2024 Hall of Fame Inductees
Presented By: Insperity
Sujuan Ba, Ph.D.
President & CEO, National Foundation for Cancer Research
CEO & Co-Founder, AIM-HI Accelerator Fund
Sujuan Ba is a Ph.D. and scientist turned CEO making an impact in cancer research worldwide today. She currently serves as the President & CEO of the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR), co-founded in 1973 by Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Albert Szent-Györgyi and the lawyer/entrepreneur Franklin Salisbury, Sr. NFCR provides scientists in the lab the critical seed funding they need to make game-changing discoveries in cancer detection, treatments, and prevention and ultimately, a cure for all cancers.
At NFCR, Dr. Ba oversees the strategic direction and implementation of NFCR’s scientific funding, global strategic partnership & alliances, public fundraising, and financial planning. Under Dr. Ba’s leadership, NFCR has established a robust network of cancer researchers in the United States, Europe, and Asia allowing NFCR-funded scientists to work collaboratively across disciplinary, institutional, and geographic boundaries on a wide array of innovative basic and translational cancer research. Significant and impactful international collaborative programs have emerged from this cross-institution collaborative approach.
Under the leadership of Dr. Ba, NFCR has established the annual Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research, recognizing scientists who made seminal discoveries that have also led to significant impact benefiting cancer patients. She has served continuously as co-chair of the Prize Selection Committee, consisting of key opinion leaders of cancer research from academic and biotech/pharmaceutical communities. The prize has now grown into one of the premier cancer research awards in the world.
Dr. Ba has played an integral role in the inception, development, and ongoing operation of GBM AGILE, or Glioblastoma Adaptive Global Innovative Learning Environment, in the relentless battle against glioblastoma (GBM), a devastating and universally fatal brain cancer. Dr. Ba co-founded the Global Coalition for Adaptive Research (GCAR) with several world-renowned leaders in brain cancer research in 2017. GBM AGILE is a platform for concurrent testing of multiple therapies against a common standard, currently open at 78 sites in 6 countries with 7 new drugs in the system and more to be coming soon. 2,400 patients have been screened. The knowledge and the trial design platform established from GBM AGILE have also been applied to other deadly cancers, such as pancreatic cancer and ovarian cancer.
Dr. Ba co-founded the AIM-HI Accelerator Fund (AIM-HI) and has been its CEO since 2019. AIM-HI is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization that provides oncology startups with the resources they need to drive innovative discoveries forward, out of the lab, to the clinics, and eventually to the people battling cancer. Our mission is to bridge the gap between research breakthroughs and clinical trials, aiming to develop innovative cancer therapies and technologies that can save patients’ lives. Since AIM-HI’s inception, almost two dozen oncology startups have received the critically needed seed investments.
Dr. Ba led the establishment of the AIM-HI Women’s Venture Competition in 2020, a first-of-its-kind program providing lifeline seed investment, critical coaching, and valuable networking opportunities for women entrepreneurs. Dr. Ba also established the Beacon Award for Women Leaders in Oncology in 2022, recognizing outstanding women pioneers who have significantly impacted cancer patients worldwide through developing and commercializing novel technologies, implementing public policy, and advocacy.
Melissa Bradley
Founder & General Partner
1863 Ventures
Founded in 2016, 1863 Ventures is an accelerator firm that prefers to accelerate investments in the construction, food, beverages, retail, healthcare, software, e-commerce, and edtech sectors from the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington states of the United States.
Serial entrepreneur, investor, professor and researcher. Expertise in (impact) investing, technology, financial services, (social) entrepreneurship, venture capital, social responsibility and media. Significant start-up experience, successful investments facilitated for start-up and emerging companies, extensive board leadership and engagement and aspirational golfer.
Tarrus Richardson
Founder & CEO
IMB Partners
Founded in 2010, IMB Partners is a private equity firm with 9 platform companies, $1 billion + portfolio revenue, and 100+ years investment experience across the team.
Tarrus Richardson serves as Chairman at Carr & Duff and e&e IT Consulting Services. He is the Founder and serves as Chief Executive Officer at IMB Solutions. He also serves as Board Member at Mirror Digital. He serves as Chairman at Ashburn Consulting. He served as Chairman at LaFata Contract Services. He has 24 years of private equity experience, has invested over $500 million of capital and completed over 20 platform buyouts and add-on acquisitions. Prior to IMB, Tarrus co-founded ICV Partners, a $440 million minority-owned private equity firm from 1998-2010 and worked at JLL Partners, a private equity firm with over $2 billion of AUM, and Citibank (formerly Salomon Brothers). Tarrus is the founder of the Council of Urban Professionals (CUP), a top leadership development and networking organization based in New York and Los Angeles and a founding board chair of All-Star Code, a leading non-profit focused on helping boys of colour code. Mr. Richardson received a BS in Accounting from Purdue University (where he has served as the Purdue Black Alumni President and as Student Body President) and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Robert Toigo Fellow.
Tien Wong
CEO
Opus8, Inc.
Founded in 2002, Opus8 is a private equity firm that seeks to invest in business process outsourcing, information technology outsourcing, call centers & customer relationship management technologies & services, data center & cloud technologies & services, mobile technology, consumer products, financial services, healthcare, information services, media & publishing, business services and small government contractors with differentiated competitive advantages.
- S. Tien Wong serves as Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Opus8. Mr. Wong serves as Chairman at Tech2000 and Chief Executive Officer at Appnetic. He serves as Member of GAP Tech Fund Investment Committee at Virginia Venture Partners. He Co-Founded and served as Chief Executive Officer at CyberRep. Mr. Wong serves as Tech Investment Advisory Board Member at Virginia Venture Partners. He was appointed by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley to the 9-member Maryland Venture Fund Authority which allocates and manages $84 million in VC-invested capital. He serves on the Investment Advisory Board of the Commonwealth of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology GAP Fund and the Board of Directors of the Potomac Officer's Club. He is an Organizing Board member of Startup Maryland and Founding Board Member of FounderCorps. Previous Board positions include Treasurer and National Board Member of the American Teleservices Association/PACE, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Chairman of the Executive Leadership Committee for the Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship, the Technology Council of Maryland, Association for Corporate Growth - National Capital, and the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association. Mr. Wong also is an Advisory Board Member of some of the most promising technology companies in the US, including Parature, Transactis, DataRPM, and SpydrSafe. He also serves as board member at TradeUp Capital Fund. He co-founded and also served as Chief Executive Officer at CyberRep.