Leadership Team
Meet iSpecimen's experienced leadership team with a shared commitment to our mission.
Robert Lim
Chief Executive Officer
Robert Lim is a dynamic, results-driven business leader dedicated to advancing iSpecimen’s mission of revolutionizing healthcare research by streamlining access to high-quality biospecimens. With a strategic vision and a diverse professional background, Robert focuses on driving operational excellence, fostering innovation, and expanding iSpecimen’s impact within the biotechnology and life sciences industries.
Robert brings extensive experience in corporate leadership, legal strategy, and business development. As a seasoned commercial litigator, he has significant expertise in resolving complex business disputes for numerous public companies and approaches legal disputes with a business forward approach. Before joining iSpecimen, Robert co-founded and served as the principal of a boutique law firm in downtown Vancouver, Canada, specializing in corporate law, commercial law, real estate law, and civil litigation.
Beyond his legal practice, Robert has a proven track record in corporate governance, having served on the boards of numerous publicly traded companies, including a technology services company and a therapeutics company. In these roles, he has been a key contributor to audit, compensation, and governance committees, where his strategic insights have guided corporate decision-making, ensured regulatory compliance, and enhanced shareholder value.
Before pursuing a legal career, Robert excelled in business marketing, serving as a marketing coordinator for a regional environmental consulting firm before establishing his own digital marketing agency, where he developed tailored solutions that helped clients across British Columbia expand their reach and profitability.
Robert holds a Juris Doctor from Thompson Rivers University and a Bachelor of Commerce with a concentration in marketing from the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia. He is a licensed and practicing lawyer in the Province of British Columbia, Canada.
Robert Lim
Chief Executive Officer
Leslie Hoyt
Senior Vice President of Operations
Leading Operations for iSpecimen, Leslie utilizes her 30+ years as a COO in healthcare, and focuses on operational efficiency, change management, and building strong relationships in and out of the company. She is responsible for the teams of professionals working on order fulfillment, supplier relationships, laboratory and distribution services, customer service, and human resources.
Leslie started her career on the provider-side of healthcare. As COO of the CareGroup PSN, the value-based contracting organization for 9 major hospitals and their physicians, she built cross hospital programs to improve the quality of care and ensure financial success in a capitated environment.
As VP and US Healthcare practice lead at Sapient (now Publicis Sapient), a Global IT consultancy, her passion for leveraging technology to improve the quality of healthcare was realized. She used that experience in technology and business to design and manage Dovetail Health, a healthcare technology company addressing home-based medication adherence following high-risk admissions, which was ultimately sold to Optum. As SVP of Optum, Leslie managed major strategic partners, leveraging UHG assets to create innovative health solutions that benefited both parties.
Leslie excels in start-up, high growth settings, and more recently has been a COO for biotech companies in the Boston area such as GNS (now Aitia), Olaris, and Naveris.
Leslie lives in Lexington, MA and enjoys playing tennis, pickleball and golf.
Leslie Hoyt
Senior Vice President of Operations
Annette Arnold
Vice President of Sales & Business Development
Annette is responsible for driving and managing all aspects of company sales and business development. In this position, she applies her strategic vision as well as her skills in negotiation, facility management (FM) and management. Additionally, she plays a key role in analyzing and developing the supply partner network in order to meet the demands of iSpecimen’s rapidly expanding customer base.
Annette has over 20 years of experience working in sales. Before joining iSpecimen, Annette was Manager of Business Development at Folio Conversant. There, she was responsible for supporting and growing business within existing accounts, and developing new accounts, through direct customer sales. Prior to Folio Conversant, she moved from Business Administrator to Client Account Manager at Biblioteca. For over a decade, Annette and her teams have established solid relationships with R&D groups, grown business revenue substantially, and streamlined project workflows for vital accounts. Annette holds an AS in Computer Science from Keene State College.
Annette Arnold
Vice President of Sales & Business Development
Carly Lejnieks
Vice President of Marketing
Carly and her team are focused on bringing the unique iSpecimen offering to life science customers who are seeking streamlined, compliant solutions for procuring archived pathology, banked, and prospective or custom-collected human biospecimens. The team is also focused on engaging new partners interested in joining the iSpecimen network, enabling deep and far-reaching access to millions of human biospecimens and patients that have consented to donate them.
Carly has led marketing strategies, integrated programs, and high-growth initiatives for Life Science organizations for more than 20 years. Before joining iSpecimen, she worked as a marketing consultant for more than a decade serving clients in the healthcare and life science industries. Most recently, she managed global, digital marketing and eCommerce programs responsible for driving double-digit growth in the cell culture consumables division of Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Carly Lejnieks
Vice President of Marketing
Board of Directors
The following individuals sit on iSpecimen's board of directors
Katharyn Field
Board Member
Richard Paolone
Board Member
Avtar Dhaliwal
Board Member
John L. Brooks III
Board Member