Mike Carusi
Advanced Technology Ventures
Mike is a General Partner of Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV) and focuses on investments in the biopharmaceutical and medical device sectors. He is based in the firm’s Palo Alto, CA office, where he also serves as a General Partner and Team Leader for Lightstone Ventures. His representative investments include Altura Medical, Ardian (acquired by Medtronic), EndoGastric Solutions, GI Dynamics (ASX: GID), GluMetrics, Holaira, MicroVention (acquired by Terumo), NeuroVista, Plexxikon (acquired by Daiichi Sankyo), PowerVision, Second Genome, and TranS1 (NASDAQ: TSON).
Featured on the Forbes Midas List of top technology investors, Mike is a recognized thought leader in the industry and a frequent speaker at healthcare conferences. He serves as a faculty member of the Stanford Biodesign Emerging Entrepreneurs Forum, sits on the Tuck MBA Advisory Board, and is an advisory board member to the UCSF/Berkeley Venture Innovation Program. Earlier in his career, Mike served as the Director of Business Development for Inhale Therapeutic Systems (now Nektar Therapeutics, NASDAQ: NKTR), a venture-backed pulmonary drug delivery company that went public in 1994. At Inhale, Mike led partnering activities with a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Mike also was a Principal at The Wilkerson Group, a leading management consulting firm focused exclusively on healthcare. At The Wilkerson Group, Mike helped establish the firm’s offices in London and San Francisco. Mike holds an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College and a B.S. from Lehigh University.
Joyce Erony
Amzak Health
Joyce has more than 30 years experience as a principal in investing activities, business development and investment banking. Prior to founding Amzak Health in 2015, she was a Managing Director at Signet Healthcare Partners, a growth capital healthcare fund in New York.
Joyce has led or co-led investments in 25 venture backed companies resulting in more than 12 exits to strategic investors and three IPOs. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Miach Orthopaedics, Contego Medical, Impulse Dynamics, Neuros Medical and Shiratronics. Based in New York City, Joyce leads the Firm’s activities in medical device investing.
Jacques Essinger
Endeavour Vision SA
Jacques joined Endeavour in 2017 and brings more than 30 years of entrepreneurial experience in medical devices ranging from product design, clinical and regulatory validation, scale-up and commercial growth, financing, IPO and trade-sale.
He is currently acting CEO of Polares and Endostim. He was CEO of Symetis SA, which he grew from concept to an established global market player in the field of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implant (TAVI). Symetis was acquired by Boston Scientific in March 2017, at the time of acquisition, Symetis was N°3 in Europe.
Prior to Symetis, Jacques was CEO of Isotis, a tissue-processing company which he brought public in 2000, acquired by Integra Lifescience in 2007. He also founded and developed Symbios Orthopedie SA, a world leader in the field of custom hip implants.
Jacques has a MSc in physics and a PhD in biomechanics from the EPFL (Lausanne).
Chandra P. Leo, M.D.
HBM Partners
Chandra P. Leo, M.D., is a Partner at HBM Partners. He has gained over ten years of experience in healthcare venture capital at HBM Partners and Wellington Partners. Dr. Leo currently serves as a director on the boards of Gynesonics, CardiacAssist, Delenex Therapeutics and i-Optics and as an observer to the board of Symbiomix. He was previously a board director or observer at Anthera Pharmaceuticals (IPO NASDAQ), ChemoCentryx (IPO NASDAQ), ESBATech (acquired by Alcon/Novartis) and Panomics (acquired by Affymetrix). Dr. Leo also worked as a postdoctoral scientist in the Dept. of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Stanford University and as a gynecologist at the University Hospital of Leipzig, Germany. He received his doctoral degree in medicine from the Freie Universitaet Berlin / Charité in Germany and earned his MBA degree with distinction at INSEAD in France.
Christopher M. Owens
President and CEO
Chris has over 30 years of medical device experience holding senior-level executive positions in both commercial and technical areas. He is currently the President & CEO of Gynesonics Inc. Gynesonics is a privately held medical device company, dedicated to advancing women’s health by developing transcervical, uterus-preserving, incisionless, minimally invasive technologies for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. In addition, Chris served on the board of RF Surgical, with products for the detection of retained surgical sponges, which was acquired by Medtronic in 2015.
Prior to joining Gynesonics, Chris was the President & CEO of IDEV Technologies from 2008-2013. IDEV was a privately held medical device company focused on the peripheral vascular market, which was acquired by Abbott in 2013. From 2005-2008, he served as Vice President of Worldwide Marketing for MicroVention, a startup medical device company in the neurovascular space that was purchased by Terumo Corporation. From 2003-2005, he was the Vice President of Global Research and Development for the Surgical Division of Bausch & Lomb.
Chris has held independent board of director positions, board/CEO advisor roles and has been an integral member of board compensation committees with various companies. He has extensive experience in compensation-related matters and in raising capital to sustain company growth through value creating strategies. He has spent extended time in various markets throughout his career holding positions in product development (R&D), manufacturing, sales, marketing and clinical. Chris earned a B.S. and an M.S. degree in Plastics Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and an M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix.
David Pacitti
Chairman of the Board
David Pacitti is President of Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. and Head of the Americas, Siemens Healthineers, as well as Chair of the Board of Gynesonics, Inc.
Based at the U.S. headquarters of Siemens Healthineers in Malvern, Pennsylvania, Pacitti is responsible for leading the marketing, sales, service, and support functions in North America and Latin America, across the entire Healthineers portfolio, including medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, therapy solutions, and services.
Prior to joining Siemens in his current role, Pacitti served as Vice President of Global Marketing as well as Division Vice President of U.S. Commercial Operations, Sales and Marketing at Abbott Vascular where he oversaw the company's business in North America and played pivotal roles in key launches, including Abbott Vascular's first drug-eluting stent franchise and structural heart franchise.
Pacitti also serves on the boards of Apollo Endo-Surgery, the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), and the Siemens Foundation. He is a member of the CEO Council for Growth at the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Corporate Council, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) President's Advisory Group, and the NextGen Advisory Board for the University of Missouri.
A Philadelphia area native, Pacitti holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a minor in Economics from Villanova University, where his football prowess earned him induction into the Villanova Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 2006. Following college, he signed a fee-agent contract in 1990 with the Miami Dolphins as an offensive lineman. The father of three sons and two daughters in addition to being a grandfather, Pacitti resides with his wife and children in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Jeffrey Schwartz
Bain Capital
Jeffrey Schwartz joined Bain Capital in 2004 and is a Managing Director. Prior to his current role, he was a member of Bain Capital’s Private Equity team, where he focused on healthcare investments. Prior to joining Bain Capital, Mr. Schwartz served as an Equity Research Analyst at Lehman Brothers, where he was focused on the aerospace and defense industries working in both New York and London. Mr. Schwartz received an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Palmer Scholar and he graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a B.A. in economics.
Susan Stimson
Zenflow, Inc.
With over 25 years’ experience in healthcare, Susan is recognized as a visionary leader in development and commercialization of new medical technologies in both medical device and pharmaceutical sectors as well as both start-up and large companies.
Susan is the President and CEO of Zenflow, Inc. and serves as Executive in Residence on KCK Group’s Medical Technology team, where she applies her expertise to their portfolio of commercial stage companies and evaluates new investment opportunities. Ms. Stimson also serves as a Board member for Avelas, a pharmaceutical-device company in the oncology sector and is a founding team member of MedtechWomen, an organization dedicated to advancing women in healthcare.
She previously served as Chief Strategy Officer of Intersect ENT, a publicly traded medical device company. As part of the founding team of Intersect ENT, Susan played an instrumental role in the company’s evolution from R&D stage to high growth commercial business by building and leading a variety of its commercial and strategic functions and also led the company’s transformation from medical device to pharmaceutical business as General Manager.
Her past experience also includes serving as an executive of start-up company Mitralign designing the company’s marketing, clinical, and regulatory strategies and stems from many years at Guidant Corporation responsible for top priority products from the aspects of R&D, marketing, and sales. Ms. Stimson holds a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Karen Talmadge, Ph.D.
Board Advisor
Karen Talmadge, Ph.D., is an entrepreneur in the biomedical industry. She is currently President of Nabu Health Care Consulting, Advisor of the Board of Directors of Gynesonics, and a member of the Boards of Directors of Amplyx Pharmaceuticals and Velocity Pharmaceutical Development. She is also the 2014 Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Diabetes Association, and the American Diabetes Association’s Research Foundation Board Vice Chair.
In 2010, she retired from Medtronic Spinal and Biologics, Sunnyvale, CA, as their Vice President, Chief Science Officer of Kyphon Products, and Bakken Fellow. She joined Medtronic in 2007 when it acquired Kyphon Inc., a minimally-invasive spine company she co-founded and funded. Prior to Kyphon’s acquisition, she served as a member of Kyphon’s Board of Directors from the company’s inception in 1994. She also served as Kyphon’s Chief Science Officer since June 2003 and as its Executive Vice President since November 1998. In Kyphon’s start-up phase from 1994 to 1998, she was the company’s President, Chief Executive Officer and Treasurer. She also spent a decade in research and business roles at the biotechnology company, Scios Inc.
She has received multiple awards and recognitions, including the American Diabetes Association’s 2010 Charles H. Best Medal for Distinguished Service in the cause of diabetes, and the Phoenix Medical Device Conference’s 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award. Most recently, she was named a Woman of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal in 2013. An invited speaker at scientific, medical and business conferences, she is also a co-inventor on more than 80 patents worldwide.
Dr. Talmadge received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, and her A.B. from Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA.
