
SynBioBeta 2026 Speaker
Sue Siegel
Align & Illumina
Board Director
Sue Siegel is a seasoned board director, former CEO, and venture capitalist with a rare blend of governance expertise, commercial acumen, operational prowess, and innovation leadership across life sciences, healthcare, and technology. For more than 25 years, she has helped boards anticipate disruption, strengthen oversight, and unlock long-term value.
She currently serves on the boards of Align Technology, Illumina, and KFF (formerly Kaiser Family Foundation), and is Chairman of the Board of The Engine, built by MIT. Over her career, she has served on more than 20 public, private, and nonprofit boards with extensive Audit, Compensation, Nominating & Governance, Technology, Investment, and Special Committee experienceโincluding multiple chair roles. Recognized on the NACD Directorship 100 in 2023 and 2024, she is widely regarded as an inspirational, pragmatic, and forward-thinking leader who blends strategic foresight with disciplined governance.
Her executive career includes serving as Chief Innovation Officer at GE, CEO of GE Ventures & Licensing, and CEO of Healthymagination, advancing investments and partnerships at the intersection of healthcare and technology. Previously, she was a General Partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, leading life sciences and precision health investments, and President & Board Director of Affymetrix, where she led the company from a pre-revenue startup to a multi-billion-dollar, NASDAQ-listed global genomics leaderโhelping shape the fieldโs early growth and address emerging bioethical issues.
In public service, Sue has served on President Obamaโs Precision Medicine Initiative Working Group, catalyzing the All of Us research program; was a founding board member of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences; and acted as a White House Fellows selection judge under multiple administrations. She also co-chairs Stanford Medicineโs Board of Fellows and serves on the Innovation Growth Board of Mass General Brigham.
Her leadership has been recognized by Fortuneโs โ34 Leaders Who Are Changing Health Care,โthe Silicon Valley Business Journalโs โ100 Most Influential Women in Silicon Valley,โ Fierce Biotechโs โTop 10 Women in Medical Devices,โ and the Global Corporate Venture Lifetime Achievement Award. An Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow, she is featured in the bestselling book Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter and serves on the faculty of MIT Sloan School of Management.



Reagan
Jarvis
Anocca AB
CEO, Co-founder

Alex
Rives
CZI Biohub
Head of Science

Karenโฏ
Akinsanya
Schrodinger
President, R&D โ Therapeutics

Christopher
Arendt
Takeda
CSO, Head of Research

Stef
van Grieken
Cradle
CEO

Michael
Koeris
DARPA
Director, BTO

Jennifer
Dionne
Pumpkinseed
CEO

Daniyal
Hussain
GSK
Exec. Dir., Tech BD

Cynthia
Hong
Novartis
Dir., Search & Evaluation
SynBioBeta 2027 May 3-6, San Jose, California


