Cleveland Clinic Innovations - About Us

About Us : Team

	Chris Coburn Executive Director coburnc @ ccf.org 216-445-4008
Commercialization
	Alan Bentley Director, Commercialization bentlea @ ccf.org 216-444-6752	Mary Kander Senior Commercialization Officer kanderm @ ccf.org 216-445-0827
	Peter O’Neill Senior Commercialization Officer oneillp2 @ ccf.org 216-445-0814	Neil Veloso Sr. Commercialization Officer veloson @ ccf.org 216-444-0386
	Michael Villalobos Commercialization Officer villalm @ ccf.org 216-445-0812	Doug Meislahn Commercialization Analyst meislad @ ccf.org 216-444-0906
	Doug Meislahn Commercialization Analyst meislad @ ccf.org 216-444-0906	Melissa Talarico Commercialization Analyst talarim @ ccf.org 216-445-7774
	Hassan Naqvi, PhD Commercialization Analyst naqvih @ ccf.org 216-444-5819
New Ventures and Business Development
	Sam Kiderman Director, New Ventures kiderms @ ccf.org 216-444-6898	Jennifer Boland New Ventures Officer bolandj @ ccf.org 216-445-1014
	Lou Walcer Senior Commercialization Officer walcerl @ ccf.org 216-445-1943	Irina Tsing Operations Analyst tsingi3 @ ccf.org 216-445-0619
	Shannon Schuetz Commercialization Officer schuets @ ccf.org 216-445-1594	Stephen Hrinda New Venture Analyst hrindas @ ccf.org 216-636-5082
Business Operations
	Susan Bernat Director, Operations and Finance bernats @ ccf.org 216-444-5538	Caryn Cua License Analyst cuac @ ccf.org 216-445-0829
	Debra Cunningham Department Coordinator cunnind @ ccf.org 216-444-5757	Kimberley Gilyard Innovation Center Coordinator gilyark @ ccf.org 216-444-1080
	Laura Konczos Program Coordinator Atrial Fibrillation Innovation Center konczol @ ccf.org 216-445-7006	Allison Lowenfeld Marketing Associate lowenfa @ ccf.org 216-445-1524
	Linda Rudolph Administrative Secretary rudolpl @ ccf.org 216-445-1917	Kimberly Woods Administrative Secretary woodsk @ ccf.org 216-445-3728
	Lynn Williams Administrative Secretary willial3 @ ccf.org 216-444-4740
Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center
	Mark Low Managing Director lowm @ ccf.org 216-445-6920
	Susan Bernat Director, Operations & Finance bernats @ ccf.org 216-444-5538	Joseph Barone Project Management Associate baronej2 @ ccf.org 216-445-8392
	Shubhayu Basu Director, Product Development basus2 @ ccf.org 216-445-5930	Kimberley Gilyard Incubator Program Manager gilyark @ ccf.org 216-445-5610
	Eugene Jung Sr. Director, Product Development junge @ ccf.org 216-445-9509	Laura Konczos Program Coordinator konczol @ ccf.org 216-445-7006
	Jennifer Mate Senior Accountant matej @ ccf.org 216-445-2557	Judy McAnally Administrative Secretary mcanalj @ ccf.org 216-445-8922
	Peter O’Neill Project Commercialization Manager oneillp2 @ ccf.org 216-444-0814	Thomas Sudow Director, Business Development sudowt @ ccf.org 216-445-0810
Third Frontier Project Directors
	Neema Mayhugh Executive Director, AMD Center of Excellence mayhugn @ ccf.org 216-445-7176	Charles Steiner Manager, Brain Neuromodulation Center (BNMC) steinec @ ccf.org 216-444-9298
	Elizabeth Sump Executive Director, Clinical Tissue Engineering Center (CTEC) sumpe @ ccf.org 216-445-4145
Affiliated Staff
	Jamie Belkin Medical Innovation Summit Coordinator jamie @ jamiebelkinevents.com 216-932-3448	John Hession Special Counsel jhession @ cooley.com 617-937-2312
	Karen Shanahan Senior Counsel shanahk @ ccf.org 216-448-0185	Rich Wesorick Patent Counsel rwesorick @ tarolli.com 216-621-2234 ext. 110
Executive in Residence
	George Trutza Executive in Residence gtrutza @ cox.net 401-884-3460	Doug Redding dredding @ stanfordalumni.org 617-797-1989

Chris Coburn, Executive Director. Chris Coburn is Cleveland Clinic's chief of technology commercialization, serving as Executive Director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations since it was established in 2000. Under his leadership, Cleveland Clinic has become a national leader in commercial innovation with 30 spin-offs, more than $200 million in follow on equity investment, 200 licenses and $135 million in applied research and commercialization grants . He has recruited a top performing team guided by some of the nation's top venture capitalists. Mr. Coburn serves on the board of directors of Autonomic Technologies, Cleveland Heart, PeriTec, and PrognostiX. He is a member of the Ohio's 3rd Frontier Advisory Board and a trustee of Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, Hathaway Brown School, and the City Club of Cleveland He was selected in 2008 by Neurotech Business Reports as the most valuable financial professional and has consulted, testified and spoken on technology commercialization throughout North America and more than 20 countries. He is a former Vice President and General Manager of Battelle Memorial Institute, director of the U.S. Enrichment Corporation (NYSE:USU) and author of numerous articles and book chapters. He and his wife Nancy and their three children live in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Commercialization

Alan Bentley, Director, Commercialization. Alan is part of a team licensing professionals dedicated to the commercialization of medical device technologies resulting from CCF research. His specific focus is in cardiovascular devices and products. Prior to joining the Cleveland Clinic, Alan was the Associate Director of the UVA Patent Foundation, where he played a principal role in overseeing the daily operations of their licensing operation. Alan has been a registered Patent Agent since 1999. Alan received his masters degree in physics from the University of Virginia, and received separate bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and in physics from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Mary Kander, Senior Commercialization Officer. Prior to joining CCI, she held general management and senior marketing positions at Invacare Corporation. She was involved in valuing, negotiating and integrating acquisitions and new technologies. Prior to Invacare, Mary progressed through a variety of assignments with Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, concluding as a group manager in the Food Technologies Division. Mary's MBA is from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her primary focus is licensing.

Doug Meislahn, Commercialization Analyst, is a registered patent agent whose primary role at CCI is to serve as the initial point of contact for researchers and physicians who are considering the commercial prospects of their inventions. In this role, he advises inventors on their options, tracks incoming disclosures, and assembles background information for case managers. Prior to joining CCI, Doug received his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. He worked for five years as a patent examiner and has a B.S. in Physics from Davidson College.

Hassan Naqvi, Ph.D., Commercialization Analyst. Hassan's primary focus is license compliance and enforcement issues. He also assists the commercialization officers with the technical and scientific evaluations and marketing of new disclosures. Hassan earned his PhD degree in Cell and Molecular biology from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007 with a focus on Immunology. As a Post Doctoral Fellow, he helped to develop several new technologies currently being evaluated for patenting and licensing in fields as varied as renewable energy and fluorescent ion indicators.

Peter O’Neill, Senior Commercialization Officer. Prior to joining CCI, Mr. O’Neill was Deputy Director of Battelle’s Great Lakes Industrial Technology Center, where he facilitated licenses and other technology transfer partnerships with the NASA Glenn Research Center. Previously, he worked as a process engineer for a number of investment casting companies, supplying turbine blades to gas turbine engine manufacturers. Peter received a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from MIT. At CCI he is focusing on commercializing MEMS, orthopedic, and other medical device technologies.

Melissa Talarico, Commercialization Analyst. Melissa's primary role at CCI is to manage the patent portfolio for inventions of researchers and physicians at the Clinic. In this role, she tracks and manages all patent related information, and assembles marketing information for case managers. Prior to joining the CCI team, Melissa worked with high growth businesses in the Chicagoland area to assist them in raising financing, and for seven years in product design and development. Melissa received her MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management with concentrations in Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and Finance, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

Neil Veloso, Senior Commercialization Officer. Prior to joining CCI, Mr. Veloso was with the technology transfer office at Case Western Reserve University. He has transactional experience with a wide range of companies including pharmaceutical firms, medical device and biotechnology companies, as well as early stage entities. Mr. Veloso previously held research and development positions at two start-up biotechnology companies. He has a B.A. in biology from The Johns Hopkins University, an M.S. in environmental health (cancer biology) from Case, and an M.B.A. from the Weatherhead School of Management.

Michael Villalobos, Ph.D., Commercialization Officer. At Innovations, Mike’s primary focus is the commercialization of medical technologies from the Urological, Gynecological, and Gastrointestinal disciplines. Prior to joining the Cleveland Clinic, Michael was a Technology Manager at Purdue Research Foundation, where he managed the evaluation and licensing of Life Science technologies to startup, small, and large companies. Additionally, he aided in founding multiple successful startup companies. Prior to his career in licensing, Dr. Villalobos was a Senior Process Scientist at Abbott Laboratories where he oversaw the manufacturing of multiple human diagnostic assays. Michael brings an extensive background in the Life Sciences to his position, which includes a bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from the University of Illinois – Urbana and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Loyola University Chicago. His work is published in multiple peer-reviewed journals.

New Ventures and Business Development

Sam Kiderman, Ph.D., Director, New Ventures. Sam's main focus is development, finance and growth of new spin-offs. Prior to joining CCI, he was responsible for Clinic Care, an arm of the Cleveland Clinic, which provides multifunctional support for the Clinic and subsidiaries. Sam has extensive experience in business development and has been involved in the organization and start-up of a number of companies. He serves on the board of directors for Tolera Therapeutics, Clear Catheter Solutions, Navis Medical, Cleveland Heart, and the New Generation Technology and Foundation for Humanitarian Aid. Prior to the Cleveland Clinic, Sam started and led a highly successful business enterprise and held executive financial positions with several organizations. He holds a BS in Accounting, MBA and PhD in Economics from Moscow State University.

Jennifer Boland, New Ventures Officer. Jennifer's primary responsibilities include the development and growth of new ventures. Prior to joining CCI, Jennifer was responsible for the financial planning and analysis of several business operations within LeapFrog, a nationally recognized venture-backed technology company located in the Bay Area. Her experience also includes roles with a start-up venture within Hewlett-Packard and with an All-American ranked equity research team at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. Jennifer received her MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.

Stephen Hrinda, New Ventures Analyst. Stephen focuses on the intake and evaluation of early stage technologies and business collaboration opportunities. Prior to joining CCI, he participated in academic research in the fields of ecophysiology and exercise physiology. Stephen received a B.S. in Biology from CWRU and he is completing an MBA and MPH from CWRU's Weatherhead School of Management and School of Medicine, respectively.

Shannon Schuetz, Commercialization Officer. Shannon's area of responsibility is the development and growth of new ventures. Prior to joining CCI, Shannon enjoyed a three-year stint as an entrepreneur in addition to working for Merck & Co., and as a Research Associate in the Cleveland Clinic department of Anesthesiology Research. Shannon has a BS in Biology from John Carroll University.

Irina Tsing, Operations Analyst. . Irina's primary role is portfolio administration, compliance and analysis. Prior to joining CCI, Irina was responsible for feasibility studies, financial analysis, industry analysis, and market research for potential business opportunities at Clinic Care. During her career she was involved in major projects sponsored by the U.S. Government and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Irina holds a degree in psychology from FSU and an MBA from Cleveland State University.

Lou Walcer, Senior Commercialization Officer. Lou focuses on development of new ventures and corporate business development. He came to CCI after serving as President of the startup drug delivery device company Medimop USA. Lou previously served in a series of increasingly responsible marketing, new product and business development positions with Schering-Plough, then Wyeth. He left Wyeth to serve as Gliatech's VP, Business Development and Marketing, then served as Senior VP Business Development and Marketing for startup Copernicus Gene Systems. He then founded and led the biomedical consulting and implementation services company Mediconcepts, executing projects for a variety of academic institutions, startups and multinational drug and medical device companies until joining Medimop. Lou has a BA in biology from Cornell University, and an MBA from New York University.

Business Operations

Susan Bernat, Director, Operations and Finance. She is responsible for all fiduciary management including fiscal planning and other related financial activities. Susan also assists with establishing and implementing strategic goals and oversees long-range facilities planning. She also serves as the Director of Finance for the GCIC with responsibilities including development and implementation of strategy for ensuring financing of the GCIC consortium operations and management of financial performance and budgets. Prior to joining CCI, she was responsible for budget and contract negotiations within cardiology research at Cleveland Clinic. She received her undergraduate degree in Accounting from Kent State University, and an MBA from Cleveland State University.

Caryn Cua, License Analyst. She manages all aspects of license compliance, which includes actively monitoring and maintaining all licenses. She is also responsible for managing royalty audits, payments and reporting related to more than 90 active licenses. Prior to joining CCI in December 2000, she received her B.A. from John Carroll University.

Debra Cunningham, Department Coordinator. Debra manages the Product Development Fund program, facilitates contract review for all consulting agreements and assists with the preparation and development of the department operating budget. She also coordinates special events hosted by the Innovations department, manages the orientation process for new employees and oversees the department internship program. Debra is also responsible for website development and maintenance.

Kimberley Gilyard, Coordinator, Cleveland Clinic Innovation Center. Her primary focus is the property management of the Cleveland Clinic's Innovation Center, which is a 15,000 square foot facility that houses the Clinic's incubator/accelerator program. She is responsible for managing the daily business operations of the Innovation Center, which currently is the home to six early-stage biotech companies. She implements incubator procedures, including establishing, evaluating, and regulating all tenant polices. In addition, she assists with purchasing, relocations, and other administrative tasks.

Laura Konczos, Program Coordinator, Atrial Fibrillation Innovation Center. Laura is responsible for managing the day to day operations for the Atrial Fibrillation Innovation Center and facilitating communication flow between the Cleveland Clinic and partnering AFIC institutions and collaborators. Prior to joining the AFIC team Laura worked in several other research areas at the Cleveland Clinic including Cleveland Clinic Coordinating Center, Cardiovascular and Vascular Medicine.

Allison Lowenfeld, Marketing Associate. Allison's primary focus is marketing the Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Summit. Prior to joining the Innovations team, Allison served as the Creative Director for Expo International, a nationwide event production company in New York City. Allison received her undergraduate degree in Advertising from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Linda Rudolph, Administrative Secretary. Linda manages the scheduling and meeting planning process and provides administrative support to the executive director. She works with the management team on meetings and projects as needed, and assists in the recruitment process for department personnel. Linda’s background is in executive support, having worked at Case Western Reserve University as executive assistant to several vice presidents, managing the medical school dean’s office and planning University level board and committee meetings.

Lynn K. Williams, Administrative Secretary. Lynn coordinates projects, meetings and provides administrative support to the Director, New Ventures and the Director, Commercialization. Before joining the Cleveland Clinic, Lynn was the Executive Assistant to the Director of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Previous to that she spent 12 years at British Petroleum where she provided executive level support to Presidents and CEOs. Lynn holds a B.A. in Communications from Baldwin-Wallace College.

Kimberly Woods, Administrative Secretary. Kimberly provides administrative support to the Cleveland Clinic Innovation's staff. She works with the management team on the planning and organization of various meetings and projects as needed. She is responsible for the maintenance of various budget tracking systems. Kimberly has worked at the Cleveland Clinic for 18 years in various positions in Pain Management, Pathology and Endocrinology.

Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center

Mark Low, Managing Director. Mr. Low comes to GCIC with a career of building successful programs to introduce new concepts and new modalities to new markets. He has managed all facets of product and market development spanning diagnostic and interventional cardiology, interventional radiology and neuroradiology, stroke treatment, image-guided surgery, drug delivery and oncology. He has served on the senior management team of TomTec Imaging Systems, Image Guided Technologies, EKOS Corporation, and Sonus Pharmaceuticals. Prior to concentrating his focus on start-up ventures and early stage market development, Mr. Low held progressively more responsible and trailblazing positions in marketing and business development for Hewlett-Packard's Medical Products Group. Specializing in cardiovascular ultrasound, Mr. Low managed high performance cardiac diagnostic systems, introduced products to new market segments including private office and interventional cardiology, and developed new applications including 3D and stress echocardiography, and catheter-based intravascular ultrasound. In conjunction with these programs Mr. Low managed strategic relationships with various corporate partners, investors, universities, inventors, clinical investigators and manufacturers. Mr. Low received a B.A. degree in Natural Science from Johns Hopkins University, an M.S. degree in Physiology from the Medical College of Wisconsin, and an M.S. degree in Technical Communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Joseph Barone, Project Management Associate, Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center. Joe assists with the management of GCIC projects. In this role, he evaluates funding opportunities and tracks project commercialization milestones. Additionally, Joe assists in GCIC marketing efforts. Joe earned a bachelors degree in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University.

Shubhayu Basu, Director, Product Development. Shubhayu comes to GCIC from the New Business Ventures Team at Abbott Vascular where he was instrumental in creating and implementing processes for assessing and selecting technology and business growth opportunities. Prior to that, he led a cross functional team to develop devices for biologics delivery, cell therapy, tissue engineering and biomaterials technologies at Abbott Vascular and Guidant. Shubhayu has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University and transitioned to the medical device industry after being an Innovation Fellow at the prestigious Stanford University Biodesign Program.

Eugene Jung, Sr. Director, Product Development. Gene Jung has over 17 years experience in research, development, and commercialization of a wide variety of cardiac catheters including balloons, catheter delivery platforms, stents, and energy/drug delivery technologies. Most recently he was VP of Engineering at ProRhythm, Inc. in New York. His prior experience was with Jomed, EndoSonics, Navius, Heart Rhythm Technologies, Medtronic Interventional Vascular and as an independent medical device consultant in Japan. He has over 20 patents and pending patents in cardiac catheters and related technologies.

Kimberley Gilyard, Incubator Program Manager. She is responsible for the overall management of the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center, which will be a 50,000 square foot facility that will house the GCIC’s incubator/accelerator program. The facility will open in May 2010. Responsibilities include operational and financial activities; marketing and communications; and facilities management and services.

Jennifer Mate, Jennifer assists with the management of various financial responsibilities for the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center. Some of these activities include preparation and review of financial reports, budget analysis, and monitoring expenses. Jennifer has received a B.A. in economics and international business management from Marietta College along with a M.A. in economics from Bowling Green State University.

Judy McAnally, Administrative Secretary. Judy provides administrative support to the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center team. Judy's background is in the medical field. Prior to joining the GCIC team she worked at Boston Scientific supporting management and sales staff.

Thomas Sudow, Director, Company Attraction. Tom Sudow is Vice President, Attraction for Team NEO and in this role he works with GCIC as Director of Company Attraction. Prior to joining Team NEO and the GCIC, he served as Executive Director of the Beachwood, Ohio Chamber of Commerce. In his role, he coordinated economic development efforts for the City of Beachwood.

Third Frontier Project Directors

Neema Mayhugh, Ph.D., Executive Director, AMD Center of Excellence. Dr. Mayhugh’s current focus is on technology commercialization in the ophthalmic therapeutic area. She joins CCI from Pfizer, Inc., where she was responsible for worldwide market analytics in age-related macular degeneration. Her previous experience also includes strategic consulting in the biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries and research in neurodegenerative disease at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Mayhugh received her doctorate in Pharmacology and Toxicology at Dartmouth College and her undergraduate degree in Human Physiology at Boston University.

Charles Steiner, Manager, Brain Neuromodulation Center (BNMC), started with Cleveland Clinic in the late 1980's developing surgical navigation systems for the fields of neurological and spine surgery. He holds several patents for frameless stereotactic surgery and medical data communication. As director of product development for the Minimally Invasive Surgery Center he developed a multidisciplinary surgical teaching facility replete with surgical simulators, tele-robotic systems and medical informatics resources. As manager for the BNMC he directs a multispeciality team of neurosurgeons, neurologists, neuroscientists, biomedical engineers and commercial partners to develop next generation neuromodulation technologies. Charles earned degrees in Chemistry and Computer Science from Case Western Reserve University.

Elizabeth Sump, Executive Director, Clinical Tissue Engineering Center (CTEC). Prior to joining CCF, Ms. Sump held several senior positions at NetGenics, Inc., including VP of Marketing and Business Development and VP of Component Development, where she successfully completed several corporate collaborations and facilitated venture fundraising. After NetGenics was acquired by LION Bioscience Inc., she was appointed Senior Director, Corporate Development. Elizabeth began her CCF career as a Licensing Manager for CCF Innovations. As Executive Director for CTEC, she directs the activities of a multidisciplinary team of researchers and clinicians at the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals Cleveland, NASA, and the Ohio Supercomputer Center to develop new technologies in regenerative medicine. She received her B.S. in Zoology from The Ohio State University.

Affiliated Staff

Jamie Belkin, Medical Innovation Summit Coordinator

John Hession is a partner in the Venture Capital Financings and Emerging Companies practice groups of Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, and is also Partner-in-Charge of Cooley's Boston office. John represents emerging-growth technologies companies, principally in the medical device, software, life sciences, telecommunications and electronic commerce fields, as well as angels and venture capital funds in the investment process in these sectors. His practice includes both start-up and public company work; equity-based compensation strategies; public offerings, representing either underwriters or companies; mergers and acquisitions, representing either buyers or sellers; corporate partnering, joint ventures and other strategic alliances involving technology transfers; license and distribution arrangements for software, hardware, medical devices and biotechnology; and venture capital financings of technology companies, representing either funds or companies. He has participated in, structured and negotiated more than 250 venture and angel financings, 30+ public offerings, more than 175 strategic alliances involving technology transfers and joint ventures, and more than 180 acquisitions ranging in size from $1.0 million to $4.2 billion. John has won several awards during his twenty-five-year career in the legal profession. He was voted by Digital Industry in May 2001, as "one of Boston's best VC lawyers," and by Boston Magazine in October 2002, as "one of Boston's best start-up company lawyers," and nominated in the November 2004-2008 issues of Boston Magazine as a "Super Lawyer" for venture capital and emerging company work, and also voted "one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Massachusetts" during the same five-year period. John was also named as one of The Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers for 2007.

Karen Shanahan serves as Senior Counsel in the Office of General Counsel at Cleveland Clinic where she is involved in a wide variety of corporate, securities, and transactional work. Immediately prior to joining the Clinic, Mrs. Shanahan served as Executive Vice President for a downstream petroleum industry start up company. Previous to that she was associated for many years with the downstream operations of the British Petroleum Company (now BP Amoco) where she served as Senior Counsel and Corporate Secretary as well as Vice President Logistics; President of BP Pipelines; and Vice President Human Resources. She serves as a trustee of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges. Mrs. Shanahan received a B.A. degree in Asian studies from Manhattanville College and a Masters Degree in international relations from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She holds a law degree, where she was an editor of the Law Review from Georgetown University.

Richard S. Wesorick, Intellectual Property Counsel. Mr. Wesorick helps to set patent strategy, guides inventors and participates in the screening of all invention disclosures. Mr. Wesorick is a partner with a Cleveland intellectual property firm, Tarolli, Sundheim, Covell & Tummino LLP. Mr. Wesorick is a registered patent attorney, is admitted to the Ohio Bar, and is an active member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the Cleveland Intellectual Property Law Association. He received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University and his Juris Doctor from University of Dayton School of Law. Before entering law school, Mr. Wesorick worked for four years as an engineer with G.E. Aircraft Engines, during which time he became an inventor of a U.S. Patent (No. 5,178,003).

Executive in Residence

George Trutza served as President of the Kendall Medical & Surgical Division and President of Tyco Healthcare Group Canada with annual sales of $600M and $150M respectively. He spent 11 years at US Surgical in a number of senior sales and marketing management roles. As Vice President of Marketing, George took over the Suture business driving it to over $200M in sales and successfully laid the foundation for the integration of the acquisition of Davis&Geck suture products. He left Tyco to join Surgicon Inc. a Connecticut based turnaround minimally invasive medical device company. From there he joined Accellent, Inc a medical device contract manufacturing company as EVP & GM of the companies Endo Division, and recently has been evaluating medical device opportunities and serving as an Executive in Residence at the Cleveland Clinic Innovation Center.

Doug Redding. Doug has more than 30 years experience in finance and operations, most recently as Chief Operating Officer of VIMAC Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm with investments in information technology and life sciences. In addition to managing firm operations, Doug spent a substantial portion of his time supporting portfolio company management on planning, budgeting, infrastructure and financing.

Prior to VIMAC, Doug spent 20 years as a founder and senior level executive at several early-stage technology firms, including Software Developers' Company, Cortex Corporation, CenterLine Software and edu.com. He started his career with seven years at Price Waterhouse and is a Certified Public Accountant. Doug holds a BA from Stanford University and attended Cornell and UCLA Graduate Schools of Business.