Victoria A. Gonzalez - President and CEO

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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Susan E. Pais - Director of Operations

Having been with Nidus Center since its inception in 2000, Susan has overall responsibility for the operations of Nidus Center and works closely with clients to assure that they have the optimal environment in which to conduct and grow their business. In addition, she is responsible for the financial management of Nidus Center and is the financial liaison with Monsanto Company, the sponsor of Nidus Center.

She is active locally in the Missouri Venture Forum, Plant and Life Science Network and is a member of The Missouri Biotech Association.

Prior to joining Nidus Center, Susan spent at two years in the finance organization in Monsanto, assuming a variety of administrative and project management roles. Her earlier career included nine years in banking where she was Assistant Vice President, International Banking at Commerce Bank.

Susan did her undergraduate work in Business Administration at the University of Missouri – Columbia. She received her MBA from the University of Missouri – St. Louis.

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