CED Sets Dates For Upcoming Conference Season

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(Business Wire)--
CED (www.cednc.org) has announced the event dates for its upcoming conference
season, featuring two premier events for the entrepreneurial community. CED will
present its 19th annual Biotech conference Monday, Feb. 22 through Tuesday, Feb.
23, 2010, at the Raleigh Convention Center in Raleigh, N.C. CED will present the
27th Venture conference Tuesday, April 20 through Thursday, April 22, 2010 at
the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, N.C.

Biotech 2010`s confirmed speakers include John Clerici, partner/chairmain of the
life sciences and public health preparedness practice at McKenna Long & Aldridge
LLP; J. Donald deBethizy, Ph.D., president/CEO of Targacept, Inc.; Nicole
Fouché, executive director of Triangle Global Health Consortium; Steve Krognes,
CFO of Genentech, Inc.; Ernest Mario, Ph.D., formerly of GlaxoSmithKline, Alza
Corporation and Reliant Pharmaceuticals; J. Michael Pearson, chairman/CEO of
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International; Allen D. Roses, M.D., FRCP, director of
the Deane Drug Discovery Institute at Duke University; Stephen Sands, vice
chairman of U.S. investment banking and global co-head of the healthcare group
at Lazard Frere & Co.; Christy Shaffer, Ph.D., president/CEO of Inspire
Pharmaceuticals; Kevin Schulman, MD, professor of medicine at Duke University`s
School of Medicine; Dr. Lauren Silverman, managing director of Novartis Option
Fund; Stephen F. Stefano, senior vice president of North American business
development and new product planning at GlaxoSmithKline; and Jon Stonehouse,
president/CEO of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc..

Confirmed speakers at Venture 2010 include Jim Whitehurst, president/CEO of Red
Hat; Jim Rogers, board chairman, president/CEO of Duke Energy; and Mark W.
Yusko, president/chief investment officer of Morgan Creek Capital Management,
LLC. An investor panel on April 21 will include Brad Feld, managing director at
Foundry Group; Noel Fenton, general partner at Trinity Ventures; and Todd
Forrest, managing director/CFO of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.

"CED`s conferences are instrumental connecting points between investors and
entrepreneurs," said Jud Bowman, president and CEO of CED member company
PocketGear. "In 2002, our presentation at the CED Venture conference directly
led to our company's $14 million second round financing, which made all the
difference in scaling our business."

- CED`s Biotech 2010 conference will explore discussions on global health,
personalized medicine, the current funding environment and pharmaceutical
partnering. With nearly 1,000 attendees at the 2009 event, the conference is
known for attracting life science executives, early stage entrepreneurs, policy
makers, investors, university leaders and researchers.

- One new feature for Biotech 2010 is a Venture Day featuring Hoffmann-La Roche
Inc.

- CED`s Venture Conference is the longest running financing event in the nation.
The conference will showcase the top investment opportunities in the technology,
life science and clean tech sectors from the Southeast across various stages of
development. Each year, the conference attracts hundreds of venture capitalists,
angel investors and financiers nationwide.

- This year, Venture 2010 for the first time will present the University
Showcase, a look at the top technologies coming out of universities.

ABOUT CED

CED (formerly the Council for Entrepreneurial Development) is a private,
nonprofit organization founded in 1984 to identify, enable and promote
high-growth, high-impact companies and accelerate the region`s entrepreneurial
culture. Headquartered in the Research Triangle Park, CED is the oldest and
largest entrepreneurial support organization in the nation with more than 5,500
active members. CED provides know-how, networking, mentoring and capital
formation resources to new and existing high-growth entrepreneurs through annual
conferences, programs and web-based resources. CED has helped entrepreneurs,
investors, service partners, researchers and public policy makers in diverse
emerging industries and at all stages of development - from high-tech,
production-based organizations to service companies, from one-person start-ups
to 1000-person businesses.

MMI Public Relations
Jake Potter, 919-233-6600, jake@mmipublicrelations.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009