RSVP Here

Please join Women Leaders of Octane for our virtual quarterly meeting, Wednesday, July 20 from 12 – 1 pm PST, featuring Spotlight Thought Leader, Mina Sooch, CEO, President, and Founder of Ocuphire Pharma and Vice-Chair of the Board. In addition to our thought leader, our committee chairs will share progress reports:

Our Committees and Committee Chairs:

• Creating Women-led Businesses & LaunchPad Committee – Marinela Gombosev, SPARK Neuro
• Funding Committee – Delilah Panio, Toronto Stock Exchange
• Women on Boards Committee – Joyce Averna, JP Morgan Private Bank
• Resources & Communications – Nanneke Dinklo

Mina Sooch

CEO, President, and Founder of Ocuphire Pharma and Vice-Chair of the Board

Mina Sooch is CEO, President, and Founder of Ocuphire Pharma and Vice-Chair of the Board. With over 25 years of pharmaceutical and biotech experience as CEO, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and strategist, Mina has successfully raised hundreds of millions of dollars for over 10 biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and drug/device companies, which included leading three successful public Nasdaq listings, including 2 IPOs (Gemphire and ProNAi) and taking Ocuphire public in late 2020 (Nasdaq:OCUP). She was a co-founder and CEO of Gemphire Therapeutics, a publicly-traded, clinical-stage cardiovascular company as well as co-founder and CEO of ProNAi Therapeutics, a public, clinical-stage DNAi oncology company. Mina also co-founded in 2003 Apjohn Ventures Fund with a focus on early-stage life sciences companies based in Michigan. Earlier in her career, from 1993-2000, she served as a global account manager at Monitor Group, a top-tier global strategy consulting firm based in Boston specializing in healthcare, M&A, and corporate finance. Mina currently serves on the board of Priority Health (2^nd largest healthcare plan in Michigan). She has served on the boards of over 12 private, public, and nonprofit firms, and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including being named one of the Deal Makers of the year in 2016 by Crain’s Detroit Business and E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 Regional Finalist. Mina received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. summa cum laude in Chemical Engineering from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.