Speakers

I am a senior technology and transformation leader with over 20 years of experience in partnering with business and IT leaders on defining and delivering information technology in support of business strategies and transformation objectives. I am passionate about building powerful teams and developing trusted relationships to create breakthrough and innovative ways for my customers and partners to succeed. I bring an energetic and positive attitude to every endeavor I encounter. 

Bryan Bean serves as a senior lending officer for Pinnacle Financial Partners’ client advisory group. He is based at the firm’s downtown Nashville office at Symphony Place.

Bean began his financial services career in 2005 at SunTrust Bank, where he was a first vice president and commercial relationship manager serving middle market clients.

Ben Scruggs is a Partner at Hatteras, where he focuses on biotechnology and life science tools companies. He has experience building and scaling healthcare companies across therapeutic areas including inflammation, oncology, neurodegeneration, ophthalmology, cell therapy, and gene therapy.

Patrick Driscoll is the Director of Client Development at Holland & Knight in Century City. He leads strategic initiatives in business development, marketing, and branding for the Emerging Companies and Venture Capital practices.

Derek Dedeker joined Frist Cressey Ventures in 2022 and serves as Principal. He is involved with investment origination and execution as well as post-close value creation for the Firm’s partnerships. Prior to FCV, Mr. Dedeker spent 4 years at Santé Ventures, an early-stage healthcare venture capital firm based in Austin. Prior to Santé, he worked as an Investment Banking Senior Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group at Citi in New York City, where he worked on a variety of M&A and equity transactions.

Mateo focuses on exploring new investment themes and incubating new companies that could potentially become Series A investments.

Prior to joining Santé, Mateo was a Biodesign Innovation Fellow at Stanford University, where he focused on identifying pressing unmet healthcare needs and inventing novel solutions to address those needs. Before joining Biodesign, Mateo was responsible for designing and developing future surgical robotic solutions as a Senior Mechanical Engineer at both Verb Surgical and Auris Health.

RJ Forbes is a passionate and dedicated business professional with experience navigating today’s complex and evolving business environment. His background allows him to approach challenges from multiple perspectives and develop solutions using the technical expertise and skills he has gained.

Chris Garabedian founded Xontogeny in June of 2016 to support multiple promising technologies from early development through clinical proof of concept. In 2017, Chris joined Perceptive Advisors to develop their Venture Fund strategy and is Portfolio Manager of the Perceptive Xontogeny Ventures Fund which supports early-stage companies with Series A investments across biotech, medtech and healthtech.

Maura Cunningham is dedicated to closing the racial and gender wealth gaps as well as the opportunity gap that exists today. Determined to make this vision a reality, Maura combined her entrepreneurial skills and her passion for working with teenage students and she went on to launch Rock The Street, Wall Street, (RTSWS) in 2012. RTSWS sparks girls’ enthusiasm for finance at a critical age and makes them aware of the societal benefits that personal investment knowledge and math-oriented careers can have.

Christopher Monroe is a co-Founder of IonQ. He is also the Gilhuly Family Presidential Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics at Duke University.

Nadim Shohdy, Ph.D., is the Chief Operating Officer, Deerfield Discovery and Development and joined the Firm in 2024. Prior to Deerfield, Dr. Shohdy was Vice President, Corporate Development at Hyku Biosciences. Before Hyku Biosciences, Dr. Shohdy served as Entrepreneur in Residence at RA Ventures, a division of RA Capital Management, during which time he also served as Vice President, Corporate Development at Clear Creek Bio. Prior to these roles, Dr.