Leigh-Ann Durant, Esq.
Leigh-Ann Durant, Esq., is a senior legal and business executive with more than 30 years of experience in the global pharmaceutical, bio-technology, life sciences and legal sectors, with demonstrated expertise in drug development and commercialization. She has deep expertise in turning legal strategy into business action, analytical problem solving, strategic thinking, commercial and corporate transactions, legal and regulatory compliance, risk mitigation, and developing innovative solutions to improve business operations and profitability. She is a Certified Corporate Governance Professional and well-versed in all facets of corporate governance for public and private companies.
For the past 15 years, Attorney Durant has served at EMD Serono, Inc., the US affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, where she was the Head lawyer for all R&D activities in the US from early development to launch for 12 years. She has structured, negotiated, and closed numerous high-profile, complex strategic collaborations and transactions, in/out-licensing transactions, and business development agreements. For the past 3 years, she has served as Head of North America Medical Governance.
Earlier in her career, Attorney Durant was a Partner at Nixon Peabody LLP, a Global 100 Law Firm, in its Complex Commercial Litigation, Pharma and FDA Practice Groups. For over two decades, Attorney Durant has served on a variety of boards of directors, executive committees, and has led various legal and non-profit organizations as President. She has received numerous awards, including the national Top 30 Emerging Leaders in the Pharmaceutical Industry Award and the Massachusetts In-House Leaders In The Law Award, Woman of the Year in Law Award, and Top 10 Women Lawyers in Massachusetts Award.
Attorney Durant received a B.A. with a double major with honors in Foreign Affairs/International Relations and Political Science from Miami University, Oxford, OH, and a Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from Suffolk University Law School, Boston, MA. After law school, she served as the appellate law clerk for the late Chief Justice Joseph R. Weisberger of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island. She is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Leadership at the McCallum Graduate School of Business, Bentley University.
Charlotte Tsou
Charlotte Tsou has 20+ years multi-national global business leadership experience having held several leadership positions in the U.S., Asia, and Latin America in Banking & Financial Service sector.
In her current role as Head of Marketing Analytics & Insights, Ms. Tsou oversees full-fledged marketing analytics solutions, consumer research, and experiments driven by AI at Prudential Financial. Prior to joining Prudential Financial, she spent 17 years with HSBC, held multiple leadership roles in Strategic Planning, Partnerships, Digital & CRM Transformation, and built one of the largest AI-driven Data & Analytics centers in banking.
Ms. Tsou is a champion of diversity; she mentors top-performing individuals both internally and in the external communities. Ms. Tsou earned a B.A (Hons). in Media Communication from NYU & Shin Hsin University and an M.A. in Integrated Marketing Communication (Specialized in Digital & Database Marketing) from Northwestern University. She is a Doctoral Candidate (2022|2023) with SBS Swiss Business School. She lives in Chicago with her husband and two young daughters and enjoys travel, opera, hosting house music party, and being a community yoga instructor.
