Lisa Conte

LISA CONTE is the Founder, President and Corporate Executive Officer of
Shaman Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which in 1999 became ShamanBotancials.com.
After the US Food and Drug Administration delayed Shaman
Pharmaceuticals’ plans to market its first drug, Provir, in 1999, which
threatened to bankrupt the company, Ms. Conte successfully transitioned
Shaman into the dietary supplement business and an Internet/cable
content company. Prior to founding Shaman, Ms. Conte worked for
Strategic Decisions Group, conducting risk and strategy audits for
technology companies funded by venture capital. In 1987 she moved to
Technology Funding, a venture capital fund, and was responsible for
recommending investments in healthcare companies. Shaman
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded in 1989, and in 1990 Ms. Conte founded
The Healing Forest Conservancy, a nonprofit organization associated with
Shaman that channels Shaman’s profits to all communities and cultures
that contributed to the development of products. Ms. Conte has served on
many Boards of Directors, including that of the AIDS Treatment Data
Network, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the Bay Area
Bioscience Center, the Amazon Conservation Team, the California
Healthcare Institute, the University of California at San Francisco
Foundation, Dartmouth College Presidents Leadership Council, and
California Governor Pete Wilson’s Council on Biotechnology. She has also
received Ernst & Young’s prestigious 1994 Entrepreneur of the Year
award. Ms. Conte received her AB in Biochemistry from Dartmouth College,
an MS in Physiology/Pharmacology at the University of California at San
Diego, and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration
at Dartmouth.