CEO, Canale Communications Inc.

Carin Canale-Theakston

Carin Canale-Theakston is CEO of Canale Communications Inc., where she also serves as the chief culture officer, principal strategist and resident sommelier. Carin is involved at some level with every client, providing communications insights to life science executives and contributing to strategic planning. She founded CanaleComm in 2010 after her tenure as president of the life sciences division of international public relations firm Porter Novelli.

A sought-after speaker and moderator, Carin serves as vice-chair of the board of directors for San Diego-based Biocom, the largest regional life science association in the world, and co-chairs the Biocom Capital Development Committee and Nominating and Governance Committee. She also is a director of CONNECT/San Diego Venture Group, where her efforts help bring additional investor capital to San Diego’s early-stage life science companies.

Under her leadership, CanaleComm received a Best Places to Work award from the San Diego Business Journal three consecutive years in a row and the agency was named to Inc. magazine’s annual Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing privately-owned businesses in the U.S. in 2018 and 2019. In 2019, Carin won the prestigious E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year award and previously was named “Woman of the Year” in by California Assembly Speaker Emeritus Toni Atkins.

Senior Director, Corporate Communications, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Clare Conley

Currently serving as Senior Director of Corporate Communications at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Clare Conley runs the Corporate Communications team, which oversees Financial, M&A, Crisis communications, as well as Executive and Company Thought Leadership campaigns. As part of an integrated communications approach, Clare’s team focuses on media, influencers and industry analysts, with particular focus on the top-tier business press and editors. She oversees the broad Qualcomm Communications budget and integrated strategy planning.

Prior to Qualcomm, Clare spent five years with Hill and Knowlton in their San Francisco and Los Angeles offices. There, she spent the majority of her time in the crisis and technology practice, serving clients such as HP, Qualcomm, THX and Technicolor. Prior to joining H&K, Clare was at Gibson Guitars. Beginning in a managerial position in Gibson’s consumer electronics division, Gibson Audio, in Washington DC, Clare later went on to oversee the renaming of the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles and manage the 10+ year partnership between Gibson and Universal.

Clare graduated from George Washington University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and minored in Art History. She resides in San Diego with her husband and two daughters.

Founder, Media Strategy Experts

Sally Sherry

Sally Sherry, a strategic communications specialist, provides trusted counsel to executives, experts and other leaders in the public spotlight. As one of the industry’s top media and presentation coaches, Ms. Sherry is particularly skilled at enhancing her clients’ natural delivery style and maximizing their ability to powerfully deliver key messages. Her expertise spans public relations, media relations, reputation management, crisis communications, investor relations and communications surrounding transactions such as IPOs, mergers and acquisitions. She advises on both proactive and defensive communications to internal and external audiences, including media, investors, employees, customers and partners.

Prior to forming Media Strategy Experts, Ms. Sherry advised Fortune 500 clients for five years in New York and Los Angeles as a Vice President of The Abernathy MacGregor Group, a leading strategic communications firm. For nearly a decade before that, Ms. Sherry was an award winning anchor and reporter for network affiliates ABC, NBC and CBS, and appeared frequently on CNN. Her breadth of experience spanning both corporate and media environments enables her to share with her clients a real-world perspective and exceptional practical insights.

Ms. Sherry earned an MBA, Masters in Journalism and a Certificate in Economics and Business Journalism from Columbia University. While at Columbia, she was awarded two full-tuition fellowships, the prestigious Knight-Bagehot Fellowship for Journalists in Business and Economics and the Wiegers Fellowship. Ms. Sherry graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California San Diego with a BA degree in Political Science and Economics.

Director, Chairman of Nominating & Governance Committee, Tandem Diabetes Care

Richard P. Valencia

Rick is currently a Board member and Chairman of the Nominating & Governance Committee at Tandem Diabetes Care, (Nasdaq: TNDM) an insulin pump manufacturer that improves the lives of people living with diabetes.  Previously Rick served as President of Qualcomm Life, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated. Rick founded the business in 2010 and led it until the successful sale to private equity in 2019. Qualcomm Life provided products and services to enable ubiquitous connectivity of medical monitoring devices. In his role at Qualcomm Life, Rick also founded and provided oversight to Qualcomm’s two healthcare venture funds, the $100M Qualcomm Life Fund and the $100M dRx Capital in partnership with Novartis. Prior to Qualcomm Life, Rick founded ProfitLine, Inc., a telecommunications service management company, and served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman from 1992 until the sale of the company in 2009. Rick has served on numerous non-profit boards including the Global eHealth Initiative founded by the Archbishop Desmund Tutu, the World Economic Forum’s Global Health and Healthcare Governors, Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego County, MIT Enterprise Forum and the San Diego Food Bank.