LEADERSHIP

Leadership built on experience. Partnerships built on trust

Our leadership team brings together experience across global strategy consulting, life sciences, healthcare, engineering, scientific research, advanced analytics, and executive leadership. We work alongside clients as trusted advisors, combining rigorous thinking with practical execution to solve complex challenges and create lasting impact.

Our philosophy

Great organizations are built by leaders who ask better questions, make disciplined decisions, and inspire others to execute with confidence. At NOVA Partners, leadership means listening first, challenging assumptions, embracing evidence, and remaining accountable for results.

We believe our greatest value is not simply the recommendations we provide, but the capabilities we help our clients build for the future.

Leadership principles

Meet our leadership

Our partners have led engagements inside McKinsey & Company, Sanofi, Appier, Rakuten Medical, J.P. Morgan, IBM, Delta Electronics, and the world’s leading academic medical centers — experience that shapes how we advise every client.

Dr. Jean C. Cruz

Global Managing Partner & Co-Founder

Dr. Changho Yoon

Head of AI & Advanced Analytics

Dr. Thong Cao

Engagement Manager, Life Sciences

Dexter Yan

Transformation & Operational Excellence

Dr. Jean C. Cruz

Global Managing Partner & Co-Founder

JC sets NOVA Partners’ strategic direction, operations, and growth across North America, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific. He is a trusted advisor to boards, CEOs, and private-equity investors in life sciences and healthcare, helping clients unlock differentiated growth and lead transformative R&D, clinical-trial acceleration, and M&A initiatives.

He began his career as a Manager in McKinsey & Company’s Life Sciences and Healthcare practices, leading strategic and operational transformations for Fortune 500 pharma companies, biotech scale-ups, and private-equity funds — including R&D roadmaps for cell and gene therapies and buy- and sell-side due diligence across oncology, neuroscience, and rare-disease portfolios. He holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Cornell University, completed postdoctoral fellowships at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and earned a BSc from the University of Puerto Rico.