Victoria A. Gonzalez
President and CEO, Nidus Center

Ms. Gonzalez brings more than 20 years of experience with both early-stage start-up and Fortune 500 companies. As president and chief executive officer of the Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise, Ms. Gonzalez will be responsible for developing and implementing a new strategy to meet the needs of plant and life science start-ups in the St. Louis area.

Since leaving Monsanto in 2000, Ms. Gonzalez has played a unique role in the St. Louis business community by providing start-up management expertise to entrepreneurs. In this role, Ms. Gonzalez worked side-by-side with founders on business plans, intellectual property strategies, market opportunities, raising money, building management teams, developing products, licensing technology, and growing revenue.

Ms. Gonzalez has played a lead management role in more than six St. Louis start-up companies in several industries including healthcare services, medical devices, biopharmaceuticals, and drug delivery. Most recently, Ms. Gonzalez was interim CEO for Graphic Surgery LLC, a healthcare services company based in St. Louis.

Ms. Gonzalez also has extensive experience working in the corporate environment. Many of her roles at both Monsanto and Du Pont Company involved leading intrapreneurial business ventures. This experience provides a valuable perspective for start-up companies looking to license or sell technology to large corporations.

Ms. Gonzalez received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M and an MBA degree from Washington University in St. Louis. She has remained very active with Washington University, participating in the Executive Alumni Committee and the Olin School Mentoring Program, as well as speaking at various student events. Ms. Gonzalez currently serves on the board of the Missouri Venture Forum.

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