Walida leads ecosystem development and strategic partnerships at the NJ Innovation Hub at HELIX. Trained as a molecular bioengineer, she brings expertise in venture creation, life sciences, and healthcare innovation. Prior to joining Portal, she served as Innovation Development Manager at Princeton University, supporting commercialization efforts and startup teams across the NSF I-Corps Northeast Hub. Her experience spans scientific due diligence, university partnerships, fundraising, and business development for biotech companies from seed stage through Series B.

Andria Winters is Portal’s Chief Operations Office where she oversees day-to-day operations of the company, ensuring Portal continues its strong trajectory of smart, intentional growth as it expands its leadership across national and international markets. Prior to joining Portal, Andria served as COO for a top-performing commercial real estate brokerage team at CBRE where she helped launch four new R&D buildings in Chicago. Her tenure also includes being the Assistant Director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), and during her time she co-founded the state’s first private economic development corporation, now the Illinois EDC, to lead business marketing and recruitment efforts for Illinois.

Kira is the Member Experience Manager at Portal Chicago, where she fosters meaningful partnerships with members, leads impactful events, and oversees seamless daily communications. Before joining Portal, she managed green infrastructure projects and community initiatives at G.E.T Solutions, an environmental nonprofit based in Chicago. Kira earned her degree in Environmental Policy from Loyola University Chicago in 2022.

Outside of work, Kira is passionate about volunteering with organizations focused on climate solutions, experimenting in the kitchen with unique ingredients, and exploring every art medium she can get her hands on.

Raul began his career with Baxter Healthcare, supporting process development for parenteral solutions across US and Latin American sites. He then joined the University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division as an Operational Excellence Partner, where he led the implementation of process improvement methodologies to optimize administrative and hospital workflows. Most recently, Raul was a foundational member of the Operations team at Evozyne, a Biotechnology startup in Chicago. At Evozyne, Raul helped build out the operations, managed strategic alliances, and led internal program management for early discovery and preclinical programs.

Raul has a degree in Biomedical Engineering and MBA from the Illinois Institute of Technology.  Raul grew up in the west suburbs of Chicago, and currently lives in Riverside with his wife, Araselly, 7-year-old daughter, Adeline, and dog, Skye. He loves all types of music, from heavy metal to reggaeton, and also supports Chicago sports teams, including the Bears, Bulls, and Fire.

Jack recently graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and a minor in Business. Jack will be our new Member Experience and Marketing Coordinator in Atlanta as we ramp up operations at Science Square.

Jack will be integral in providing community support in Atlanta as new members are onboarded, while also helping execute events at Science Square. On the marketing side, Jack will also manage multimedia content and work to expand the reach of our affiliated podcast, Lab Rats to Unicorns.

Gracyn Gambill is Portal’s Director, Strategic Platforms and Expansion in Chicago where she works closely with the Operations and member Experience Team. She is a University of Tennessee alumni with a background in sales and event coordination along with a passion for building and fostering relationships. In her role she is hands on in the coordination and execution of events that aim to increase member engagement. In addition, she ensures that day to day operations run smoothly in Portal’s Chicago location. She looks forward to continuing to grow with Portal as its expansion takes place.

Carson is Portal’s Senior Technology Manager where he helps with Portal’s tech stack, troubleshooting, and providing IT support to member companies. Prior to joining Portal, Carson attended the University of Illinois Chicago, and recently worked as an operations strategist with Framework IT. Outside of work, Carson is an avid outdoorsman where he enjoys running, climbing, and cycling.

Nancy has worked with a series of life sciences companies and her most recent role was with the Chicago Biomedical Consortium, where she assisted faculty researchers at Chicago-area universities with funding and resources needed to advance therapeutic discoveries. Nancy enjoys being part of the Chicago life science community, and she is an active volunteer with a variety of organizations including Young Women In Bio Chicago, where she is a Board member and past President.  Nancy also serves on the Alzheimer’s Association®‘s Board of Directors and is a member of the Board’s Executive Committee.

Nick is in charge of helping grow the Portal brand on a national level. He joins Portal with more than 10 years’ of experience in marketing and communications within a variety of industries, including financial services, commercial real estate development, and oil & gas, with his most recent role focused on building marketing campaigns at Northern Trust Asset Management. His background consists of public relations, email and web marketing, SEO/SEM, social media, and content development. Nick grew up in Austin, Texas, graduated from The University of Kansas, and still tries to fool himself into thinking Chicago winters aren’t that bad. 

Rose Jones-Boyd is the Executive Assistant to the Founder & CEO.
She is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of experience in professional office executive assistant positions and a track record of strong performance in high-volume, high-pressure environments. She has extensive experience with all administrative tasks including scheduling and correspondence.
As Executive Assistant, Rose ensures the smooth operation of the office. Having held several positions in the University and business fields, Rose can tailor her skills to meet the needs of colleagues and clients. Before joining Portal, Rose worked 13 1/2 years as an Executive Assistant at the University of Chicago.

Kevin is working to help create scalable systems and practices that can be implemented and standardized across all Portal locations as we expand to Boston and Atlanta. His main goal is to design and/or implement tools that can help foster community and collaboration in co-working environments.

Additionally, Kevin works on all content capture, design, editing, and audio production for Lab Rats to Unicorns (a podcast created by John Flavin).