OUR STRENGTH

Interlink: scientific domain expertise; accomplished experts in their field

Based in the Greater Boston region with additional team members in Metro New York, the Mid-Atlantic, South Florida, and the San Francisco Bay area, Interlink’s private investment bank experience is differentiated emphasizing premium industry expertise including multiple PhDs, premium service, and disruptive pricing.

FNEX: $12B in recently closed transactions; 120 professionals worldwide

• Fundraising

• M&A

• Strategic  Partnering

• Private Secondary Trading

Two entities: a uniquely potent combination of regional expertise and global scale

OUR ADVANTAGE

Interlink has more than 300 years of combined experience, contacts, relationships, and leadership in capital markets.

Drawing from our vast knowledge of the marketplace and extensive contacts, relationships, and reach across the private deal community with a focus on the greater Boston region, Metro New York, the Mid-Atlantic, South Florida, and the San Francisco Bay Area, Interlink’s team has the unique ability to identify compatible partners, foster connections, and pave the way for mutually beneficial transactions:

• Undivided, comprehensive focus on private capital markets

• Transaction-oriented mindset and extensive transaction experience

• Established relationships with the major players in private capital

• In-depth technology, life sciences, biotech, biopharma, med device, medtech, and market experience

Upsized Global Reach Through FNEX

FNEX provides independent investment banking, capital markets, financial and strategic advisory services to institutions, entrepreneurs, business owners and family offices to help them grow, capitalize or monetize their businesses. FNEX works with fund and asset managers for sourcing and distribution. The global team of over 120 investment  banking  and  financial professionals provides clients with a depth of experience in US capital markets, industry vertical expertise and operating experience. Learn more about FNEX

OUR TEAM

Rick Casella, Founder & President

With more than 25 years of capital markets and business development experience in Boston and on Wall Street, Rick has a compelling track record of building highly successful business lines. Before founding Interlink, he served as managing director at INTL FCStone, Inc., where he founded and developed the U.S. Institutional Equities division for the global Fortune 100 company. He previously held a similar role at Bulltick Capital Markets LLC. Prior to that, Rick was partner and lead Boston equity sales trader at Pacific Crest Securities, Inc., where he initiated, built, and managed the Boston operation, and head of the Boston office for Dain Rauscher Wessels, Inc. Rick has also been chairman of both the South Florida and Boston chapters of the Market Technicians Association. While concurrently running Interlink, Rick is also Managing Director and Advisory Board Member of FNEX, a global fintech investment bank. He is a former competitive endurance athlete with several Ironman Triathlons to his credit, has volunteered as a project specialist with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and is a cum laude academic honors graduate from Boston College. Rick holds Series 7, 24, 57, 63 and 99 securities registrations.

Carolina Alarco, Strategic Consultant

Carolina is a senior biotech executive with more than 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry in Massachusetts. She serves on the Board of two private biotech companies, Syte.bio, Inc. and Dione Antibiotics, Inc. Carolina is the Founder and Principal at Bio Strategy Advisors LLC, a strategic business consulting firm servicing small and medium-sized biotech, medical devices and digital health companies; specializing in start-up company formation, corporate strategy, investment thesis and strategic partnerships. Previously, Carolina was President of Global Marketing and International Markets at Novelion Therapeutics. She also spent 15 years in progressive P&L leadership roles at Genzyme Corporation. Carolina serves on several non-profit boards: the Mass General Hospital Board of Trustees (MGPO), the Latino Council at Boston Children’s Hospital, the State of Massachusetts STEM Advisory Council, and the Board of Latinos in Bio, of which she is co-Founder and past-Chair. Carolina has been featured in the Boston Globe as one of the faces of Boston Biotech (March 2021) and in the Boston Business Journal's Power 50 as one of the 50 most influential people in Boston (November 2021). She holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Lima and a Graduate Degree in Business and Management from Harvard University.

Jiah Pearson-Leary, PhD, Strategic Consultant

Jiah is the co-founder and CEO of Spire Bioadvisors, a global biotech advisory that builds, scales, and supports emerging life science companies. He leads company vision, strategy, R&D planning, entrepreneur-in-residence, and fundraising efforts — while simultaneously providing portfolio strategy, business development, and product planning support as a senior analyst at parent company inThought Research. Previously, Jiah led strategic communications support for oncology programs at Fishawack Health. Prior to that, he served as a senior scientist conducting groundbreaking translational research into neuropsychiatric disease drug targets and biomarkers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). He currently serves as an advisory board member for CHOP’s Academic Entrepreneurship program and as an entrepreneur-in-residence at The Buck Institute. Jiah holds a PhD in neuroscience from the University at Albany, where he studied mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.

Natalie Ricciardi, PhD, Strategic Consultant

Natalie Ricciardi is a PhD candidate at the University of Miami in biochemistry and molecular biology with a focus in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease therapeutic discovery and brain aging. She has explored noncanonical targets in AD including epigenetics, DNA damage, and exercise mimetics as modulators of memory formation. In 2021, she co-founded the Florida chapter of the student-run biotech non-profit, Nucleate. Nucleate Florida runs an equity-free life science accelerator for first time academic founders and has grown to include 800+ life science industry leaders and 20+ student leadership members from 5+ major Florida universities. She recently completed a business development fellowship with Genentech and continues to volunteer with the national Nucleate biotech community as a key partnership and community building strategist.

Zachary Brodnik, PhD, Business Consultant

Zachary Brodnik is a seasoned business development professional with a robust background in biotechnology. Before transitioning to business development in 2020, Zachary distinguished himself as an award-winning neuroscience researcher. During his academic career, he earned a PhD from Drexel University and completed a prestigious fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, receiving over 20 national and international awards for his research excellence, along with multiple competitive fellowship grants. Zachary leveraged his scientific and business acumen to found SciProse, a boutique marketing firm focused on content creation and strategic messaging for biotech companies. For Interlink, he combines his vast industry experience and best practices to aid in identifying precise targeting and expertly customized outreach.

O. Alejandro Balbin, PhD, Scientific Consultant

Alejandro is an experienced leader in precision medicine, thriving at the intersection of cutting-edge translational data science, new therapies, and technologies to improve patients’ journeys and clinical outcomes. With over 15 years of experience, he possesses a deep understanding of precision medicine, genomics, and well-designed data science strategies using multimodal datasets to drive drug discovery and clinical decision-making. He currently advises early-stage companies on AIML, data science and precision medicine strategies, guiding their product design, development, go-to-market strategy, and their application of AIML to resolve biotech and healthcare challenges. Previously, he led translational data science and engineering teams in both biotech and pharmaceutical industries. At Novartis, he led the biomarker data science team responsible for the analysis of numerous clinical trials in lung and breast cancers and he spearheaded the Oncology Real World Data strategy, securing significant investments. Recognized with the BOLD4Cure Novartis Oncology CEO award in 2020, Alejandro built high-performing data science teams and supported FDA approval for three oncology drugs: Tabreca, Kisqali, and Piqray. Holding a PhD in Bioinformatics from the University of Michigan, he excels in innovation, leadership, computational methods, clinical trial design, and technology integration. Passionate about mentoring and exploring new technologies, Alejandro is committed to improving patient outcomes through biomedical innovation.

Regina Leung, Strategic Consultant

Regina has more than 25 years of achievement in business management in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, medical device, and consulting industries. She currently works as Chief Business Officer at CSSi Life Sciences, a regulatory consulting firm and is the founder of MayFlower Health, a global boutique consulting firm, where she specializes in branding, corporate strategy and valuation, pricing and reimbursement, licensing, and market access entries for pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Prior to MayFlower Health, she worked in leadership roles with Bristol-Myers Squibb, PDL Pharma, and Gilead Sciences — as well as McKesson, a global life sciences distributor. At McKesson, she helped build out the oncology division and started the first generic drugs portfolio program for the hospital market, and she holds a patent for an oncology practice solution. Regina also worked as a managed market principal at IQVIA and CapGemini, heading their west coast business and supporting brand and market access strategies for Amgen and Genentech/Roche. She serves as an advisor to SkyDeck (UC Berkeley) and California Life Sciences Institute (CLSI) and is an exit advisor at Keiretsu Capital. She holds an undergraduate degree in Biological Chemistry from the University of Warwick, England, and an MBA from the University of Southern California.

Pamela Frank, Strategic Consultant

Pamela is a highly experienced leader in the healthcare sector, with expertise across various corporate domains that include med-tech, biotech, and health-tech. She is currently an advisor to life science startup companies, assisting with go-to-market strategies, corporate development, and business development. In recent years, she served as the director of international services at Tufts Medical Center, Boston Children's Hospital, and Children's Mercy Kansas City, where she played a pivotal role in establishing international patient care programs and spearheading global initiatives. In 2010, Pamela's collaboration with the U.S. Department of Commerce was instrumental in the establishment of the United States Cooperative of International Patient Programs (USCIPP), the foremost membership association for U.S. hospitals engaged in international patient care. She is a member of the board of directors for the United Nations Association of Greater Boston, the Edgar Snow Foundation in Kansas City, and the Grace Children's Foundation in New York City. She holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and she is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

Tatiana Yglesias Ulloa, Strategic Consultant

Tatiana is a highly talented leader in the biopharmaceutical industry with more than 15 years of experience and a proven track record of accelerating results across organizational roles, product lifecycles, and therapeutic areas. She is currently the executive director of Portal Innovations in Boston, a leading life sciences venture capital firm that empowers early-stage companies with crafted capital, state-of-the-art wet lab space, and expert operational support. Separate from her role at Portal, she offers startup advisory support, serves as a board member specializing in biopharmaceutical commercial and funding strategy, engages with non-profit boards in and outside of life sciences, and mentors future leaders. She also volunteers with the Women’s Foundation of Boston as a member of the organization’s Advisory Council and the Communications and Community Relations Committee. Tati holds both an MS in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Business Administration and Management from MIT.

Karen Miller Gillis, Strategic Consultant

Karen is CEO at Vivvidae Life Sciences, a venture development firm that helps innovators launch and grow market shares for  medical technologies that have a positive impact on patient care. Throughout her nearly 30-year career, she has been committed to bringing cutting-edge products to market. Her experience in building companies in the life sciences industry is extensive: she has led teams across all functional areas, designed new practice integration and economic models, developed tactics and support systems for healthcare practitioners, restructured businesses, and served in senior roles such as venture director, head of sales and marketing, COO, CEO and president. Working at industry-leading companies and through multiple successful exits, Karen has led the launch of 28 medical technologies and successfully grown valuation, revenues, and market share everywhere she has been. She holds a BA in Business Economics from Brown University and enjoys coaching her daughters in their athletic endeavors.

Harlan R. Sonderling, CFA, Advisor

Harlan is co-founder of Sonderling Brothers, which provides investment research and management and investment consulting. He has more than 30 years of equity research analysis and portfolio management experience, and he most recently served as lead healthcare analyst for Columbia Threadneedle. Harlan’s prior investment management employers in New York and Boston include Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. (now AllianceBernstein), Putnam Investments, and Evergreen Investments (now Wells Fargo). He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and was a CPA and tax consultant with Arthur Andersen prior to entering investment management. Harlan has an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business and an AB from Brown University. He is active in the CFA Society Boston.

Randall S. Burkert, Advisor

Randall is the Managing Partner and a Co-Founder of Mercer + Bond Capital, Merchant Bankers, a Quadrant Company. Prior to M+B, Randall spent five years in wealth management working with family offices and significant net worth investors as a Managing Director for The Northern Trust Company and Hirtle, Callaghan & Co. Previously, he was at Goldman Sachs for twenty years as a Managing Director in the Securities Division. One of the original members of the Goldman Sachs Trust Company, he then served on the institutional sales force, eventually co-founding and heading the Global Institutional Group. Prior to his tenure at Goldman Sachs, Randall earned his CPA at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He was an NBA draft choice and played basketball professionally overseas. Randall earned his MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and attended Drexel University as an undergraduate where he currently serves on the Board of Trustees. He is also on the Advisory Board of Great Oaks Venture Capital and served on the Board of Trustees of the Abingdon Theatre Company in New York City.

Thomas Mannix, Advisor

A 30-year veteran of the financial services industry, Thomas contributes to Interlink in the areas of distribution and business development. Most recently he worked to raise capital for a quant hedge fund in the Boston area L2 Asset Management, and prior to that he served as managing director and institutional equity sales manager at Smith Barney Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and Lehman Brothers. He began his career in institutional equity sales trading with Cantor Fitzgerald in 1981. Thomas was born and raised in the New York City area and currently resides in Southborough, MA. He is a 1981 graduate of Harvard College, where he majored in American history with a minor in East Asian history and was captain of the basketball team his senior year. He holds series 7, 63, and 24 licenses.

Demos Kouvaris, Advisor

Mr. Kouvaris has been Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Chestnut Hill Ventures LLC since March 2002. Prior to Chestnut Hill Ventures, he was the Vice President of Finance for GCC Investments, LLC, a subsidiary of GC Companies, Inc. Before joining GC Companies, Mr. Kouvaris was a senior manager and Certified Public Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand LLP (predecessor to PricewaterhouseCoopers) in Boston. He currently serves and has served as a director of Millwall Football and Athletic Club plc, Affinity Solutions, Inc., FleetCor Technologies, Inc., Zillion Group, Inc., Acuity Link, LLC, Virtyx, Inc., ACA Capital Holdings, Inc., and Vanguard Modular Building Systems, LLC, among others. Mr. Kouvaris holds a B.S. in Accountancy from Boston College.

Scott Pearson, Advisor

For more than 25 years, Scott has led a wide range of technology-based companies in sectors that include energy storage solutions, uninterruptible power systems, fuel cells, electric transportation, electronics assembly equipment and materials, digital imaging, and defense systems. He is currently the CEO and president at Formetrix, Inc., a 3D-printing materials company, as well as an independent board director at Upstart Power, Inc., Titan Advanced Energy Solutions, Inc., and Zillion Group, Inc. Scott holds an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts.

General Counsel: Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Boston, MA

OUR SERVICES

Unrivaled access and guidance for private capital deal opportunities

Interlink is not only an investment bank, but also a first-mover in streamlining the private transaction space. Because we are solely focused on private markets, we are uniquely positioned to identify and leverage potential deals in both the primary and secondary marketplaces.

Primary Market: A broad range of service that includes deal identification and sourcing, fundraising, placement, M&A, strategic partnering, licensing, incubating and accelerating, and consulting.

Secondary Market: High-touch service and access to liquidity for existing and new shareholders through a boutique built on our institutional execution expertise and trader DNA. Learn more about private secondary liquidity (PDF).

Interlink’s cross-pollination relationship with FNEX extends opportunities into these markets. FNEX’s services include:

• Mergers and acquisitions: Providing expert advice to corporations, private equity, family offices and institutions, as a trusted partner.

• Secondary trading: Helping institutions, funds, family offices and UHNW investors acquire and sell private stock in late stage companies.

• Equity Advisory: Helping companies with significant raises of equity capital identify investors for our clients who add strategic value.

• Fund distribution: FNEX’s experienced distribution team helps 40 Act Advisors and Private Funds achieve nationwide distribution through a team of over 35 sales people has placed over $10B in fund products.

• Debt Capital Advisory: Our team consists of finance professionals providing objective advise to clients. Our corporate finance professionals have extensive experience in managing competitive processes to secure actionable financing options.

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