Speakers

MGCS 2010 Guest Speakers

Keynote Speakers:

David J. Brailer, MD, PhD, Chairman, Health Evolution Partners
Dr. Brailer has sought to drive positive change in health care in his work as a physician, researcher, teacher, entrepreneur and policymaker. Dr. Brailer founded CareScience, Inc. and served as Chairman and CEO from inception, through its IPO, and until its sale in 2002. Under his leadership, CareScience led the market in development of care management, outcomes analysis and health information exchange. In 2004, Dr. Brailer was appointed by President George W. Bush as the first National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. In this role, Dr. Brailer developed and led the nation’s strategy for ushering health care into the digital era. Dr. Brailer is committed to improving health care by discovering and funding health technologies and health service companies to the industry. Founded in 2007, Health Evolution Partners is investing in companies that will lead and become valuable in the new era of value‐based, cost-effective, and consumer‐driven health care. Dr. Brailer earned his MD at West Virginia University, completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and earned his PhD in health economics at The Wharton School. Dr. Brailer taught in Wharton’s MBA curriculum for ten years.

Kate Mitchell, Managing Director, Scale Venture Partners; Chairman-Elect, National Venture Capital Association
Kate is a co-founder of Scale Venture Partners, a venture capital fund with over $900 million under management located in Silicon Valley, California. She is instrumental in building Scale Venture Partners' team and strategic direction. Kate leads investments in software and business services. Kate brings more than 25 years' experience in technology, finance and management to her portfolio teams. Kate has actively worked with portfolio companies such as Hubspan, Jaspersoft, mBlox, Wayport, & Tonic Software as they grow to become successful enterprises. Kate is also the Chairman-Elect of the National Venture Capital Association and a member of its Executive Committee. She is actively involved with regulatory and economic policy impacting the venture industry and the companies that are funded by venture capital in the areas of technology, clean tech & health care. As Chairman-Elect, Kate actively highlights the importance of venture capital to the U.S. economy & works to promote innovation nationwide. Venture backed companies have a disproportionate impact on the US economy representing 21% of the GDP and 11% of the jobs in 2008. In addition, Kate sits on the Silicon Valley Bank Venture Capital Advisory Board. Before joining ScaleVP in 1996, Kate was a Senior Vice President responsible for the development and launch of Bank of America's internet banking services. In addition to technology management, Kate has significant experience in corporate finance and business development. Kate holds a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from the Executive Program at Golden Gate University in San Francisco. She also attended the Harvard Executive Program for Strategic Marketing. Kate is active as a Charter Member of Environmental Entrepreneurs (Silicon Valley) and is also on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Panelists:

Kevin E. Brooks, Senior Managing Director & CEO, THINKGREEN! Global Advisors, Inc.
In founding THINKGREEN! Global Advisors, Inc., Mr. Brooks dedicates his efforts to raising capital for Clean Technology and Alternative Energy companies in order to end our dependency on oil and help make our planet more habitable for future generations. Prior to founding THiNKGREEN!, Mr. Brooks garnered over 15 years of Wall Street industry experience, including serving as Managing Director of Pali Capital’s Alternative Energy and Clean Technology investment banking practice, where his team evaluated and executed assignments in biomass, waste to energy, clean transportation, wind turbines, and solar technologies. Also, while at Pali, Mr. Brooks served as Managing Director of Institutional Structured Products where he was a successful cross-seller of equity derivatives and equity research. Prior to Pali Capital, Mr. Brooks was a senior member of the Institutional Equity Sales team at Merrill Lynch in New York where he was a Utilities and Power Generation specialist, working directly with senior analysts and investment bankers within those sectors. The Merrill Lynch Utility Equity Research Team was consistently voted the #1 Institutional Investor ranking by Wall Street's top investment firms. Mr. Brooks was voted #1 Hedge fund coverage in Institutional Investor Magazine for dedicated utility and energy accounts in 2001. In the "Gray Davis" / "Enron" period, Mr. Brooks and his team raised over $30 billion in debt and equity offerings on over 30 large-cap transactions with many of the nation’s leading utilities and power generators. Deals also included several major Clean Tech offerings in PEM based fuel cell technology and clean power generation. Transaction structures included secondary offerings, IPOs, convertible debt & equity, as well as block trading and overnight spot secondaries. Mr. Brooks began his career as an equity research analyst with Salomon Smith Barney - Robinson Humphrey Company, in 1994 where he worked closely with a team of senior market analysts in the quantitative analysis, market strategy, model portfolios, and economics group. Mr. Brooks earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, and was a 1994 Honors Graduate with a BS in Business Administration. Mr. Brooks continues to be active with The Citadel Investment Club which he started as a cadet in 1992 and actively promotes Citadel cadets into Wall Street careers. Mr. Brooks also sponsors an annual internship for Citadel cadets with exceptional academic and extracurricular achievements. Mr. Brooks has been a resident of Manhattan for 12 years.

Mr. Brooks holds series 7, 63 & 87 with Bradley Woods, member FINRA/SPIC.

Louis A. Cannon, MD, FACC, FACP, Founder and Senior Managing Director, BioStar Ventures
Dr. Cannon is a former Judith Volkman scholar in residence, and is the Founder and Senior Managing Director of BioStar Ventures. He has been repeatedly honored as one of "America 's Top Interventional Cardiologists”, is the President of the Cardiac and Vascular Research Center of Northern Michigan, and has over 125 medical publications, as well as United States medical device patents. He serves on the strategic advisory boards for such Fortune 500 companies as Medtronic, Abbott, and Boston Scientific, as well as many early developing medical technologies, and he currently serves on the Board of Directors of HotSpur, CardioVascular Ingenuity, TransLuminal Therapeutics and Nellix. Dr. Cannon, through Biostar, has participated in the start up and subsequent development of a multitude of developing bio-technological, or emerging health care companies and has served as the National or International Principal Investigator for landmark cardiovascular studies. Dr. Cannon assisted in performing First-In-Man percutaneous Aortic Valve procedures in Paraguay and served as Chairman of the Board of AorTx, Inc, a company in which BioStar was the lead investor, that was successfully acquired by a publicly traded company. BioStar was also the lead investor of Setagon, which was also acquired by a Fortune 100 company.

Terry Cross, Founder, Windward Associates; Executive in Residence of Entrepreneurship, Wayne State University School of Business
Terry Cross has been an Angel investor and businessman for over 40 years. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of Great Lakes Angels and a founding member of The Michigan Venture Capital Association. While he has served on many boards over the years, his current board memberships include: RealKidz; PureEntropy as Chairman; MIST Innovations as Chairman; and Monarch Antenna, a Delphi Corp. spinout. Mr. Cross serves as the first Executive in Residence for Entrepreneurship at The School of Business Administration at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI, where he administers the prestigious Adams Entrepreneurial Fellowship and received the 2005 Distinguished Alumni Award. Terry was a co-founder of Sonoma Photonics, recently sold to Lockheed-Martin. He was a founding investor in three startups from MIT’s tech transfer department and served on MIT’s Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity. In September of 2007, he was named to the Task Force for A World Financial Center by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, one of Korea’s most prestigious institutions. He was employed by Kidder, Peabody in various financial services and investment banking activities in Detroit, New York and San Francisco for 28 years until his retirement in 1998.

Timothy R. Damschroder, Partner, Bodman LLP
Mr. Damschroder advises clients in matters involving business, corporate finance, securities, tax, and intellectual property law. His business work includes working with early stage enterprises, corporate finance, advising on matters regarding business transactions (domestic and international), business formation (corporation, limited liability company and partnership), corporate governance, and merger, acquisition and joint venture work from pre-letter of intent negotiations to final closing. Mr. Damschroder specializes in dealing with hi-tech companies from start up, to transactions involving intellectual property, to venture capital financing, to eventual sale. His corporate finance work includes debt and equity financing (venture capital and angel investments), and derivative transactions including ISDA documentation, master agreements, interest rate swaps, currency swaps and other foreign exchange transactions (FX transactions), and options. Tim has negotiated and closed over 35 separate corporate finance transactions in the last 5 years totaling in excess of $170 million including seed and follow-on funding, venture capital funding, mezzanine financing, funding from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, raising funds for a private investment entity, and investing in a large institutional fund.

Timothy L. Faley, PhD, Managing Director, Zell Lurie Institute, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
Timothy Faley teaches multidisciplinary courses for graduate-level business and engineering students on the elements of an innovative commercialization process, which examines both the business and engineering dimensions of technology driven entrepreneurship. Dr. Faley was the founding director of the U-M College of Engineering’s Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization. He came to the University from the Dow Chemical Company, where he worked in research, new-business development, corporate venturing, and technology licensing. Previously, Dr. Faley was a chemical-engineering faculty member at North Carolina A&T State University. He has been associated with seventeen new ventures throughout his career. He holds an MBA from Northwood University and a PhD(ChemE) from the University of Notre Dame.

John Fletcher, Founding Partner & CEO, Fletcher Spaght Ventures
John Fletcher is a Founding Partner of Fletcher Spaght Ventures. He also serves as the CEO of Fletcher Spaght Inc., a management consulting firm he founded to provide strategy and financing assistance to new companies.

John has over twenty-five years providing strategy and financing assistance to new companies. Prior to launching FSI in 1983, John was a Senior Manager at The Boston Consulting Group, managing client relationships in healthcare and high technology companies. Previously, John was a Ph.D. candidate and instructor in International Business at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Prior to Wharton, John was a Captain and jet pilot in the U.S. Air Force.

John holds an MA in Finance from the Wharton School, an MBA from Southern Illinois University, and a BA from George Washington University. John is a current or past board member for many companies, including Axcelis, AutoImmune, GlycoFi, NMT Medical, Quick Study Radiology, Spectranetics and Panacos Pharmaceuticals. John also serves on the Board of Overseers and Cardiology Council of Children's Hospital of Boston, the Board of Advisors of the Boston University Photonics Center, the Whitehead Institute at MIT, the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, and the School of Government and Business at George Washington University.

Stephen Forrest, PhD, Vice President for Research; Professor EECS, MS&E and Physics, University of Michigan
First at Bell Labs, he investigated photodetectors for optical communications. In 1985, Prof. Forrest joined the Electrical Engineering and Materials Science Departments at USC where worked on optoelectronic integrated circuits, and organic semiconductors. In 1992, Prof. Forrest became the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University. He served as director of the National Center for Integrated Photonic Technology, and as Director of Princeton's Center for Photonics and Optoelectronic Materials (POEM). From 1997-2001, he served as the Chair of the Princeton’s Electrical Engineering Department. In 2006, he rejoined the University of Michigan as Vice President for Research, and as the William Gould Dow Collegiate Professor in Electrical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Physics. A Fellow of the IEEE and OSA and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, he received the IEEE/LEOS Distinguished Lecturer Award in 1996-97, and in 1998 he was co-recipient of the IPO National Distinguished Inventor Award as well as the Thomas Alva Edison Award for innovations in organic LEDs. In 1999, Prof. Forrest received the MRS Medal for work on organic thin films. In 2001, he was awarded the IEEE/LEOS William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award for advances made on photodetectors for optical communications systems. In 2006 he received the Jan Rajchman Prize from the Society for Information Display for invention of phosphorescent OLEDs, and is the recipient of the 2007 IEEE Daniel Nobel Award for innovations in OLEDs. Prof. Forrest has authored ~440 papers in refereed journals, and has 185 patents. He is co-founder or founding participant in several companies, including Sensors Unlimited, Epitaxx, Inc., Global Photonic Energy Corp., Universal Display Corp. (NASDAQ: PANL) and ASIP, Inc. He serves on the Board of Directors of Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT). He holds a B. A. Physics, 1972, University of California; MSc and PhD Physics in 1974 and 1979, University of Michigan.

Jan Garfinkle, Founder and Managing Director, Arboretum Ventures
Jan Garfinkle specializes in medical technology investments, utilizing her educational background in biomedical engineering, extensive operating experience, and industry connections to select and nurture outstanding companies. Her investing activities primarily focus on FDA 510(k) and PMA medical device and diagnostics companies. Jan has been a member of the board of directors of Arboretum portfolio companies including HandyLab (acquired by Becton, Dickinson and Company), NXThera, Uptake Medical, and VasoNova. Prior to founding Arboretum in 2002, Jan spent 20 years in senior management positions in entrepreneurial healthcare companies. Jan was Founder and President of Strategic Marketing Consultants, a consulting firm focused on the commercialization of healthcare technologies for start-ups and large medical device manufacturers. Earlier in her career, Jan worked for two successful medical device start-up companies, Advanced Cardiovascular Systems (ACS) and Devices for Vascular Intervention (DVI). Each of these companies was acquired by Eli Lilly and Company for more than $100 million and became the foundation for Guidant Corporation, which Eli Lilly later spun out in 1994. She joined each company early in its development and held key management roles in marketing, clinical research and sales. She began her career as a manufacturing engineer and production line manager for Proctor and Gamble.

Jan has served on a number of advisory boards focused on capital formation and enhancing the commercialization of promising technologies. She is the past President of the Michigan Venture Capital Association. She is a member of the Commercialization Advisory Board of the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center (GCIC) at the Cleveland Clinic and a member of the Health Care Advisory Board at the University of Michigan. Jan also serves as a member of AdvaMed’s National Venture Capital Advisory Board. Jan earned a BS in Bioengineering from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Blair Garrou, Managing Director, DFJ Mercury
Since the late 90’s, Blair Garrou has focused on funding, operating and incubating start-up technology companies, with a particular focus on enterprise software and consumer web technologies. Blair’s current investments include Alert Logic, Fluensee, Graphic.ly, Kabongo, Performix, and ShareThis. Blair’s previous investments have included Phurnace Software (BMC Software), FuelQuest (Saracen Energy), Intermat (IHS) and SAT Corporation (Invensys). Most recently, Blair co-founded and is a Managing Director of DFJ Mercury, a Texas-based venture capital firm focusing on seed and early-stage investments in the IT, advanced materials and bioscience sectors. DFJ Mercury targets start-ups emanating out of Texas and regional tech clusters in the Mid- and Southwest. The firm has a particular focus on university spin-outs and incubation, often investing prior to a business plan or management team being formed. DFJ Mercury is a partner in the DFJ Global Network of venture capital funds. Prior to co-founding DFJ Mercury, Blair was CEO of Intermat (NYSE: IHS), a leader in product information management software; a Principal with Genesis Park, a Houston-based private equity firm; helped launch and was the Director of Operations for the Houston Technology Center, the largest tech incubator in the Southwest, where he led the formation of the Houston Angel Network, one of the largest angel investment organizations in the U.S.; an investment banker with BMO Nesbitt Burns; and began his career with Deloitte & Touche. Blair received a B.S. in Management from Washington & Lee University. Outside of DFJ Mercury, Blair serves in advisory roles for UTHealth, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s Friends of Integrative Medicine, and the Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University where he teaches a course on venture capital. In 2009, Blair was named to the Houston Business Journal’s “40 under 40,” a recognition of outstanding business and community leaders under the age of 40.

Mark G. Heesen, President, National Venture Capital Association
As President of the National Venture Capital Association, Mark Heesen is responsible for setting the strategic direction for all Association activities, including public policy efforts, research initiatives, educational programs, and member services. In this capacity, Mark works closely with the NVCA professional staff and Board of Directors to demonstrate the positive impact of venture capital investment on the United States economy. Under his direction, the NVCA has created numerous value-added sub-groups including the CFO Task Force, Strategic Communications Group, Corporate Venture Capital Group, Medical Industry Group and Human Capital forum, all of which are dedicated to supporting NVCA membership in uniquely critical areas. As a spokesperson for the venture capital industry, Mark is often called upon by the financial media, NVCA members, limited partners, and regional associations to present the overarching venture capital perspective to a wider audience. He is a frequent presenter at industry conferences, appears regularly on CNBC, and is consistently quoted in the press in stories concerning venture capital trends. Since 1991, Mark has worked on behalf of the NVCA to enact a wide range of policies that benefit the venture capital and entrepreneurial communities, including a significant capital gains differential, securities litigation reform, numerous SEC and FASB accounting issues, immigration reform, and a streamlining of the FDA and CMS approval processes, among other issues. Prior to coming to the NVCA, Mark was an aide to a former Governor of Pennsylvania and was Deputy Director for Federal Funds reporting to the Texas Legislature. Mark received a law degree with an emphasis in taxation from the Dickinson School of Law in 1984.

Laura M. Heisler, PhD, Director of Programming, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
Laura Heisler is the Director of Programming for WARF. Prior to assuming this newly created role, she served as an Intellectual Property Manager for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. She also served as the founding manager of WARF’s Strategic Technology Enhancement Program (STEP) to promote the advancement of key technologies through the technology transfer process. Laura is a patent agent registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Before joining WARF, Dr. Heisler worked as the Intellectual Property Manager, Grants Manager and as a research scientist for Third Wave Technologies, Inc. She also ran a free-lance scientific and grant consulting business specializing in SBIR grant preparation for biotechnology companies. Dr. Heisler did her undergraduate work at Stanford University in Biological Sciences and Classics and earned a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is the author of eight scientific publications and the inventor of a U.S. patent.

Mark Holroyd, Senior Vice President, GE Capital

Koleman Karleski, Managing Director, Chrysalis Ventures LLC
Karleski joined Chrysalis in 1997 and is currently a Managing Director. His focus is on investment opportunities in healthcare. At Chrysalis, Karleski has worked with HealthMedia (sold to Johnson & Johnson), MedServe (sold to Stericycle, Inc.), Aperture Credentialing (sold to a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group), Manorhouse Assisted Living (sold to LifeTrust Assisted Living), Primis (sold to LandAmerica Financial Group), and TechRepublic (sold to Gartner Group, Inc.). He currently serves on the Board of AfterBOT, Cervilenz, Chronicity, Foundation Radiology Group, HealthTeacher, and NextImage Medical. He also spearheads Chrysalis’ fundraising efforts. Prior to Chrysalis, Karleski worked for Providian Corporation’s Capital Management business unit where he focused on strategic planning and business development. A native of Pittsburgh, Karleski earned a BSE from Princeton University where he concentrated on operations research and financial engineering.

Jeffrey LaBine, Principal, Miller Canfield
Jeffrey L. LaBine is a senior principal and a member of the Corporate and Securities and Venture and Technology Practice Groups. His corporate, finance, venture capital and mergers and acquisitions practice includes private and public securities offerings, venture capital financing, mergers and acquisitions, financing, shareholder relations, public company representation, and general corporate representation of start-up and established companies through all phases of their life cycles, from entity formations to exits. He received his law degree, magna cum laude, from Wayne State University, and his B.B.A., with high honors, from Detroit College of Business. Prior to joining Miller Canfield he was in the Child and Family Abuse Bureau of the Wayne County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney and served as a noncommissioned officer in the United States Air Force from 1983-1988. Mr. LaBine is a member of the American Bar Association and the State Bar of Michigan. He has published several articles regarding venture capital finance, mergers and acquisitions, securities laws, and fraudulent transfer issues. He has also been a speaker on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and start-up issues to a wide variety of audiences for organizations such as Ann Arbor SPARK and the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.

Dan Lemaitre, President & CEO, White Pine Medical
White Pine Medical (WPM) was founded in February 2010 and plans to acquire late-stage development medical devices or publically-held companies with products that have already been launched. WPM’s President and CEO is Dan Lemaitre, former CEO of CoreValve which was acquired in 2009 for $700MM in cash. Prior to CoreValve, Mr. Lemaitre was Senior Vice President of Strategy at Medtronic. Essex Woodlands Health Ventures provided the Series A funding for White Pine Medical and has committed up to $50MM to support acquisition activities. WPM expects to tap additional sources of equity capital as investment opportunities dictate.

Greg Main, President and CEO, Michigan Economic Development Corporation
Greg Main is President and CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the State of Michigan’s lead economic development agency, and is responsible for executing Governor Granholm’s economic development strategy. From 2003 through June 2008, Mr. Main served as President and CEO of i2E, Inc. of Oklahoma City, a leading technology commercialization program, with responsibility for directing efforts to assist start-up companies in attracting risk capital and securing private equity funding. From 1998 to 2002, he was a general partner with Chisholm Private Capital Partners, a $66 million venture capital firm in Oklahoma City and beginning in 1994, a partner in Intersouth Partners of Research Triangle, N.C. Appointed as Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce in 1991 after a national search to lead the state’s recovery from the oil bust, Mr. Main served as the state’s chief economic development officer, administering a $90 million budget encompassing 180 employees. He designed and implemented initiatives including the award-winning Oklahoma Quality Jobs program and Quality Jobs Investment Act. In addition, he was instrumental in establishing the Alliance for Manufacturing and the launch of the Oklahoma Capital Investment Board Venture Investing program. Mr. Main, a Michigan native, began his economic development career as executive director and chief planner for the six-county, nonprofit Central Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Regional Commission (CUPPAD) in Escanaba for 13 years beginning in 1970. He joined the Michigan Department of Commerce as director of the Upper Peninsula office in 1983. From 1985 to 1990, his duties as director of the manufacturing development group included responsibility for marketing Michigan as a location for manufacturing investment. In that capacity, he directed State of Michigan offices in Brussels, Tokyo, Toronto and Lagos, Nigeria. He was deputy director of economic development in 1991 when he relocated to Oklahoma. Mr. Main graduated summa cum laude from Michigan State University in 1970 with a degree in urban planning. He has extensive training and post-graduate studies in general management, marketing management, business and real estate finance, sales and quality management. He is past chairman and president of the Oklahoma Venture Forum; Science Museum Oklahoma board member; Oklahoma Academy executive committee member; and Creative Oklahoma board member.

Jeff Mason, Executive Director, Michigan’s University Research Corridor
Jeff Mason is Executive Director of Michigan’s University Research Corridor which is an alliance between Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University to transform, strengthen, and diversify Michigan’s economy. The vision of the University Research Corridor (URC) is to play a key role in creating a vibrant Michigan economy that leverages the intellectual capital of its three public research universities, to work proactively to attract the knowledge economy businesses that can find the research activity that feeds new enterprise, educate the workforce, and plants the seeds for the new industries of tomorrow. Prior to joining the URC as Executive Director in July, 2009, he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Business Development Officer for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. In that role Mason led a team responsible for the retention and expansion of existing Michigan businesses as well as the attraction of national and international companies to Michigan. In 2008, that team assisted businesses in creating or retaining over 105,000 jobs and over $7.6 billion in private investment.

Before becoming Chief Business Development Officer, Mason headed up the Technology Development Group working to grow Michigan’s technology oriented segments of our state’s economy. Technology Development was engaged in the areas of technology transfer and commercialization, venture capital, entrepreneurship, and business development. Their focus was in the sectors of life sciences, homeland security, and advanced automotive technologies that make up Governor Granholm’s 21st Century Jobs Fund, a $1.0 billion, ten-year fund designed to grow and diversify Michigan’s economy. He serves on a number of technology organizations boards including the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center. Jeff received a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Michigan State University.

Guido Neels, Managing Director, Essex Woodlands Health Ventures
Guido Neels served as Chief Operating Officer of Guidant Corporation, a world leader in the development of cardiovascular medical products, from May 2004 until retiring in November 2005. He was responsible for the global operations of Guidant's four operating units: Cardiac Rhythm Management, Vascular Intervention, Cardiac Surgery, and Endovascular Solutions. From December 2002 to May 2004, he was Group Chairman, Office of the President at Guidant, responsible for worldwide sales operations, corporate communications, corporate marketing, investor relations and government relations. From January 2000 to December 2002, he was President of Guidant for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Canada. He previously served as Vice President of Global Marketing for Vascular Intervention and as Managing Director for German and Central European operations. From 1982 to 1994, until Guidant was spun off as an independent public company from Eli Lilly and Co., Mr. Neels held various general management, sales and marketing positions at Lilly in the U.S. and Europe. From 1972 to 1980, he held positions in information technology, finance and manufacturing at Raychem Corporation in Belgium and the U.S. Mr. Neels joined Essex Woodlands in 2006. He holds Board positions at ROX Medical, Inc., Nellix Endovascular, Inc. Entellus Medical and Oraya Therapeutics, Inc. as well as Arsenal Medical and EndGenitor Technologies. He holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a Business Engineering degree from the University of Leuven in Belgium.

John Neis, Managing Director, Venture Investors LLC
John Neis is a Managing Director of Venture Investors LLC, early stage venture capital firm with offices in Madison, Wisconsin and Ann Arbor, Michigan. The firm’s venture capital funds are focused on opportunities emerging from leading research universities in the Midwest. John leads the firm and heads the firm's Health Care practice. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Virent Energy Systems, Inc., Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cellectar, Inc., Inviragen, Inc. and Mithridion, Inc. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of several firms including TomoTherapy, Inc. (NASDAQ:TOMO), Third Wave Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TWTI – acquired by Hologic) and NimbleGen Systems, Inc. (acquired by Roche). He was appointed by the Governor to the Board of the Wisconsin Technology Council, the science and technology advisor to Wisconsin’s Governor and Legislature. He also serves on the Weinert Applied Ventures Program Advisory Board and the Dean’s Advisory Board in the School of Business, Tandem Press Advisory Board in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and is a member of the patent advisory group of the National Venture Capital Association. He was named to the 2008 and 2009 Midas Lists, Forbes annual list of the top 100 tech dealmakers in the world. He holds a B.S. in finance from the University of Utah, and received a M.S. in Marketing and Finance from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Roger Newton, PhD, CEO, Esperion Therapeutics, Inc.; Co-discoverer of Lipitor®
Dr. Newton, the original Co-founder, President and CEO of Esperion, again leads the 'new' Esperion. The Michigan-based life science company is a recent spinout from Pfizer. Dr. Newton has 27 years experience in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. He is the former Senior Vice President of Pfizer Global Research and Development and Director of Esperion Therapeutics, a Pfizer Inc. company that was acquired in 2004 for $1.3 billion USD. In July 1998, he served as the Co-founder, President and CEO of Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR). Prior to co-founding Esperion, Dr. Newton was with Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis (now Pfizer) from 1981-1998. As a distinguished scientist and chairman of the Atherosclerosis Drug Discovery Team, he co-discovered and was product champion of what is now the most prescribed cholesterol reducing drug in the world, atorvastatin (Lipitor®).

Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, MD, Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Michigan; CEO, University of Michigan Health System
On May 11, 2009, Dr. Pescovitz became the first female Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs at the University of Michigan and Chief Executive Officer of the University of Michigan Health System. In this role, Pescovitz is responsible for the leadership and management of the Health System, which includes the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers, the U-M Medical School, clinical services of the U-M School of Nursing, and the Michigan Health Corp., the legal entity that allows the Health System to enter into partnerships, affiliations, joint ventures and other business activities. The Health System is a community of 20,000 employees. As CEO of one of the nation's leading research institutions and a network of hospitals that is one of a few in the country – and the only one in Michigan – to be listed on the U.S. News & World Report’s Honor Roll 15 consecutive years, Pescovitz is responsible for oversight of $2.9 billion in revenue and a Medical School with more than $445 million in research expenditures. She leads a number of major initiatives, including developing the 174-acre North Campus Research Complex (NCRC) into a national research hub and opening the new C.S. Mott Children’s and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital in 2012. Prior to taking the U-M post, Dr. Pescovitz had an extensive career serving as executive associate dean for Research Affairs at Indiana University School of Medicine, president and CEO of Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis and interim vice president for Research Administration at Indiana University.

Dr. Pescovitz is a nationally recognized pediatric endocrinologist and researcher who has published 180 papers and books and received numerous awards for her research and teaching. She has served as president of the Society for Pediatric Research, the nation's largest pediatric research organization, president of the Lawson Wilkins (North American) Pediatric Endocrine Society and chair of the March of Dimes Grants Review Committee. She has also been a member of the Ad-Hoc Group for Medical Research Funding, the board of the Hormone Foundation, the board of the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI), and the board of the Children’s Miracle Network. Her awards and honors include a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health, the distinguished alumnus award from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, being named one of Modern Healthcare's 2009 Top 25 Women in Healthcare and recognition as one of Crain’s 2009 "Women to Watch".

Philip H. Power, President, The Center for Michigan, Ann Arbor
For nearly forty years, Philip H. Power was founder, owner and chairman of the board of HomeTown Communications Network, Inc., a group of 62 community newspapers and 24 telephone directories throughout Michigan and around Cincinnati, Ohio. Initially an entrepreneurial effort, the corporation came to be recognized as among the very best of its sort in the country while at the same time retaining its roots as a family company. Taken together, his newspapers won more state and national awards for excellence than any other group in the country. In March 2005, Mr. Power sold the assets of his company to the Gannett Company. His award-winning column continues to appear regularly in his former newspapers. Mr. Power founded in January 2006 The Center for Michigan, a think-and-do tank aimed at improving the policy and political environment in Michigan. Mr. Power was appointed a Regent of the University of Michigan in 1987; he was elected to office in 1990, winning more than one million votes statewide. He led the effort to rewrite University of Michigan rules governing the technology transfer from University laboratories into the commercial world. As a result, applications for patents, new company start-ups and IPO's by U of M faculty and staff increased markedly. He was defeated for re-election in 1998. He received the Distinguished Alumni Service Award from the University of Michigan Alumni Association in October 2000.

From 1983 to 1990, Mr. Power chaired the Michigan Job Training Coordinating Council and was a primary advisor to Governor Blanchard on human investment and job training. In 2000, Governor Engler appointed him to the Executive Committee of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation; he currently serves as Vice Chair of the MEDC and Chair of the Finance Subcommittee. In 1991, Mr. Power helped found the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, a not-for-profit organization that helps communities, states, employers and others achieve world-class workforce development systems. He served as Chairman from 1991 through 2005 and is now a member of the board. Mr. Power served on the Board of Directors of Jacobson Stores, Inc. and SenSyTech Technologies, Inc. He is Chair of the Michigan chapter of The Nature Conservancy and President of the Power Foundation. He also is a member of the board of the University Musical Society, in Ann Arbor, MI. He was awarded an honorary degree, Doctor of Public Service, by Eastern Michigan University in 2003. Mr. Power graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan in 1960. He was editorial director of the student newspaper, The Michigan Daily, and a member of Americans Committed To World Responsibility, a student organization that proposed volunteer service abroad - the original version of the idea taken up by John F. Kennedy as the Peace Corps. In 1962 he received a Marshall Scholarship to study at Oxford University in England, where he received an MA in philosophy, politics and economics. He is married to Kathleen K. Power. They have two sons, Scott T. Sutton M.D., who practices internal medicine in Denver, and Nathan E. Power.

Erica Rogers, Serial Entrepreneur; President & CEO, Cereve Inc
Erica Rogers is the President and CEO of Cereve, a company founded by Eric Nofzinger, MD from the University of Pittsburg. Cereve is developing a device for the treatment of clinical insomnia. Prior to Cereve, Erica was the founder and CEO of Allux Medical in ENT devices, and is also the co-founder of Visiogen, an ophthalmic company developing a dual optic accommodating lens. Visiogen was recently acquired by Abbott Advanced Optics. She holds over thirteen issued or pending patents in the medical device and nanotechnology. Erica spent over 12 years at Boston Scientific, in sales and marketing positions. She has extensive experience in cardiovascular, peripheral vascular, and neurovascular interventional medicine. After a degree in zoology, she began her career at the Upjohn Company.

Doug Rothwell, President and CEO, Business Leaders for Michigan
Doug Rothwell has worked as an executive in the public, private and non-profit sectors having worked for three state Governor's and two Fortune 500 companies. Currently, Doug is President & CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan. He helped form this organization and develop the Michigan Turnaround Plan, a five-step strategy to make Michigan a top ten state for job & economic growth that has gained broad support throughout the state. Prior to his current position, Doug served as: President of Detroit Renaissance, Executive Director of Worldwide Real Estate for General Motors, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Chief of Staff to the Governor of Delaware, and Executive Vice President at MBNA Corporation (now part of Bank of America). Doug holds a Masters of Public Administration degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Delaware and attended the John F. Kennedy School’s residential program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University. He is one of handful of state executives to be honored with the National Governors’ Association’s outstanding public service award and also received the President's Outstanding Public Service award from the University of Delaware. His community service extends to serving on the Board of the School of Government Foundation of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and chairing the Corporate Relations Council for the University of Michigan's Musical Society.

John Schaaf, Vice President, Market Development, Johnson Controls, Inc.
John Schaaf is Vice President of Market Development for Johnson Controls, Inc., Power Solutions division, a Fortune 100 company and a global leader in advanced automotive batteries, automotive interiors, energy efficiency for buildings, and building automation systems. John’s areas of expertise include the deployment of advanced battery technology for hybrid and electric vehicles. He also has considerable experience with federal policy on energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.

During his 20 years with Johnson Controls, John has been instrumental in developing and implementing our advanced energy storage business and energy programs with the federal government, including Energy Savings Performance Contracting and other public-private partnerships. Prior to that, John was responsible for the energy efficiency business and physical security businesses for the federal government market for the company. Before he joined Johnson Controls, John was on active duty in the US Air Force as a Contracting Officer working in systems acquisition and manufacturing.

John received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University in 1984.

Andrew J. Schwab, Founder and Managing Partner, 5AM Ventures
Andrew J. Schwab is a founder and Managing Partner of 5AM Ventures. Prior to founding 5AM Ventures in 2002, Mr. Schwab was a Principal at Bay City Capital (BCC). After joining BCC in 1999, he led the firm's investment and merchant banking activities for such companies as Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Metabolex, PTC Therapeutics, Symyx and Syrrx. Prior to joining BCC, Mr. Schwab was Vice President of Business Development at Digital Gene Technologies and a Vice President in the life science investment banking group of Montgomery Securities. At 5AM, he has led the firm's investments in and served on the Boards of Directors of Anaphore, Flexion, Ikaria, Ilypsa (acquired by Amgen), Miikana (acquired by EntreMed), Panomics (acquired by Affymetrix), Synosia and Viveve. Mr. Schwab received a B.S. with Honors in Genetics & Ethics from Davidson College and is a member of the Davidson Alumni Association Board. Mr. Schwab is based in the Menlo Park, CA office.

Michael B. Staebler, Partner, Pepper Hamilton LLP
As a commercial practice partner in the national law firm of Pepper Hamilton LLP, Michael B. Staebler specializes in private equity, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. Mr. Staebler is a recognized national expert in the formation, management and operation of venture-capital firms and the financial and operational requirements of growing small and medium-size businesses. He has served as counsel to numerous venture capital, private equity and other investment firms and more than 165 firms across the U.S. that have been licensed by SBA through the Small Business Investment Company program. Mr. Staebler serves on the executive committee and board of directors of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and several private boards of directors and University of Michigan advisory committees. A Harvard College and University of Michigan Law School graduate, he has participated on numerous governmental advisory committees for venture capital and economic development. He is the former president of Michigan Capital & Service, Inc., the first venture capital firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Immanuel Thangaraj, Managing Director, Essex Woodlands Health Ventures
Immanuel Thangaraj is a Managing Director at Essex Woodlands Health Ventures. With twenty-five years of operations and eight funds under management totaling nearly $3 billion, Essex Woodlands is one of the nation’s oldest and largest healthcare venture firms. The firm seeks to build companies throughout the United States and internationally, but focuses exclusively in healthcare industry--pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, health services, managed care and health information technology. Taking primarily the lead role, Essex Woodlands has been involved in the formation and critical financings of over 125 healthcare companies.

Mr. Thangaraj joined Essex Woodlands in 1997. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Acura Pharmaceuticals, Clear Vascular, CBR Systems, Medlogics Corporation, Proteus BioMedical, and Sound ID. He is also responsible for the firm’s activities in China, including investments in MicroPort and China Stem Cell.
Mr. Thangaraj began his venture capital career in the early 1990s as an Associate and CFO at ARCH Venture Partners (AVP), a leading venture capital firm targeting early stage technology and healthcare investments. In his early tenure at AVP, he managed one of its portfolio companies, a medical information company, until its sale to a large hospital supplies company. After four years at ARCH Venture Partners and immediately prior to joining Essex Woodlands, Mr. Thangaraj served as the CEO of a telecommunications services company until its sale to a public company.

Mr. Thangaraj holds a Bachelor of Arts (’92) and Masters in Business Administration (’93) from the University of Chicago. He is a member of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship at Chicago Booth, and a former member of the Chancellor’s Advisory Board for Technology Transfer at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a former board of the Illinois Biotechnology Association. Mr. Thangaraj also serves as Chairman of MAP International, an international NGO focused on public health education and providing essential medicines in South America, Africa and Asia. Mr. Thangaraj is also on the Advisory Board of the Cleveland Clinic’s Global Cardiovascular Innovations Center and is an Advisory Board Member of Omaha Capital, formerly known as China Medical and Technology Ventures. Mr. Thangaraj received the Young Distinguished Achievement Award from The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business in 2003.

John D. Thomas, CEO & Co-founder, ALTe
John brings 29 years of automotive engineering, program and operations experience inclusive of P&L for a Fortune 500 division and running a Toyota business unit. John started at GM and continued on to Ford for a total of 16 years. He then moved over to the major Tier 1 suppliers as in GKN, Collins & Aikman and eventually Magna Steyr. John left Magna for Tesla Motors where he led the Michigan Tech Center, the vehicle development and assembly factory teams for 3 years. He holds Bachelor Degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration from Lawrence Technological University in addition to an MBA from Eastern Michigan University.

Marc Weiser, Managing Director, RPM Ventures
Marc Weiser is a Founder and Managing Director of RPM Ventures, a seed and early stage IT and Physical Sciences venture fund with $75M under management. RPM focuses on investing in spinouts from Midwest Universities and companies supplying services and solutions to the Midwest industrial base. For RPM, he is currently involved with the boards of BountyJobs, OpenLane, Kabongo, RiverGlass, TetraVitae, and Xtime. Prior to forming RPM, Mr. Weiser was an internet and software entrepreneur. He co-founded QuantumShift, a provider of web-based business-to-business technology and services focused on corporate telecommunications needs. He was also an early employee at MessageMedia (sold to DoubleClick) where he pioneered some of the original methods for e-commerce and assisted in the launching of the first Internet merchants. In addition to his board roles for RPM, Mr. Weiser serves on the boards of McKinley (a $2.5B real estate company) and the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan, where he is an adjunct professor. He graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan with a BSE in aerospace engineering and a MBA with highest honors.

Thomas Zurbuchen, PhD, Professor, Space Science & Aerospace Engineering; Associate Dean for Entrepreneurship, College of Engineering, University of Michigan
Professor Thomas Zurbuchen is the Founding Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and now oversees the Center as an Associate Dean of Entrepreneurial Programs. He is a professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, and the Department of Aerospace Engineering, at the University of Michigan College of Engineering. He serves on the boards of three small companies and non-profits, mostly in the state of Michigan. He has been at the University of Michigan for over 14 years. Zurbuchen, who holds a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Bern, Switzerland, was a recipient of a Swiss National Science Foundation award before coming to the University of Michigan, where he has received numerous awards, including the prestigious U.S. Presidential Early Career Award, which represents the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. Zurbuchen, a specialist in the robotic exploration of space, served as team leader for the development of NASA’s Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer, an instrument that flew aboard the Messenger spacecraft during its January 14 flyby of Mercury. Zurbuchen also has a long record of service as a Chair and Member of committees advising NASA, the NSF, and the DOL. He served on several committees of the National Research Council, mostly focused on Space Research. He has also testified to congress on research topics, on educational issues, and on export control.