News & Events

Join Jim, SCHB Chair, at his presentation on —

Your Board: What You Need When Starting a Company — a Funding February SCHB Discuss Business Happy Hour. A brief introduction will be followed by the presentation and facilitated discussion.

Social hour will immediately follow the business discussion.

Join Jim, SCHB Chair-Elect, at his presentation on —

Joint Ventures, Mergers, and Acquisitions-When to Choose What, a Funding February SCHB Discuss Business Happy Hour. Brief introductions by attendees will be followed by a short presentation and facilitated discussion.

Social hour will immediately follow the business discussion.

Jim’s webinar covered — How to value your business, how to go about finding and getting funding, how to prepare for presenting to venture capitalists, etc. Over 650 entrepreneurs from around the globe registered for the well-received webinar.

Join Jim and a panel of leading experts explore entrepreneurship at an ACS Philadelphia and Princeton Local Sections afternoon workshop.

Jim’s webinar covered — Why it is critically important to have a business plan; the sections of a Business Plan and the goal of the Business Plan. Over 6oo people registered for the online event. The feedback was excellent!

Jim presided over a session for the American Chemical Society (ACS) regional SERMACS conference in Savannah, GA. The session, designed to help scientific founders start new companies and gain a firm footing on the path to commercialization, is one of the objectives of the Small Chemical Businesses Division of ACS.

In addition, he presented a paper on Governance for Start-up and Early Stage Chemical Businesses.  The American Chemical Society is the world’s largest scientific society with more than 150,000 members.

Jim participated in two different panel discussions at the 102nd Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition in Quebec City.

The “Challenges of Starting a Scientific Company” was the topic of both panels. Attended by scientific entrepreneurs, there was standing room only.

Post-conference, Jim met with and counseled several of these scientists about the strategies of forming their new companies and bringing their exciting technologies to commercialization.

Jim presented two papers to some of the 15,000 attendees at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Spring 2019 National Meeting in Orlando, FL.

The presentations, “How the Funding Process Works for Scientific-based Start-up Companies”, and “Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board: Know the Needs for Your Start-up”, were directed to new company scientists with a concentration on the key areas that a new founder needs to understand when forming their business.

Jim is one of the Founding Members of the original Board of Directors and part of the inspiring community of scientists who have contributed so much to the health and welfare of people, animals, agriculture, and the environment throughout the world.

BIO was created by the merging of two biotechnology associations, the Industrial Biotechnology Association and the Association of Biotechnology Companies, of which Jim was the President at the time of the merger. He then joined the Board of BIO, its Executive Committee, and fulfilled the responsibilities of Chairman of the Emerging Company Section.

The Boston convention was attended by more than 18,000 biotechnology scientists and executives from 67 countries representing more than 7,000 companies – a far cry from the handful of companies and people filling a small conference room at our original annual meeting when we started this organization.” Jim Skinner

Jim presented the topic of “Strategy and Business Planning for Scientific Entrepreneurs”

The thrust of his presentation was: “A scientist makes a significant discovery. The technological benefits are critically important and much-needed. The task ahead is daunting – Where Do I Start?”

Jim presented two training seminars to faculty and students at “The Forge”, an incubator/accelerator at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. Attendees included founders of compelling start-up companies in the life sciences and tech sectors.

The first seminar focused on “Product Marketing Channels” for biotech companies. The second focused on “Organization Structure” and how to gain experience and build strategic strength by attracting marque Boards of Directors and Scientific Advisors.

These two seminars were part a continuing series that Jim has given with previous topics covering “Developing a Business Plan”, “Corporate Strategy”, and “Financing for New Companies”.