The 2020 Webinar Series

Mike Billig, Co-Founder & CEO, Experien Group

Mike co-founded Experien Group in 2003 with Darlene Crockett-Billig. His entire 40+ year professional career has been involved with regulatory affairs, quality systems, clinical research, and general management for medical device companies. Mike has secured regulatory approval for hundreds of medical device products across the U.S., Europe, Canada, Central and South America, and Asia. He is a recognized industry expert in the growing area of FDA De Novo submissions. Mike has led regulatory teams for a wide variety of technologies, including sterile disposable products, electronic instruments, robotics, combination products, mobile medical apps, and devices for regenerative medicine. Mike has particular expertise in interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery.

At Experien Group, Mike’s primary role for client companies is to provide strategic regulatory and clinical support, including virtual staff executive leadership. For several clients, Mike functions as the Acting Vice President of Regulatory, Quality and Clinical, representing the companies in Board of Directors meetings, sales meetings, industry symposia, investors meetings, regulatory agency interface, and more.

Danielle Fau, Advisor for Technology and Innovation, CDRH

Danielle Fau, M.S.E., is a Biomedical Engineer and on assignment to the Innovation Team the Office of Strategic Partnerships and Technology Innovation (OST), in the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH)/FDA. In this role, she works to address patient access barriers to medical devices. Prior to joining OST, Danielle was a Biomedical Engineer and Lead Reviewer of Gastroenterology and Endoscopy products in the Office of Product Evaluation and Quality (OPEQ). Before commencing her career in the federal government, Danielle worked for five years domestically and internationally in the Medical Device Industry, as a New Product Development Engineer and Whitaker International Fellow. She received her Masters and Bachelors of Science in Engineering, majoring in Materials Science and Engineering, from the University of Pennsylvania.

Murray Sheldon, Associate Director for Technology & Innovation, CDRH

Dr. Murray Sheldon, MD received his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1975 and his cardiovascular fellowship at the Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center in New York. After practicing cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgery in Northern California for over 20 years, he entered the medical device industry, leading device development projects and providing expert consultative services to numerous start-up innovative medical device development firms. Dr. Sheldon joined the FDA in 2013 as the Associate Director for Technology and Innovation overseeing the Center’s initiative to proactively facilitate medical device innovation to address unmet public health needs and to align what is traditionally done at FDA with what is required to support the US medical device ecosystem. His primary focus is working with FDA staff, the medical device industry, the clinical community and other stakeholders on ways to facilitate bringing innovative medical devices to the patients in the US first in the world. Dr. Sheldon currently leads the Medical Device Payer Communication Task Force, identifying methods to streamline the path from FDA approval to reimbursement.

Kate Kozak, Life Sciences Consultant, TriNet

Kate Kozak is a life science practice leader with TriNet, based out of Orange County CA. TriNet is a strategic partner to thousands of innovative life science companies across the country. We help them attract and retain top talent, reduce operational costs and scale faster so they can deliver on their mission.

Jim Christino, National Practice Leader – Medical Device, TriNet

Jim Christino has over 15 years of experience in Sales Leadership across dynamic sales environments, leading to top producing sales teams and individual career milestones. At TriNet, Jim leads the National Life Science team in Key Play of Medical Device as sub vertical expert. He is responsible for implementing Industry Key Focus and certifying top Sales consultants.

Alan Cullen, President, Westwood & Wilshire

Alan Cullen is the Founder and President of Westwood & Wilshire and has more than 20 years of Executive Search experience. He founded Westwood & Wilshire in 2003 and has molded the firm over the last decade into one of the premiere executive search firms in the Life Sciences, Health Tech and Healthcare industries. The firm is primarily focused on working with innovative start-ups at the forefront of science, medicine and technology. The firm works extensively with the portfolio companies of the top venture capital firms and clients include Calico, Verily, Neural Analytics and Hexagon Bio.

Amy Siegel, Co-Founder, S2N Health

Amy Siegel is the co-founder of S2N Health, a strategy consulting firm partnering with healthcare technology innovators to realize the value and impact of their innovations. Since its founding in 2011, S2N Health has worked with >100 clients, from start-ups to multinationals and global health organizations, bringing critical strategic insights & analytics into key product, commercial and corporate decisions. Amy’s 20+ years of healthcare strategy experience includes VP of Marketing roles in two emerging med-tech companies and 10 years of management consulting with Health Advances and Monitor Company. Prior to entering the healthcare space, Amy was a loan officer and policy analyst with the U.S. Export-Import Bank. Amy earned her B.A. from Tufts University (1988) and M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (1992).

Brian Vaughn, VP, Health Economics & Market Access, Johnson & Johnson

Brian Vaughn has worked in the business of healthcare for over 20 years. He has an MPA in Healthcare Policy and Management and an MBA in Marketing. Brian began his career working in the managed care industry in the area of medical delivery systems, managing relationships with physicians / ancillary providers of all types and leading a team responsible for hospital and health systems contracting. Since joining Johnson and Johnson (ETHICON Inc.) in 1999, he has worked in all aspects of health economics, outcomes research, reimbursement and market access. Brian has worked extensively in the US and globally in support of new product development and new business development, led ETHICON’s first field-based reimbursement team, worked on policy and reimbursement issues for multiple ETHICON products, led the ETHICON and Global Surgery Group Health Economics & Outcomes Research Group and most recently was named the Leader of the ETHICON Global Center for Excellence for Health Economics & Market Access.

David Uffer, Partner, Alira Health

David Uffer joined Alira Health with over 25 years of management experience in the medical device, products and clinical diagnostics field. He has lead strategy development, strategic planning and business development activities in these fields for mid and large cap public companies. David has directed business development deals ranging from M&A, licensing, distribution and co-development for companies such as Medtronic (legacy Covidien) in their respiratory and medical products business, as well as Hologic and Boston Scientific. He has held management roles at Integra Lifesciences and Abbott Labs. David has a BA from Clark University, Worcester, MA and an MBA from Thunderbird, School of Global Management, Glendale, AZ.

Laurel Sweeney, Principal, Access Strategies

Laurel Sweeney is a subject matter expert in health policy, value-based care, reimbursement, health economics, and medical technology, digital medicine, and telehealth. Her professional experience includes leadership roles in global market access and health economics, state and federal government relations, communications, and public affairs. Throughout her career, she has gained extensive knowledge of global healthcare markets and built a large, valuable network of industry and patient groups, providers, payers, and policy makers. This has allowed Laurel to identify and partner with the appropriate stakeholders to meet policy and reimbursement objectives. She currently serves on the AMA’s Digital Medicine Payment Advisory Group (DMPAG) and as a member of the Board of Trustees at Lawrence General Hospital in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Laurel also served as a commissioner on the Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission (GIC), as a member of the advisory committee for the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, on the Board of Directors for the New England Council where she co-chaired its healthcare committee, and represented Philips on the World Economic Forum’s Value in Healthcare committee.

Benjamin Echeazu, VITAL Business Development Manager, Highmark Health

Benjamin brings ten years of strategic sales and business development experience across multiple industries in the US and International markets. He achieved a Doctor of Pharmacy Degree (Pharm.D) from Saint John’s University in New York and an MBA from Henley Business School in the UK.

Benjamin’s previous experiences include; working in the pharmaceutical, automotive and healthcare consulting industries. In the pharmaceutical industry he worked with Key Opinion Leaders and commercialization teams in the development and execution of medical marketing strategy that drove the growth of a diabetes franchise in US and UK markets. In the automotive sector, Benjamin managed B2B and B2G business development activities between the US and emerging markets in Africa. In his most recent role Benjamin worked with Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) to develop international market expansion plans for its new growth initiative, targeting the healthcare landscape, GLG-Institute.

As a healthcare practitioner and commercial manager Benjamin is truly aligned with VITAL’s goal of accelerating the adoption of best in class innovative solutions that deliver value to the healthcare ecosystem. Outside of work, Benjamin enjoys cycling, fitness training, exploring local culinary experiences and international travel.

Sandra Elliott, Vice President, Life Sciences & Innovation, Hackensack Meridian Health

Sandra Powell Elliott is the Vice President for Life Sciences and Innovation at Hackensack Meridian Health. Her role is to develop not only to foster the internal development of an innovative culture, but to bring innovative and transformative solutions from outside of the organization to the forefront of the organization’s strategic planning efforts. Through the development of the Bear’s Den, Sandra’s efforts have enabled HMH to investment in early stage innovative ideas and technologies to better meet the needs of patients and the clinicians who treat them. In addition, Sandra closely works with the researches of the Center of Discovery and Innovation to license new discoveries and identify collaborative opportunities with large medical device and pharmaceutical companies.

During the COVID-19 crisis, one of the companies, Purple Sun, an early Bear’s Den’s investment, was key in expanding our ability to rapidly sterilize equipment and rooms with intense UV light. In addition, her efforts to license the rapid diagnostic test for the Covid-19 developed by the CDI will enable the test to be used all over the world for HMH. Sandra received the 2020 NJBIZ Best Fifty Women in Business and the 2018 NJBIZ Vanguard Award and speaks at National Conferences.

Michael Mahaz, Senior Business Unit Director, Jabil Healthcare

Michael Mahaz joined Jabil in 1999 after graduating from Michigan State University with a Bachelors and Masters in Corporate Accounting. Michael started as a Manager in Training, as part of the Jabil Emerging Leaders (JEL) Development program.

During his time in the JEL program Michael was rotated through cross-functional positions in Operations, Inventory Control, Supply Chain, Planning, Workcell Management, and Business Development in our St. Petersburg, FL Manufacturing site. After completing the JEL program Michael transitioned into a Business Development role in 2006 where he had the opportunity to manage global businesses that touch more than 15 sites around the globe.

In 2013 Michael joined the Nypro division, taking over the Business Unit leadership role for Nypro’s largest medical device customer. During his tenor, Nypro was recognized as Supplier of the Year 4 out of the past 5 years. Michael’s scope of responsibility has expanded to supporting M&A and OEM Divestiture opportunities for the Nypro Division. As part of this role, Michael is leading proposal and deal structure activities for deals that have totaled over $2B in annualized revenue.

Jim Warren, Business Unit Director, Jabil Healthcare

Jim Warren joined Jabil in 1998 after graduating from the University of Florida with a Finance degree. Jim started as a Manager in Training, as part of the Jabil Emerging Leaders (JEL) Development program.

During his time in the JEL program Jim was rotated through cross-functional positions in Operations, Inventory Control, Supply Chain, Planning, Workcell Management, and Business Development in our St. Petersburg, FL Manufacturing site.

After completing the JEL program Jim transitioned into a Supply Chain Development role in 2005. During that time Jim lived in Malaysia as well as China as he supported Jabil EMS and Jabil Green Point as a Director of Supply Chain. In each of his customer engagements Jim was able to create significant relationships and opportunities in de-risking our customer’s supply chains. In addition to leading supply chain innovation, Jim is also a certified ASQ Black Belt, helping him connect with customer in a very objective manner.

In 2015 Jim joined the Jabil Healthcare division as a Business Unit Director and now leads business in Ireland, Singapore, Puerto Rico Shanghai and Baja.

Over the past year Jim’s scope has increased to an additional customer and a larger footprint in Asia. With view to extend his experience in other divisions, Jim is a contributor to Jabil’s website with insightful commentary on how medical and consumer behavior guide our development and design efforts at Jabil.

Jacob Werlinger, Executive Director, Technical Operations, Merz

Jake Werlinger is the Executive Director of Technical Operations for Merz North America. Jake started his career at Abbott Laboratories and has held various levels of responsibility within Quality, Program Management, Contract Manufacturing, Commercial, and R&D. Prior to joining Merz, Jake led remediation, development, and due diligence activities in the medical device space at Hospira Inc. Jake’s current responsibilities are leading the distribution, logistics, manufacturing, and supply chain activities for Merz North America including Injectables and Energy Based Devices. He received his Bachelors of Science in Chemistry from the University Wisconsin – LaCrosse.

Jonathan Behm, VP, Strategic Sourcing, Cardinal Health

Jon leads a global sourcing group supporting multiple business units within the Medical Products segment of Cardinal Health, Inc. His teams are responsible for the global sourcing of finished medical devices both contract manufactured and private label. The 60+ categories include various areas such as feeding & compression pumps, disposal sets, surgical, durable medical equipment, incontinence and wound care.

He has over 30 years of broad business experience including global sourcing, manufacturing, product development, marketing, engineering and Lean Six Sigma. Jon has held senior management positions within the Medical Device & Distribution Industries for Cardinal Health, Baxter, Allegiance Healthcare & American Hospital Supply.

His current expertise focuses on global souring as well as supply chain efficiencies within North America, Asia, Europe & Latin America. Jon has a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Bradley University as well as a Master’s in Business Administration from DePaul University.

Ken Stopar, Director, Supply Chain Excellence, Merz

Ken Stopar is the director of Supply Chain for Merz North America. Ken started his career in R&D at GE Healthcare and has held various levels of responsibility within R&D. While in R&D Ken was the recipient of industrial design awards and US patents. Prior to joining Merz Ken led the global supplier quality organization at Baxter Healthcare. He also acted as the primary regulatory interface for FDA and other registrars regarding purchasing controls. Ken’s current responsibilities are leading the supply chain activity for Merz Energy Based Devices which includes managing Engineering, Service, and Operations. He received his Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Marquette University in Milwaukee WI.

Michael Neidert, VP Strategic Development West Coast, Ximedica

Michael Neidert is the VP of Strategic Development at Ximedica acting as the liaison between client companies and Ximedica’s product development teams, serving as a strategy consultant resource for those clients. Mike brings product development experience across a wide range of medical devices, having received his Ph.D. studying cell and tissue engineering at the University of Minnesota and then commercializing pacing leads, coronary stents, cardiac navigation systems, and renal denervation systems for over 15+ years at Medtronic.

Mike has 15 US patents and is an author of 6 academic papers. In addition to his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, he received a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and an MBA from London Business School.

David Copeland, Director, Human Centered Industrial Design, Ximedica

In his role as Director of Human Centered Industrial Design, David leads and advises a multidisciplined team comprised of industrial designers, user interface experts, and usability specialists. The group collaborates to understand user needs and design inputs to create and develop product solutions that provide excellent usability solutions within highly technical products. David and his team are user advocates, working to collect and uncover all of the apparent and the unmet needs a user may have in use of a product, and then working to integrate them all into a solution that will ensure a device’s fit with the user is as resolved as its function. David’s role as Director of HCID allows him to gain perspective over all facets of the design and development process to deliver integrated and holistic product solutions to our clientele.

David brings immense knowledge to Ximedica with over 24 year of experience. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Jan Zukowski, Director of Digital Products, Ximedica

Jan is responsible for the growth of Ximedica’s digital products department – hiring key designers, evolving the methodology of work, guiding a team of designers through user experience solutions, and applying high-level technical and regulatory requirements. He also supports Ximedica’s business sectors in potential client meetings by creating the appropriate digital products strategy and writing proposals tailored to each client’s needs and/or wants.

Leveraging over 20 years of experience in technology, UI/UX, and software engineering, with 11 years dedicated to the healthcare IT industry, Jan has been leading teams in user experience, code quality, and testing for web and mobile development within the product spaces of EMRs, iEDI, and medical devices/digital surgery. He is constantly developing and enjoys working on projects involving augmented reality, virtual reality, and mobile software, with a purpose of helping and educating people.

W. Frank Peacock, MD, Vice Chair for Research, Baylor College of Medicine

Dr. Frank Peacock is the immediate past chief medical officer and prior president of the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care (formerly known at the Society for Chest Pain Centers). He is a professor of Emergency Medicine, associate chair, and research director for Emergency Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

With over 300 publications on heart failure and acute coronary syndromes, Dr. Peacock is also the co-editor of the textbooks Cardiac Emergencies, Short Stay Management of Heart Failure, and Short Stay Management of Chest Pain. He is the 2004 and 2010 winner of the Best Research Paper Award from the American College of Emergency Physicians, and is the Codman Award recipient from the American Association of Group Practice.

Dr. Peacock has and continues to serve as PI or co-PI for many high profile national and international clinical trials such as PRONTO, ADHERE-EM, IMPACT, CHOPIN, CLUE, FASTTRACK and TRUE-HF. His clinical interests and research focus include acute coronary syndrome, acute heart failure, biomarkers, improvements in emergency medical care, and more rapid patient disposition. Dr. Peacock received his medical degree from Wayne State University Medical School and completed his Emergency Medicine training at William Beaumont Hospital, Detroit, Mich.

J. Kevin Coker, JD, Co-Founder & CEO, Proxima Clinical Research

Kevin Coker is the Co-Founder, President, and CEO of Proxima Clinical Research, Inc. a clinical research partner for the emerging biotech and medical device industry. Over his career, Mr. Coker has served in a number of executive roles. Prior to founding Proxima, he was President, CEO, and Director of MolecularMatch, Inc. a decision support platform for molecular laboratories conducting next generation sequencing in oncology. He served as the Vice President and Oncology Franchise Lead for Worldwide Clinical Trials, Inc., a global CRO working in over 50 countries, and the Vice President of Research Services for McKesson/US Oncology. During his time at McKesson and US Oncology, Mr. Coker had responsibility for the physician research network of more than 250 clinical sites and 700 employees. While at US Oncology, he secured multi-year strategic partnerships with Quintiles (now IQVIA), Glaxo Smith-Kline, Eli Lilly, Genentech, and Novartis. Mr. Coker is a Board Director for Volumetric, a 3D bio printing company headquartered in Houston, TX and an advisor for Bioverge, a curated online investment platform where targeted for healthcare startups.

Throughout his career, Mr. Coker has worked with hundreds of pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies. He has had responsibility for over 500 clinical trials enrolling over 25,000 patients supporting the FDA approval of 25 new drugs.

Mr. Coker received a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Central Arkansas, a M.S. in Pathology from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and J.D. and M.P.H. degrees from Case Western Reserve University. He is a former Asst. State Attorney General, member of the bar, certified molecular biologist CLSp(MB), certified in regulatory affairs RAC(US), and serves on the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) board of reviewers. Mr. Coker is an independent advisor for numerous companies as well as formal programs such as the NIH I-Corps program, Texas Medical Center Innovation (TMCX), and Johnson & Johnson JLABs and Mass Challenge.

Matt Wagener, VP, Clinical Operations, Proxima Clinical Research

Matt Wagener is the Vice President of Clinical Operations at Proxima Clinical Research, Inc., a contract research organization that serves the emerging drug and medical device industries. Matt has over 15 years of industry experience working across multiple life science businesses in key areas including clinical operations, business operations, and business development. Prior to joining the Proxima team, Matt was the Sr. Director of Corporate Operations at the CRO MedSource and held several management positions at McKesson/US Oncology. While at MedSource, Matt successfully managed corporate operations and business development through high growth period building operations to support growth. At US Oncology Matt led clinical and business operations for launch of their oncology CRO through start-up, full service clinical trial operations, and business acquisition. Prior to managing the CRO business unit at US Oncology, he led clinical development for the Lung, GI, Hematology, and Radiation Oncology research programs. He also held other research positions at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in the department of Orthopedic Surgery and MD Anderson Cancer Center in the department of Radiation Oncology. He received his degree in biomedical science from Texas A&M University. Since starting his career in research, he has worked in key sections of basic and clinical research from bench to bedside to management.

Christos Monovoukas, VP, Global M&A Leader / Business Development, Olympus

Christos leads Olympus’ medical business development and strategy function. Christos is a senior executive with extensive US and international success, including evaluating high-growth market opportunities and emerging technologies. Christos is a decisive, action-oriented leader who thrives on challenge and is energized by creating and driving strategy for product innovation/commercialization, market development and business growth. He received his MBA from Harvard University and his MS from Columbia University.

Jonathan Norris, Managing Director, Silicon Valley Bank

Jonathan Norris is a managing director for business development in SVB’s Healthcare practice. Norris oversees business development efforts for banking and lending opportunities as well as spearheading strategic relationships with many healthcare venture capital firms. He also helps SVB Capital through sourcing and advising on limited partnership allocations.

In addition, he speaks at major investor and industry conferences and authors widely cited analyses of healthcare venture capital trends. Norris has more than nineteen years of banking experience working with healthcare companies and venture capital firms.

Norris earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of California, Riverside and a juris doctorate from Santa Clara University.

Marc Chaput, Partner, Gravitas Healthcare

Marc Chaput is a Partner at Gravitas Healthcare, a strategic advisory firm focused on emerging growth medical device companies. Prior to Gravitas, he was a Director in Cowen & Co.’s health care investment banking group, and prior to that he worked in the health care group at Deutsche Bank. He is also on the Advisory Committee of Sweetwater Capital Partners and represents the State of Texas on the Procyrion board. He holds a B.A. from Bates College and an M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

David Cassak, Co-Editor-in-Chief & Managing Partner, MedTech Strategist

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, Partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Casey McGlynn is a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. In 1990, Casey McGlynn formed the life sciences practice at the firm, and today, it has one of the largest practices focused on medtech, healthtech, and biotech companies in the country.

Casey has formed, represented, sold, and taken public many of the most important medical device companies founded over the last 30 years.

Casey has extensive hands-on experience in helping entrepreneurs form, build, fund, and sell their companies. He has formed, participated with the boards of, and invested in companies in all of the major medical device fields. Over the last 30 years, he has built close-working relationships with an unparalleled list of entrepreneurs, doctors, investors, engineers, and managers in this industry. Through his portfolio of companies, he has met with and negotiated with the leaders of all of the major medtech acquirers.

Over much of his career, Casey has participated in forming and managing several small funds, all of which have been top quartile performers. In 2005, he founded Life Science Angels (LSA), an angel organization focused on investing in medtech, healthtech, and biotech companies. Since its formation, LSA has invested over $50 million in more than 40 companies that have received an additional $600+ million in follow-on funding from VCs.

Casey is a member of the board of directors of the Fogarty Institute for Innovation and Medical Device Manufacturers Association and was a founding board member of the emerging business committee of BIO.

Cynthia Yee, Principal, Vensana Capital

Cynthia Yee is a Principal at Vensana Capital. Prior to joining Vensana, Cynthia served as a Principal at Windham Venture Partners where she led the firm’s investments in Cartiva Medical, ClarVista Medical, Personal Genome Diagnostics, and Neuspera Medical and helped open the firm’s San Francisco office. Previously, Cynthia served as Director of Business Development & Strategic Marketing at Epix Therapeutics (fka Advanced Cardiac Therapeutics) and medtech incubator D3 Development Corp, which spun-out three companies, including Spirox. Cynthia was also an investor on the Healthcare team at New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and focused on investments in medical device, biopharmaceutical and healthcare services companies. At NEA, Cynthia helped allocate over $250M in capital to healthcare companies in the peripheral and cardiovascular, spine, diabetes, urology and women’s health industries. Cynthia began her career in equity research, covering medical devices at Piper Jaffray and biopharma at Pacific Growth Equities.

John Kim, Principal, Aphelion Capital

John Hyung-Jun Kim completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Stanford University Medical Center. Dr. Kim completed his undergraduate studies in biochemistry from Harvard University, and is a graduate of Duke University’s School of Medicine and the Fuqua School of Business, where he concentrated on health sector management. Dr. Kim has worked as a medical consultant in biogenetics, and was previously with Bear Stearns & Company as an Equity Research Associate. Dr. Kim continues to practice part-time as a hospitalist, keeping Aphelion Capital current with medical trends.

Dr. Kim sits on the Board of Directors at Siesta Medical.

Noam Krantz, VP Venture Investments, Johnson & Johnson

Noam Krantz is a Vice President of Venture Investments for Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC), focused on Med Device companies. He is based at the Innovation Center in South San Francisco, CA.

Noam came to JJDC after working for many years in business development and Mergers and Acquisitions, completing over $70 billion in high value growth-oriented transactions, in fields ranging from medical devices and pharmaceuticals to semiconductors and software. In his most recent role as VP, Business Development, he added many platforms and technologies to Ethicon’s portfolio, including those in digital surgery (3Di, Auris investment and collaboration), GERD (Torax), Interventional Oncology (NeuWave, Auris collaboration), Wound Closure (barbed sutures) and Energy (Megadyne), to name a few. Noam began his career in Bear Stearns & Co.’s New York investment banking division in 2001, where he worked on advising healthcare and technology companies on M&A and corporate finance transactions. In 2004, he joined Inamed Corporation, as a Senior Manager of Strategy and Corporate Development, and then moved to Mentor Corporation, where he was Vice President of the company’s Corporate Development group, running the Company’s investor relations effort.

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

John Weiser, President First Run Production, Sony Pictures Television

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 Grand, CEO, MedTech Innovator

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.