Our Team

Gail Maderis is President & CEO of BayBio, the industry organization representing and supporting Northern California’s life science community. As a former biotech CEO, Ms. Maderis brings deep experience and commitment to supporting the industry through enterprise development, peer-to-peer experience sharing, advocacy and support of education and workforce development. From 2003 to 2009, Ms. Maderis served as President and CEO of Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held protein discovery and development company. At FivePrime, she successfully funded the company’s rapid growth through substantial private equity financings and corporate partnerships and took the company’s first novel cancer therapeutic from discovery into clinical trials. Prior to FivePrime, Ms. Maderis held senior executive positions at Genzyme Corporation, including founder and president of Genzyme Molecular Oncology. Ms. Maderis practiced management and strategy consulting with Bain & Co. She serves on the boards of NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Opexa Therapeutics, BayBio, the Mayor’s Biotech Advisory Council of San Francisco and the HBS Healthcare Initiative. She received a BS in business from the UC Berkeley and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Ritchard Engelhardt is the Vice President of Government Affairs for BayBio, representing Northern California’s life sciences community before local, state, and federal policy makers.  Before joining BayBio, Engelhardt managed state government affairs nationally for Becton Dickinson & Co. out of Washington, DC and worked for the California Healthcare Institute in their Sacramento office.  Prior to joining the life sciences community, Engelhardt served as a Senate Fellow and legislative aide for Senator Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara), past chair of the Senate Health Committee. He has lobbied on behalf of industry in numerous states, managed lobbyists, advised policy makers, staffed legislation and participated in hearings on topics including healthcare reform, tax restructuring, and regulatory oversight.  A native of Ohio, Engelhardt studied at Fairleigh Dickinson University as a Presidential Scholar, and at Georgia State University before finding his home in California. In his spare time, Engelhardt has volunteered for various HIV/AIDS organizations, political campaigns and humane societies; he also currently sits on the Victory Fund’s national campaign board. Engelhardt holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in government, both from California State University, Sacramento. 

Misha Tsirulnikov holds a Master of Arts Degree in Journalism from The Ohio State University (1996) and brings to BayBio seven years of hands-on special event production experience.

Tsirulnikov has extensive international work experience supported by almost a decade of service in the print, radio and television media, as well as in the advertising and public relations industries.

Tsirulnikov's past clients include The Limited, Inc., Victoria's Secret Stores, Nationwide Insurance. He played key role in the development efforts and opening of COSI, Central Ohio’s Center of Science and Industry, and was instrumental in the university communications review at the request of the Office of University Relations at The Ohio State University.

Tsirulnikov served as an Account Representative and Team Lead on special projects including Community Shelter Board, YWCA of Greater Columbus, Children’s Hospital, Children’s Defense Foundation, United Way of Franklin County, Sister Cities International, Yad Vashem Memorial (Israel) and Moscow Art Theater (Russia), among many others.

Adam Stephens started working for the family business when he was thirteen. He quickly grew and took on more responsibility over the years learning every aspect of the shipping and logistics industry from his father. He was later recruited by IFCO Systems, the leader of international logistics in North America. He served as the Assistant General Manager for the Pallet-Services Division at the Birmingham, Alabama plant.

Adam relocated to the Bay Area in 2004 and decided to pursue a career in hospitality. He worked in Catering Sales for InterContinental’s Crowne Plaza brand; later assuming the position of Crowne Meetings Director.

In 2006 Adam successfully launched his own event firm Ira Andrew Design. Over the course of the next three and a half years he designed and planned weddings, social and corporate events for over 40 clients all across the Bay Area.

In his spare time Adam is an artist. He also enjoys the amazing cuisine and architecture one only finds in San Francisco.

Mallori joined BayBio as the Membership and Events Assistant in early 2011.  Most recently, she was a program manager for Tissla, where she hired, trained, and organized university students at more than 60 campuses for local and regional events.

Prior to moving to the Bay Area, Mallori worked at the Embassy of Australia in Washington, DC, where she coordinated dozens of high-profile cultural and political events and assisted the ambassador and cultural attaché with communications and administrative duties.  She has previously worked for Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society, the Office of the Mayor of Cherry Hill, NJ, and the Office of MP Chris Grayling in the House of Commons in London, UK.

Mallori was educated at The Catholic University of America (BA, Comparative Politics) and Johns Hopkins University (MA, Government).  In her free time, she enjoys traveling across the country and the world, sampling fine food and wine, and watching Major League Baseball.

With a strong background in sales, Vita Blake comes to BayBio after working most recently for industry leader Cardinal Health. As a Pharmaceutical Sales Representative in their RedKey Division, she called upon physicians in a number of specialty areas including pediatrics, gastroenterology, and rheumatology.

Having worked at Schwab Foundation for Learning a number of years ago, Vita is most excited to return to the non-profit world. As an Information Specialist at Schwab, she assisted parents of children newly identified as having a learning difference. Along with her colleagues, Vita was instrumental in helping parents educate themselves about their child’s learning difference, find resources, and cope with the challenges of navigating the school system.

She is a graduate of San Jose State University and has a BA in Political Science. In her spare time, Vita enjoys spending time with her family, particularly her 4 year old daughter, Nailah. Additionally, she loves to read, travel and chat it up with friends.

Jocelyn joined BayBio in August of 2006. She previously attended San Francisco State University, graduating with a B.A. in Psychology. Prior to her education at SF State, she also took classes at City College of San Francisco. While there, Jocelyn worked as an assistant in the scholarship department helping students make the most out of their opportunities.

Prior to joining BayBio, she worked in the banking industry for over 6 years. After much thought, Jocelyn has decided to pursue a career in the life sciences industry.

In her spare time, she loves to cook and share recipes with friends and travel. She also enjoys hanging out at the beaches of Australia when visiting her family every year. Surprisingly, in her travels she has even grown to enjoy Rugby. She also loves to spoil her favorite pooch on earth, Sammy.

Travis Blaschek-Miller manages BayBio's communications, supporting events, advocacy and science education.  He was actively involved with the Stop the Jobs Tax campaign in the November 2010 election. 

Travis spent several years working in the Sacramento media market. After spending three years as the editor of various community papers in the Sacramento area, Travis moved into public affairs. At a boutique firm, Travis worked on a variety of message campaigns that included the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics in San Francisco and the United Way California Capitol Region. Working closely with the media, Travis organized the content and managed press events that were designed to bring name recognition to the clients.

More recently, Travis gained valuable high profile campaign experience. First, he helped to bring more television options to California consumers in the 2006 legislative session. Second, his media work on No on Q&R helped defeat a quarter-cent sales tax to raise $1 billion for a new sports arena for the Sacramento Kings. While in the newspaper business, Travis was the assistant editor of the Natomas Journal when it was named one of the “Best of Sacramento” community newspapers by Sacramento Magazine. His coverage included local politics, public safety and Sacramento’s levees.

Keith Ratner brings to BayBio an extensive marketing communications and digital graphics background within diverse industries such as financial services, management consulting and managed healthcare. Graduating from Hunter College in New York City with a Bachelors' in English, he relocated to the Bay Area and launched his professional career in 1992, joining the San Francisco Education Fund. He has since held creative management, design and production positions in companies such as Price Waterhouse and A.T. Kearney, most recently Director of Corporate Communications with Davis Vision, a national vision care provider, with areas of expertise ranging from project management and database development to visual design for print and Web.

Lori currently manages the BayBio Institute’s workforce, entrepreneurship and education initiatives, ensuring that they align with industry needs. With over 9 years of experience in workforce development, Lori has worked with the private sector, local governments and organizations to develop workforce systems in growth industries that are inclusive of underserved communities. During her 8.5 years as VP of SF Works, Lori led employer engagement efforts and developed and managed SF Works’ pre-employment training programs, including the nationally-recognized On-Ramp to Biotech program. Having completed coursework for a Ph.D. at American University in Washington, D.C., Lori served as a Senior Research Associate at the Brussels-based Migration Policy Group for 5 years, where she coordinated best practice exchanges between business leaders and senior officials from the EU member states, the US and Canada. She has also served as a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University, a Research Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and a consultant for the Council of Europe.

Sheryl P. Denker, PhD joined the BayBio Institute as a Senior Program Advisor in 2010.  Her primary responsibilities include program development, industry outreach and school recruitment for the Institute’s science education program, Bio-Community, as well as fund development and grant writing.  Prior to joining BayBio, Sheryl enjoyed years of research on cell shape, motility, and technological advances in imaging individual and groups of cells as an Assistant Research Cell Biologist at the University of California, San Francisco and a Senior Scientist at Xenogen Corp. (now Caliper Life Sciences).  Out of the lab, she enjoys the challenge of working with the BayBio team in support of Northern California’s life science industry and their effort to enhance science education.  Sheryl is a product of California’s public schools; she received a BS in Physiology from the University of California, Berkeley, a PhD in Biomedical Sciences (focus in Cell Biology and Pharmacology) from the University of California, San Diego and post-doctoral training from the University of California, San Francisco.  Sheryl is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Society for Cell Biology.