April Giles, Executive Vice President of the Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA), has been named President & CEO following a national executive search. An accomplished association executive with extensive experience in the Bioscience Industry, Giles has helped grow the CBSA from a small startup enterprise to a mature and successful organization during her tenure.

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April Giles Named President & CEO of the Colorado BioScience Association
April Giles, Executive Vice President of the Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA), has been named
President & CEO following a national executive search. An accomplished association executive with
extensive experience in the Bioscience Industry, Giles has helped grow the CBSA from a small startup
enterprise to a mature and successful organization during her tenure.
Denver, CO, November 8, 2012 – April Giles, Executive Vice President of the Colorado BioScience Association
(CBSA) for the past two and a half years, has been named President & CEO following an extensive national
executive search conducted by an ad hoc committee of the CBSA Board of Directors. The announcement is
made by Steve Orndorff, CBSA Board Chairperson and President/CEO of Ariel Pharmaceuticals.
"Our search committee worked very hard to find the best qualified person to lead the CBSA into its next phase
of growth. In testament to April's tremendous talent and extensive experience in the association management
and bioscience industry, we learned the best person for the job was already part of the CBSA leadership
team," Orndorff explains.
Giles replaces Holli Riebel, who resigned in June to accept the Chief Operations Officer position at the Metro
Denver Chamber of Commerce. In the interim, Giles had been responsible for the day‐to‐day operations of the
association.
"I am simply thrilled to accept the presidency of the CBSA, as I'm passionate about what the Bioscience
Industry has to offer our state. I value and look forward to growing and strengthening the longstanding
relationships I've already developed with our bioscience companies, research institutions, economic
development agencies, and other local, regional and national associations in my new and expanded role,"
Giles says.
Giles joined the CBSA as Director of Operations in 2006 and moved to Vice President, Administration &
Operations in 2009 and was promoted to Executive Vice President in 2010. During her tenure at the
Association, the organization has grown from a small startup enterprise to a mature and successful
organization. Previously Giles had worked in the Board of Regents Office at the University of Colorado.
Most notably at CBSA, Giles led the strategic initiative to launch the first‐ever Rocky Mountain Life Science
Investor & Partnering Conference (RMLIPC) in 2009, developing regional partnerships to continue the
conference as the only one of its type for the region during a second successful foray in 2011. The CBSA driven
RMLIPC will return for a third session during Fall 2013.
Giles is an experienced writer and public speaker. Throughout her career she has managed diverse staff
groups, contractors and consultants and organized complex materials for elected officials, academic leaders,
and business executives. Giles graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work degree from the University of Kansas
and practiced in the profession for three years.
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About Colorado BioScience Association
The CBSA is a not‐for‐profit organization providing services and support for Colorado's bioscience industry.
With more than 350 members, CBSA actively works to promote the growth of the industry by advocating for a
better business environment, growing the state's biotech workforce, fighting for policies that support a strong
bioscience industry in the state, and speaking with a single voice on behalf of the industry. For more
information, visit http://www.cobioscience.com.
CBSA also is found on these social media sites:
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/COBioscience
LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=98468&trk=anet_ug_grppro
Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/ColoradoBioScienceAssociation
News Feed: http://coloradobio.blogspot.com
YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/COBioscience
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/COBioscience
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Contacts:
Mae Desaire, Director of Marketing, Colorado BioScience Association ‐ http://www.cobioscience.com –
720‐382‐5918, mdesaire@cobioscience.com
Maggie Chamberlin Holben, APR, Absolutely Public Relations ‐ http://www.absolutelypr.com ‐
303‐984‐9801, maggie@absolutelypr.com