Leadership | Blacklight Partners

Leadership

Ryan L. Coe, Ph.D.

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

200+ projects

50+ clients

15+ years in life sciences, spanning R&D, strategy consulting, and financial advisory, with deep understanding of innovator technology.
Expertise across buy- and sell-side M&A and corporate & pipeline strategy.
Previously Partner at a boutique life sciences strategy consultancy focused on diligence and corporate strategy across biotech, pharma, and pharma services.

Sr. Fellow, Bioengineering, MIT
Ph.D., Bioengineering, University of Washington
B.S., Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia

Leslie Gautam

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

25+ deals

$15B+ transaction value

20+ years of strategic biopharma experience across business development, capital raising, diligence, and commercialization.
Former Chief Strategy/Business Officer for three companies and senior investment banker across clinical- and commercial-stage biopharma.
Previously Managing Director at a life sciences–focused strategic advisory & transactions firm.

M.B.A., Columbia Business School
B.S., Psychobiology, UCLA

Senior Team

Ario Arabi

Partner

15+ years in investment banking and capital markets, most recently as Executive Director of Global Business Development and Licensing at Novartis.

15+ years of experience in investment banking and capital markets, including due diligence, valuation, and financial modeling to evaluate strategic business opportunities.
Previously Executive Director of Global Business Development and Licensing at Novartis, leading efforts to expand the portfolio through mergers, acquisitions, and licensing agreements.
Deep experience forging alliances with biotech firms and startups across venture capital and private equity.

M.S., Biomedical Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
B.S., Business, Cornell University

Danny Talati, Pharm.D.

Partner

25+ years of biopharma business development experience, from deal sourcing through negotiation and close, with deep expertise in neuroscience.

25+ years of biopharma experience spanning sales, medical affairs, business development, corporate development, strategy, and investing.
Proven business development leader with deep experience sourcing and evaluating hundreds of opportunities, leading licensing deals, equity investments, joint ventures, and company incubations from initial sourcing through term sheet negotiation and close.
Deep expertise in neuroscience, including psychiatry and neurodegenerative disorders, backed by an extensive network of corporate executives, investors, key opinion leaders, bankers, and consultants.

Pharm.D., Northeastern University
M.B.A., London Business School

Gary Brewster

Finance Advisor

30+ years advising healthcare and life sciences companies as an operating executive; now Senior Strategic Advisor to BrYet US and active on nonprofit boards.

30+ years as an operating executive and advisor, providing financial and strategic advisory services to healthcare and life sciences companies through M&A, joint ventures, and financings.
Spent nearly two decades at Houlihan Lokey building and leading the firm's healthcare and life sciences valuation advisory practice; earlier, he was a Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers / S&P CVC.
Currently Senior Strategic Advisor to the CEO of BrYet US, Inc., an independent advisor to pharmaceutical companies, and Treasurer of the Children's Brain Tumor Foundation.

M.B.A., Wharton School
B.S., Industrial Engineering, Stanford University

Christopher Cano

Operating Advisor

CEO of Cellergy Pharma with 20+ years building early-stage biopharma companies through partnering, licensing, and strategic M&A transactions.

20+ years of global pharmaceutical and biotech operational and business development experience, currently serving as Chief Executive Officer of Cellergy Pharma.
Specializes in building and growing early-stage companies from seed funding through public offerings, with an emphasis on partnering, licensing, and M&A transactions with strategic collaborators.
Previously Chief Operating Officer and VP of Business Development at TFF Pharmaceuticals; also Managing Director of C2 Strategic Solutions, a BD&L consulting firm serving biotech, pharma, and drug delivery clients.

M.S., Business Management, Rider University
B.S., Finance, Villanova University

Andrew Dannenberg, M.D.

Scientific Advisor

40+ years as a physician-scientist, including as Weill Cornell Professor of Medicine, now a partner at Emerald Bioventures.

40+ years as a physician-scientist, including as the Henry R. Erle, MD-Roberts Family Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and founding Director of the Weill Cornell Cancer Center.
Authored 200+ scientific articles and edited several books and journals, with research interests ranging from inflammation to the obesity-cancer connection.
Member of the Association of American Physicians and the American Society for Clinical Investigation; received the 2011 AACR/Prevent Cancer Foundation award for excellence in cancer prevention research.

Residency & Fellowship, New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center
M.D., Washington University in St. Louis

Gitesh Dubal

Commercial Advisor

20+ years of healthcare commercial leadership, from global leadership roles at Baxalta/Shire to EVP, Chief Marketing Officer at Versiti, now Founder and CEO of NovaSpark Ventures.

20+ years of healthcare commercial leadership spanning sales, marketing, business development, and general management across biopharma, diagnostics, and blood health organizations.
As EVP, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Sales at Versiti, led a 200+ person commercial organization to more than $124M in cumulative revenue growth over six years.
Held senior international leadership roles at Shire and Baxalta, including Vice President, Global Markets Franchise Lead for Hematology across 68 countries, and Franchise Head, Immunology for the UK and Ireland.
Founder and CEO of NovaSpark Ventures, partnering with healthcare organizations and startups to accelerate commercialization, growth strategy, launch planning, and commercial transformation.

M.B.A., Marketing, University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business
B.S., Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Nader Elrashidy

BD Advisor

Founder of Viper Advisors with 25+ years across AbbVie, biotech operations, and venture development, including as CEO of Genix Therapeutics.

25+ years spanning pharma finance, business development, and biotech operations, including nine years at AbbVie across sales, forecasting, and pipeline marketing.
Founding Chief Business Officer of Portal Innovations, helping launch a 50,000-square-foot Chicago life sciences incubator and its first venture investments; later Managing Director of Life Sciences Ventures at Sterling Bay.
Chief Executive Officer of Genix Therapeutics for eight years, licensing a complex generic injectable program to a commercialization partner; currently Founder of Viper Advisors and a business development contractor for Cooley LLP's life sciences practice.

M.B.A., University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business
B.S., Finance, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

100+ years of deep transaction and commercial experience.

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