Renee Williams

Founder and Managing Partner at Williams Biotech Consulting, LLC

Speaker

Renee Williams, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, is founder and Managing Partner of Williams Biotech Consulting, which is a boutique firm offering business development services and strategy workshops, with expertise in RNA therapeutics, genetic medicines, and non-viral delivery.

Previously, as Vice President of External Strategy for Genetic Medicines at Eli Lilly and Company, Renee actively shaped the scientific direction by executing 30+ deals in under 24 months for 9 modalities in 6 therapeutic areas within the US, EU, and APAC. This included initiating the ~$500 M acquisition of Akouos auditory gene therapy company, which in January 2024, reported being the first to restore hearing loss in one child who was deaf from birth.

Renee started her career at Janssen as a chemist where she built from inception the analytical capabilities and standard operating procedures for two discovery laboratories within the RNA Therapeutics function. Upon transitioning into the business unit, she served as Global Lead of Business Strategy and Operations for the Infectious Diseases Therapeutic Area, and Campus Strategist for the Company’s premier R&D site on the West Coast. She received cross-functional accommodations for successfully crafting and implementing a change management campaign that transformed Support Services into a highly agile fit for purpose performance team in under 18 months.

Early in her career, she taught and created new curriculum for chemistry programs at the high school, university, and adult levels, and served a regional chair for the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) where she received the President’s Award for Excellence in STEM Leadership.

Renee holds a dual MBA from the SC Johnson School of Management at Cornell University and Smith School of Business at Queen’s University (Kingston, Canada); a PhD and MS in Chemistry with expertise in mass spectrometry and separation sciences from the University of California, Riverside and California State University, Los Angeles, respectively; and a BS in Chemistry with a minor in African-American Studies from University of California, Irvine.