About Kendalle
Kendalle Burlin O’Connell is a seasoned and effective executive who has received wide acclaim for her leadership of MassBio. As CEO and President of the world’s largest and oldest biopharma membership organization, Kendalle drives the strategy to grow the industry and support member companies, while advocating for policies that enable healthcare innovation and unlock breakthrough therapies for patients around the world. For more than 17 years, Kendalle has sought to deliver for MassBio’s now 1,700+ members through the launch of new initiatives, programs, and events while helping the industry navigate a changing landscape by convening and connecting key stakeholders and promoting collaboration.
To better serve the entire life cycle of biopharma companies, Kendalle has expanded MassBio’s innovation offerings to include partnering and investor events, an entrepreneurial accelerator, and a network for founders and chief executives. She has helped turn the focus of Drive, MassBio’s accelerator designed to advance breakthrough science through business education and mentoring, toward national leadership and resourcing emerging startups and founders wherever they operate. To tap into the promise of cutting-edge tools like generative AI and large language models, Kendalle has introduced the first Drive cohort exclusively for techbio companies. Kendalle has grown both Pharma Days® and MassBio Align Summit to be “can’t miss” opportunities for funders, biotechs, and pharmaceutical companies. Last year, she helped to enable a new venture with The Termeer Foundation to form a supportive community called the CEO & Founder Link.
As part of MassBio’s commitment to realizing a more diverse and equitable life sciences industry, Kendalle was the driving force behind the organization’s launch of Bioversity, a non-profit created to develop new training pathways and create employer connections for underrepresented populations and individuals traditionally left out of the life sciences. Bioversity has opened two workforce training centers in Dorchester and Lowell, and recently graduated its 100th student in June after only eighteen months of operations. More than 90 percent of enrolled students are Black and/or Latino.
MassBio has become an effective and respected voice across the public policy landscape, from Beacon Hill in Boston to Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Kendalle has been an outspoken advocate for the industry in policy debates about state government support for the expansion of the life sciences in Massachusetts, the federal government’s intervention into biopharma innovation, and efforts to improve the affordability and accessibility of life-changing medicines, just to name a few. She has also led the formation of strategic partnerships with sister membership organizations in Connecticut, South Carolina, New Hampshire, and Maryland.
Kendalle has earned numerous accolades for her leadership, including Boston Magazine’s list of The 150 Most Influential Bostonians for three straight years and the Boston Business Journal’s 2023 Power 50: Movement Makers list. Currently, Kendalle serves as Chair of the Eastern New England Board of Directors for the American Cancer Society, a Director on the Board of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation (MassBioEd), Chair of Bioversity’s Board, and an Advisory Committee member for the Suffolk University Law School All Rise Program, and was previously a Director on the Board of The Boston Foundation.
Prior to joining MassBio, Kendalle practiced law in the areas of Estate and Medicaid Planning, Probate and Asset Protection. She graduated cum laude from Sacred Heart University with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science, and received her Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School. She resides in Haverhill, Massachusetts with her husband and two children.