Chicago Life Sciences, Quantum Computing and Biotech

Dr. Preeti Chalsani is the inaugural chief quantum officer for Intersect Illinois, where she leads all business development efforts related to quantum in the state. Prior to joining Intersect, she served as the Director of Industry Partnerships for the Chicago Quantum Exchange in a joint position with the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Dr. Harley Johnson is a Founder Professor in Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A faculty member since 2001, Harley served as the Associate Dean for Research in the Grainger College of Engineering from 2019 to 2024. As a researcher, his work has focused on electronic and quantum materials, and he is the PI and Director of the Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center.

A seasoned business executive, marketing and strategic thought leader with more than 30 years of experience, Michael joined Clayco, one of America’s largest fully integrated design and engineering centric builder and real estate development firm across the commercial, industrial and residential sector as its first ever Chief Growth Officer and President of Chicagoland in early 2024. Prior to this role between, Michael led as President and CEO World Business Chicago, the City’s economic development organization, with more than 100 C-Suite executives from all over Chicagoland on its business centric board between 2020 and early 2024. The organization’s core focus is on growing its industry sectors by supporting the expansion of existing Chicagoland based companies and by attracting new corporate relocations to the region, all with a focus on equitable economic prosperity across all 77 neighborhoods and the region. Additionally, Michael worked alongside the Mayor’s Office as the Chief Marketing Officer to ensure that all marketing, branding, and business development activities for the city were aligned with Mayor Lightfoot’s and then Mayor Johnson’s economic growth plan focused on inclusive growth across Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods. Michael Fassnacht has been a recurring figure in Chicago’s civic community and has led critical pro-bono work for the rebranding of the Chicago Public Library and its foundation, the city’s Amazon HQ2 pitch, the City’s Census 2020 activities and “Boards of Change”, an award-winning initiative to encourage residents to register to vote. Most recently, Michael served as a Co-Chair on Mayor Johnson’s transition sub-committee for Economic Vitaly & Equity. Additionally, he has been involved as a board member with Choose Chicago, Chicago Public Library Foundation, The Civic Consulting Alliance, CURRENT, The Poetry Foundation, and World Business Chicago while providing counsel to P33, and The Chicago Prize by the Pritzker/Traubert Foundation. Michael also serves as a 2022 Daniel Burnham Fellow. Prior to his most recent role, Michael served for more than 10 years as CEO & President at one of the city’s oldest and most successful advertising agencies, Foote Cone & Belding (FCB). He led his agency to unprecedented international creative recognition and strong above-industry topline growth over his tenure. Over his long career, he has been recognized as a global expert in building and marketing brands. He started his corporate success trajectory at Lufthansa Airlines in Frankfurt, where he led the airline’s frequent flyer program, Miles & More, before departing to Silicon Valley where he was a successful start-up entrepreneur. Michael was born in Germany and made his way stateside in college where he met his wife, Dr. Rhonda Duffaut. They currently reside in Chicago and have two children, Maya and Ryan.

Rebecca Motley’s professional background is in assisting startups with connections to resources, utilizing a wide network of contacts throughout the Midwest. Her consulting company, 51- enterprises, llc, works with all types of startup organizations, from retail to technology to life sciences, referring them to resources from funding to operations. She moved to Chicago from Champaign, IL, in early 2023 to run BioLabs Chicago, a life sciences incubator that was to open in Lincoln Park. Before BioLabs, Rebecca directed the operations of EnterpriseWorks, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s technology startup incubator. Her additional experience has been in municipal economic development, commercial real estate, non-profit and grant administration, and commercial lending. She has a B.S. in Economics and an MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Mr. Pachucki is Founder and Principal of the IBT Group LLC, which focuses on creative urban developments in metropolitan areas. Current projects include 1200 Fulton, a full-block creative office, retail and entertainment complex in the West Fulton Market area of Chicago. Mr. Pachucki is responsible for strategic management of all development activities for IBT Group including pipeline, acquisition, financing, planning, leasing and project execution. He has over 30 years of real estate experience and has been involved in the development of over ten million of square feet of office, residential and retail space throughout the country during his career. Prior to the formation of the IBT Group, Mr. Pachucki started and oversaw retail development in the Midwest for Opus Group of Companies, a family owned real estate company which was one of the largest privately held real estate companies in the country. Prior to OPUS he spent several years with Balcor as Vice president where he was responsible for an extensive national portfolio of 2,000,000 square feet of commercial space and 60,000 residential units. An architect by training, Mr. Pachucki spent several years with at the time the largest architectural firm in Wisconsin, Mochon, Schutte, Hackworthy & Juerisson, where he was involved in various aspects of the design process for institutional and commercial buildings including airports, schools and residential projects. Mr. Pachucki graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and also completed graduate level studies at the University of Wisconsin Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Shyama Majumdar, PhD, MBA, is associate director of science ventures at the Polsky Center. In this role, Shyama works with faculty, staff and students to facilitate the creation of science and technology-based ventures developed by innovators at the University. While she has a focus on life sciences due to her scientific background, she is passionate about technology startups in general. Prior to joining the Polsky Center, Shyama was a research assistant professor at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) where she conducted Prostate cancer research. While at UIC she also worked as program coordinator at IllinoisVENTURES where she oversaw the running of the proof-of-concept fund that funds early stage technologies developed at the university. Prior to this Shyama worked as a consulting program manager at EnterpriseWorks where she helped develop and manage their accelerator program. Shyama earned a PhD and an MBA from the University of Delaware and conducted her postdoctoral research cancer biology at Harvard Medical School and University of Illinois at Chicago. Originally from New Delhi, India, Shyama now lives in the West Loop with her husband (MBA ’18) and two daughters. In her free time she enjoys cooking, reading, and binge watching TV series on Netflix.

Allyson Hansen, MHA, CPXP has an extensive career leading complex healthcare organizations and ensuring they reach their potential in delivering high quality care while elevating the patient experience, improving operational efficiency and ensuring financial stability. As the CEO & Executive Director of the Illinois Medical District (IMD), Hansen leads with responsibility for strategic planning, vision, growth and daily operations. She is also tasked with fostering relationships and collaboration among partners and stakeholders across the 560 acre healthcare ecosystem. As the Chief Executive Hansen guides the District during a time of explosive growth and creativity, supporting a vibrant healthcare ecosystem that includes four anchor medical institutions and more than 40 health-related facilities. As a seasoned executive with over 20 years’ experience in academic, community and national healthcare systems, Hansen brings extensive experience in strategy development and execution, operational improvement and partnerships to the IMD. Hansen has the proven ability to successfully analyze an organization's critical business requirements, identify deficiencies and potential opportunities, and develop innovative and cost-effective solutions for enhancing competitiveness and improving performance. She moves easily from vision and strategy to implementation and follow-through, building in project management, accountability and managing for daily improvement practices to ensure goal attainment. Hansen developed expertise in planning and administering healthcare services across Chicago land at UChicago Medicine, Loyola Health System, UI Health and Advocate Health Care. Prior to joining the IMD, she was Managing Partner of The Red Penny Group, advising national healthcare systems, medical groups and investors on growth, integration, operations and strategic plans. Hansen holds a Master of Health Administration and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of South Carolina, and is trained in Lean Six Sigma, change management and is a certified Patient Experience Professional. She is trained in Co- Active Coaching and is a graduate of the Disney Institute for Healthcare Leadership. Hansen is an active volunteer and advises emerging leaders and supports their career growth in the Menttium corporate mentoring network. Hansen lives in west suburban La Grange, where she serves on the community advisory council of Lyons Township High School.

As Education and Science Principal at HDR, Hans Thummel brings over 40 years of architectural experience and knowledge of the Chicago/regional life science market to his role. He excels in leading multidisciplinary project teams and has directed significant projects for AbbVie, Argonne National Laboratory, Northwestern University, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. His work is celebrated for its impact and excellence, demonstrating his ability to manage complex projects successfully. Hans is a member of the American Institute of Architects, the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories, and the U.S. Green Building Council. As a thought leader and industry contributor, he has presented on topics such as adaptive reuse and building envelope at prominent conferences and published articles on the impact of COVID-19 on institutional research. His dedication to delivering high-caliber architectural design in support of research, learning, and discovery highlights his commitment to fostering equitable and empowered communities.

Kate oversees the Strategy team and leads the discipline’s effort to craft thoughtful positioning recommendations for clients across real estate, corporate, and product marketing. This includes in-depth market research, facilitating comprehensive client intake workshops, and developing the strategic foundation for entire brand campaigns. Kate is a charismatic team leader with an intimate knowledge of Neoscape’s clients. She purposefully asks the right questions to dig deeper and ensure strategic plans align with client objectives, setting their projects, brands, and products on a trajectory of success. A few notable life science projects Kate has developed a strategic foundation for include, locally, Beacon Capital Properties - 2 Harbor, King Street Properties - Pathway, Allston Labworks, 101 Cambridgepark Drive, and Boylston Properties - 100 Forge. Nationally, she has worked on Texas Medical Center (Houston, TX), Deerfield - Cure at 345 Park Avenue South (New York, mNY), Trammell Crow Company - Science Square (Atlanta, GA), and many more. She is co-chair of the Women of Neoscape group and an active member of ULI New York’s Young Leaders Group.

Steven Collens is CEO of MATTER, the premier healthcare incubator and innovation hub. MATTER opened in February 2015 and nurtures entrepreneurs and innovators building next-generation health IT, medical device, diagnostic and biopharma technologies. MATTER has worked with more than 800 healthcare technology ventures and the company partners with dozens of industry-leading companies, health systems and universities. Prior to assuming his current role, Steven was senior vice president at Pritzker Group, the investment firm led by Tony and J.B. Pritzker. In that capacity, he led the team that created 1871, Chicago’s center for digital startups, which became the top-ranked business incubator in the world in 2018. He previously worked at Abbott in a variety of domestic and international functions, including product management, policy and public affairs. In 2005, Steven helped found ConstantWellness.com to give patients control over their health data and allow healthcare providers to coordinate care of their patients. Prior to Abbott, Steven served as legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Carol Moseley-Braun. Steven holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a BA from Washington University in St. Louis. He chairs the board of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and serves on the boards of 1871 and the Chicago High School for the Arts. He is a member of ChicagoNEXT, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s council on technology and innovation, a Leadership Greater Chicago fellow, and a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and the Commercial Club of Chicago.