Advisory Board
President & CEO
- Don Gerhardt
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- President & CEO
LifeScience Alley®
- Prior to joining LifeScience Alley, Don was involved in the health care industry serving in top-level positions including: CEO of MedCenters Health Plan, administrator of Michigan State University medical facilities, Kaiser Permanente, a consultant for health care start-up companies and business coalitions, an officer for a high tech health care data company, and with several international health care businesses. He currently sits on the board for two medical technology companies. He is a frequent speaker and contributing writer to health care related articles and books. His education includes Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, a Masters degree in Health Administration from the University of Colorado, and postgraduate study in finance and statistics from Ohio State University. He is a faculty member at the University of St. Thomas, and sits on the Advisory Boards of the University of Minnesota's Biomedical Engineering Institute, the College of Pharmacy, the Institute of Technology, and the School of Nursing. Don also serves on the board of directors of Biomedical Commercialization Canada, Inc., the Bakken Museum, and the Greater Minneapolis Convention and Visitors Association.
Advisory Board Members
- Josh Baltzell
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- Managing Director
Split Rock Partners
- Josh Baltzell is a Managing Director at Split Rock Partners and has been with the firm since its inception in June 2004. Split Rock Partners is a venture firm focused on investments in health care, software and internet enabled services. From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Baltzell was with St. Paul Venture Capital. Prior to joining St. Paul Venture Capital, Mr. Baltzell was an investment banker at Piper Jaffray, where he focused primarily on mergers and acquisitions in the medical device sector. Mr. Baltzell also held various marketing and business development positions with SCIMED/Boston Scientific. Mr. Baltzell holds a B.A. in Economics from St. Olaf College and an M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.
- Chad Cornell
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- Vice President, Corporate Development
Medtronic, Inc.
- Chad Cornell is Vice President of Corporate Development for Medtronic, Inc.
Chad has responsibility for supporting Medtronic's CardioVascular
business unit (vascular therapies and cardiac surgery therapies),
as well as other strategic initiatives within Medtronic. Chad works
in partnership with executive and business unit management in evaluating
and executing mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, joint ventures,
minority investments, technology licenses, divestitures and other strategic
transactions. Chad also assists in Medtronic's strategic planning process.
Prior to joining Corporate Development, Chad was Legal Counsel - M&A,
responsible for advising Corporate Development on strategic transactions
across Medtronic. Chad began his career with Medtronic in 2003. Prior to
joining Medtronic, Chad spent approximately five years as an associate
attorney at Sidley & Austin in Chicago, Illinois working on mergers and
acquisitions and securities offerings.
Chad received his undergraduate degree in Accounting from Marquette University
and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. Chad has also
successfully completed Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Financial
Analyst examinations.
- John Deedrick
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- Co-Founder
Accuitive Medical Ventures
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John is a co-founder of AMV and has over 10 years venture investing experience. Prior to joining AMV, John was a Venture Manager for Mayo Medical Ventures. During his time at Mayo, John co-founded four companies; Santarus (NASDAQ – STRS), Copharos, Teramedica and Torax Medical. In addition, he managed investments in several emerging medical companies including Exact Sciences (NASDAQ - EXAS), Circe Biomedical (acquired), Ascension Orthopedics, Neotonus, CardiacAssist, Image-Guided Neurologics (acquired), TomoTherapy (NASDAQ – TTPY) and Volcano Therapeutics (NASDAQ – VOLC). Prior to joining Mayo, John spent 12 years in numerous operating roles within Honeywell and Alliant Techsystems. John holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Northwestern College and an M.B.A. from St. Thomas University. John currently serves on the boards of SoftScope, MyoScience, Torax Medical and Nevro.
- Mark E. DuVal
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- President
DuVal & Associates, P.A.
- Mark E. DuVal, JD is President of DuVal & Associates, where he counsels both
mature and venture-backed pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotech companies
in the United States and Europe in addition to working extensively with combination
products. DuVal regularly advises clients in all areas of FDA law and regulation,
from product development, clinical trials, inspections and recalls to reimbursement
and compliance issues and post-marketing responsibilities. He specializes in counseling
medical device and pharmaceutical companies in the development and implementation
of strategic and tactical sales and marketing plans that are appropriately aggressive,
yet compliant.
- Jan Garfinkle
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- Founder and Managing Director
Arboretum Ventures
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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. 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 and was Founder and President of Strategic Marketing Consultants. Earlier in her career, Jan was part of the senior management team for two successful medical device start-up companies, Advanced Cardiovascular Systems (ACS) and Devices for Vascular Intervention (DVI), both of which were acquired and became part of Guidant Corporation. 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.
- Sami Hamadé
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- Partner
Aberdare Ventures
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Sami Hamadé joined Aberdare as a Partner in 2006. Prior to Aberdare, Sami was Vice President at the Guidant Corporation and head of the Compass Group, where he was responsible for Guidant's venture capital and M&A activities. Additionally, Sami led the West Coast Business Development unit which was composed of business development groups from Vascular Intervention, Cardiac Surgery and Endovascular Solutions divisions. Previous to this, Sami played founding roles in the launch and development of significant businesses for Guidant including coronary stents, carotid and peripheral systems. Sami began his career in medical devices at Advanced Cardiovascular Systems. Sami holds a Bachelors degree in Engineering from the American University of Beirut, a Masters Degree in Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
- William (Bill) Harrington
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- Partner
Three Arch Partners
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Bill has been with Three Arch Partners since 1999 and has been active in medical device health care service and biotechnology investing. He currently sit on the boards of Cameron Health, NeuroVista, Satiety, Baxano, Benvenue, Centerre, APT Pharmaceuticals, and others. Following medical school, Bill did his postgraduate training in internal medicine and diagnostic and interventional radiology at University of California, San Francisco. Before joining Three Arch, he practiced as an interventional radiologist for nine years, and maintained a clinical faculty appointment at University of California, San Francisco.
He has broad experience with a wide variety of medical devices, minimally invasive surgical procedures, and related clinical trials. He was a founder of Bay Medical Management. Bill received his BS in Biology and Chemistry from Tufts University where he graduated summa cum laude. He obtained his MD from Harvard Medical School. He completed his MBA at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Bill is a CFA charter holder.
- Thomas A. Letscher
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- Partner and Co-Chair Medical Technology Group
Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly LLP
- Tom Letscher practices in the areas of securities and corporate law and is
a member of Oppenheimer's policy committee. His practice emphasizes advising
medical technology and other emerging businesses with respect to: equity and
debt financing (including private placements, venture capital financing,
public offerings); mergers and acquisitions; corporate matters (including
corporate governance, general corporate activities, duties and liabilities
of officers and directors and advising boards of directors); strategic
investments (including equity investments, options to acquire, distribution
arrangements and licensing arrangements); acquisition and protection of
intellectual property (including technology transfers, development agreements,
licensing agreements and protection of trade secrets); securities matters
(including preparation of Form 10-Ks, proxy statements and annual reports,
compliance with SEC, NYSE and NASDAQ rules and disclosure issues.
Tom received his J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law – University of California,
Berkeley. He also holds a B.S. in engineering from the University of Wisconsin.
- Sam Nickerson
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- Vice President
Investor Growth Capital
- Sam joined Investor Growth Capital in 2008 as a Vice President with the Healthcare team focusing on biotechnology, specialty pharmaceuticals, and medical devices. Prior to joining Investor Growth Capital, Sam spent five years with Tullis-Dickerson, a healthcare-focused venture capital firm, where he was responsible for sourcing and executing investments in medical technology, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and healthcare services companies. Before joining Tullis-Dickerson, Sam held positions in finance and marketing at Bioject Medical Technologies. He began his career at Sentinel Investments where he focused on investments in publicly traded healthcare companies. Sam earned an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Reed College. He currently serves as a board member of Mpex Pharmaceuticals.
- Zubeen Shroff
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- Managing Director
Galen Associates
- Mr. Shroff is a Managing Director of Galen Partners, a leading healthcare growth equity investment firm founded in 1990. With over twenty years of experience in building lifescience companies, Mr. Shroff has acquired deep expertise and demonstrated strong leadership in working with entrepreneurs to maximize shareholder value in the areas of: medical imaging, therapeutic device, diagnostics, capital equipment and specialty supplies distribution. Successful Galen medical device portfolio companies include: MiniMed, Ocular Sciences, Pyxis, Encore Medical, Aperio, InTouch, Tactile Systems, and National Rehab Equipment. Mr. Shroff serves on the Board of Directors for several public and private Galen portfolio companies. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Westchester Medical Center, as well as Chairman of its Foundation. He is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Committee for the Boston University Medical School. Mr. Shroff earned an M.B.A. from the Wharton School and a B.A. in biological science from Boston University.
- Kevin Wasserstein
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- Managing Director
Versant Ventures
- Kevin Wasserstein specializes in investing and building medical device companies at Versant. His work with entrepreneurs spans the earliest seed or concept stage of development through the entire life cycle of the company. Kevin has more than eighteen years of venture capital and operating experience in medical device and high technology companies, and currently serves, or has served, in board or advisory roles with companies which include: Acclarent (acquired: Johnson & Johnson), Autonomic Technologies, Cardiac Concepts, LipoSonix (acquired: Medicis), Lutonix, Microfabrica, NeoGuide Systems (acquired: Intuitive Surgical), Rox Medical, Second Sight Medical, St. Francis Medical (acquired: Kyphon) and The Innovation Factory. In addition, he serves as a member of AdvaMed’s National Venture Capital Advisory Board, and MDMA’s Venture Capital Advisory Group. Before joining Versant in 2002, Kevin held a variety of marketing and business development roles at Guidant Corporation. Most recently he served as head of marketing in Guidant's Cardiac Surgery Group, where he led the group’s product/market development and launch initiatives. In Guidant's Peripheral and Carotid Group, Kevin developed and launched several first-generation stent and embolic protection devices while leading the carotid stent program’s marketing activities. Previously, in Guidant's Compass Business Development Group, Kevin’s responsibilities included acquisition, licensing and investment with both private and public medical device companies, and corporate strategy. His operational experience also includes business development at Heartstream, and engineering design and engineering management at Hughes Aircraft Company. Kevin holds both Bachelor’s and Master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in product design, as well as an MBA, all from Stanford University.
- Ralph Weinberger
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- Partner, Technology Industry Group
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
- With over 25 years of service to life sciences and technology companies in the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota, Ralph has worked with clients ranging in size from large global companies to high-growth small and mid-cap companies focused on developing into a global force. In addition to coordinating delivery of high quality accounting and auditing services to his clients, Ralph has worked alongside his clients in addressing their needs for international expansion, mergers and acquisitions and accessing the public and private debt and equity markets. Ralph is also the Treasurer of the Minnesota High Tech Association.
- Barbara A. Wrigley
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- Partner and Co-Chair Medical Technology Group
Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly LLP
- Barbara practices in the area of intellectual property with an emphasis on medical technology. She provides clients with a full range of patent counseling including opinions and advice concerning patentability, infringement and validity issues; patent prosecution including ex-parte appeals, reissues, reexaminations, and foreign oppositions and appeals; risk analysis including assessment of the relative strengths of patent positions; and litigation strategy. She has broad experience in transactional intellectual property including intellectual property in complex corporate transactions, freedom-to-operate analyses, patent and technology licensing agreements, co-development alliances, and joint-ventures.
Barbara earned her J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law and received a B.S. from Villanova University. She also holds an M.B.A. from the College of St. Thomas and is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
