Thaminda Ramanayake

Thaminda Ramanayake consults on corporate development and strategy at Allievex. Thaminda is a corporate development, strategy, and transactions specialist who has spent over a decade working on bringing value to patients through creative deals worldwide, in various capacities. Thaminda has a strong track record in company creation, in/out-licensing, M&A, joint ventures, and cross-border transactions.

Thaminda is a former BD and transactions executive at BioMarin, and currently a senior executive responsible for global transactions, global business development & licensing at Sanofi. At BioMarin, Thaminda got involved with the tralesinidase alfa program and was instrumental in setting up the “Behind the Seizure” newborn screening program for Brineura (CLN2 Batten’s disease) with Invitae. He has held positions of increasing and related responsibilities at Johnson & Johnson, Stifel Nicolaus, Empire Valuation Consultants, Ernst & Young, LLP, Grant Thornton, LLP, and Amgen, Inc. Before roles in corporate development and deals consulting, Thaminda's focus was on biomedical sciences for a decade, of which, three-plus years were committed to discovery research in an Immunology Ph.D. program, resulting in 6 peer-reviewed publications, 4 critical reviews, 4 abstracts, and one book chapter contribution. Thaminda was also the co-founder of Galiot Group, a boutique management consulting company, and has been a board advisor for several start-up companies.

Thaminda earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Molecular Biology from Berea College, a Masters in Immunology, and an MBA in Finance from the University of Rochester. Thaminda also holds a certificate in negotiation strategies from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, and a diploma in pre-medical psychology from Moscow M.V. Lomonosov University, in the Russian Federation.

Thaminda is also a passionate science educator and has served as a Board Director of the Youth Science Center, Hacienda Heights, California. His mentees have been recognized as top high school science talent by the Regeneron Science Talent Search. In 2016, Los Angeles County recognized Thaminda as the “Volunteer of the Year” for having an impact on over 10,000 young children’s lives through STEM education programs. Thaminda is also an inducted fellow of the West Los Angeles College System, California. In his free time, Thaminda enjoys the great outdoors, cooking, team building, life coaching, and playing music.