SYDNEY & ONLINE: 2024 ‘The Dynamic Board’ Series – Structuring your board to be effective and add value

Since leaving Industry and becoming a full-time healthcare entrepreneur, Kelly’s portfolio has closed ~$200M in financing, secured two exits and one strategic investment. She has held several executive roles including CEO, COO, Board Member, and Executive Chairperson, and is actively engaged as a venture partner at Lumira Ventures. Kelly specializes in biotech and medtech positioning, launches and growth strategies. Currently, Kelly is leveraging her experience and expertise in precision medicine to productize novel algorithms and patient-centric solutions that enable healthcare in the home, via a venture-backed San Francisco startup and via an Australian startup.

Julie Garland McLellan is a confidential expert advisor to boards and directors, with a focus on improving governance and boardroom effectiveness. She has been the CEO and Advisor to Boards & Directors at The Director’s Dilemma since February 2004, offering practical advice and assistance. Julie is highly educated in corporate governance, with qualifications from the Australian Institute of Company Directors and The Wharton School. Her skills include business strategy, decision-making, and board service.

Sina has experience in assisting and advising clients on a wide range of corporate and commercial issues with particular expertise in mergers and acquisitions (both public and private), corporate finance, private equity, IPOs,  due diligence and compliance (with a focus on advising on ASX Listing Rules issues), as well as the negotiation of commercial agreements generally.

Sina focuses on advising clients in the energy and resources sector and the technology sector, working with them from their establishment stage, assisting them with their capital raising needs (including seed capital and IPO), and acting as a corporate advisor once they are fully funded or listed.

An experienced corporate lawyer, Lis advises listed and private companies, multinationals, and not-for-profit organisations on their structure, governance, operations and strategy.  Her clients appreciate her commitment to building long term relationships and understanding their culture and strategy so as to deliver timely, thoughtful and practical advice.

At a strategic level, Lis collaborates with boards and senior executives on significant transactions — such as capital raisings, restructuring, strategic collaborations and mergers and acquisitions (public and private).  Lis’s deep experience and practical insights are particularly appreciated by growing clients who seek her guidance on how to plan and execute these important projects.

Lis also helps organisations review their governance framework so that it is “fit for purpose”, and provides emotionally intelligent advice on engaging with key stakeholders around complex member approvals, or dealing with conflicts of interest.  In this, Lis brings additional perspectives as a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.  For listed companies, Lis gives practical direction on meeting continuous disclosure obligations.

At an operational level, Lis guides clients in how to integrate business ethics and legal compliance into “business as usual”, training boards and managers on fulfilling their key legal obligations, such as privacy and directors’ & officers’ duties.  Lis also designs contract review frameworks in line with the organisation’s risk appetite as well as drafting and negotiating complex contracts.

Lis’s strong focus on Life Sciences and Healthcare is reflected in her appointment as deputy chair of AusBiotech’s AusMedtech Advisory Group, and as a member of AusBiotech’s State Committee for NSW.   Lis has also actively participated in AusBiotech industry projects including AusBiotech’s Guide for Directors of Life Sciences Companies, AusBiotech’s Guide for Investors in Life Sciences Companies and pitching workshops for Life Sciences CEOs.  She enjoys being a “connector” between people in her network, to strengthen the Australian life sciences ecosystem.