Speakers

MGCS 2012 Guest Speakers

Keynote Speakers:

Noubar Afeyan, Managing Partner and CEO, Flagship Ventures
Noubar Afeyan is founder, Managing Partner and CEO of Flagship Ventures, a leading early stage venture capital firm. He also leads the firm's VentureLabs unit that invents and launches transformative startups. He is a Senior Lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management where he has taught courses on technology entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership since 2000. Dr. Afeyan has authored numerous scientific publications and patents since earning his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from MIT in 1987. He lectures widely in the United States and internationally on diverse topics ranging from entrepreneurship, innovation and venture capital to biological engineering, drug discovery, medical technologies and renewable energy.

Jason Mendelson, Managing Director and Co-founder, Foundry Group
Jason Mendelson has over a decade of experience in the venture capital and technology industries in a multitude of investing, operational and engineering roles. Mr. Mendelson currently sits on the boards of Brightleaf, Oblong, Organic Motion, Next Big Sound, Pie Digital and Sifteo on behalf of Foundry Group. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, a venture capital firm focused on making investments in early-stage information technology, Internet and software startups, Mr. Mendelson was a Managing Director and General Counsel for Mobius Venture Capital, where he also acted as its chief administrative partner overseeing all operations of the firm. Prior to his involvement with Mobius Venture Capital, Mr. Mendelson was an attorney with Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, where he practiced corporate and securities law with an emphasis on representation of emerging companies in private and public financings, mergers and acquisitions. Before his legal career, Mr. Mendelson was a senior consultant and software engineer at Accenture where he focused on financial institution re-engineering engagements. As one of the first full-time, in-house general counsels at a venture capital firm, Mr. Mendelson has been on the forefront of thought leadership and has co-chaired the National Venture Capital Association's General Counsel group and is an active participant on the NVCA's Chief Financial Officer group.

Panelists:

Jim Adox, Managing Director, Venture Investors
Jim joined Venture Investors in 2007 as a Managing Director and heads up the Ann Arbor, Michigan office. He focuses on investment prospects in medical devices, hardware, software and communications. Jim’s prior venture capital experience includes a combined nine years as a partner at RidgeLine Ventures and EDF Ventures, where he led the spin-out, sourcing, financing, syndication and exit of numerous investments. Jim served on the Boards of Directors of Avail Networks and HandyLab, and as an observer for Alfalight, Ardesta, TherOx and Xtera Communications. Jim currently serves on the Boards of Directors of HistoSonics, Incept BioSystems, the Michigan Venture Capital Association, and is Chairman of Tissue Regeneration Systems. Jim led the firm’s highly successful investment in LenSx Lasers, which was acquired by Alcon in 2010. He is on the Board of Advisors to the Frankel Commercialization Fund, The Medical Innovations Center, Tech Arb, and Huron River Ventures. Jim earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA with High Distinction, all from the University of Michigan. He is a competitive triathlete and an IronMan finisher.

Steven Almany, MD, FACC, Director of Medical Innovation, William Beaumont Hospital
Dr. Almany is the Director of Medical Innovation at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. He is an interventional cardiologist and a partner of the Michigan Heart Group and Associate Professor at Oakland University Beaumont School of Medicine. Dr. Almany has been the Principle Investigator for many clinical trials and sits on the Scientific Advisory Board of many medical companies and has served as a Scientific Advisor to Pequot Capital. Dr. Almany holds two US patents and has authored over 75 articles as well as chapters in frequently cited medical journals and books.

Christopher Barber, Co-Founder, Lynx Network Group
Chris Barber is one of three principal owners that founded Lynx Network Group in 2003. Chris leads and guides the strategic vision and development for the overall technology strategy of LYNX Network Group. In 1995, Chris began his management experience in the telecommunications industry as a commercial account manager for ATT Corporation. Following his four years with AT&T, he worked for an Ameritech/SBC five-star distributor in Michigan serving enterprise, government, education and medical customers. During this period, Chris consecutively earned top honors in the elite president’s club every year. He earned a bachelor degree in Business Administration from Central Michigan University where he was an active leader and member of the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. Chris is the founding President of Glima Northwest (now Connectech), a non-profit technology organization which promotes and fosters technology business development and education under the Automation Alley family. Chris is currently serving as a mentor for Kids Hope USA.

Dick Beedon, Founder and Chief Advocacy Officer, Amplifinity
Since his first days as a salesperson at IBM and throughout a career in sales and sales management, Dick has always been a student of the science of selling – in particular, the process of lead generation. He attributes most of his success and sales awards to his focus on generating referrals. This has turned into a career long passion to leverage relationships with customers, employees and partners into a highly effective and efficient sales and marketing channel. As the Founder and Chief Advocate, it is Dick’s duty to better understand how the application of information technology can most effectively generate increased advocacy and word-of-mouth . He is passionately enthusiastic about how managing advocacy can deliver the very best leads and generate high returns for our clients. Dick credits his success to an obsessive desire to make customers happy. He believes our goal as a company is to apply information technology to transform the lead generation market by leveraging customers, employees and partners into an incredibly powerful sales and marketing channel.

Jeff Bocan, Managing Director, Beringea
Jeff Bocan is responsible for investment sourcing, analysis, deal execution and portfolio management. Though a generalist investor, over the years he has developed an expertise in the media and entertainment sector, particularly in content creation, internet advertising, licensing, TV production and publishing. Jeff serves as a board director for Relume Technologies, ReCellular, mophie, gloStream, Sakti3, Shout! Factory, Livio Radio and Starbridge Media Group. Jeff is a contributing blogger on the online news and commentary site of the Huffington Post. His series focuses on venture investing in Michigan and other Rust Belt economies. Prior to joining Beringea, Jeff was an associate at Saffron Hill Ventures, an early-stage technology VC firm in London. He also has worked in marketing roles for BMW of North America and beverage company Honest Tea. During the Clinton administration, he worked on Capitol Hill as a Lobbyist for the Sierra Club, focusing on pollution issues. Jeff graduated with a B.A. in Government and Sociology from the University of Notre Dame, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa; and received an MBA with high honors from the University of Virginia.

Jacob Cohen, Vice President, Detroit Venture Partners
Jacob is a Vice President at Detroit Venture Partners, a seed and early stage venture capital fund formed by partners Josh Linkner, Dan Gilbert, Brian Hermelin and Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Jacob currently sits on the boards of various DVP portfolio companies, including Are You A Human, ShopWith.It, Detroit Labs, FLUD, OWN Point of Sale, and UpTo. He is concurrently finishing his JD / MBA at the University of Michigan Law School and the Ross School of Business, where he is studying both the legal and business aspects of venture capital transactions. Jacob has significant entrepreneurial experience, most notably as co-founder and CEO of Ugrub.com (formerly eatblue.com), a web-based advertising company focused on college markets, which sold to an industry competitor in 2006. He has also spent two years as a strategy and operations consultant at Deloitte Consulting L.P. Jacob holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan.

Keith Crandell, Co-founder and Managing Director, ARCH Venture Partners
Keith Crandell is a co-founder and a Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners. He focuses on chemical and specialty materials companies, electronics and instrumentation, optics and photonics, telecommunications, and enterprise infrastructure businesses. He previously served as Senior Manager at ARCH Development Corporation, where he was responsible for ARCH Venture Fund I activities at Argonne National Laboratory. Mr. Crandell has played a key role in the formation and initial funding round of Quanterix, AlfaLight, Shocking Technologies, Permeon Biologics, ALIS Corp. (acquired by Carl Zeiss SMT), Eichrom Industries (acquired by Gary Comer, Inc.), Nanophase Technologies (NANX), and Illinois Superconductor (ISO). He was also responsible for ARCH's investment in New Era of Networks (NEON, acquired by Sybase-SY), Apropos Technology (APRS, acquired by Syntellect-ESL), Teach.com (acquired by Intellinex), CelebrateExpress (BDAY), Ahura Scientific, Boreal Genomics, Ciespace, PixelEXX Systems, Adesto Technologies, and Crystal IS, among others. He is a director of Quanterix, Nanosys, AlfaLight, Adesto Technologies, Boreal Genomics, Ciespace, Permeon Biologics, PixelEXX Systems, and Crystal IS. Mr. Crandell also serves as a director of the Illinois Venture Capital Association. Prior to the founding of ARCH, Mr. Crandell was with the specialty chemical and polymer company, Hercules, Inc. He holds an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago, an M.S. in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Arlington, and a B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics from St. Lawrence University.

Blair Garrou, Managing Director, DFJ Mercury
Since the late 90’s, Blair Garrou has focused on funding, operating and incubating startup software companies. Prior to co-founding DFJ Mercury, Blair was the CEO of Intermat (acq. by IHS); a Principal with Genesis Park where he led investments in FuelQuest (acq. by Saracen Energy), Intermat and SAT Corporation (acq. by Invensys); helped launch and was the Director of Operations for the Houston Technology Center where he led the formation of the Houston Angel Network; was an investment banker with BMO Nesbitt Burns; and began his career with Deloitte & Touche. Blair is a co-founder and Board Member of SURGE Accelerator and is an active mentor and/or investor with other seed accelerator programs including the Brandery (Cincinnati, OH), Excelerate (Chicago, IL), and TechStars (Boulder, CO, San Antonio, TX). Blair serves in board and advisory roles for the Houston Technology Center, the Post Oak School, Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship, and UTHealth. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Management at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. Blair is an active member of YPO – Gulf States Chapter, and was named by the Houston Business Journal as one of its outstanding business and community leaders under the age of 40. Blair received a B.S. in Management from Washington & Lee University.

Matt Hermann, Senior Managing Director, Ascension Health Ventures
Matt Hermann actively leads AHV's overall investing efforts. Matt is a board member or observer at several AHV portfolio companies, including BioImagene, BodyMedia, Millennium Pharmacy Systems, and ZONARE. He also serves on the board of BioEnterprise. Before joining AHV in 2001, he served as vice president with Atlantic Medical Management, LLC, a New York-based venture capital management company focused on early- to mid-stage healthcare services and information technology companies. Prior to that, Matt served in financial management roles at two publicly traded healthcare companies, Nutrition 21, Inc. and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and worked at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York City. He holds a BS in Engineering from Tufts University, and an MBA in Finance from New York University, Leonard N. Stern Graduate School of Business.

Mark Horne, Managing Partner, Plymouth Venture Partners II
Mark brings over 20 years of business and financial expertise to the Fund. His career began with Price Waterhouse, and has included senior financial management positions with several large, privately-held technology and manufacturing companies. Mark is a former New Jersey licensed CPA with a Bachelors of Arts - Business Administration degree from Cedarville University and an MBA from Widener University. Mark became an Investor in PVP I in 2005 and an Advisor for PMC in 2006. Mark led several of Fund I’s best performing investments. In 2007 Mark became Managing Partner, and developed a strong in-house approach to leading and monitoring investments from term sheet to closing to ultimate exit. He helped refine the growth stage strategy adopted in PVP II, and narrowed the deal structures to maximize returns while protecting the downside risk. Mark brings a philosophy of “win-win” to term sheet negotiating, and strives to ensure that the relationship with Plymouth is one of true partnership and trusted advisor.

Jason Lettmann, Principal, Morgenthaler Ventures
Jason Lettmann joined Morgenthaler in 2009 and is a Principal on the Life Science Team. Jason is based in Menlo Park, CA, and invests in the life science and medical device sectors. He serves on the Board of Relievant Medsystems and Second Genome Inc., is a co-founder and on the Board of Tarsus Medical, and is a Board observer at Ardian (acquired by Medtronic), Cabochon Aesthetics, The Foundry and Moximed. Before joining Morgenthaler, Jason was a Vice President at Split Rock Partners where he focused on early-stage venture investments in medical devices and the life sciences. During his time at Split Rock, Jason was actively involved with the founding of Zyga Technologies as well as with several start-ups founded at ForSight Labs and the Foundry incubators. He also was involved with the firm’s investments in Evalve (acquired by Abbott Labs), Entellus Medical, EBR Systems, Mirabilis and Miramar Labs. Prior to Split Rock, Jason’s experience includes tenure with Guidant Corporation’s Compass Group which focused on corporate venture and business development as well as a consultant with Accenture’s Health and Life Science practice where he advised clients across the medical device, pharmaceutical and health payer sectors. Jason also previously worked as a genetic research analyst at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Jason holds an M.B.A. with distinction from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and a B.A. with honors from the University of Iowa.

Crawford Lipsey, CEO, Relume Technologies, Inc.
Lipsey is a 30-year veteran of the lighting industry and most recently served as part of the executive management team of Acuity Brands, Inc., a $1.6 billion manufacturer of multiple lighting and control brands representing the largest lighting company in North America. Lipsey was also President and Vice Chairman of the board of directors of Acuity Brands Technology Services, an incubator for entrepreneurial activity for the Acuity Brands family. He is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.

Greg Madden, Portfolio Manager, SV Life Sciences
Greg Madden joined SVLS in 2002 and focuses on transactions and monitoring of portfolio companies. Greg spearheads the firm’s investor relations and fundraising activities. Greg’s current and past deal assignments include: Achillion Pharmaceuticals (ACHN), AcuFocus, Alliancecare, Auxilium Pharmaceuticals (AUXL), CardioFocus, CHF Solutions, Concentric Medical, Ikano Therapeutics, Insulet (PODD), LenSx Lasers, NeoVista, NeurogesX (NGSX), and Orchid Pharmaceuticals (ORCD). Prior to joining SVLS, Greg worked at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, in the Business Practice, Emerging Technology and Private Equity groups, supporting both venture capital funds and venture backed companies in business formations and financings, mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital fundraising. Greg is currently enrolled in the Executive MBA program at Boston University, holds a BA from Colby College, and has studied at University College Cork (Ireland)..

Jonathan Murray, Managing Director, Early Stage Partners
Jonathan leads technology investments. He is increasingly turning his attention to On-Demand and SaaS software platforms, particularly in the automation of marketing. Among his investments are TOA Technologies, OnShift, Amplifinity, Unitask, and Ayalogic. Prior to joining Early Stage Partners as Managing Director in late 2000, Jonathan was President of Incubation Services, a strategy consulting firm that provided strategy development, business planning, and financial consulting to early stage companies in life sciences and information technology. Among his clients were Athersys Inc., Aelita Software, IdeaStar, and the Edison BioTechnology Center. Prior to forming Incubation Services, Jonathan was President of Volk Optical, a Mentor, Ohio manufacturer of lenses used by ophthalmologists and optometrists to examine eyes for disease. While there, he focused on product branding and marketing programs, reorganized the sales department, implemented enhanced regulatory programs, and contributed to sales increases of 30% per month over the prior year. From 1991 to 1997, Jonathan served in a variety of capacities for Spectra Laboratories, a Silicon Valley-based provider of clinical testing services to kidney dialysis clinics, rising to the position of Director of Marketing. During his seven-year tenure there, he simultaneously built and managed the marketing and the software development departments, and directed the telecommunications department on an interim basis. The Company was acquired by Fresenius Medical Care in 1997. Jonathan is a graduate of George Washington University (B.A.), where he studied Biology and English Literature, and the University of Michigan (M.B.A.).

Jeffrey O’Donnell, Venture Partner, BioStar Ventures
Jeff O'Donnell brings exceptional operational experience as well as extensive experience in the healthcare industry, merging a solid, traditional corporate background with emerging growth experience. He is currently the Chairman and CEO of Embrella Cardiovascular™, Inc. Prior to this role, Jeff served as President and CEO of PhotoMedex from 1999 to 2009. He also served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Radiance Medical Systems (originally Cardiovascular Dynamics) from 1995 to 1997 and then from 1997 to 1999 was the President and CEO. From 1994 to 1995 Jeff held the position of President and CEO of Kensey Nash Corporation. In 2005 he was named LifeScience CEO of the year by the Eastern Technology Council. Additionally, he has held several senior sales and marketing management positions at Boston Scientific Corporation, Guidant Corporation and Johnson & Johnson’s Orthopedic Division. Jeff is an outside Board Member of Endologix, Inc., Replication Medical, Inc., and is a Medical Advisory Board member of Safeguard Scientific.

Brandon Park, Principal, Credit Suisse
Brandon is a Principal with Credit Suisse’s Customized Fund Investment Group and leads the venture capital investment effort. He is involved in deal sourcing, conducting due diligence on both fund and direct private equity investments and relationship management. Previously he was with Pacific Corporate Group where he served as Senior Vice President and head of the venture capital and technology buyout group. Prior to PCG, Brandon was at Rho Fund Investors, where he focused on investments in venture capital, growth capital and mid-market buyout funds in North America and Western Europe. Prior to that, he was with MMC Capital, a private equity firm affiliated with Marsh and McLennan Companies and made investments in growth companies in the IT sector. Brandon began his career as an investment banker at Credit Suisse First Boston Technology Group. Brandon received his BA from the University of California, Berkeley.

James Pavlik, Partner, Baird Venture Partners
Jim joined Baird Venture Partners in 2003 and focuses on investment opportunities in the business services sector. Jim is currently a member of the board of directors of ClickFuel, Coalfire Systems, InsideTrack, Montage Talent, PayChoice and Pinstripe. Prior to joining BVP, Jim was with Madison Dearborn Partners, where he focused on early stage venture capital investments in the communications services sector. He began his career in Salomon Smith Barney’s investment banking group, where he participated in numerous equity and fixed income financings and mergers and acquisitions. Jim is a member of the Illinois Venture Capital Association, a Charter Member of TiE Midwest, an Executive-in-Residence with the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, and a member of the Leadership Council of The Posse Foundation. He received a BA in Economics, summa cum laude, from Duke University and an MBA with distinction from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Tim Petersen, Managing Director, Arboretum Ventures
Tim Petersen leverages his broad business experience creating, growing, and financing entrepreneurial firms to target promising capital-efficient investment opportunities. In recent years he has particularly focused on investments in companies that are changing the way healthcare is delivered. Tim led Arboretum’s investment in HealthMedia (acquired by Johnson & Johnson) and Accuri Cytometers (acquired by Becton, Dickinson and Company) and served on the Board of Directors of each company prior to exit. He also led Arboretum’s investments in Advanced ICU Care, CerviLenz, Inogen, MyHealthDIRECT, PathCentral, and Tangent Medical and presently serves as a director of these companies. Prior to joining Arboretum in 2002, Tim was the Managing Director of the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan, leading the creation and rapid growth of the Institute's programs. He also directed the Wolverine Venture Fund (WVF), the Institute's venture capital fund focusing on early-stage life science and technology investments. Previously, Tim spent nine years at the economic consulting firm Industrial Economics, Inc., becoming a member of the firm's senior staff in 1991. Earlier in his career, Tim was also a manager in the investment banking practice at Plante & Moran. Tim earned a BA in Economics from Williams College, where he was captain of the men’s tennis team. He also holds an MS in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Matthew Rieke, MD, Founding Principal, Quaker Partners
Matthew is the Founding Principal of Quaker Partners and was promoted to Partner in 2005. He previously served as Principal at Novitas Capital, a venture capital fund investing in early stage life science and IT companies. He also created start-up companies based on Penn faculty inventions at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Technology Transfer and has served as a management consultant with CSC Healthcare, focusing on disease management protocols. He has also researched novel therapeutics and bone marrow transplantation at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Matthew’s board responsibilities include Neotropix, Tarsa Therapeutics, TearScience and TransEnterix. He is a board observer Biolex and Neuronetics. He is an Advisor for AdvaMed, a member of the Biotech and Life Sciences Advisory Committee for Ben Franklin Technology Partners of SE PA and the Life Sciences Greenhouse of Central PA. He has a B.A. from Colgate University, Doctor of Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Matthew maintains active medical license.

Jason Rottenberg, General Partner, Arsenal Venture Partners
Jason Rottenberg is a Managing Director of AVP. Jason has spent the last dozen years, founding, building and funding early-stage technology companies, and is a frequent speaker on the topic of technology commercialization and the intersection of the defense and commercial markets. Jason has been involved in the founding and exits of numerous technology companies and he was the founder of Muse Ventures and IT Angel. Jason was previously a manager in Arthur Andersen’s Silicon Valley office and began his career in Washington, DC. Jason graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. degree and earned an MBA with highest distinction from Harvard University, where he was named a Baker Scholar. Jason’s family is originally from Montreal, Canada and he is the first American-born person in his family. He enjoys playing sports of kind, squeezing in a tough workout on the road and is learning to surf with his children, Cole, Jack and Reese. Current and former director/observer roles: PowerPrecise Solutions (Acquired by Texas Instruments NYSE:TXN), Trust Digital (Acquired by McAfee NYSE:MFE), OnPoint Technologies, SpectrumBridge, PowerGenix, Ultracell, InVisage, Nanosteel, and Teranex (Acquired by Integrated Device Technology NASDAQ:IDTI ).

Peter Shagory, Partner, Baird Venture Partners
Pete joined Baird Venture Partners in 2004 and concentrates on healthcare and life science investments, focusing in medical devices, life science tools, diagnostics, and healthcare services. Prior to joining Baird Venture Partners, he spent five years at Vector Fund Management, a life-sciences venture capital firm, investing broadly across the medical device and biotechnology fields. Prior to Vector, he spent over six years in corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions and merchant banking at JP Morgan & Co. and Banc One Capital Corporation. Pete is currently a Director of Celleration, CoAxia, Core Essence Orthpaedics and Molecular Imaging Research. He is a former Board Chairman and Director of Accuri Cytometers and a former Director of Arbor Surgical Technologies, PharMEDium Healthcare Corporation and NimbleGen Systems. Pete is the founding Chair of AdvaMed’s National Venture Capital Advisory Board and also serves on the Boards of the Mid-America Healthcare Investors Network (MHIN) and the Children's Memorial Hospital Foundation. He received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Finance from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and his MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.

Marc Singer, Managing Partner, Osage University Partners
Marc joined Osage in 2008 to help develop and launch Osage University Partners. He is an eighteen year veteran of the venture capital industry. Marc was previously a General Partner of BEV Capital, an early stage venture capital firm he co-founded in 1997. Marc helped BEV raise and invest over $200M in over 40 companies and co-invested with over 100 other venture capital firms. Marc managed or co-managed eighteen of BEV's investments, served as an active board member and/or Chairman for the majority of his investments, and successfully managed multiple companies from start-up through IPO or trade sale. Prior to co-founding BEV in 1997, Marc worked at Consumer Venture Partners, another venture capital firm which he joined in 1993. Marc earned his BS from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

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, Palo Alto, Essex Woodlands
Immanuel Thangaraj has 18 years of experience in operations and venture capital. Mr. Thangaraj began his venture career at ARCH Venture Partners (“AVP”), a leading venture capital firm with over $2 billion under management which makes early stage technology and healthcare investments. During his tenure at AVP, he managed one of its portfolio companies, HealthQual, a medical information company, until its sale to Nellcor, a large hospital supplies company. Mr. Thangaraj left AVP in 1995 to run a start-up telecommunications services company called Integrated Telemanagement, which was later sold to Cam-Net Communications. In addition to the portfolio company boards on which he serves, Mr. Thangaraj is also responsible for Essex Woodlands’ investment in two Chinese companies, Microport Scientific Corporation (HK:853) and China Cord Blood Services Corporation (NYSE: CO). Mr. Thangaraj also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for MAP International, is an Advisory Board member for the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship, is an Advisory Board member of the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center (GCIC) at the Cleveland Clinic. In addition, Mr. Thangaraj is a Trustee of Trinity School in Menlo Park, California and on the board of the India Community Center. Mr. Thangaraj joined Essex Woodlands as a Partner in 1996, and was promoted to Managing Director in 1998.

Michael G. Wooldridge, Partner, Varnum Law
Mike is a partner in the Corporate practice group and serves as Chair of the Firm and its Policy Committee. His specialties include corporate governance, securities, and mergers and acquisitions. He represents several of the firm's clients whose securities are traded publicly in corporate governance, securities law compliance and mergers and acquisitions. He has managed and led a variety of public equity and debt offerings for financial services and manufacturing companies. Mike is also active in advising clients in venture capital transactions.

Harry Wilcox, CFO and Partner, Flagship Ventures
Harry joined Flagship Ventures in 2006, bringing a rich set of experiences and expertise in financial management, operations, fund management and strategy. His career spans 30 years and has involved many different roles and functions including Controller, CFO, Sr. VP BD, and CEO. He has also served on several Boards of Directors. In addition to his corporate experience, Harry was previously CFO of two venture capital firms, Highland Capital Partners where he was the founding CFO and General Partner, and prior to that, Charles River Ventures. Most recently he has served as CFO and then Sr. VP Corporate Development for EXACT Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS), one of Flagship’s portfolio companies, and on the Board of another portfolio company, Epitome Biosystems. In addition to EXACT Sciences, Harry led an active consulting practice which included roles as interim CEO of two biotech companies: Thrasos Therapeutics and Biostratum. Prior to this, Harry was Executive Vice President, Chief of Finance and Corporate Development of Pyrosequencing, a publicly-held European biotech company. Earlier, he had been the President and Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge NeuroScience, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNSI) until its sale to CeNeS Pharmaceuticals, and before that Sr. VP Business Development and CFO of Cellcor. As CFO and Partner at Flagship Ventures, Harry manages all financial operations and LP relations/fundraising. He also plays a role as board member or advisor to select portfolio companies and is currently a board member of Accuri Cytometers, Celexion, Seahorse Bioscience and T2 Biosystems.