Since taking over as president and CEO of BioCT in 2023, Jodie Gillon has become one of the most visible champions of Connecticut’s bioscience sector.
An epidemiologist with 25 years of experience at major pharma and biotech companies, she now leads the trade group representing Connecticut’s life sciences industry, which employs 25,000 people statewide.
BioCT supports entrepreneurs through incubators in Groton and New Haven, offers mentoring and educational services, and advocates for policies to keep Connecticut competitive in a fast-changing industry.
Early in her tenure, Gillon embarked on a listening tour with stakeholders and has since pushed to grow the state’s venture capital base and bioscience workforce.
One of BioCT’s biggest recent wins came during the 2025 legislative session, when lawmakers approved increasing the state’s R&D tax credit for bioscience companies from 65% to 90%. Gillon and her organization had lobbied heavily for the change, calling it essential to keeping Connecticut competitive with neighboring states and encouraging companies to stay and expand here.
She has become a forceful public voice on policy. In a May op-ed, Gillon warned that prescription drug price controls proposed by the state legislature would deter investment and innovation, undoing years of progress. Instead, she urged legislators to target pharmacy benefit managers, which she said drive up costs while reducing patient savings.