About
Duke Leahey is President of Life Science Alliances, LLC and a Founding Partner of the Nidus Partners, which is funded by Monsanto, Bunge and Novozymes. Nidus Partners have started 8 companies in the past three years and invests in the agriculture and clean technology fields, moving these early technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace.
With more than 40 years of experience in organizations such as Pfizer, Monsanto, Washington University, Emerson Electric, and SAIC, Duke has negotiated hundreds of research, licensing and partnering agreements. As CEO Venganza, Inc., Duke earned the St. Louis Biogenerator "Star Award" and engineered Venganza's strategic alliances with agriculture companies. Duke is also a past consultant to Pfizer Inc, and the Donald Danforth Plant Sciences Center, and currently consults with the LARTA/USDA, universities, and several innovative plants sciences and pharmaceutical companies.
Work history
President at Life Science Alliances LLC
Currently, Duke is President of LSA, LLC, a consulting company focused on moving technology from the laboratory into the marketplace and a founding member of the Nidus Investment Partners, a partnership with Monsanto Company, Bunge International, and Novozymes. Duke has spent many years working with contracts and licensing at organizations as varied as Monsanto, Washington University in St. Louis, Emerson Electric, Science Applications Inc., and Pfizer, as well as a variety of small technology-based companies. Also, Duke has successfully assisted dozens of companies, universities and early stage companies in the negotiations of literally hundreds of licenses and partnering agreements before moving into an entrepreneur’s role in 2005 with the founding of LSA. As a St. Louis Biogenerator "Star Award" winning consultant, he helped companies engineer strategic alliances with major agriculture, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Duke was formerly a Board Member of Competitive Technologies, Inc. (CTT-AMEX), Vice President, President and Board Member of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), co-Chair of LES University-Industry Committee, Executive Director of the original Missouri Biotechnology Association, co-Founder of the Washington University Masters Program in Biotechnology and senior lecturer on strategic partnerships for Arthur Anderson Consulting.
Education and qualifications
Duke holds a BS in Industrial Management from Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts and an MA in Business Administration and Procurement Management from Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri and has completed a number of graduate level courses at Washington University in Competitive Strategy and in Negotiations at Harvard University.
