We are really proud to announce the mentors confirmed for IMAGINE IF! 2017: The Accelerator for Science Ventures. This Mentoring group is formed by local and international leaders (mentors from leading pharmaceutical and professional services companies). 

Check out the rockstar mentors that will guide you in the following months!

Marc Serra (Partner BGlobal.CAT, Entrepreneur and Business Angel)  IMAGINE IF! Workshop: Sales Workshop (Part 2) Social Selling and personal branding.

 BIO Yacht captain. Running a business and social selling are like sailing a boat. Started studying medicine in Montpellier and left it to go to UC Berkeley to study Neurobiology and Physiological Optics. Has published in several science magazines. Pioneered nanotechnology in the 80’s. IESE. Consultant on social selling and business development. Entrepreneur. Expert in biotech, biomed, life sciences, ecommerce B2B / B2C, IT, FMCG, retail and geo crowdsourcing. Startup mentor. Business Angel investor.     

Carlota Lasierra (Partner, BGlobal.cat, Entrepreneur and Business Angel)
IMAGINE IF! Workshop: Sales Workshop (Part 1) B2B / B2C Sales

BIO Studied Law and IESE Business School. Business entrepreneur and founder of several companies. A lot of experience in providing and selling value added B2B services to major corporations. Knows the IT, CPG, FMCG, retail (field and trade) and geolocalized crowdsourcing markets very well. Consultant on B2B social selling and business development. Startup mentor. Business Angel investor. 

Cecilia López (Senir Tecnology Transfer Consultant)
IMAGINE IF! Workshop: Good practices in technology transfer

BIO Extensive experience and training in Technology Transfer, Business Development, Intellectual Property Management, Patent Licencing Agreements, Spin-Offs Creation, Collaborative Innovation Agreements and Negotiating with Industry in the Health Sector.
Background in Life Sciences and broad experience in commercialization and business development working in the medical industry for over 15 years.
Currently is Director and Partner of CSyM Asesores, a company devoted to consulting in Technology Transfer in the Health Field.

Elena Garcia Pont (HR Professional)
IMAGINE IF! Mentor for all the groups during 2 months in Human Resources, Conflict Management, Communication and Motivation. 

BIO Expert Career Development Programs aimed at middle managers and executives. PDD from IESE.  More than 17 years of experience related to the HR consulting , mainly in Outplacement Identification of potential and Training. Specialist in Project Management Guidance and career support throughout the Spanish territory, mergers / purchases , reorganizations and company closures . Extensive experience in individual and group sessions in professional profile orientation. Spain Country Manager  for the entrepreneurial training program http://3daystartup.org/   Specialized in professional marketing, networking and professional alternatives with true passion for people.

Julia Pardo ( Public speaking trainer www.juliapardo.com)                   IMAGINE IF! Mentor: Pitching competition              

BIO We all have interesting stories to tell. That is Julia’s philosophy when itcomes to public speaking. With a background in Biotechnology and Business management, she has been working in companies of different sizes and fields of expertise, both in the private and public sector. She has always remained close to the stage, and has received formal acting training focused on musical theatre. Two-time awarded as the best speaker in Spain (2016 & 2017), Julia has been doing public speaking and pitching workshops for over three years.
Is there an idea you’re passionate about? She’ll help you get it out, and spread your passion to the world!

Dr. Lluis Pareras (Director of HealthEquity SCR)
IMAGINE IF! Mentor: Investment

BIO Dr. Lluis Pareras has a degree and PhD in Medicine and a Global Executive MBA (IESE). He has been director of Meditecnologia, and he leads the innovation and incubation program at COMB, investing in companies in the healthcare market. He was one of the founders of Medicina Television, where he has been general manager and board member for more than 4 years. Lluis is an author of numerous books in the field of innovation, technology, venture capital and healthcare. The last one being “Innovation and entrepreneurship in healthcare”, published both in Spanish and in English internationally (US and Europe). He writes several columns about healthcare venture capital in economic journals. He is an associate professor in several business schools where he teaches healthcare innovation and venture capital (IESE, ESADE, EADA, UPC).

Xavier Casares (Business Model and Capital Investment specialist)

Expert in the development of projects related to capital investments for the creation of corporate value or corporate growth based on innovation, technology and global alliances.
He holds a degree in Law from the University of Barcelona, ​​postgraduate in Finance from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Barcelona and BA from IESE Business School.
Currently he is President of Tibidabo Ventures, Business Innovation Commissioner of the Leitat Technological Institute, President of the Spanish Mentoring Association, Consultant of the IDB-Inter-American Development Bank and regularly cooperates with different companies, organizations, universities, public administrations and private investors and funds in Spain, California and Colombia.
He has previously worked in the Governments of Spain and Catalonia, and he has directed and managed company policies, foreign investments, education and employment. He has worked as DG in large companies in the banking, media and information technology sectors. He has also founded several ventures, including Servijob.com, Keiretsu Business Angels network, the venture capital investment forum ForoCapitalPymes and the CITIC-Centro de Innovación Tecnológica Industrial de Colombia. As an investor he participated in the startup Verbio Technologies and at associative level he has been co-founder and Vice President of AEBAN-Spanish Association of Business Angels. In the academic world he has also been a professor of business finance at the IQS-URL Faculty of Economics.

Carlos Martínez  (Partner and CEO at M&Partners)
IMAGINE IF! Workshop: How to negotiate your partners agreement

BIO Carlos Martínez is CEO of M & PARTNERS and responsible for the Barcelona branch. He has extensive experience advising startups through the main accelerators and startup incubators of the country and, among other awards, he has won the Young Jurists Award as best young lawyer in Spain (2009). In 2015 he finished in the first position in the Spanish absolute ranking of lawyers by number of operations advised in (source TTR).

Joanna Parlinska (Strategic Design Management and Design Thinking at SFY, Soft For You)
Mentor: Design Thinking for Start-ups
IMAGINE IF! Workshop:  Design Thinking

BIO Strategic Design Management and Design Thinking at SFY, Soft For You.

BIO A vital entrepreneur, Francisco co-founded his first company at age 23. Later he reinforced his academic training developing his professional activity as an executive in important companies of different sectors and in different stages of the distribution chain in the areas of Marketing and Sales. He then resumed his entrepreneurial activity, this time focusing on Internet-related projects.