Andy Eckert, M.S., is the Director of Communications and Marketing for BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI). He leads BHI's marketing and strategic communications, helps early-stage biohealth companies in BHI's network sharpen their messaging and market-facing materials, and supports production of the BioTalk with Rich Bendis podcast. He also plays a central role in BioHealth Capital Region Week, BHI's team of entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, industry leaders, and government partners, where he works on sponsorship development and event communications. Andy has worked with BHI since 2017. Andy brings more than 25 years of experience at the intersection of life sciences, strategic communications, and business development. As an entrepreneur and operating executive, he has led operations and go-to-market strategy for a consumer health brand, overseeing product launches, distribution partnerships, and business development. Since 2010 he has run his own strategic communications practice, advising life sciences organizations, healthcare companies, and trade associations on media relations, content development, brand positioning, and sales and marketing operations. His earlier career includes commercial operations, project management and marketing in the vaccine sector, communications for a professional organization serving women in the life sciences, and sales operations analytics. Andy has also spent years building the region's biohealth community. For more than a decade he helped organize a monthly networking series that brought biotech and life sciences professionals together outside the office and lab, strengthening the connections that drive business and job growth across the BioHealth Capital Region. Andy holds an M.S. in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, where he was inducted into the Rho Chi Honor Society.