Christina Lopes

Co-Founder and CEO

FidoCure

Charlene Patten

Chief Marketing Officer

Not Your Mother's Haircare

As a Chief Marketing Officer, Charlene honed her skills while leading some of the most iconic brands around the world, including $1 Billion brands Folgers Coffee Co, Gillette Venus and Pantene, underdogs Clairol Herbal Essence and Clairol nice ‘n easy and 375 year old Fiskars.

She is recognized as an expert in strategic marketing and innovation who delivers P&L growth with experience in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, China, and Asia Pacific. Charlene has led numerous award- winning campaigns and new product launches including 2022 Cannes and Clios Winners and 2021 Top 20 TikTok Culture Driver and Nielsen Breakthrough and IRI Pacesetter Top 20 Non-Food Launches in 2019, 2017, and 2015.

She was recognized as a Top 100 Women Decision- Makers in Finnish Businesses in both 2021 and 2022.

Brand-Building & Brand Soul — Leads global brands to deliver stakeholder value by optimizing business strategy and finding unexpected, insightful ways to express the brand that resonate with retailers and consumers.

Strategy & Innovation — Brings fresh, creative thinking to develop focused strategies and build the needed capabilities that rally the organization and position the company for competitive advantage.

Inspiring Leadership — Leads teams to unprecedented success with deep understanding that every encounter is an opportunity to cultivate belonging. Leads with grace and compassion, creating psychological safety to drive transformation.

Astrid Menendez-Muharram

Attorney

Morrison Foerster

Astrid Menendez-Muharram is an attorney in Morrison Foerster’s M&A and Private Equity Practice, focusing her practice on advising clients on a broad range of corporate matters, with an emphasis on M&A and private equity transactions in the United States and Latin America.

 

Astrid has significant experience representing businesses and private equity funds and portfolio companies in a broad range of corporate matters, including domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, joint ventures, divestitures and general corporate governance. Astrid advises clients in all aspects of their investment activity across a wide variety of industry sectors, including consumer, beauty, and personal care products, retail, food and agriculture, manufacturing, aerospace, defense and government contracting and technology.

Justin Byers

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Axio BioPharma

Justin Byers is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Axio BioPharma, an AI biomanufacturing company revolutionizing how monoclonal antibodies are developed and produced. Based in Madison, Wisconsin, Axio launched in 2024 with a mission to accelerate and de-risk the development of recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies through AI-driven process design and U.S.-based manufacturing.

Under Justin’s leadership, Axio has pioneered a data-rich, machine learning–powered approach that reduces process development timelines from years to days unlocking faster, more cost-efficient pathways for biotech partners. He has steered the company’s rapid growth, from establishing its state-of-the-art facilities to securing strategic partnerships, including collaborations to advance next-generation drug delivery technologies.

With a background at the intersection of biomanufacturing, technology, and entrepreneurship, Justin brings a vision of scaling biologics development with speed, reliability, and accessibility. He is committed to building Axio into a trusted partner for innovators worldwide, combining scientific rigor with cutting-edge AI to bring life-changing therapies to patients faster.