Mike is a co-founder of Ascenian Consulting, which was acquired by Clinigen in 2024. He’s responsible for commercial strategy. Mike has over 20 years of experience in healthcare, including five in US federal health policy and 15+ in commercial strategy and access consulting. Prior to Ascenian, Mike was a senior Principal, Global Market Accessing Consulting, at PPD / Evidera, and Director of Commercial Strategy and Reimbursement at United BioSource Corporation. Mike holds a MS in public policy analysis and BA magna cum laude in political science from University of Rochester. He is based in New York.

Jennifer Schlachter has been Program Manager Engineering Events at we.CONECT Global Leaders since 2023. Prior to this, while studying for her master's degree in social sciences at Humboldt University in Berlin, she worked as a research assistant at the German Institute for Urban Studies (DifU) and the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA). Her research focused on social and political inequalities and quantitative research methods.

Optimized decision planning to accelerate patient access to health innovations. Ascenian is a platform of experts delivering decision planning solutions in evidence generation, optimal positioning of new treatments in budget, funding and care pathways, price negotiations and continuous value demonstration planning, to ensure access to affordable innovations for patients, carers and health systems. Gaining market access for a new innovative therapy is more complex than ever before. Healthcare budgets are being squeezed, the pharmaceutical market is becoming more competitive, and the rules are ever-changing from country to country. Planning early for market access is vital and it needs to be supported by experts that truly understand what it takes to gain access for a specific innovative therapy in a specific market. By experts that not only know the challenges pharma and biotech companies face but also the decision-making criteria used in health technology assessments. Through its Market Access company, Ascenian, Clinigen have a team consisting of former policy makers, HTA officials, clinical trial experts, and methodologists who execute market access projects across US, Asia, Europe, LATAM and Canada. It is through this team that Clinigen support both large and small pharma clients to optimize decision planning and ultimately accelerate commercial access to new innovative therapies for patients with unmet medical needs.

we.CONECT Global Leaders is more than an owner-managed, mid-sized media company based in the heart of Berlin — we are an institution. Founded in August 2011 by a team of passionate B2B conference experts, we've continuously expanded our global footprint. Our reach spans industries, markets, and sectors around the world. As an independent company, we're proud to deliver sustainable, high-quality services that create real value for our clients. At the core of global knowledge, information, and technology communities, we drive connection and collaboration among professionals. Our diverse client base includes organizations from across Germany, Europe, and the globe — and we’re proud to support them every step of the way.