Leadership Teams

Ken Billard

Ken Billard is the Chief Commercial Officer for Cogstate, where he develops and executes strategies focused on expanding the adoption of Cogstate solutions to optimize the measurement of cognition and other clinical outcome assessments in pharmaceutical clinical trials.

Ken manages the global sales organization at Cogstate and brings a 30-year track record leading high-performing commercial teams across eClinical, healthcare and technology businesses. Under Ken’s leadership, Cogstate delivers a consultative and customer-focused sales culture based on accountability, integrity, trust and value.

Prior to joining Cogstate, Ken served as Vice President of Business Development and Global Strategic Partnerships at CRF Health (now part of Signant Health), and has held various global leadership roles with invivodata, McKessonHBOC, and CB Technologies.

Rachel Colite

Rachel Colite leads the Clinical Trials division at Cogstate, overseeing strategy and delivery across commercial sales and operations. During her 9-year tenure at Cogstate, Rachel has held roles of increased responsibility, most recently leading the expansion of the company’s decentralized trials solutions into global late-stage Alzheimer’s disease programs. Rachel has served Cogstate in diverse roles from strategic initiatives to people & culture and brings more than 16 years of contract research organization experience, including positions at ICON plc (Nasdaq: ICLR) in corporate marketing.

Sara Giesen

Sara Giesen is the Chief People Officer for Cogstate, responsible for setting the People Strategy, leading the global HR team, building a high performing organization and an inclusive collaborative culture where people and results thrive. Sara is a leader in organisation transformation and brings a sharp customer and external focus to the business, finding creative ways to solve problems and unlock potential. Sara is passionate about putting the human in Human Resources and building forward thinking ways of working.

With over 25 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and automotive sectors, Sara is a strategic leader with deep expertise in all facets of human resources and a strong track record of execution. She is recognised for her collaborative approach in working with stakeholders to deliver ambitious outcomes at local, regional and global levels.

Sara holds an Masters of Business – Human Resources from Swinburne University and is an accredited Executive coach.

Brad O’Connor

Brad O’Connor has been Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Cogstate Limited since December 2005. He has responsibility for Cogstate’s overall strategic direction and day-to-day operations as well as development of expansion opportunities outside of the core clinical trials business.

Prior to taking the position of CEO at Cogstate, Mr O’Connor joined Cogstate as Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary in May 2004. Prior to that, he held senior positions at Spherion Group, Australian Wine Exchange and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr O’Connor is a chartered accountant who holds a Bachelor of Business degree.

Other directorships and interests:

• Cogstate Inc
• Cogstate Health Inc
• Cogstate Healthcare LLC
• Cogstate Sports Pty Ltd

Pamela Ventola, PhD

Dr. Ventola is Chief Science Officer at Cogstate, an Associate Professor at the Yale Child Study Center, and a licensed clinical neuropsychologist. Dr. Ventola leads Cogstate’s science team providing Cogstate customers with strategic oversight and expert guidance throughout all stages of their study planning and execution – from endpoint selection, rater training and strategic monitoring, to final statistical analysis.

Dr. Ventola received her Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology from the University of Connecticut and completed her clinical training and Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Yale University School of Medicine. She serves on the editorial review board of multiple academic journals and has authored numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts, book chapters, and scientific presentations.

Darren Watson

Darren Watson is Chief Financial Officer for Cogstate, responsible for the company’s financial strategy, driving business growth and ensuring proper governance and compliance. Mr. Watson leads all aspects of finance operations globally including corporate accounting, financial planning and analysis, internal audit, tax, insurance, and procurement. Mr. Watson is an experienced business executive with over 20 years working in the technology sector across a number of international locations.

Prior to joining Cogstate, Mr. Watson held roles at IBM across finance, operations and strategy roles, most recently as Chief Operating Officer, IBM A/NZ Global Technology Services. His most recent role followed stints in Shanghai, China working in strategy for the IBM Growth Markets Head Office, then in Singapore as the CFO for the IBM GTS Asia Pacific business covering A/NZ, ASEAN, India/South Asia, China and South Korea.

Mr. Watson graduated from Bendigo College of Advanced Education with a Bachelor of Business before joining KPMG and completing his Chartered Accountant qualification.