René Paula

René is the General Counsel of Vaxxinity, a biotech working on the prevention and treatment of chronic and infectious diseases. Prior to that, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Bionic (acquired by Accenture in June 2021), an enterprise-growth company that helps Fortune 500/Global 2000 launch new businesses, make early-stage investments (CVC) and facilitate startup partnerships and acquisitions. René was previously with Zx Ventures (the captive private equity and venture capital arm of ABInBev), Audible.com (the audiobook division of Amazon.com), and HSBC Securities (its investment bank). Earlier in his career, René was a corporate attorney with Cravath, Swaine & Moore and a consultant at Deloitte & Touche. During his career, René has executed more than four dozen venture capital investments, over two dozen capital raising transactions in the public markets that raised over $9 billion, and more than two dozen M&A transactions worth over $20 billion.

René is a graduate of NYU’s Stern School of Business, where he earned a BS degree in Finance and Accounting, and Columbia Law School, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree. When René is not optimizing operations or negotiating a transaction, he’s outdoors playing sports with his wife and kids.