Board of Directors
Hank Plain – Chairman of the Board
Hank Plain serves as an active director and advisor of early stage medical device companies at The Foundry, providing expertise in founding, funding, product development and operational management. Mr. Plain was Chairman of the Board of Embolic Protection, Inc., helping to negotiate the acquisition of EPI by Boston Scientific in 2001. He was also a director of TransVascular, Inc., which was acquired by Medtronic in 2003. Previously, Mr. Plain was President and CEO of Perclose. He led Perclose from the product concept stage through product development, regulatory approvals and successful market launch to become the worldwide leader in vascular access site closure devices with over $100 million in sales in 2000. Prior to joining Perclose, Mr. Plain was with Eli Lilly and Company for 12 years. He held various marketing and general management positions in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device business units.
Fred Khosravi – President & CEO
Fred Khosravi is a Silicon Valley medical device entrepreneur who has co-founded eight companies, including EndoTex, Embolic Protection, Inc. (EPI), both acquired by Boston Scientific Corporation and Confluent Surgical, acquired by Tyco Healthcare. Additionally, he is the managing director of a medical device incubator called Incept. In addition to Confluent, EPI, and AccessClosure, Incept has spawned several other novel device companies including Sadra, SquareOne and iTherapeutix, where Fred serves as co-founder and Director/Chairman. Fred also served on the boards of Kerberos before its acquisition by FoxHollow Technologies and Advanced Stent Technologies, prior to its acquisition by Boston Scientific. Prior to his entrepreneurial career, Fred held management positions at Focal, Inc., Alcon Surgical and Guidant. At Guidant, he led the initial design and development of the MultiLink stent. Fred has authored or co-authored over 40 issued or filed patent applications. He holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering, and graduated summa cum laude, obtaining a M.S. in mechanical engineering from Tennessee Tech University.
Jeani Delagardelle – New Leaf Venture Partners
Jeani Delagardelle is a Managing Director of New Leaf Venture Partners, a new healthcare technology fund established in August 2005, by healthcare technology partners of the Sprout Group. Mrs. Delagardelle joined Sprout in August 2000 and became General Partner in July 2001. Previously, she was a General Partner at Weiss, Peck & Greer Venture Partners where she focused on healthcare investments. Before joining Weiss, Peck & Greer Venture Partners, Mrs. Delagardelle spent 15 years in senior marketing, sales, business development and general manager positions in the healthcare industry. Specifically, she was Vice President of Global Marketing for Target Therapeutics (acquired by Boston Scientific for $1.1B) and spent nine years with the Medi-tech division of Boston Scientific in several senior management roles. Mrs. Delagardelle attended University of California at Irvine (MBA) and Occidental College (A.B.).
Rob Kuhling – ONSET Ventures
Rob Kuhling has experience in a variety of technology marketing, strategic development and management positions. Mr. Kuhling was Director of Marketing at Sun Microsystems, where he spearheaded the company's expansion into the design automation marketplace. He also served as Vice President and Manager of General Electric-Calma's $100 million electronic design automation business and was a team leader for Boston Consulting Group. Mr. Kuhling serves on the boards of several public and private companies, and has led ONSET Ventures' investments in companies like Clarify, Conceptus, Alteon, Packeteer, Embolic Protection, Endotex Interventional Systems and Gadzoox Networks. Mr. Kuhling’s current board memberships include AccessClosure, Apieron Biosystems, Curon Medical and Invarium. Mr. Kuhling received his A.B. from Hamilton College and his MBA from Harvard Business School.
Mark Wan – Three Arch Partners
Mark Wan is a founding partner of Three Arch Partners. He started in venture capital in 1987 with Brentwood Associates where he became a general partner. Mr. Wan has been a founder or seed investor in numerous healthcare companies including Odyssey Healthcare, Perclose and Radiant Medical. Mr. Wan has emphasized working with entrepreneurs in very early stage companies. He has often assumed temporary operating responsibility, managing key functions during a company's young life. He has served on the boards of many private and public medical companies. Mr. Wan has a B.S. in engineering and a B.A. in economics from Yale University. He graduated summa cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Wan also has an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
L.N. Hopkins, M.D. – State University of New York, Buffalo
Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Buffalo (SUNY), Dr. Hopkins fostered the creation of the Toshiba Stroke Research Center bringing together neurosurgeons, cardiologists, physicists, and radiologists to study the neurovascular circulation and develop innovative approaches to diagnose, treat and prevent neurological diseases. Dr. Hopkins, is a recognized leader in the field of cerebral microvascular - neuroendovascular surgery and is the author of numerous publications on the prevention and treatment of stroke.
Jeff Gold – Longitude Capital
Jeff Gold currently serves as a Partner at Longitude Capital. Prior to joining Longitude he was President & CEO of CryoVascular Systems, Inc. through the completion of its acquisition by Boston Scientific Corp. Prior to joining CryoVascular Systems, he was Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of CardioThoracic Systems (CTS), a publicly traded company that was acquired by Guidant Corp. in 1999. Previously, Mr. Gold spent over eighteen years with Cordis Corporation, now a Johnson & Johnson company as co-founder and President of Cordis Endovascular Systems. Mr. Gold received his engineering training at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass. and earned his MBA from University of Florida.
Amar Sawhney – Chairman & CEO, iTherapeutix
Amar Sawhney, Ph.D. is one of the inventors of the hydrogel technology. His inventions formed the basis for the founding of several medical device and biotechnology companies and their products. Dr. Sawhney holds over 55 patents and has authored over 100 publications and scientific abstracts. Dr. Sawhney is currently President and CEO of iTherapeutix. He also serves as Managing Member of Incept LLC, a medical device incubator. Prior to iTheurapeutix, Dr. Sawhney was co-founder, president and CEO of Confluent Surgical (acquired in 2006 by Tyco) and Director and Technology Founder at Focal, Inc. (acquired by Genzyme). In addition to iTherapeutix, he serves on the board of MarketRx Inc.
Dave Martin – CEO, Cardiovascular Systems, Inc.
Dave Martin currently serves as CEO of Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. Prior to joining CSI, Mr. Martin was COO of FoxHollow Technologies. His medical device career includes roles as Vice President of Global Sales for Rita Medical, US Sales Director at CardioThoracic Systems and a variety of sales and marketing roles at Boston Scientific and Proctor and Gamble. Mr. Martin received his undergraduate degree from University of California at Berkeley.
Jeffrey C. Lightcap – HealthCor Partners
Jeff Lightcap is a Senior Managing Director at HealthCor Partners, a leading growth-oriented private equity fund which invests across all sectors of healthcare. HealthCor Partners is affiliated with HealthCor Management, a $3.0 billion heathcare-focused hedge fund. Prior to HealthCor Partners, Mr. Lightcap was a Senior Managing Director for over nine years at JLL Partners, a leading middle-market private equity fund. Prior to JLL Partners, Mr. Lightcap was a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. in charge of leverage buyout coverage for the mergers and acquisitions group. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Lightcap was a Senior Vice President in the mergers and acquisitions group at Kidder, Peabody & Co. and briefly at Salomon Brothers. Mr. Lightcap received a B.E. in mechanical engineering from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1981 and received an MBA from the
