Duane J. Roth

Duane J. Roth is Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of CONNECT.

CONNECT is the globally recognized public benefits organization fostering entrepreneurship in the San Diego region by assisting new business formation of technology and life sciences companies. CONNECT has been directly involved with over 4,000 companies since its inception in 1985 and these companies have secured over $10 billion in funding.

Prior to joining CONNECT, Mr. Roth founded Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp., where he currently serves as Chairman of the Board. Prior to Alliance, he held senior management positions at Johnson & Johnson and Wyeth operating companies. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors and executive committees of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the California Healthcare Institute (CHI) and BIOCOM (past Chair).

Mr. Roth was appointed to the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee for the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) in 2006 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and was elected Vice Chairman in 2009. He also serves as a member on the Governor's Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth. He is a member of the Board of Directors of SAIC-Frederick, Inc., the contractor to the National Cancer Institute.

Mr. Roth serves on a number of advisory committees and boards of the University of California, including the President's Board on Science and Innovation, the UC San Diego Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center (past Chair), the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), the Health Sciences advisory board and the UC San Diego Foundation Board of Directors (past Chair). He also serves on the San Diego State University College of Business (past Chair) and the Sciences & Engineering advisory boards. Mr. Roth is a member of the Executive Board for the California State University (CSU) Professional Science Masters Program.

Mr. Roth is active in the San Diego community serving as co-Chair of the Affordable Housing Working Group, a member of the Advisory Council for Math for America, Chairman of the Founders Circle of the UC San Diego Preuss Charter School, and co-Chair of the advisory board to the National Conflict Resolution Center. Mr. Roth earned a B.S. from Iowa Wesleyan College, where he served as a trustee.