About SVB Leerink

Jeffrey A. Leerink is the Chief Executive Officer of SVB Leerink. Mr. Leerink is charged with defining, leading and executing the firm’s overarching business strategy and driving clarity, alignment and profitability across the entire business. Under Mr. Leerink’s leadership, the firm has grown to become a leading healthcare investment bank and company building partner.

Mr. Leerink founded Leerink Partners in 1995 and in 2019 merged the firm with SVB Financial Group, parent company to Silicon Valley Bank, to become SVB’s investment banking platform. The firm is focused on providing differentiated healthcare knowledge and equity capital markets, equity research and mergers and acquisitions expertise to help its clients define and achieve their strategic and capital markets objectives.

In 2008, Mr. Leerink co-founded and was a member of the Board of Directors of Humedica, Inc., a clinical intelligence company that was incubated at Leerink Partners. In 2013 the company was acquired by Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group.

Mr. Leerink currently serves on the Board of Fog Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Leerink is an Advisor on the Advisory Board of Pivotal Life Sciences Holdings Limited (“PLS”). Additionally, he is a Board Director and the former Chairman of the Board at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Massachusetts. Mr. Leerink is a member of the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows and a Board Member of Senior Connect Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: SNRH).

Mr. Leerink holds a B.A. in Economics from Union College.

Jason Auerbach is the Global Head of Tech Investment Banking at SVB Leerink. In this role, Mr. Auerbach leads the firm’s technology investment banking strategy and initiatives. With more than 25 years of experience, Mr. Auerbach has built extensive relationships and is widely known as one of the most prolific bankers in tech, particularly in software and related sectors.

Mr. Auerbach joined the firm in 2021 from UBS where he was the Global Co-Head of TMT Investment Banking and on the firm’s Global Management Committee.  While at UBS, Mr. Auerbach worked on many transactions including, but not limited to, the sale of Ellucian to Blackstone & Vista;  the sale of CAMP Systems to Hearst;  the sale of Innovyze to Autodesk;  the sale of Precisely to Clearlake & TA Associates;  the sale of Turnitin to Advance Publications;  the sale of Ensono to KKR. Prior to this, Mr. Auerbach was the Global Co-Head of TMT Mergers & Acquisitions for Jefferies LLC.

Mr. Auerbach earned his Bachelor of Arts from Columbia College at Columbia University, and his Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Barry Blake is the Global Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking at SVB Leerink. In this role, Mr. Blake co-leads the firm’s healthcare investment banking strategy and initiatives, with a focus on Healthcare Services & Technology. With 25 years of experience, Mr. Blake has built extensive relationships and has proven expertise in healthcare services, leveraged finance and with financial sponsors.

Mr. Blake joined the firm in 2021 from Guggenheim Securities where he was a Senior Managing Director focused on advising healthcare services companies. While at Guggenheim, Mr. Blake worked on many transactions including, but not limited to, the $10B sale of Envision to KKR; the $4B sale of Kindred Healthcare to a consortium comprised of TPG, Welsh Carson and Humana; the $2.4B sale of American Medical Response to KKR and the $1B sale of Almost Family to LHC Group. Prior to this, Mr. Blake was the Head of Global Healthcare Mergers and Acquisitions for Citigroup and worked in the M&A and Healthcare groups at JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers.

Mr. Blake earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Hendrix College, and his Masters of Business Administration from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.

He serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for each of The Hopkins School in New Haven, CT and Hendrix College in Conway, AR.

Dan Dubin, M.D., is the Vice Chairman and Global Co-Head of Healthcare Investment Banking at SVB Leerink and sits on the firm’s executive committee.

For over 25 years, Dr. Dubin has advised life sciences companies and investors and has executed numerous public offering, private placement, partnership, and M&A transactions for clients.  In 1996, he co-founded MEDACorp, a provider of insights on the commercial potential of biotherapeutics and medical devices to healthcare companies and investors. In 2001, Dr. Dubin merged MEDACorp into SVB Leerink and joined its Board of Directors and Executive Committee. He has served as a science and strategy board member for Stiefel/GSK, director of Living Proof, director of Olivo Lab, and Chairman of MetaWorks which was sold to UBC in 2005.

Dr. Dubin is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Medical School and completed both an internship in Medicine and a residency in Dermatology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He was an Instructor in Dermatology at Harvard Medical School and held a staff appointment at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital where he was the Ambulatory Medical Director of Clinical Dermatology and a member of the Clinical Executive Committee. He has published over 30 manuscripts in peer reviewed publications and performed a NIH training fellowship at the Harvard Skin Disease Research Center.

Joseph Gentile is the Chief Administrative Officer at SVB Leerink.

Prior to joining the firm in 2007, Mr. Gentile served as the CFO for Lehman Brothers’ Global Investment Bank where he directed the accounting and financial needs within the Fixed Income division.  Prior to that, he served as CFO of the Global Corporate and Investment Bank at Bank of America, where he led the Capital Markets Division.  In addition he was the CFO for the Private Bank. Previously, Mr. Gentile spent more than 10 years with J.P. Morgan in various financial management positions, including Global Head of Financial Risk Management. He started his career at Arthur Andersen.

Mr. Gentile earned his B.S. in Accounting and his M.B.A. in Finance from St. John’s University.

Steven Heineman is the General Counsel and Senior Managing Director of the Compliance and Legal Department at SVB Leerink.

Prior to joining the firm in 2018, Mr. Heineman was the General Counsel at Convergex Group, LLC, a global brokerage and trading-related services provider. Before that, he was the General Counsel-Americas at Société Générale. Prior to being named General Counsel at SocGen, Mr. Heineman was the Director of Litigation & Regulatory Affairs.  Previously, Mr. Heineman practiced law at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, where he specialized in complex commercial litigation, white collar criminal defense and regulatory enforcement matters.  He also served as a federal prosecutor in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Mr. Heineman earned his B.A. degree in Political Science from Hobart College and his J.D. from New York University School of Law.

Prasanth “Burri” Rao-Kathi is a Senior Managing Director at SVB Leerink and leads the firm’s Convertibles business.

Prior to joining the firm in 2016, Mr. Rao-Kathi was the Head of Equity-Linked (Convertibles) Origination in the Capital Markets group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Mr. Rao-Kathi joined the ECM group at Merrill Lynch in 1999 and worked on a number of Merrill Lynch’s landmark convertible innovations over the last 15 years including: Contingent Conversion, Contingent Payment, Bond Hedges, HiPrs, Collateralization, Simultaneous Bond and Stock Repurchases, and Prepaid Forwards in conjunction with new issues. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Rao-Kathi worked in Fixed Income Swaps Marketing and Trading and Corporate Finance/ Mergers and Acquisitions at J.P. Morgan.

Mr. Rao-Kathi is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Georgetown University with double majors in Finance and International Business and a minor in English. He received his M.B.A. in Finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Rahul Chaudhary is the Head of Healthcare Equity Capital Markets at SVB Leerink and has successfully led the team for almost a decade. Since joining the firm, Mr. Chaudhary has led the execution of over 450 bookrun offerings, including more than 100 IPO’s.

Prior to joining the firm in 2009, Mr. Chaudhary was an integral part of Merrill Lynch’s ECM group, where he focused on origination and execution of healthcare equity and equity-linked transactions. He began his career at Merrill Lynch in 2004 in the Investment Banking group focusing on the consumer sector where he worked on a variety of equity, debt and M&A assignments.

Mr. Chaudhary earned a B.A. in Finance from the University of Illinois.

Jim Kelly is a Senior Managing Director, Director of Research at SVB Leerink. Mr. Kelly is responsible for product management, analyst development and equity strategy.

Prior to joining SVB Leerink in 2015, Mr. Kelly worked at Credit Suisse, where he served in research management as an Associate Director of Equity Research in New York and was responsible for leading key, strategic initiatives in research product and process development. Prior to his ADOR role at Credit Suisse, Mr. Kelly spent 13 years in Equity Research covering the US Pharmaceuticals industry for Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston.

Mr. Kelly received his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University.  Mr. Kelly also serves on the board of the Lehigh Business School Dean’s Advisory Council.

Robert Leerink is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Institutional Equities at SVB Leerink.

Mr. Leerink has been with SVB Leerink since its inception in 1995. Prior to joining Institutional Sales team in 2000, Mr. Leerink led the Private Client Services group at the firm. Prior to SVB Leerink, Mr. Leerink worked in the Private Client Services division of Fechtor Detwiler.

Mr. Leerink holds a B.A. from Babson College.

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Maura Polak is the Head of Human Resources at SVB Leerink. Ms. Polak has over 15 years of experience in Human Resources and leads all of SVB Leerink’s recruiting, employee relations, compensation and benefits initiatives.

Prior to joining the firm in 2004, Ms. Polak worked at Peer Review Analysis, a Division of Fortis, Inc., as a Human Resources Representative where she managed through a series of mergers, acquisitions and a divestiture.

Ms. Polak earned her B.A. in both Psychology and Spanish from Providence College.

Diane Vieira is the Head of Marketing & Communications at SVB Leerink and oversees both the Corporate Access and Global Corporate Event teams. Ms. Vieira has over 17 years of experience in financial services, specializing in product management, strategic marketing campaigns, and communications programs.

Prior to joining SVB Leerink, she was worked at Standish Mellon Asset Management Company (2004-2017), an investment subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon, where she served most recently as the Chief Communications & Marketing Director.

Ms. Vieira is Founding Member of Chief Boston, a private network built to drive more women into senior leadership roles. Additionally, she was named Top 10 Most Influential Women in Business by CIO Look (2020), Most Influential Communication Executive in Investment Banking by AI Magazine (2018), and Financial Services Marketing Director of the Year by Wealth & Fitness (2017).

Ms. Vieira earned her Executive Certification in Marketing Strategy from Cornell University, a Master’s in Business Management from Cambridge College, and a B.S. in Accounting and Political Science from Merrimack College.