Michael F. Ackermann

Michael is a co-founder and the Chief Business Officer for Arrivo Management LLC. Michael is also the founder of Magnatas, LLC, which supports healthcare companies and venture firms in strategy development, organizational effectiveness and process improvement. His clients have included Elan and Baxter. In addition, he is the co-founder and president of AB Collaborative Investments, an Angel Investment firm, which focuses on local and regional healthcare and IT start-ups.

Previously, Michael served as Senior Vice President for Global Commercial Solutions at Quintiles leading the integration of clinical and commercial activities around pharmaceutical product development, including leading the Medical Communications Division through an organizational, operational and skill upgrade to significantly improve profitability and efficiency. Michael also spent more than 18 years at Eli Lilly and Company where he served as the leader of the US Neuroscience Business Unit where he was responsible for all aspects of the neuroscience business (the largest business unit at Lilly). He grew revenue to over $4B and led the unit’s performance improvement, including the turnaround in Zyprexa sales, while overseeing two successful product launches. During his tenure at Lilly he built and led sales organizations in both primary care and neuroscience. In addition, Michael held leadership positions in market research, global and US pricing and global health outcomes to support Lilly’s strategic initiatives

Michael holds a BS degree in biology from Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, a PhD in immunology from the Drexel University College of Medicine, and an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition, he served as the Fogarty International Post-doctoral Fellow at the National Institutes of Health/NIEHS where his research focus was in immunotoxicology and tumor immunology. He is a guest lecturer at the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina and the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University