MedTech Innovator LIVE

Noam Krantz leads Business Development at Ethicon Inc, Johnson & Johnson’s surgical division (about $9 billion of worldwide revenue). Noam is continuously developing and executing license and acquisition strategies for the business and across the Medical Device sector. He sits on the Ethicon Global Management Board and leads the Medical Device Deal Committee. He has been in this role since 2011. He served on the company’s Asia Pacific management board from 2012-2105.

Noam began his career in finance/M&A as an Associate in Bear Stearns & Co.’s New York investment banking division in 2001. There he worked on advising healthcare and technology companies on M&A and corporate finance transactions. Noam left Bear Stearns in 2004 to join Inamed Corporation, where he was Senior Manager of Strategy and Corporate Development. At Inamed, Noam advised the executive team on its M&A strategy for all of its businesses – breast implants, facial aesthetics (Collagen, Juvederm and Dysport), and obesity (LapBand and intragrastric balloons). He also assisted in the management of the company’s investor relations effort. Upon the sale of Inamed to Allergan in March 2006, Noam moved to Mentor Corporation, where he was Vice President of the company’s Corporate Development group and where he also ran the Company’s investor relations effort. Mentor Corporation was sold to J&J in January 2009 and is now a division within J&J’s Cardiac and Specialty Care business.

Noam has a BS in Biological Sciences from University of California Santa Barbara (1996) and an MBA from Columbia Business School (2001).

Jinny Lee is the Vice President of exploration and strategic marketing for the Advanced Technology division of Edwards Lifesciences. She joined the company in 2001 where she was responsible for overseeing product development and global marketing for all areas in heart valve therapy including repair and replacement initiatives for the mitral, aortic and tricuspid valves. Previously she held positions of increasing responsibility in marketing and product development at Biocoll Laboratories and later GenSci Orthobiologics where she helped develop and launch multiple products for the spine and orthopedic markets and partnered with Depuy Acromed, a Johnson and Johnson Company, in the sales efforts.  She started her curiosity in medicine as a researcher at the Long Beach VA Hospital and at the US Food and Drug Administration in the public affairs group located in Southern California.  She earned her Bachelor of Science degrees in Biological Sciences and Environmental Analysis and Design and a MBA from the University of California, Irvine.  She also serves as a board member for Casa Teresa and UCI Beall Applied Innovation.

David Cassak has more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Cassak co-founded Windhover Information Inc., along with his partner, Roger Longman, in which they spun out exceptional publications such as IN VIVO, START-UP, Medtech Insight, Emerging Medical Ventures and The RPM Report. Cassak also served as Vice President, Content, and Managing Director, Medical Devices for Elsevier Business Intelligence, a Reed Elsevier Company, including the publications The Gray Sheet and The Pink Sheet. He is a frequent speaker before various companies and trade groups within the medical device industry and is widely known for his vast knowledge and reporting in MedTech.

Casey McGlynn is a Partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. In 1990 Casey McGlynn formed the Life Sciences Group at the firm and today has one of the largest practices in the country focused on Medtech, Healthtech and Biotech companies.

Matt Griffiths is a Director at Silicon Valley Bank focused specifically on the Northeast Medical Device and Digital Health sectors of Healthcare. Based out of Boston, Matt provides coverage across these verticals from New York City up through Eastern Canada. He and his team focus on providing comprehensive financial products and services as well as flexible lending solutions to clients at every life stage, development through commercialization. In addition to overseeing the continued growth of the Medical Device and Digital Health practice, he is also responsible for developing relationships with key Venture Firms and Strategic/Corporate partners that operate within these markets.

Over his 9+ years at SVB, Matt has worked in a wide variety of roles both domestically as well as internationally across both technology and life sciences. He’s provided solutions to companies of all stages from early and pre-VC companies to late stage high growth public operations.

Since its inception in 1998, Hanson has led The Foundry in the invention, identification and development of new technologies; the formation, financing, and staffing of the new companies; and ongoing support of these new ventures as a board member.

Tom draws upon his extensive healthcare experience as a physician and healthcare executive to identify medical device and health IT companies that improve patient outcomes and decrease healthcare costs. He currently serves as a board director for Avation Medical, Fifth Eye, Health Scholars, Lucina Health and SonarMD and led Arboretum’s investment in nVision Medical, which was acquired by Boston Scientific in 2018. At ArborMetrix, an Arboretum portfolio company, he led the development of the clinical strategy as Chief Medical Officer during a major product launch.

Prior to joining Arboretum in 2014, Tom served as a member of Arboretum’s Technical Advisory Board. He practiced medicine for 15 years as a gastroenterologist serving as Chair of Medicine at Integrated Health Associates (IHA), a multi-specialty group consisting of 300+ providers, and as Chief of Staff at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital for more than 1,000 physicians. Tom is engaged as board member for several healthcare innovation initiatives including the Cleveland Clinic Medical Device Advisory Council and the Center for Machine Learning and Health at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also the current Chairman of the Michigan Venture Capital Association.

Steve Pacelli is Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Dexcom Ventures.

In this role, Steve is focused on investment opportunities in sensing technology, data analytics, remote patient monitoring and population health, broadening Dexcom’s commitment to advancing better outcomes in healthcare.

Prior to this role, Steve was Executive Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development from 2012 to 2021. Since joining Dexcom in April 2006, Steve has served in roles of increasing responsibility, including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Vice President of Legal Affairs.

Prior to Dexcom, Steve served as a corporate attorney specializing in finance, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate matters, and in an executive role as general counsel of several privately held companies.

Steve currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Biocom California, the largest and most experienced leader and advocate for California’s life science sector. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Connect, a community nonprofit supporting innovators and entrepreneurs in Southern California by providing access to investors, mentors, and education, and as a member of the Board of Directors of EvoNexus, California’s leading non-profit startup technology incubator.

Steve is also a dedicated philanthropist, choosing to focus his efforts as a member of the Board of Directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego, an organization dedicated to creating and supporting one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth. He also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Pacific Ridge School, a group of dedicated and informed community leaders who are passionate about the value of education and are committed to building and strengthening the school.

Anne DeGheest pioneered the HealthTech/Digital Health space as a healthcare executive, entrepreneur, angel investor, corporate advisor, and mentor capitalist. She founded MedStars and HealthTech Capital, an ecosystem of angels, venture capitalists, providers, payers, and healthcare industry key players that are dedicated to funding and mentoring new “HealthTech” startups to decrease healthcare cost and empower patients. Anne also organized and moderated the HealthTech Conference on how to successfully build innovative HealthTech businesses and how to change healthcare delivery.

Anne has been a corporate development advisor to large healthcare companies and a mentor capitalist specializing in investing and mentoring early stage companies in healthcare. Her life science portfolio companies have generated over $6 billion exits. Anne provided angel capital, hands-on operating expertise and business strategy in the founding of major venture-backed companies like Pyxis, Aspect Medical, VISX, Thermage, VISICU, and Masimo. She grew new entrepreneurial divisions of large corporations like Johnson & Johnson, Baxter, Medtronic, and McKesson. Anne was an Entrepreneur-In-Residence with Canaan Partners and IVP. She has been a speaker at industry conferences, and a guest-lecturer at Stanford Business School, Dartmouth Tuck, and Singularity University.

Anne holds an MBA from Harvard and a Master in Business Engineering from the University of Brussels.

John Weiser serves as President First Run Production, Sony Pictures Television. He previously was President, U.S. distribution for Sony Pictures Television (SPT) where he oversaw all domestic sales operations for SPT, including sales of feature films produced by Sony Pictures, first-run and off-network syndicated programs and Sony Pictures library titles to U.S. broadcast networks, cable networks and television station groups along with SVOD, AVOD and domestic pay television.

Weiser also managed the personnel and operations of four regional offices located in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Atlanta.

Joining the company in 1990 as account executive, west coast, Weiser became division manager in 1992. In 1995, he was promoted to vice president, west coast, managing all sales activities for the regional office. In 1999, Weiser was named senior vice president, sales for Columbia TriStar Television Distribution, expanding his duties to include sales of SPE’s vast library. With more than 500 television series and 4,000 films, it is the largest catalogue of its kind. Weiser became executive vice president, US distribution for Sony Pictures Television in 2002.

Before joining the studio, Weiser served as senior vice president, Guber-Peters Entertainment and head of sales for Chuck Barris Entertainment. His television career began at Tribune Broadcasting, where he oversaw its northeast and Midwest sales offices.

Weiser served on the board of directors of the Television Bureau of Advertising from 2004-2012. In 2006, he served on the board for the Broadcaster’s Foundation charity event. From 2003-2006, Weiser was the co-chairman of the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE), and from 2003-2005, he served on the fundraising steering committee board for the Cedars-Sinai Prostate Cancer Center. Weiser also served on the board of the Southern California chapter of UNICEF.

Weiser currently serves on the board of Props for Tots. For the past two years, he has served as co-Executive sponsor for SPE’s Emerging Professionals as well as a committee member for the SPE Council for Inclusion.

Paul is the founder and CEO of MedTech Innovator. He created and managed MedTech Innovator as a program within RCT Ventures from 2013 – 2016. In 2016, with the financial support of RCT and other sponsors, Paul left to run MedTech Innovator as a stand-alone company. He spent 11 years as Director and Managing Director at RCT Ventures, the investment arm of Research Corporation Technologies, Inc. Prior to RCT, Paul was co-founder and CEO of startups in the medtech, pharma, and tech sectors.