CRLD25 Speakers

Erwin De beuckelaer brings innovation to the field of Quality and Compliance. He is always looking for opportunities to improve people’s life and work. He has over a decade of experience in learning and process management within the context of a pharmaceutical quality system and has shaped numerous large digital transformation initiatives.

In his role today at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, he leads innovation and digital change initiatives for the R&D Quality group, with a focus on process, data and learning management. These programs realize value within the Clinical Trials & Medical Safety space of J&J.

Erwin’s background is in corporate communication and user experience design. He is also a part-time guest professor Design Thinking Lab at the University of Applied Sciences in Ghent and co-founded a digital health start-up.

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Laura brings over 30 years of experience to her role as the Global Clinical Operations Head of Learning and Development at BeiGene. Laura has been a learning leader in 3 different pharmaceutical and biotech organizations, both in the commercial and clinical space. As part of her practice, Laura utilizes performance improvement methodology and learning science to drive meaningful learning and development initiatives.

Laura serves as a Vice-President on the Life Sciences Trainers and Educators Network (LTEN) and leads the Learning Executive Series committee, as well as serving on the Global committee and Non-Commercial committee. She is also an advisory board member for the Learning and Performance Institute, and on the advisory board for CMR.  Laura holds a CPTM (Certified Professional in Training Management) from the Training Institute and a CPTD (Certified Professional in Talent Development) from ATD. She has a Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration and a Master’s in Business Administration. Laura is a registered dietitian and serves on the Dietitians in Business and Communications Board as an education team member for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Fortunate to be surrounded by great learning professionals during her career, Laura has been part of teams that have become finalists for the LTEN excellence awards five times in the last 7 years.

She has enjoyed being a speaker at a variety of learning and healthcare conferences, including LTEN and the Training Industry.

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Greg Garner, PhD, PMP serves as the Senior Manager for Organizational Development for US Operations for Rho, Inc, a global CRO headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, USA. His background includes time as a classroom teacher for middle-level students, an instructional technology coach for primary and secondary school teachers, and an adult learning consultant across the United States. Dr. Garner holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from LeTourneau University, a Master of Education in Educational Technology Leadership from Lamar University, and a Doctor of Philosophy from the College of Design at NC State University. His doctoral research focused on improving feedback during learning design prototyping using emergent heuristic models. At Rho, he leads a team of Learning & Performance Specialists and focuses on change management, human capacity-building, and developing systems of inquiry for process improvement, especially related to Project Management and Clinical Operations.

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Arthur Van Leerberghe is an accomplished leader in clinical research with a proven track record of building strong clinical operations teams and bringing investigational drugs to market. In the industry since 2002, he has contributed to over 7 NDA/sNDA approvals and has extensive inspection and change management expertise, having navigated multiple takeovers and acquisitions. Since 2011, he has mainly been working in small or start-up biotech, specializing in rare diseases. Rising from admin support roles to Executive Director, Arthur has been promoted at least once in every company he’s worked with. A strong team-builder and globetrotter, Arthur has cultivated global teams across the U.S. and Europe, spending multiple years in Brussels (BE), Cambridge (MA) and currently Basel (CH).

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Melissa Milani has dedicated nearly 30 years to her passion for helping others learn. At Parexel, she has played a key role in leadership initiatives aimed at continually advancing how learning supports the company’s mission and the educational needs of its employees. As the current head of L&D, she and her team are developing top-notch practices, programs, and platforms that will drive a positive return on Parexel’s investment in learning. Her focus includes using platforms and methods to identify employee capability gaps and other relevant data to enable more targeted and impactful development and support. Additionally, Melissa and her team are incorporating AI solutions into their services to enhance the efficiency and user-friendliness of L&D. Parexel, a Clinical Research Organization with approximately 22,000 employees globally, works with biopharmaceutical clients to safely evaluate new therapies that could improve patient lives around the world.

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With over 30 years of management experience across diverse sectors, Bart Derre has developed extensive expertise in change management and Learning & Development (L&D). As a senior manager in healthcare and higher education, he has successfully led teams and spearheaded change initiatives, while also working extensively as a consultant for large corporations. Through his consultancy, particularly with The BEE, Bart has helped companies foster entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, driving transformative change and leadership development.

In the academic realm, dr. Bart Derre holds the chair in ‘Entrepreneurial Learning’ at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), where he conducts research on innovative educational strategies. He is also the director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at HOGENT University of Applied Sciences. Dr. Derre earned his PhD from the Eindhoven University of Technology (The Netherlands), where his research applies a data-driven, design science approach to fostering entrepreneurial behavior in higher education. With nearly 25 years of experience as a lecturer and researcher in entrepreneurial education, he is widely recognized as a leader in the field.

In addition to his academic work, Bart regularly shares his insights through opinion pieces in the business newspaper De Tijd, emphasizing the societal importance of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship. In 2017, he co-authored The Entrepreneurial Organization (in Dutch), providing valuable insights into building and sustaining entrepreneurial cultures within businesses.

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