Mr. Lance Kawaguchi is an internationally recognized executive leader and board member, with over 25 years of global finance and banking experience, including living and working throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East.
Lance is the CEO of Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, a non-profit organization in Australia dedicated to defeating brain cancer. Lance currently serves as the Chairman of the Asian Fund for Cancer Research and actively supports the organization’s BRACE Award Venture Competition, which provides seed funding to biotechnology companies that develop products for cancers prevalent in the Asian population. He is also a Member of the Board of Directors of the National Foundation for Cancer Research, a non-profit organization in the US co-founded by Nobel Laureate Albert Szent-Gyorgyi in 1973. He is also the strategic advisor for the AIM-HI Accelerator Fund, a non-profit organization in the US focused on advancing oncology start-ups through venture and impact investments.
As CEO of Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, Lance launched the world’s first brain cancer-dedicated Clinical Accelerator program to support early-stage biotechnology companies, researchers, and industry partners to rapidly progress innovative therapeutics into the clinic. Due to Lance’s unwavering tenacity, Cure Brain Cancer Foundation led the critical funding to bring the revolutionary trial GBM AGILE to Australia through the partnership with the Global Coalition for Adaptive Research, a non-profit organization pioneering ground-breaking adaptive clinical trial platforms to deliver innovative therapies to patients faster.
Throughout his career, Lance’s outstanding leadership and innovative approach to diversity and inclusion have seen him recognized by many peak global bodies, including the Treasury Management International, the prestigious BAME100 Board Talent Index, and as one of UPstanding’s 100 leading ethnic minority executives.