Brent Erickson, Executive Vice President of Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO)
Brent Erickson is executive vice president in charge of the Industrial and Environmental Section at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). BIO represents more than 900 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, and state biotechnology centers across the United States and in more than 30 other nations.
Mr. Erickson holds a B.S. in Biology and an M.A. in International Studies. After completing his undergraduate degree, he was involved in fossil fuel research for three years at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Laramie Energy Technology Center.
After completing graduate school Mr. Erickson joined the staff of United States Senator and Republican Whip Alan K. Simpson (R-WY) as a legislative assistant handling defense, energy, and environmental issues. In 1993, Mr. Erickson was promoted to legislative director.
In 1996, Mr. Erickson joined the American Petroleum Institute (API) as a Washington representative where he directed government relations efforts on energy and environmental issues. Mr. Erickson joined the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) in 2000 to head the Industrial and Environmental Section.
In 2010 to 2015 he was selected to serve on the Scientific Advisory board of the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC). SynBERC is a multi-institution research center with researchers from the University of California Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California San Francisco, Harvard University and Stanford University. From 2000 to 2017 he served as a member of the board of directors of the Western Research Institute, the not-for-profit arm of the University of Wyoming Research Corporation.