Roswell, GA and Greenville, SC – The Board of Directors of Southeast Life Sciences (SLS) has named Sam Konduros, Founder and President of Greenville-based SK Strategies, as Chief Executive Officer effective June 1, 2022.
Mr. Konduros succeeds Jason Rupp in the leadership role, in which Mr. Rupp served from 2019 to 2022. Mr. Rupp’s tenure included overseeing the merger of the Southeastern Medical Device Association and SE BIO in 2020.
“Vision, passion and expertise are three of the key characteristics we needed as we searched for our new leader for Southeast Life Sciences,” said Lee Burnes, SLS Board Co-Chair and Senior Vice President, Global R&D, Avanos Medical. “Those characteristics truly describe Sam and we are very fortunate to now have the benefit of his leadership in guiding Southeast Life Sciences into the future.”
Southeast Life Sciences’ mission is to cultivate, convene, and connect the Southeast entrepreneurial ecosystem to foster the public good, and life science innovation & investment across the region. The 2022 edition of the organization’s flagship event AdvanSE is May 25 – 27, 2022 at the Hotel Avalon in Alpharetta, Georgia, where Konduros will be formally introduced to stakeholders and attendees by the SLS Board leaders.\
In the past 20 years, more than 500 presenting early and late stage companies participating in advance have secured more than $7 billion in funding through nearly 800 funding transactions including 70 IPO and M&A events.
“We are incredibly proud to bring on such a dynamic leader in Sam Konduros to take Southeast Life Sciences to the next level,” said SLS Board Co-Chair and Silicon Valley Bank Director Scott McCarty. “I very much look forward to partnering with Sam to unleash his energy in furthering SLS’ mission of connecting and building the Southeast life science ecosystem.”
Mr. Konduros, who previously served as President and CEO of SCBIO and as Executive Director of the Greenville Health Research Development Corporation prior to that role, said, “I am humbly grateful for all that the SLS board, including Lee and Scott, have done to make this announcement a reality, and for their confidence in me as the organization’s next leader. I’m also appreciative of the strong and positive foundation laid by former CEO, Jason Rupp. I am incredibly eager to take the reins as CEO beginning June 1st to advance and grow the life sciences industry in the nation’s fastest growing region. The sky is truly the limit, and the rapidly approaching conference will be the ideal foundation for launching my role and ushering in SLS’s next dynamic chapter of development.”
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