CED Sets Dates For Upcoming Conference Season

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CED (www.cednc.org) has announced the event dates for its upcoming conference season, featuring two premier events for the entrepreneurial community. CED will present its 19^th annual Biotech conference Monday, Feb. 22 through Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010, at the Raleigh Convention Center in Raleigh, N.C. CED will present the 27^th Venture conference Tuesday, April 20 through Thursday, April 22, 2010 at the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, N.C.

Biotech 2010’s confirmed speakers include John Clerici, partner/chairmain of the life sciences and public health preparedness practice at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP; J. Donald deBethizy, Ph.D., president/CEO of Targacept, Inc.; Nicole Fouché, executive director of Triangle Global Health Consortium; Steve Krognes, CFO of Genentech, Inc.; Ernest Mario, Ph.D., formerly of GlaxoSmithKline, Alza Corporation and Reliant Pharmaceuticals; J. Michael Pearson, chairman/CEO of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International; Allen D. Roses, M.D., FRCP, director of the Deane Drug Discovery Institute at Duke University; Stephen Sands, vice chairman of U.S. investment banking and global co-head of the healthcare group at Lazard Frere & Co.; Christy Shaffer, Ph.D., president/CEO of Inspire Pharmaceuticals; Kevin Schulman, MD, professor of medicine at Duke University’s School of Medicine; Dr. Lauren Silverman, managing director of Novartis Option Fund; Stephen F. Stefano, senior vice president of North American business development and new product planning at GlaxoSmithKline; and Jon Stonehouse, president/CEO of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc..

Confirmed speakers at Venture 2010 include Jim Whitehurst, president/CEO of Red Hat; Jim Rogers, board chairman, president/CEO of Duke Energy; and Mark W. Yusko, president/chief investment officer of Morgan Creek Capital Management, LLC. An investor panel on April 21 will include Brad Feld, managing director at Foundry Group; Noel Fenton, general partner at Trinity Ventures; and Todd Forrest, managing director/CFO of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.

"CED’s conferences are instrumental connecting points between investors and entrepreneurs," said Jud Bowman, president and CEO of CED member company PocketGear. "In 2002, our presentation at the CED Venture conference directly led to our company's $14 million second round financing, which made all the difference in scaling our business."

- CED’s Biotech 2010 conference will explore discussions on global health, personalized medicine, the current funding environment and pharmaceutical partnering. With nearly 1,000 attendees at the 2009 event, the conference is known for attracting life science executives, early stage entrepreneurs, policy makers, investors, university leaders and researchers.

- One new feature for Biotech 2010 is a Venture Day featuring Hoffmann-La Roche Inc.

- CED’s Venture Conference is the longest running financing event in the nation. The conference will showcase the top investment opportunities in the technology, life science and clean tech sectors from the Southeast across various stages of development. Each year, the conference attracts hundreds of venture capitalists, angel investors and financiers nationwide.

- This year, Venture 2010 for the first time will present the University Showcase, a look at the top technologies coming out of universities.

ABOUT CED

CED (formerly the Council for Entrepreneurial Development) is a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1984 to identify, enable and promote high-growth, high-impact companies and accelerate the region’s entrepreneurial culture. Headquartered in the Research Triangle Park, CED is the oldest and largest entrepreneurial support organization in the nation with more than 5,500 active members. CED provides know-how, networking, mentoring and capital formation resources to new and existing high-growth entrepreneurs through annual conferences, programs and web-based resources. CED has helped entrepreneurs, investors, service partners, researchers and public policy makers in diverse emerging industries and at all stages of development – from high-tech, production-based organizations to service companies, from one-person start-ups to 1000-person businesses.