Sara Jane Demy
Founder & CEO, Demy-Colton
Sara Jane Demy is Founder and CEO of Demy-Colton, which she started in 2008 to build the investor and business-development conferences where the life-sciences and TechBio industries meet. Its portfolio includes Biotech Showcase, BioFuture, the Biotech CEO Summit, Executive Clinics and the Demy-Colton Virtual Salons.
Before founding the company she was Vice President for Business Development and Investor Relations at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, where she launched the BIO CEO & Investor Conference, the BIO Investor Forum and BIO Asia, expanded BIO-Europe, and led the team that built the partnering system now standard across biopharma business development. Earlier she was Director for Foreign Investment at the Empire State Development Corporation, where a project with Beecham Pharmaceuticals first brought her into the biopharma industry.
She is a co-founder of Biotech Showcase, and holds a BA in international relations from Albany University.
Frequently Asked Questions About Sara Jane Demy
Who is Sara Jane Demy?
Sara Jane Demy is the founder and CEO of Demy-Colton, a life-sciences conference company she started in 2008. She built it to run the investor and business-development conferences where the life-sciences and TechBio industries meet. She was previously Vice President for Business Development and Investor Relations at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization She holds a BA in international relations from Albany University.
What conferences does Sara Jane Demy’s company run?
Sara Jane Demy runs Demy-Colton, whose portfolio includes Biotech Showcase, BioFuture, the Biotech CEO Summit, Executive Clinics and the Demy-Colton Virtual Salons. They are investor and business-development conferences built for the life-sciences and TechBio industries. She founded Demy-Colton in 2008 and is a co-founder of Biotech Showcase.
What did Sara Jane Demy do before founding Demy-Colton?
Sara Jane Demy was Vice President for Business Development and Investor Relations at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. There she launched the BIO CEO & Investor Conference, the BIO Investor Forum and BIO Asia, expanded BIO-Europe, and led the team that built the partnering system standard across biopharma business development. Earlier she was Director for Foreign Investment at the Empire State Development Corporation, where a project with Beecham Pharmaceuticals brought her into the biopharma industry.
What does Sara Jane Demy argue about biotech funding?
Sara Jane Demy has questioned whether the conventional A, B and C venture round path is still available to biotech companies, saying on Open Door Salon that “That model just does not seem to be there right now”. She points to money arriving from elsewhere, describing what the Biotech CEO Summit discussed as “a lot of that includes grant money, some of it from the federal government, other grant money or collaboration money with patient advocacy groups”.
On Open Door Salon
“Sara Jane Demy and Jeremy Levin on Where Biotech Money Goes When Venture Capital Stops”
Sara Jane Demy & Jeremy Levin · August 19, 2026
Episode page & show notes on Open Door Salon
In this episode
- There's no other industry like this
- Introduction
- The troops without supplies
- What the war does to the industry
- Hormuz: plastics, fertilizer and food security
- Is China gaining from the war?
- Why CEOs now trust Chinese clinical data
- The question isn't if China leads, it's when
- What disruption did to the US innovation engine
- Innovation won't stop, it will migrate
- What gets repaired and what doesn't
- The A-B-C round model isn't there anymore
- Back to basics: be fearless
- Advice for people still inside government
- Is the foundation still standing?
- The hardest decision of your career
- The resignation written on a napkin
Topics
Watch on Open Door Salon
Open Door Salon brings life-sciences leaders into candid conversation. Every Monday, the week's takeaways land in your inbox.
Subscribe on Substack →