Darren Carroll, Vice President - New Ventures

Darren oversees all private equity activity for Eli Lilly and Company as Vice President, New Ventures, including the Lilly Ventures, Lilly Asian Ventures and Private Equity Ventures groups. Prior to assuming his current role, he was the founding chief executive officer of InnoCentive, Inc., a former Lilly subsidiary and the leading open innovation company. Among other positions Darren has held at Lilly, he was the U.S. attorney for Prozac®. He has also served as senior vice president of RealMed, a venture-backed company based in Indianapolis, which created the first real-time health claims adjudication system. Earlier in his career, Darren practiced law with a large private law firm in New York and negotiated complex technology transactions for General Electric Company.

Darren’s education includes a J.D. degree from Syracuse University College of Law. He also holds a bachelor's from Syracuse University (Phi Beta Kappa) and a masters of public administration degree from the Maxwell School of Syracuse, where he is a member of the Board of Advisors. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for Lilly Ventures portfolio companies InnoCentive and GlobeImmune.

S. Edward Torres, Managing Director

Ed oversees Lilly Ventures operations and brings over 20 years of pharmaceutical and venture capital experience to the team. Since co-founding Lilly Ventures, he has led the investments in, and previously served on the boards of, Serenex (acquired by Pfizer), Conforma Therapeutics (acquired by Biogen Idec), and Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pharmion Corporation). Ed currently sits on the boards of Cylene Pharmaceuticals, Trinity Biosystems, Viamet Pharmaceuticals and various non-profit institutions.

Prior to his role in Lilly Ventures, Ed had a diverse set of experiences throughout the domestic and international pharmaceutical businesses including operational finance, planning, M&A, business development and global marketing roles. Ed received a BA degree from Creighton University and his MBA from the University of Michigan Business School, where he was a Consortium Fellow.

Steven E. Hall, Ph.D., Venture Partner

Steve brings more than 25 years of pharmaceutical experience from both multinational pharmaceutical companies and biotech organizations to Lilly Ventures. Prior to joining Lilly Ventures, Steve was co-founder and Senior Vice President, R&D of Serenex, Inc. In this role, he recruited and led a team in developing a novel discovery technology that advanced the target program from a novel screen to first patient dosed in just over three years. This novel orally-active Hsp90 inhibitor was the subject of strong interest across the industry and led to the acquisition of Serenex by Pfizer in April 2008.

Before joining Serenex, Steve was Site Director, Sphinx Labs, Eli Lilly where he oversaw lead generation efforts in the areas of combinatorial chemistry, automation, high-throughput screening, biomolecular research, and information technology. He was a key member of a small team that developed and executed a strategy to partner Lilly’s expertise in high-throughput chemistry with three Japanese pharmaceutical companies with an aggregate value of more than $75MM. Steve received his BS in chemistry from Central Michigan University and his PhD in organic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is the author of more than 40 papers and an inventor on greater than 60 patents.

Steve currently sits on the board of Hydra Biosciences, and serves as a board observer at Avid Radiopharmaceuticals and Viamet Pharmaceuticals.

Armen B. Shanafelt, Ph.D., Venture Partner

Armen brings over 22 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostic businesses to Lilly Ventures. Previous to joining Lilly Ventures, Armen was CSO responsible for the generation of the early biotherapeutic pipeline for Eli Lilly and Company, spanning the therapeutic areas of oncology, endocrine, and neuroscience. During his 7 years with Lilly, the biotherapeutic group delivered over 20 molecules into the clinic, with approximately 80% of these remaining active in clinical development.

Armen received his BS in chemistry and physics from Pacific Lutheran University, and his PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. He completed his postdoctoral work at DNAX Research Institute, where he studied the structure-function relationships of cytokines and their receptors. Before moving to Lilly, he was Research Fellow and Director of Research at Roche Diagnostic Corporation, where he was responsible for the identification and development of novel technologies for diagnostic applications. Prior to that he spent 7 years at Bayer Corporation, where he held several leadership positions in the biotechnology division providing strategic direction and delivering molecules into clinical development. He is an inventor on patents for engineered biotherapeutics as well as diagnostic technologies, and has authored publications ranging from the physical characterization of model polymers to the strategic application of protein optimization to therapeutic protein development.

Armen currently serves as a board observer at Trinity Biosystems, and is a member of Kauffman Fellows Class 14.

Bryan Dunnivant, Principal

Bryan has more than 25 years experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and has held leadership roles across a wide range of functional areas including finance, strategy, R&D, international operations, new business development, and venture investing. Since joining Lilly Ventures in 2005 he has led investments in HemaQuest Pharmaceuticals (and now serves as the company's board chairman) and Intradigm Corporation. He also led the investment in CITIC Pharmaceuticals on behalf of our sister fund Lilly Asian Ventures. In addition, Bryan currently represents Lilly Ventures on the board of Protagonist Therapeutics.

Prior to joining Lilly Ventures, he was Chief Operating Officer for e.Lilly, a division of Lilly focused on innovation, new business models, and spinning out new technologies and companies. During his tenure at e.Lilly, Bryan was involved in the founding, startup, incubation, and initial financing of several new life science companies. Bryan received his BS in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois, and his MBA from Butler University.

Ethan Hu, Ph.D., Senior Associate

Ethan has over fifteen years of experience in life science research, marketing, business development and venture capital investing. Before joining Lilly Ventures in 2007, Ethan was an Associate Director at Novartis Oncology responsible for early commercial development. In that role, he led the development of a number of new products, built portfolio strategies, and drove pre-launch activities. In addition, Ethan was a core member of the Business Development & Licensing team and was responsible for the completion of a number of in-licensing deals. Previous to Novartis, Ethan was a research scientist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, after finishing his postdoctoral work there. Ethan is the author of several research articles and a reference book chapter, and was a recipient of a NIH grant.

Ethan received his BS in biology from Peking University (China), PhD in molecular and cell biology from University of Maryland, and his MBA from The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He currently serves as a board observer at Intradigm Corporation.