Explore the Agenda
8:45 am Registration & Networking
Engagement at Speed: New Approaches to Energizing the Life Sciences Workforce
9:20 am Discover: When Managers Make Sense of Engagement Data – A Different Model for Uncertain Times
- How can life science organizations surface honest, high-signal engagement feedback when industry uncertainty amplifies stress, mixed signals, and internal tension?
- Learn how Octant engages R&D managers in interpreting company-level engagement results, bringing context and credibility to feedback that is rarely straightforward
- See how shared ownership of engagement data strengthens trust, improves dialogue, and builds organizational maturity as companies grow
9:40 am Develop: Elevating HR Impact Through Strategic Partnership & Transparent Feedback
Interactive Q&A Session
This session explores how HR can move beyond transactional tasks to become a true strategic partner during periods of rapid growth. We’ll examine how embedding HR business partners deeply within the organization and integrating employee-led feedback models can strengthen cultural resilience, improve organizational design, and drive authentic engagement.
- Shifting HR from “order taking” to strategic partnership for better workforce decisions
- Designing a high-touch HRBP model that scales with organizational growth
- Leveraging employee-led feedback to uncover hidden engagement challenges
- Practical steps to build psychological safety and cross-team alignment
10:00 am Action: Reimagining HR & Engagement for Organizational Agility
Roundtable Discussion
Building on the Q&A insights, this roundtable invites participants to share experiences and strategies for creating HR and engagement frameworks that enable agility and trust.
Together, we’ll explore how to balance operational excellence with cultural authenticity, ensuring HR and leadership alignment during rapid scaling.
- How can HRBPs embed themselves effectively without creating bottlenecks?
- What role does transparency play in sustaining engagement during uncertainty?
- How do you measure the impact of HR partnership and feedback initiatives?
- What practical steps help maintain cultural resilience as headcount grows?
10:20 am Networking Break
Accelerating Talent Strategies for Hypergrowth
11:00 am 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
11:20 am Develop: Optimizing Sales Hiring for Hypergrowth Success
This Q&A session explores how fast-scaling organizations can overcome recruitment bottlenecks and misaligned hiring profiles during periods of rapid growth. Learn practical strategies for building a structured, data-driven hiring process that accelerates time-to-hire without sacrificing candidate quality.
- Aligning hiring managers on ideal candidate profiles to reduce friction
- Designing a streamlined interview process that supports speed and quality
- Leveraging data-driven recruitment strategies to meet aggressive growth targets
- Ensuring sales team readiness to support IPO and long-term scalability
11:40 am Panel: The Human Side of M&A: What HR Needs to Get Right During Life Sciences Acquisitions
As life sciences organizations continue to scale through acquisition, HR is often the first function called on to stabilize culture, retain key talent, and keep employees engaged through uncertainty. In this candid panel, HR leaders who have recently navigated an acquisition share what really worked, what they would do differently, and how they balanced integration speed with safeguarding culture. Expect practical insights, honest reflections, and actionable takeaways you can apply to your next deal, or the one already on your horizon.
12:20 pm Lunch
1:20 pm Speed Learning
In this quick-fire session, each table will be hosted by an HR leader who will share the secrets of their most high-impact LEAP; you then get the opportunity to question the host before moving on to your next table.