Our Team

Gloria Caulfield leads health and wellness strategy and planning for the Lake Nona Institute. Gloria is passionate about identifying partners who are skillful at collaboration and have the desire to innovate solutions that have the potential to move the needle on community health and wellness.

Mr. Rasesh “Sesh” Thakkar serves as Senior Managing Director of Tavistock Group and has been with the Group for 25+ years. Mr. Thakkar’s areas of experience ranges across industries such as life sciences, financial services, real estate, and leisure services as well as corporate finance and structures, mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning and operations. He’s also known for being one of the visionaries behind Lake Nona.

Mr. Thakkar serves as a Director of Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, the Orlando Economic Development Commission, the Central Florida Partnership, the University of Florida Cancer Center at Orlando Health, and The Florida Council of 100.

Brad Fennessy is Director of Marketing Operations at Tavistock Development Company, driving the organizations marketing approach across multiple industries, disciplines and developments. He brings extensive experience leading global programs and strategy across a number of industries and aligning marketing strategy with business priorities. Brad has lead global strategic communications for Fortune 500 companies, managed complex global client engagements and developed marketing strategy for a number of U.S. and international economic development initiatives. Brad is a graduate of the University of Florida and lives in Orlando, FL with his wife and two children.

Juan Fernando Santos is Senior Vice President of Brand Experience at Tavistock Development where he leads the Marketing, Public Relations and Resident Activation disciplines. At TDC he is part of a multi-disciplinary team that uses design thinking to build places where people can thrive.

With more than 20 years of experience creating experiences that connect people and brands, he has been involved in many industry milestones, including the first worldwide webcast for Earth Day, the first digital consumer electronics catalog for Toshiba USA and Mattel’s shift from toys to play through the creation of BarbieGirls.com. Juan is a recognized expert in Design Thinking, User Generated Content, Virtual Worlds, Physical + Digital and Loyalty & Rewards. He is a charismatic speaker with a proven ability to lead by example while inspiring teams to deliver superb creative work.

Prior to joining Tavistock, Juan was the Chief Experience Officer for VML, a global award winning full service agency, Chief Creative and Technical Officer for iKioskos, a leading provider of Internet enabled public access kiosks and Founding Partner/Creative Director for Azurian, one of the largest new media design and consulting companies in Latin America. He holds a bachelor of fine arts from the School of Visual Arts, with studies in Industrial Engineering and Economic Science, he is also an award-winning documentary editor.

An accredited public relations veteran, Jessi has been developing integrated communications strategies and strategic planning across the Tavistock Group portfolio of companies for more than a decade. She has helped position the Impact Forum among the nation’s leading healthcare innovation events and has been an integral team member in the development and growth of the Lake Nona Institute and Lake Nona Impact Forum since its inception.

Aaron Davis joined Tavistock Group in 2005. Mr. Davis is CEO, co-founder and portfolio manager of Boxer Capital LLC, the healthcare arm of the Tavistock Group. Boxer Capital invests in public and private biotechnology companies. In this role, Mr. Davis is responsible for identifying and performing due diligence on new investment opportunities, deal structuring and portfolio management.

Mr. Davis was responsible for launching and scaling the group’s public market investing and trading activities in life sciences. Mr. Davis currently serves as Executive Chairman on the Board of Directors of CiVi Biopharma and is a Member of the Board of Directors of Mirati Therapeutics (MRTX), Odonate Therapeutics (ODT) and Sojournix, Inc. Mr. Davis served on the Board of Directors of Kalypsys Inc.

Prior to joining Tavistock Group, Mr. Davis was employed in the global healthcare investment banking group and private equity group at UBS Warburg, where he primarily worked with private, venture-backed biotechnology companies throughout their growth, including financing and development. Additionally, in this role, Mr. Davis worked on numerous transactions focused on advising public and private biotechnology as well as medical device companies on financings, mergers, acquisitions and strategic transactions. Mr. Davis has also previously served various roles at biotechnology and venture capital firms where he was responsible for conducting due diligence of investments in the pharmaceutical sector and overseeing in-licensing activities at several venture-backed companies.

Mr. Davis holds a master’s degree in biotechnology from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Emory University.

Rachael Cohen is a Project Manager with Tavistock Development Company who’s focus is on project efficiency and workflow. She has an eclectic background in healthcare, communications and corporate real estate. Her experience with special projects and strategic initiatives makes her an integral new addition to the Impact Forum Team.