HOW Forum 2024 Women Lead Change

She is the CEO of Arsayian Transform Coaching & Consulting and the Founder of Ater Tumti- holistic resort in Costa Rica www.atertumticostarica.com . She was a successful global sales leader at LinkedIn, inspiring her teams to dream big and achieve exceptional results. She was also a successful sales executive at Gartner and business leader at Bloomberg serving Fortune 100 companies around the world.

Veronica’s purpose to empower others is not just a noble aspiration; it is a lived reality that shines through her own life story.  Having grown up in Ecuador with a single mother who died when Veronica was nine years old, Veronica is no stranger to deep challenges from an early age. In her teenage years, she moved to the United States with her father and shortly after ended up in a foster home. Despite these challenges, Veronica graduated from High School with honors and then went on to graduate from Brigham Young University learning four languages and did an Executive MBA at Cornell University being nominated as the best MBA in 2015.

Her life journey is nothing short of inspiring as you can read in her Memoir, “140 Miles of Life- A Remarkable Journey to Self-Acceptance and Love.” Veronica’s remarkable journey serves as a testament to her resilience, determination, and unwavering commitment to personal growth and empowerment. She chose to rise above her circumstances and transform her challenges into opportunities for growth and self-discovery. By sharing her experiences, Veronica not only inspires others to embrace their own journeys but also empowers them to strive for their highest potential.

Veronica holds a B.A. in French from Brigham Young University and an M.B.A. from Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, where she was honored as “The 2015 Best Executive EMBA.” She also graduated from  the Inner M.B.A. (Conscious Leadership Program).  Find more information about her at www.veronicacarrera.com

In 2020, she moved to Singapore, where, building on her Silicon Valley roots, Maaike founded Epic Angels, now the world’s largest female investor network focusing on APAC innovation.

Today based in NYC, Maaike is on a mission to mobilize and empower female accredited investors, aiming to move billions and create significant change. She wears multiple hats as a Fractional CFO, Venture Partner for Family Offices, Board Member, and Professor at top universities. 

Her drive for change is infectious. Maaike doesn’t just crunch numbers—she uses them to drive game-changing results in the investment world and beyond.

Tsolmon is the founder and managing partner of Jade Ventures, a global advisory and investment firm working on sustainable solutions to world’s complex challenges such as gender equality, climate change, access to finance and healthcare. As a limited partner, she invested in 20 companies in Founder Institute’s portfolio and is an active investor in pre-seed startups in Europe and the U.S. Tsolmon serves on the advisory board of the North Female Founder Collective, Visa Foundation/Village Capital’s Greentech Europe Program and Ventures Thrive deep tech accelerator funded by the European Innovation Council. She sits on the board of EVE, AI enabled cleantech company, and serves as an advisor to many startups in the ecosystem.

As a development economist, she managed north of $350 million U.S. government funded economic growth and investment projects supporting foreign direct investment, macroeconomic growth, job creation and small and medium enterprise revenue generation and global scale/growth. Notably, she worked on the winning proposal team for President Obama’s $9 billion global supply chain project in 20+ countries, and later managed project activities in Africa. She has a Distinction from Oxford University for her MBA, and a dual Economics and International Relations degree from American University for her Bachelor’s. She also holds master’s certifications from Yale School of Management and The George Washington University School of Business.

Most recently, Dr. Garner was Chief Scientific Officer of Ferring Pharmaceuticals US, a mid-size global company focused on reproductive and maternal health, microbiome and gastrointestinal therapeutics, and uro-oncology. From 2019-2022, she was Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of ObsEva, a company focused on addressing unmet needs in women’s health. Prior to that, she was CMO of Agile Therapeutics, where she led the company’s clinical development, regulatory, and medical affairs strategies, including designing and leading the Phase 3 SECURE trial which led to FDA approval of the Twirla contraceptive patch. Dr. Garner has also held leadership roles at Myriad Genetics, Abbott Laboratories, and at Merck Research Labs where she was a key contributor on the Gardasil and Gardasil9 vaccines.

Dr. Garner is currently on the Boards of Directors of Kezar Life Sciences (KZR), which develops novel therapies for autoimmune diseases, Sermonix Pharmaceuticals, a company focused on targeted breast cancer therapies, and is Chair of the Board of NUA Surgical, a start-up company dedicated to creating innovative surgical solutions in obstetrics and gynecology. She is also the Immediate Past President of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), a professional organization whose mission is to advance women physicians, advocate for equity, and ensure excellence in healthcare.

Beth received joint M.D. and M.P.H. degrees from Harvard Medical and Public Health Schools, trained in obstetrics and gynecology at Brigham and Women’s (BWH)/Massachusetts General Hospitals, and completed a fellowship in gynecologic oncology at BWH/Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Prior to transitioning into industry in 2007, she was Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, where she focused on academic clinical practice in gynecologic oncology, basic science ovarian cancer research, and teaching and mentorship of medical students, residents, and fellowship trainees.

Elizabeth has extensive experience as a media spokesperson and is a frequent panelist and speaker on a range of topics including innovation and investment in women’s health, women’s leadership, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and diversity in clinical trials. She is an author on close to 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers. Garner is a 2019 and 2023 awardee of the PharmaVoice 100 Most Inspiring Individuals in the life sciences industry and was the 2022 recipient of the Woman in Science Award from the American Medical Women’s Association.

The Office of Women’s Health advanced its scientific efforts, under her direction, to produce more than 350 research papers and journal articles to facilitate FDA’s regulatory decision-making and promote a better understanding of sex differences and health conditions unique to women. Her tenure produced the first FDA Women’s’ Health Research Roadmap, outlining seven priority areas for new or enhanced research including biomarkers, nanotechnology, cardiovascular disease, and post market surveillance as well as a framework to assess its impact. Her colleagues applaud her ability to set a vision and guide the concept to reality. One FDA Commissioner stated, “She is elegant…not just in style but in character, confidence and compassion.”

Ms. Henderson’s expertise in the development of public-private partnerships and culturally appropriate consumer engagement strategies led to the Women’s Health Take Time To Care Program, which has reached over 120 million people with FDA consumer information in 18 languages, and received awards from more than 96 national organizations. Her easy to read, science-based materials have been chronicled in Dear Abby, Parade Magazine, Hints from Heloise, and the IRS, as well as sponsored by external groups including the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, American Diabetes Association, Ford Motor Company, American Medical Association, and even Las Vegas casinos. Her novel efforts supported a one-stop Pregnancy Exposure Registries website to gather information about how prescription drugs or vaccines affect a pregnant woman and her fetus. In addition, she recently instructed her staff to expand the Science of Sex and Gender on-line accredited courses with the NIH/Office of Research on Women’s Health and to conduct FDA’s first “Scientific Conference: Opioid and Nicotine Use, Dependence, and Recovery: Influences of Sex and Gender” to address this national epidemic.

She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Dr. Estelle Ramey Award for Women’s Health Leadership from Society for Women’s Health Research; “HerMANA” Award for innovative outreach to Hispanic women, and Pinnacle Award for exceptional leadership in medication use for patients and caregivers. The first non-pharmacist to receive the prestigious Jacob Miller Award from the American Pharmacists Association Foundation, she was also one of five Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal (Sammies) finalists from throughout the U.S. federal government. And as Chair of the national board of the YWCA USA, she led the U.S. delegation at the YWCA World Council quadrennial meeting in Bangkok, Thailand to focus on women’s issues.

Prior to her FDA career, Ms. Henderson served as the Director of Evaluation for the Interagency Council on the Homeless; Director of Placement for the National Health Service Corps; Chief of Analysis and Information for the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health; and Senior Advisor to the Director of the Women’s Bureau at the U.S.

Dr. Jenkins is a well-recognized expert in women’s health and sex and gender-based medicine and has served in a variety of national roles such as Program Chair of the 2015 and 2018 National Sex and Gender Health Professional Education Summits and co-Chair of the Reproduction Workgroup of NASA’s Decadal Review, and as a member of the USMLE Women’s Health National Board of Medical Examiners Writing Group, HRSA expert panel Advisories and NIH expert panels. She has been honored through numerous awards such as the American Medical Women’s Association Elizabeth Blackwell Award, the Women’s Health Congress Award for Public Policy and Advocacy in Women’s Health and recognized multiple times as a Texas SuperDoc. She has served as the Associate Dean of Women’s Affairs for Texas and has been faculty with the Johns Hopkins MEdPH program where she also filled the capacity of CAPStone Program Director.

Dr. Jenkins joined the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville as Dean from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, Texas, where she was a Professor of Medicine and the founder of the Laura Bush Institute for Women’s Health, a biomedical research and health education institute spanning across five health professionals’ schools and six campuses. She also served as the Director of Medical and Scientific Initiatives for the FDA Office of Women’s Health, where she provided sex and gender scientific expertise within scientific programs. In addition to her medical degree from East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee, Dr. Jenkins holds a degree in Chemical Engineering and a Master of Education in Health Professional (MEdPH).

Dr. Jenkins has delivered over 150 scientific and consumer presentations and co-authored numerous research publications, scientific commentaries, and textbooks including Eat Like a Woman and How Sex and Gender Impact Clinical Care: An Evidence Based Guide to Patient Care.

WHAM, founded in 2020, aims to increase awareness of and accelerate funding for women’s health research and investment to transform women’s lives and the economy. The non-profit organization, launched by a board of 25 leading businesswomen, created The WHAM Report to quantify the economic benefits of investing in women’s health research. 
 
Carolee Lee was also the founder and CEO of Carolee Designs, a global brand acquired by Luxottica in 2001. She has served on numerous boards, including The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, DSW, and the Museum of Arts and Design, NY. Currently, she serves on the board of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, The Women’s Health Advisory Board at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and The Women’s Leadership Board at The John F. Kennedy School of Government.

In 2019, Meg won the Financial Times’ Innovative Lawyer Legal Intrapreneur of the year award and is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s First-Mover Fellowship program that focuses on the development of corporate social intrapreneurs.

As the Chief Business Development, Marketing and CSR Officer at Paul Hastings, Meg was responsible for strategy, growth and innovation in legal services. She oversaw business and client development programs, public relations, brand management, and communications that promoted the firm’s international reach and commitment to client service. She also led the Diversity & Inclusion and Corporate Responsibility efforts of the firm.

Before joining Paul Hastings, Meg was based in Europe for ten years. During that time, she was the Director of Marketing for the EMEIA region at Andersen. In addition, Meg held director positions in business development, marketing and export for a major French clothing manufacturer, the largest French shoe manufacturer, and an American venture capital firm.

Meg is an advisory council member for Child HELP Partnership and served on the steering committee for The Aspen Institute Socrates Program.