Illuminating the Undetected.

Leadership

Our leadership combines deep scientific rigor and commercial strategy experience to deliver clarity and innovation across the life sciences

We bring deep life sciences expertise, uniting scientific, commercial, and clinical perspectives. With strong academic foundations and hands-on industry experience, we understand the nuances of every challenge—and deliver innovative solutions that reveal opportunities others overlook.

Ryan L. Coe, Ph.D.

Co-Founder & Partner

  • Ryan has over fifteen years of experience in life sciences, spanning from research & development to strategy consulting to financial advisory

  • Expertise across buy and sell-side M&A and corporate & pipeline strategy

  • Prior to co-founding Blacklight, he was a Partner at a boutique life sciences strategy consultancy specializing in due diligence and corporate strategy across biotech, pharma, and pharma Services (CDMO, CRO, Central Labs, etc.)

Degrees: 

  • Sr. Fellow, Bioengineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Ph.D., Bioengineering, University of Washington

  • B.S., Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia

Leslie Gautam, M.B.A.

Co-Founder & Partner

  • Leslie is an experienced biotech executive and advisor with 15+ years of strategic biopharma experience spanning business development, capital raising, due diligence, financial modeling, and commercialization.

  • Former CBO and senior investment banker with deep expertise across clinical and commercial stage biopharma

  • Prior to co-founding Blacklight, Leslie was a Managing Director at a life sciences focused strategic advisory & transactions firm

Degrees: 

  • M.B.A., Columbia Business School

  • B.S., Psychobiology, University of California Los Angeles

  • "I am a huge fan of you and your team. You always understand the nuances in each project, work tirelessly to solve the problem, and over deliver. You consistently make me look good."

    - Chief Commercial Officer

  • "Thank you to the entire team. You delivered an exceptional work product on a very short timeline. Our investment committee was very impressed."

    - Private Equity Vice President

  • "The corporate strategy project and workshop were exactly what we needed as an organization. You pressure tested our perspectives using a collaborative approach. We have great alignment across the entire team for future internal and external development."

    - Biotech Head of BD

  • "You never disappoint. I continually come back to you for all my commercial needs."

    - Large Pharma Franchise Head