A Unique Peer Forum Experience for Life Sciences CEOs: A Life Support System

David H. Crean and John Foley know from experience. That is why we are delighted to be tag-teaming together in facilitating a unique peer forum experience specifically for CEOs. It is one of a kind. For CEO Leaders. With CEO Leaders. By leaders who have been CEOs and are mentoring CEOs.

David H. Crean, Ph.D. is a career life sciences and healthcare Executive, Board member/Chair, M&A Advisor and Venture Partner with diverse experiences across the sector, including leading roles on the boards of private and public biotechnology companies, Biocom California, Connect San Diego, and California Life Sciences.  Dr. Crean is a Co-Founder and Chair of CEO360 providing peer forums for early-stage Life Sciences start-ups.  He brings a career long passion to mentor and guide Life Sciences businesses, leaders and CEOs in helping them flourish through stages of growth and exit.  

John Foley is a career strategist, marketer, and creative partner helping leaders, Executives, and CEOs of innovative businesses start-up, scale-up, and exit.  With an extensive background in private equity, Foley draws upon his experiences of collaborating with CEOs to grow and increase enterprise value.  He is a Co-Founder and Chair of CEO 360 alongside Dr. Crean providing peer forums for seed-stage Life Sciences start-ups.  He brings a career-long passion to help businesses, leaders, and CEOs move onwards and upwards. 

Over recent decades, peer forums have emerged as a new category of leadership development for CEOs and executives, helping them support the life cycle of their businesses, organizations, and leadership.  In its 30th year, REF is on the leading edge of innovating what’s next with a global community of peer forums in service of its mission of leaders powered by collective intelligence.  

In addition to supporting CEOs of diverse businesses across a spectrum of industries, REF San Diego is also committed to that mission specifically for Life Sciences CEOs.  The Life Sciences sector is underserved with the power of true peer forum experiences.  REF San Diego is dedicated to changing that in service of supporting the life cycle of Life Sciences businesses, organizations, and leadership.

As an extension of their CEO360 peer forums for early-stage Life Sciences startups which David and John co-founded, REF San Diego has built a one-of-a-kind peer forum experience specifically for next-stage Life Sciences CEOs with funding beyond Series A capital financing.  David and John work as partners with CEOs to navigate the choppy waters of change with confidence and conviction. 

The challenges faced by Life Sciences CEOs are unique, unlike any other sector category.  From therapeutics, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, nutraceuticals, and medical devices to health tech, there are no other industries being transformed as profoundly by artificial intelligence (AI) and other disruptive technologies like the overall Life Sciences sector.  CEOs need trusted partners to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by innovative technologies. 

Like only the collective intelligence power of peers, a peer forum experience is like a hall of mirrors, illuminating opportunities for learning and growth 360 degrees in the round.  Not least of all, David and John also have first-hand experience in harnessing innovation and capturing its benefits for member  CEOs and their respective companies.

A confidential setting with no competitors (or other conflicts of interest of any kind), a peer forum is a safe place where learners come with a beginner’s mind, where the good comes to become great, and where the best comes to get better.

It is not just a cliché, it is also a reality that we hear so often unprompted from prospective members of our CEO Forums, for-profit and not-for-profit, that “it is lonely at the top”.  Over my 20 years of running forums and exploratory conversations with many hundreds of members and prospective members, I have heard that phrase so many times from them.  

One of the best ways I have heard it expressed was by REF San Diego Partner, Forum Leader and former CEO, Brad Lee who said he felt like an only child:

If you are a Post Series A Funded Life Sciences CEO who wants to be amongst the best getting better, you are not alone!  Invest in being a member of this forum.

The Life Sciences CEO Forum is only half a day per month of an in-person monthly meeting and a modest membership subscription.

There is no long-term contract.  Our members vote with their wallets and their feet, staying a long time as they find it such a great ROI.

So there is very little to lose.  Plus lots to gain.  Access expert insights and form deep and meaningful relationships in a confidential setting of diverse members with no competitors. Bring your most strategic, critical, and intractable issues, problems, challenges, and opportunities to a safe place to process with the forum.  Belong to a community of leaders powered by collective intelligence, locally, regionally, nationally, and globally.

There are only 15 seats available for non-competing members in this first Life Sciences CEO Forum. So don’t miss out.  Contact us today to express your interest: mrichardson@ref.global.