Thursday, June 19, 2025
VIRTUAL EVENT
Biotech Boards: How to Be in the Room Where It Happens

Joining a board can amplify your leadership, shape company strategy, and open doors to the highest levels of influence in biotech. It can also make you a better executive. But what does it take to get there? And how do you make a difference once you’re there?

Lorence Kim, managing partner at Ascenta Capital, led a conversation with Carole Ho, CMO of Denali Therapeutics, and David Chun, CEO of Equilar, an executive intelligence firm that specializes in board assessment and recruitment.

They shared their board experience and tackled the practical and personal questions many rising leaders ask, including how to make sure you’re not just in the room—but delivering real value.
 

About the speakers

Carole Ho is the Chief Medical Officer and Head of Development at Denali Therapeutics, which she joined after several years at Genentech where she was most recently VP of clinical development. She began her industry career at JNJ and prior to that, Carole completed a neurology residency at Harvard Medical School and was on faculty in Stanford's neurology department. Carole currently serves on the boards of Beam Therapeutics and NGM Bio. Her parents moved from China to Illinois, where she was born and raised. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and three children. 

David Chun has led Equilar since its inception to become one of the most trusted names in the corporate governance community. He is on Nasdaq’s Center for Board Excellence Advisory Board and the Advisory Council of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. Prior to founding Equilar, David was an investment banking VP at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette and a consultant with Bain & Company. David was born in Korea and came to the US when he was 7 months old. He lives in the Bay Area.

Lorence Kim co-founded biotech venture firm Ascenta Capital. He served as the chief financial officer of Moderna from 2014 to 2020, raising billions for the company and deploying resources to discover and advance its pipeline of 24 mRNA programs, including its Covid-19 vaccine. Lorence was previously an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, where he was a managing director and co-head of the US biotech banking effort. He serves on the boards of Cencora, Revolution Medicines and the American Red Cross, and previously served on the boards of Cowen and Seres Therapeutics, in addition to a number of private companies. His family immigrated from Korea to a small town east of Pittsburgh where he grew up. He now lives in New York City.