success
12:00 pm Discover: Driving Transparency & Trust Through Consistent Communication at Scribe Therapeutics
- How can life sciences organizations build psychological safety and trust during times of volatility and change?
- Explore how Scribe Therapeutics introduced “Inscribe” – a bi-weekly, all-hands communication initiative – to foster transparency, authenticity, and empathy across the organization
- Learn how this simple yet consistent approach transformed engagement, with survey feedback highlighting improved trust and communication, and near-universal participation creating stronger connections between employees and leadership
12:20 pm Develop: Driving Agility & Growth Through Strategic HR Partnership
Interactive Q&A Session
This session explores how HR can become a catalyst for organizational agility and sustainable growth during periods of rapid expansion and change. Learn how strategic workforce planning, leadership readiness, and reimagined HR business partnering can accelerate alignment, strengthen resilience, and deliver measurable impact across multiple growth phases.
- Building scalable HR frameworks to support consecutive expansions
- Embedding HR as a strategic partner to influence workforce decisions
- Balancing evolving business needs with career development for HR teams
- Practical steps to strengthen leadership alignment and organizational resilience
12:40 pm Action: Reimagining HR for Agility, Resilience & Strategic Impact
Roundtable Discussion
Building on the Q&A insights, this roundtable invites participants to share experiences and strategies for creating HR models that drive agility and growth. Together, we’ll explore how to structure HR partnerships that deliver strategic impact while fostering engagement and adaptability during organizational change.
- How can HR balance operational demands with strategic influence during rapid growth?
- What frameworks enable HR to scale effectively across multiple expansion phases?
- How do you create meaningful development opportunities for HR teams while meeting business needs?
- What cultural and structural shifts are essential for HR to drive resilience and agility?
12:50 pm Lunch
Building Agile HR Systems for Expansion
1:40 pm Discover: Enabling Four Consecutive Commercial Expansions Through Strategic HR at Neurocrine
- How can HR drive sustainable growth and organizational agility through multiple phases of expansion?
- Explore Neurocrine’s practical approach to workforce planning, leadership readiness, and scalable HR frameworks that supported three prior expansions and paved the way for a successful fourth
- Learn how these efforts delivered measurable impact, culminating in Neurocrine’s ability to execute its fourth commercial expansion seamlessly, offering actionable insights for HR professionals navigating similar growth trajectories
2:00 pm Discover: Reimagining HR Business Partnering to Drive Agility & Growth at Rapid Micro Biosystems
- How can HR leaders balance meeting evolving business needs while creating meaningful career development opportunities for their teams?
- Explore Rapid Micro Biosystems’ approach to structuring a business partner model that delivers strategic impact, supports leadership through unprecedented challenges, and fosters resilience during organizational change
- Learn how this model enabled HR to accelerate leadership alignment, fill critical vacancies ahead of major sales events, and strengthen business outcomes – resulting in improved agility and engagement across the organization
2:20 pm Develop: Building Agile HR Systems for Sustainable Expansion – Interactive Q&A Session
This interactive Q&A explores how HR can become a strategic driver of organizational agility and sustainable growth during multiple phases of expansion. Gain practical insights into workforce planning, leadership readiness, and scalable HR frameworks that enable seamless execution of complex growth strategies.
- Designing HR systems that support consecutive commercial expansions
- Aligning leadership capabilities with evolving organizational needs
- Building scalable frameworks for workforce planning and talent readiness
- Measuring impact and ensuring agility through change
2:40 pm Action: Reimagining HR Business Partnering for Agility & Growth
Roundtable Discussion
This roundtable invites participants to share experiences and strategies for evolving HR business partnering models to meet shifting business priorities while fostering career development and resilience. Building on the Q&A session, the discussion will focus on practical approaches to structuring HR for strategic impact during organizational change.
- How can HR balance strategic business needs with employee development during rapid growth?
- What structures or models best enable HR to deliver agility and resilience?
- How do you prepare leadership teams for critical transitions and challenges?
- What metrics or indicators signal success in HR-driven organizational agility?
3:00 pm Networking Break
3:20 pm Discover: Building & Scaling High Impact Research Teams from 10 to 90 in a Fast Growth Biotech
- How can life sciences organizations successfully scale research functions from a founding team to a fully mature, 90-person research engine, without losing culture, speed, or scientific rigor?
- Explore how Cogent Biosciences built out chemistry, biology, pharmacology, and TMPK functions from the ground up, including creating interview rigor, preparing new scientific leaders to assess talent, and designing a cross functional roadmap for cohesive growth
- Learn how Cogent enabled a 9x scaleup in its research facility while maintaining an engaged, collaborative culture and ensuring every new hire experienced a candidate centric, science driven evaluation process that strengthened both team fit and long-term retention
3:40 pm Discover: Implementing a Career Framework & Job Architecture to Drive Transparency, Fairness & Meaningful Career Conversations in Life Science Organizations
- How can life sciences organizations create a consistent, future‑ready job architecture that supports rapid scientific innovation, complex organizational growth and employee engagement, whether the company is 50 people or 5,000?
- Learn how the organization built a unified, transparent career framework and job architecture among diverse business groups and scientific disciplines, facilitating difficult cross‑functional conversations, and creating a shared definition of job families, role levels, expectations, and progression criteria across different scientific sub-specialties, functional areas and business lines
- Discover how the new structure increased employees’ understanding of career paths, strengthened perceptions of fairness, enabled more consistent manager decision‑making, and improved trust and transparency across the business, driving stronger engagement even amid challenging market conditions
4:00 pm Develop: Building & Scaling High-Impact Research Teams in Fast-Growth Biotech
Interactive Q&A Session
This Q&A session explores how life sciences organizations can scale research functions from a small founding team to a fully mature, high-performing research engine without losing culture, speed, or scientific rigor. Gain insights into creating interview processes that prioritize scientific excellence, preparing leaders to assess talent effectively, and designing a roadmap for cohesive, cross-functional growth.
- Strategies for scaling research teams while preserving culture and collaboration
- Building rigorous, candidate-centric evaluation processes to strengthen team fit
- Preparing scientific leaders for talent assessment and leadership responsibilities
- Maintaining engagement and scientific integrity during rapid expansion
4:20 pm Action: Implementing Career Frameworks & Job Architecture for Transparency and Growth
Roundtable Discussion
This roundtable focuses on creating consistent, future-ready career frameworks and job architectures that support rapid innovation and organizational complexity. Explore how transparent structures can drive fairness, enable meaningful career conversations, and strengthen trust across diverse scientific and business functions.
- How can organizations design job architectures that scale from 50 to 5,000 employees?
- What practices ensure fairness and clarity in career progression across disciplines?
- How do you facilitate cross-functional alignment on role levels and expectations?
- What steps build trust and engagement during structural change?