PRINT The following is a representative listing of the distinguished members of the Who's Who Board of directors and advisory boards that Signature Capital does attract for each of its portfolio companies. The breadth and depth of their experience makes them key components in the success of our business partners. Coupling these distinguished directors and others with Signature Capital's expertise, Signature Capital continues to successfully serve companies in the following industries: biotechnology, electronics, semiconductors, technology based Internet and service companies, software and telecommunications. For more information please contact us.
Robert Ackmann became Chief Executive Officer and President of Acoustic Technologies in December 2005. He joined the company in 2001 as the Chief Financial Officer, and added the title of Chief Operating Officer in May 2003. From 1992 to 2001, Mr. Ackmann served as CFO and then COO for Power Trends, Inc., a market leader in miniature power modules. As a result of his leadership, annualized sales grew from $2 million to $80 million and the company was sold to Texas Instruments in November 1999. Mr. Ackmann also serves as a Director of Quickfilter Technologies. With over 27 years of experience in electronics and semiconductors, Mr. Ackmann has held various management roles with technology firms including Hewlett Packard, Smart Scan, Power Trends, and Texas Instruments. Mr. Ackmann earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from The University of Illinois and a Masters in Management from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Helmer P. K. Agersborg, Jr., PhD - Dr. Agersborg's professional experience includes roles in a number of development-stage pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Agersborg is Chairman and President of Afferon Corporation, a company developing a treatment for incontinence, and was previously the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of CollaGenex, a public company that recently began marketing its first product. Dr. Agersborg previously was President of Wyeth-Ayerst Research, the pharmaceutical research arm of American Home Products, where he oversaw the research and development of vaccines, nutritionals, and a variety of pharmaceutical products. He received his PhD in clinical physiology from the University of Tennessee and his BA in physiology from Southern Illinois University. Douglas Bartek - Mr. Bartek is a co-founder of Tango Networks and was its first CEO and President. Mr. Bartek is truly an industry veteran, with over 35 years of high tech company experience. Prior to his tenure at Tango, Mr. Bartek was the founder, CEO and Chairman of Microtune, a firm that Mr. Bartek took public (NASDAQ) during his tenure. Mr. Bartek was a division president at Cirrus Logic, and was president and CEO of Acumos, which he successfully sold to Cirrus. Mr. Bartek has also held key leadership positions at VLSI Technology, Motorola, and Honeywell. Mr. Bartek is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Texas Council of the American Electronics Association and is Chairman of Acoustic Technologies, Inc. He has been recognized as an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner, is an NRCC Businessman of the Year recipient, and most recently won the Metroplex Technology Business Council Tech Titans Emerging Company CEO of the Year award. Mr. Bartek graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BSEE from the University of Texas, and has both an MS in Engineering and an MBA from Arizona State University. Brad Boston - Mr. Boston is Senior Vice President and CIO of Cisco Systems, Inc. he joined Cisco in August 2001 and is responsible for the company's worldwide use of information technology. Previously, Mr. Boston was the Executive Vice President of Operations at Corio, an enterprise-focused Internet ASP. At Corio he was instrumental in redefining their product offering and business model. Prior to joining Corio, Mr. Boston was Executive Vice President of product development and delivery at the Sabre Group (NYSE: TSG) in Dallas, Texas. Mr. Boston was brought to Sabre to strengthen the executive team in preparation for their spin-out from American Airlines (AMR), the historic transaction that created a leading IT firm valued at more than their former parent company. In addition, he managed the early development, operations and support of Travelocity.com, led the largest system conversion in the airline industry when USAirways converted to Sabre, and architected the development and implementation of the first phases of a technology plan to modernize the Sabre system infrastructure and applications. He has also held executive positions at American Express, Visa, United Airlines/Covia and at American National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago, where he began his career. Mr. Boston is a recognized team builder and leader and is known for his business acumen. Throughout his career he has had a tremendous track record of technological innovation and a proven ability to adapt to diverse corporate cultures. He has successfully managed organizations in companies both large and small across multiple industries that are well known for harnessing technology for enhanced services, productivity gains and competitive advantage. Mr. Boston holds a B.S. in Computer Science from University of Illinois, College of Engineering, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois and is a member of the BMC Software Board of Advisors, Compaq Board of Advisors, Harvard Group Board of Advisors, and the E-business Advisory Board for Texas Christian University M.J. Neeley School of Business. Benjamin Campbell - Mr. Campbell is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and has led a number of successful startups in his 15 year career. These include: as President-Europe - the founding, building, and subsequent sale of European operations for UNIFI Communications (a $50 million revenue, global data communications operator); as COO - leading the product development and revenue growth of Mentor Technologies (an online eLearning partner of Cisco Systems) from $12m to $40m in 2 years; and as CEO - the turnaround and subsequent sale of BTS Partners, Inc. (a venture-backed, internetworking, professional services firm which was on the brink of bankruptcy in 2001, before Mr. Campbell rationalized the headcount, re-focused the business strategy on the enterprise financial services sector, and hired an entirely new, seasoned, business development team which subsequently brought in over $6 million in business from five new Fortune 500 accounts). Steve Cone - Mr. Cone is Managing Director and head of advertising and brand management at Citigroup Global Wealth Management which includes The Citigroup Private Bank, Citigroup/Smith Barney, and Citigroup Investment Research. Along with two other senior executives he also coordinates worldwide brand management for all of Citigroup's businesses in more than 100 countries and encompassing 200 million customers. Prior to joining Citigroup, Mr. Cone was president of Fidelity's retail business and Fidelity's Chief Marketing Officer. At Fidelity, he launched a successful advertising campaign featuring renowned former portfolio manager Peter Lynch, helping drive significant increases in the sale of Fidelity mutual funds. He also managed Fidelity's successful expansion into discount brokerage, making it the world's largest provider in that industry. Over his thirty-year career, half of it in financial services, Mr. Cone has earned a reputation for innovative marketing, with stops along the way at Key Corp, an earlier stint at Citibank, and seven years at American Express managing their branding strategy worldwide. Mr. Cone's first book was published by Bloomberg Press in the fall of 2005, titled "Steal These Ideas: Marketing Secrets That Will Make You A Star!" It has been distributed in 15 foreign language versions and was the #1 Marketing Book in America in the winter of 2005/2006. In 1972, Steve graduated magna cum laude from Coe College with a degree in English literature. John Costello - Mr. Costello is the President, CEO and a Director of Zounds. Mr. Costello has been involved in some of the most visible business turnarounds and some of the most successful marketing campaigns, including "Fighting Cavities Is The Whole Idea Behind Crest", "Come See The Softer Side Of Sears", and "You Can Do It. We Can Help." at The Home Depot. Mr. Costello was one of the early leaders of multi-channel marketing and retailing to leverage the synergies between retail stores, catalogs, direct response TV and the Internet to drive total sales and profit. On the technology front, Mr. Costello served as Chief Global Marketing Officer of Yahoo! and as President and Chief Operating Officer of ACNielsen USA, where he led a major restructuring of Nielsen's product line, technology platform and customer service. On the retail front, Mr. Costello served as Executive Vice President of Merchandising and Marketing at The Home Depot, where he held responsibilities for the company's merchandising, marketing, advertising, new store concepts, public affairs, catalog, eCommerce and global sourcing, including the company's sourcing offices in China and Mexico. He also served as Senior Executive Vice President of Sears, where he was a key member of the team that revitalized Sears with its "Softer Side of Sears" marketing campaign. He was also responsible for the P&L of Sears' direct marketing business unit and launched Sears.com and Sears' specialty catalog business to replace the "Big Book". Mr. Costello served as a member of Sears' Executive Committee and as a member of the Board of Directors of Sears Canada, Inc. Mr. Costello began his career at The Proctor & Gamble Co., where he held a number of senior marketing and brand management positions in the personal care and beauty care divisions, working on such leading brands as Crest, Head & Shoulders, and Sure, and also served as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Pepsi-Cola, USA. A frequent speaker on industry trends, Mr. Costello was named one of the 30 Most Influential People in Marketing by Advertising Age, one of the Top 10 Merchants by DSN Retailing Today and was elected to the Retail Marketing Hall of Fame in 1997. He is a past director of The Quaker Oats Company (NYSE) and The Bombay Company (NYSE), and is current director of the American Film Institute (AFI), the Steppenwolf Theatre, the Georgia Aquarium, and Aspen Marketing Services. Mr. Costello is also a past director of the Direct Marketing Association and a past chairman of both The Ad Council and the Association of National Advertisers. Kent Dickinson - Mr. Dickinson spent most of his non-Eggs Overnight career, 15 years, at United Technologies Corporation with the Otis Elevator division. While at Otis, Kent had an unusual, multi-faceted, fast track path, with many senior assignments, including roles in sales, large account management, branch management, marketing, customer service, service operations, channel management, and strategy. Kent also was assigned multiple turnaround assignments at Otis as well. In the mid nineties, in a 3-year break from Otis, Kent was a senior sales manager at Marking Service Inc, a company specializing in equipment tags, pipe markers, and specialty signage focusing in the Process Chemical, Paper, and Petroleum industries. While still working fulltime at Otis, in 1999 and 2000, Kent entered an Executive MBA program, attending class on weekends for two years at Mercer University in Atlanta; his graduate thesis became the basis for Eggs. In 2003, Kent started his dream company, Eggs Overnight (previously named Transition Packaging, Inc, or Tranzip) , to develop his vision of a complete spectrum of reusable shipping containers for packaging solutions to be sold for uses of intra Company and express parcel shipping, while working part time at other activities to fund the start-up himself. By 2005, Kent was full time at Eggs, gaining minimum early funding from several "angels" and it was in this window of time that he began to extend his packaging vision to a service vision. Design, execution, and patent efforts leveraged his vision to combine his Boomerang (container management) technology based service concept with reusable container handling technology for the express parcel delivery channel. Kent has a BS degree in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (1986) and studied multiple languages, including Spanish, Norwegian, and Mandarin Chinese. Glenn Etherington - Mr. Etherington is currently Chief Financial Officer for eCommerce Industries, Inc. Previously he was Chief Financial Officer for MetaSolv Software, Inc., directed its IPO, and was instrumental in the company's eventual sale to Oracle. Prior to joining MetaSolv, Mr. Etherington spent eleven years as Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of Brite Voice Systems, Inc., and directed its IPO and subsequent public stock registrations. Before joining Brite, he held various accounting and financial positions, including Chief Financial Officer with American City Business Journals, Inc., where he participated in two public stock offerings and various mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Etherington was a certified public accountant and spent four years in public accounting with Arthur Andersen & Co. He has a BBA with an emphasis in accounting from Wichita State University. Joseph Farrelly - Mr. Farrelly is presently Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an $18 billion world leader in the development and marketing of pharmaceutical products. Previously, Mr. Farrelly was Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Vivendi Universal, a $20+ billion entertainment and liquor manufacturer and marketer. From 1992 to 1998, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Nabisco, an $8.4 billion food manufacturer. From 1988 to 1992, he was Corporate Vice President of Information Systems Development for Automatic Data Processing (ADP), a $2.5 billion computer services company. Between 1980 and 1988, he was Vice President of Research and Development at Applied Data Research (ADR), a software company, where he directed the development and support services of ADR's mainframe and personal computer software products. Mr. Farrelly is currently a member of the Research Board in New York City (a leading information technology analysis company) and participates in Gartner Group's Information Technology Executive Program. Mr. Farrelly has a B.A. in Mathematics from Providence College, and an M.B.A. from the University of Connecticut. George M. Graham - Mr. Graham serves as a consultant to the semiconductor industry with customers that include TSMC of Taiwan, a leading semiconductor foundry. From 1958 to 1991, he held a variety of management positions with Texas Instruments in Dallas and Houston, including Senior Vice President for Corporate Quality. He was also chairman of Texas Instrument's Corporate Quality Council, Logistics Council and Manufacturing Council and was a member of U.S. Quality Council ll of the Conference Board. Jon Guyett, President & Director - Jon has 20 years of experience in the computer, express logistics and industrial industries. Prior to joining Eggs Overnight, he led the Global Logistics Organization for GE Infrastructure Energy. Before that, Jon spent 11 years at DHL Express based out of Bahrain, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brussels and South Florida in a variety of roles including Logistics Operations, Sales, Consultancy, General Management and ultimately was the VP of Sales for DHL's Logistics businesses in the Americas. Jon is educated as a Bachelors of Engineering in Production Engineering and has an MBA from Manchester Business School in the UK. T. Curtis Holmes, Jr. - Mr. Holmes served as President and Chief Executive Officer of MetaSolv Software from July 2003 to December 2006, returning the company to profitability and leading the organization through its sale to Oracle Corporation. Previously, Mr. Holmes served as President and Chief Operating Officer, overseeing significant global expansion initiatives and acquisitions, including acquiring operations support systems software assets from Nortel Networks in early 2002, and acquiring London-based Orchestream Holdings plc in 2003. Prior to joining MetaSolv in January 2001, Mr. Holmes was Vice President of the Intelligent Network unit of Lucent Technologies. Under his direction, the Intelligent Network product group achieved significant global expansion, market leadership position, and sustained revenue growth and profitability. He has more than 20 years experience in the communications industry, including progressively responsible positions at AT&T Networks Systems and AT&T Bell Laboratories. Mr. Holmes received an M.S. in Computer Science from Purdue University and a B.S. in Computer Science from Southern University. Mr. Holmes also holds a seat on the Board of Directors for Elanti Systems. Bannus Hudson - Mr. Hudson is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Beverages & More!, bringing an impressive 29-year track record of successfully building and managing business entities. From 1995 to 1997 Mr. Hudson served as President and CEO of Equity Enterprises, Inc., an independent strategic advisory service for CEO's and corporations during periods of growth, start-up, turnaround and expansion. As President and CEO of United States Shoe Corporation (NYSE) from 1990 through 1995, Mr. Hudson successfully turned around the company's $700 million Footwear Group and completed a major restructuring of the company's $1.2 billion Apparel Retailing Group, which included the Casual Corner & Petite Sophisticate specialty retail chains. He negotiated the sale of the Footwear Group for a substantial premium to Nine West Group and the sale of U.S. Shoe to Luxottica SpA of Italy in 1995. U.S. Shoe's market capitalization was $400-500 million in the Fall of 1993, when most of the restructuring and management team changes were completed; this nearly doubled over the following twelve months, and was increased to about $1.4 billion with the final merger negotiations with Luxottica SpA. Mr. Hudson joined U.S. Shoe as part of LensCrafters in 1985, where he served as President and CEO. Mr. Hudson was instrumental in helping the company to achieve worldwide industry leadership and growing the chain from 25 stores and $40 million in annual sales in 1985 to over 600 stores and $900 million in sales. Previously, Mr. Hudson enjoyed a seventeen-year career with Procter & Gamble where he held senior level positions in manufacturing, brand management and category management for a number of the company's most successful brands. Mr. Hudson has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kansas. Bill Huff - Mr. Huff was the President of the Boston Globe, a New York Times media company, from 1998 through 2001. Previously Mr. Huff rose from Controller to Vice President to Chief Financial Officer to Executive Vice President for Affiliated Publications, owner of the Boston Globe. Mr. Huff also serves on the Board of Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries and The Parent Review and is a former President of The Wayland Public Schools Foundation. Mr. Huff earned an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. Nigel Jones - Mr. Jones is a partner at the venture capital firm TWJ Capital LLC. Prior to joining TWJ Capital, Mr. Jones was a principal on the U.S. leveraged buyout team at the Carlyle Group from 1999 to 2006. His responsibilities included leading the execution process for new investments, monitoring current investments and sourcing new deals. From 1997 to 1999, Mr. Jones was an associate in the Technology Group (Mergers & Acquisitions) at Goldman Sachs & Co where he performed valuation, strategic analysis, structuring, and negotiation work. Mr. Jones holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) from Harvard University. Prior to attending business school, Mr. Jones served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years. James V. Kehoe - Mr. Kehoe is currently the Principal in Highmark Associates, a consulting firm serving the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. He also serves as Senior Consultant and Member of the Scientific Advisory Board at The Genesis Group. Prior to founding Highmark Associates in 1987, Mr. Kehoe served as Executive Vice President of Chiron Corporation, President of the Immunodiagnostics Division of Becton Dickinson, Inc., Vice President and General Manager of Pfizer Diagnostics and Vice President of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering, Summa Cum Laude, from the College of the City of New York and a Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the then Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. Anne Kennedy - Ms. Kennedy is the founder and Managing Partner of Beyond Ink. With three decades' experience in marketing communications, Ms. Kennedy founded Beyond Ink (www.beyondink.com) in 1997 to create an advertising and public relations agency focused on search engine marketing (SEM). Certified an internet professional by Novell, Inc., Ms. Kennedy is on the board of directors of Mesda, Maine's IT trade association, and a member of the Public Relations Society of America. She frequently writes and speaks on web marketing and online communications, and publishes Beyond Ink's industry digest SEO Newsnet (www.seonews.net). Ms. Kennedy is a regular panelist at Search Engine Strategies and WebMaster World search conferences, as well as for industry trade shows for tourism, colleges and universities, and conferences planning. Her expertise includes search media trends, advertising tactics, website forensics, and developing website strategies. Jeff Levick - Mr. Levick has held various executive management positions within Google's advertising sales organization since 2001. As Director, Global Industry Development and Marketing, Jeff currently leads three key areas for Google's North American Media Sales Organization: (i) Industry Development, (ii) Sales Marketing and Strategy, and (iii) Global and Multicultural Development. Prior to that Mr. Levick was Director of the European Vertical Markets Group and a member of Google's senior management team for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). In that role, Mr. Levick was responsible for Google's pan-EMEA industry sales and strategy teams, which advise Google's largest global clients across 12 countries and a range of industries, including financial services, retail, travel, entertainment, consumer goods. healthcare, technology and automotive. Prior to joining the European team, Mr. Levick ran Google's Financial Services group in the US, where he was responsible for developing and managing Google's relationships with North American financial services companies and publishers. Before joining Google, Mr. Levick was with ClearGauge, a leading online business-to-business marketing consultancy, where he was the Senior Director of Strategic Alliances and General Counsel. Prior to ClearGauge, Mr. Levick was the Vice President of Business Development at an online business-to-business portal for independent retailers, and served as a corporate attorney at the international law firm of Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman in Chicago. Mr. Levick holds a BA from New York University and a law degree from DePaul University in Chicago. Ray Mabus, Director - The Hon. Ray Mabus has served our country as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, as Governor of Mississippi from 1988-1992 and as U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 1994-1996. Mr. Mabus also has a distinguished career in the private sector where he was Chairman, President and CEO of Foamex International from 2006-2007 and President of Frontline Global Resources from 1998-2002. Mr. Mabus has been engaged in various consulting roles and has an extensive background in private, non-profit and public company Board work. Mr. Mabus also serves as a senior advisor to the Presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama. Mr. Mabus received his B.A. from the University of Mississippi, M.A. from Johns Hopkins University and J.D., Magna Cum Laude from the Harvard Law School. L. William McIntosh - Mr. McIntosh is a consultant to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry both independently and through a partnership with QED Technologies in Malvern, Pennsylvania. He was Chief Business Officer of FASgen, Inc. and a Partner in FASgen Diagnostics, LLC. Formerly, Mr. McIntosh was President and Chief Operating Officer of Nexell Therapeutics Inc., a cellular therapeutics company. With over 25 years of experience in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, he has held senior management positions in a number of companies including VIMRx Pharmaceuticals, a company active in pharmaceutical, laboratory and immunotherapy businesses, as Vice President of Business Development and CFO; Zynaxis, Inc., a gene delivery and diagnostics company, as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Commercial Operations; Boehringer Mannheim Pharmaceuticals Corporation, as Vice President for Sales, Marketing and Business Development; and Medco Containment Services, Inc., a leading company in the pharmaceutical benefit management business, as Executive Vice President for Marketing and Vice President of Corporate Development. From 1972 to 1986, he held numerous senior management positions at Merck. Mr.McIntosh received an MBA degree and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management at Lehigh University. Lawrence Michaelis, M.D. Dr. Michaelis attended Indiana University Medical School and trained in General, Thoracic, and Cardiovascular Surgery at the University of Virginia, where he also earned a Master's Degree in Surgical Physiology. After four years as Senior Surgeon at the National Heart and Lung Institute of the National Institutes of Health, he was recruited in 1975 as the first Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Northwestern University Medical School (NUMS) and Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) in Chicago, a position he held until 1989. From 1989-2000 he served as Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice-President of Medical Affairs at NMH and as an Associate Dean of NUMS. Dr. Michaelis has served as Vice-President of the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation and as President of Northwestern Healthcare Corporation. He has been a member of, and has served in an array of management and board positions in public and private companies. He has been involved with a wide variety of professional organizations including the Presidency of the American Heart Association of Metropolitan Chicago., and remains a tenured Professor of Surgery at NUMS. Dr. Michaelis is the author of over one hundred and thirty peer reviewed journal articles. John P. Phair, M.D. - Dr. Phair is Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Northwestern University, at the Feinberg School of Medicine. He is a world-class authority on HIV and infectious diseases and brings to VIRxSYS a career focused on host defense in infectious diseases and the treatment of HIV disease. Most recently, he was the Chair of the AIDS Research Advisory Committee at the National Institutes of Health (NIAID). He has also served as Director of the AIDS Program at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Executive Committee Member of the AIDS Clinical Trial Group, and Chairman of the Northwestern University Hospital Task Force on AIDS. Dr. Phair has published over 300 articles and since 1998, has served as Editor of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Mark Ranalli - Since earning his MBA at Tuck in 1992, Mr. Ranalli has held executive roles in two start-up environments. From 1992 till 1999, he was President of UNIFI Communications, a 700-person, IP-based enhanced messaging company. UNIFI built one of the first global IP-based networks. While at UNIFI, Mark was responsible for the Sales and Marketing, Product Strategy and Product Development efforts. Mr. Ranalli was instrumental in the rapid growth of UNIFI - from first revenue to over $50 million in its first 4 years. He served both on the board of directors of UNIFI's joint venture with the Neichemen Corporation in Japan, and later on the board of directors of UNIFI Communications. In 1999, Mr. Ranalli left UNIFI to launch BaseSix, an internet centric, marketing strategy firm as its CEO. While at BaseSix, he led its very rapid growth from inception to over $12 million annualized revenue and 70 employees within its first year of operation. While at BaseSix, Mr. Ranalli had the opportunity to work closely with several large communications and convergence centric clients, including AT&T Broadband, AOL, Comcast, HBO, StarzEncore and Cox Cable. He sold BaseSix in 2005 to begin the development of Helium. Prior to attending Tuck at Dartmouth, Mr. Ranalli worked at AT&T Computer Systems in a sales capacity and as an investment banker at Prudential Securities. Mark earned his BS EE from Stanford University in 1987. Riku H. Rautsola, PhD - Dr. Riku Rautsola is the Company's President and CEO, and has more than 20 years of international biopharmaceutical experience. Prior to joining VIRxSYS, Dr. Rautsola was President and CEO of Borean Pharma A/S, a biotechnology company in Denmark specializing in novel, second-generation antibody analogue protein therapeutics. Dr. Rautsola also was CEO of Cosmix Molecular Biologicals, Ltd., and he held various senior executive positions at Boehringer Ingelheim, Beiersdorf and Fresenius, each of which are leading international biopharmaceutical companies. During his career, Dr. Rautsola initiated a program with UNAIDS, WHO, Unicef and the UN for the prevention of Mother-To-Child transmission of HIV. He also co-founded and chaired "Accelerating Access," the five-company organization (BMS, Boehringer, GSK, Merck, and Roche) focused on providing low-cost HIV treatments in developing countries. Dr. Rautsola has a doctorate in health economics from the University of Munich, Germany. John Roth - Mr. Roth is currently head of Fidelity's New Millenium Fund. Prior to this he was head of Fidelity's New Media and Internet Fund. Hugh Sawyer, Executive Chairman - Mr. Sawyer has a 30 year career in leadership roles in business-to-business service companies substantially in the logistics, transportation and security industries. He served as President and CEO of Wells Fargo Armored Service Corporation, a division of Borg-Warner Corporation from 1988-1995 leading the growth of this company into third party ATM servicing. Mr. Sawyer served as President and CEO of The Cunningham Group from 1995-1996 a business he sold in an industry consolidation. He was President and CEO of National Linen Service from 1996-2000, the nation's largest industrial laundry where he led the divestiture of the company's uniform business and supervised numerous acquisitions. From 2000-2001 Mr. Sawyer served as President and CEO of Aegis Communications Group, Inc. a portfolio holding of Thayer Capital and Questor Management. Mr. Sawyer was President and CEO of publicly traded Allied Holdings, Inc. from 2001-2007, North America's largest transporter of new and used automobiles with annual revenues of approximately $1 billion. Mr. Sawyer has served in numerous Board roles including as an independent member of the Board of Directors and Restructuring Committee of Spiegel, Inc., the parent company of Eddie Bauer and as an independent member of the Board of Hines Horticulture, Inc. Paula Schmitz (Secretary to the Board and General Counsel) Ms. Schmitz has extensive experience in technology based companies, handling a variety of legal issues including patents and other intellectual property rights, as well as health care and technology licensing. Ms. Schmitz has worked in both large law firms and as inside general counsel to technology companies in biotechnology, software, hardware, internet, medical device, wireless communications and healthcare. In addition to her legal background Paula has an extensive professional background in corporate finance, is a Chartered Financial Analyst (C.F.A.) and an arbitrator for the N.A.S.D. Ms. Schmitz earned a law degree from The University of Texas at Austin, following her completion of a Ph.D. in finance as well as a M.B.A. also from The University of Texas at Austin. Ms. Schmitz earned her undergraduate degree from Davidson College. Mary Kay Scott - Ms. Scott leads the Innovation and Technology Adoption practice at HealthTech, providing direction for their members on planning and implementation strategies for new technologies. Mary Kate has had extensive experience working with senior teams on strategy development for healthcare entities, both for profit and not for profit. Her interests lie at the intersection of consumers, health technology, and new care and business models. She led the recent California Healthcare Foundation research on retail healthcare clinics and the impacts of new care settings, providers, and payments on the wider healthcare delivery system. She has also done extensive research on market approaches for medical device firms, shifting consumer healthcare finances, and trends in global bio business venture capital. She is an Adjunct Professor at USC's Marshall School of Business, where she lectures on Entrepreneurship in Life Sciences. Previously she was an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company where she worked with Fortune 100 clients on strategy and marketing. Mary Kate holds degrees from The University of Western Ontario Canada and The Australian National University. William N. Sick, Jr. - Mr. Sick is a former Co-Managing Director of Signature Capital LLC, a venture capital firm that he co-founded in 1997. Mr. Sick is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Business Resources International, Inc. located in Winnetka, Illinois. He is also Chairman of Acoustic Technologies, Inc. During the 1980's, he was Chief Executive Officer and a director of American National Can Company and was Executive Vice President and a Director of Texas Instruments Incorporated. At Texas Instruments, Mr. Sick served in a variety of management positions, including President of the Semiconductor Business and President of Texas Instruments Asia. Mr. Sick is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, where he was a former chairman, and of the Santa Fe Institute and of Rice University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science Degrees in Electrical Engineering. Robert O. Silco - Mr. Silco was previously Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Acoustic Technologies from May 1998 until his retirement in June 2002. He is currently President and CEO of Quickfilter Technologies. Mr. Silco has 35 years of marketing, sales and management experience in the semiconductor industry, including extensive contact with the telecommunications industry. He has made significant contributions to Kearfott, RCA, Texas Instruments, VLSI Technology and Compass Design Automation. Andrew Silver - Mr. Silver is a co-founder of Tango Networks. Mr. Silver is an entrepreneur and business technologist with over thirteen years in the telecommunications industry. He has held various senior management and director roles within large and small companies in the cellular industry including Nortel, Ericsson, Comverse Technologies and startup Spatial Wireless (acquired by Alcatel). Mr. Silver holds an MBA and Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from McGill University, and five patents in wireless telecommunications. He has received multiple CEO Top Talent Awards and has presented at leading industry forums on wireless networks and services. From 2004-2005 and 1997-2001, Mr. Silver was with Nortel where he was responsible for the network architecture for converged voice and data networks. Previously he was responsible for the conception, business justification and championing of Nortel’s E-mobility next generation wireless services program. From 2003-2004 he held the role of Director of Product Marketing for Mobile Data Solutions at Comverse Technologies. From 2001-2002, he was with startup Spatial Wireless where he held the positions of Director of Systems Engineering, Product Line Management and Partner Alliances. From 1992-1997 at Ericsson Research, Mr. Silver was responsible for systems engineering and design of GSM and ANSI-41 based wireless telecommunications networks. Edward F. Staiano - Dr. Staiano is the Chairman and CEO of Sorrento Investment Group, working with start up ventures in the Internet and Telecommunications areas. Prior to starting his own investment company, Dr. Staiano was the Chairman and CEO of Iridium World Communications Limited (IWCL). Before this, he was President of the General Systems Sector at Motorola, including the Cellular Subscriber, the Cellular Infrastructure, the Network Ventures and the Satellite Communications Groups. Dr. Staiano started his career at Motorola in 1973 and he took over operation of the cellular business at its inception in 1980. He retired from Motorola in 1996 after a successful 23-year career. Previously, Dr. Staiano was Director of the Office of Computer Activities and Associate Professor of Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering at Bucknell University for 13 years. Dr. Staiano earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from Bucknell University and holds a Ph.D in mechanical engineering from the University of New Mexico. Dr. Staiano also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Bucknell University, is a Director of BoneCare International, and Apriva. Mark C. Thomas - Mr. Thomas has held multiple operational and financial leadership positions in healthcare and financial markets throughout his career, including CFO of Upstream Rehabilitation, Inc.; Vice President and CFO for BISYS Insurance Services, Inc.; CFO of Securicor USA; COO and CFO at Healthcare Innovations, Inc, Vice President of Finance and Controller at Eagle Rehab Corporation; Director of Finance and Reimbursement for Caremark Orthopedic Services, Inc. (a subsidiary of Baxter International), and Business Development Manager at Baxter Orthopedic Services, Inc. Mr. Thomas earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse and is a C.P.A. (Illinois). Samuel L. Thomasson - Mr. Thomasson served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Acoustic Technologies from 1998 until August 2005 before leaving to found Zounds, a company focused on hearing aids and listening devices. Mr. Thomasson has more than 20 years of experience in the analog and digital signal processing fields in design, operations, quality and marketing management roles at companies which include Motorola, VLSI Technology, and Medtronic. Mr. Thomasson's experience includes extensive work with several major customers including AT&T, IBM, Intel, and Hewlett Packard. Mr. Thomasson earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. He has been granted 21 patents and has 18 pending applications in the areas of audio and telecommunications technology. William Turner, Director - Managing Director of Signature Capital, a venture capital firm that he co-founded in 1997 and an affiliate of the Placement Agent. From 1983 to 1989, Mr. Turner served as President, Chief Operating Officer and a Director of Automatic Data Processing (ADP - NYSE), a computerized transaction processing, data communication and information services firm with 1989 annual revenues of over $2 billion. In 1989, Mr. Turner formed Turner and Partners, a management services firm, specializing in the management of leveraged buy outs. For one client, Forstmann Little, he served as Chairman and/or Chief Executive Officer for over thirty separate business units with combined annual sales of over $2.5 billion. From 1979 to 1983, he served as the President of Texas Instruments' Consumer Products Division. Earlier in his career, he held systems engineering, marketing and senior management positions at Sylvania Electronics and Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). He has served on the Board of Directors of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac - NYSE) since 1990 and currently serves on the boards of several private venture capital companies including Acoustic Technologies, NetNumber, ZOUNDS, Tango Networks, Helium, OurStage and VIRxSYS Corporation. Alastair Westgarth - Mr. Westgarth is Senior Vice President and CTO of Airspan. Previously he was Senior VP of Inner Wireless, EVP Engineering at First Broadcasting, CEO and President of Navini Networks and VP Product Line Management for Nortel. Mr. Westgarth has spent 16 years in the wireless and data communication industry, five years as part of mobile operator Bell Mobility, six years with Nortel's Wireless Networks and five years at Navini Networks. Mr. Westgarth has held various management and leadership positions within R&D, Operations, Product Line Management and Marketing. He was on the advisory boards of Spatial Wireless and Genesis Campus, and the Board of Directors for Valere Power, Inc. John W. White (Non-Executive Chairman) Mr. White recently retired as Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Compaq Computer Corporation. In this role, he served as a member of the executive management team for Compaq and managed Compaq's worldwide management information systems activities. Prior to Compaq, Mr. White had a 28-year career with Texas Instruments where he served in various management and technical roles, including 13 years as vice president and Chief Information Officer and 5 years as President of the Information Technology Group. At Texas Instruments he was responsible for the deployment of worldwide standardized management information systems, implementation of a global voice and data network, and for developing the Information Technology business, including the IEF CASE tool. Mr. White also spent 4 years with Electronic Data Systems developing the EDS on-line transaction processing system for the health care, life insurance, and banking industries. Mr. White is currently serving as an advisor for several companies including CITRIX Systems (board member), TIBCO Software (chairman of the advisory board), ECOM Worldwide (board member), MetaSolv Software (chairman of the board), Encentris (board member), and eTopware (chairman of the board). Mr. White has a B.S. in mathematics and physics from Central Missouri State University and a M.S. in mathematics from the University of Kansas. William Wittenburg - Mr. Wittenburg is the Founder/CEO of 8th Ring, Inc. - specializing in next generation browser technology for mobile phones. Prior to this Mr. Wittenburg was co-Founder/CTO of Maven networks, a pioneering infrastructure services company which specializes in design and deployment of interactive broadband video channels. Before moving to Maven, Mr. Wittenburg was an early executive team member at ATG, one of the first providers of eCommerce engines, where he led the Engineering team that took the company from $400k revenue to over $138m in revenue over 6 years - during which time the company went public at a $multi-billion valuation. Prince K. Zachariah, M.D., Ph.D - Dr. Zachariah has recently retired as Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Medical School, as an active clinician in both primary care/cardiology at the Mayo Clinic, and as the Medical Director of Information Technology for the entire Mayo Foundation. He is a highly respected internist and cardiologist who also served as Chairman of the Department of Medicine at The Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville for a number of years. Dr Zachariah is a distinguished clinician and recognized pioneer and national leader in the field of medical informatics and he continues to serve as a special consultant to major healthcare IT companies. He also sits on the boards of several private, non-IT, healthcare focused companies. He has received a number of prestigious awards and has been a regular speaker at major national and international societies. He has authored over one hundred publications spanning topics such as General Internal Medicine, Hypertension, Cardiovascular Pharmacology, Diabetes, and Medical Informatics. Dr. Zachariah has received a B.S. in Zoology and an M.S. in Biology from the University of Kerala, Ph.D.s in both Microbiology,/Biochemistry and Pharmacology from the University of Washington, and an M.D. from the Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Board Advisors Edward L. Applebaum M.D. (Medical Advisory Board) Dr. Applebaum is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Northwestern University Medical School since 2000. Previously, he served in that capacity at The University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a member of, and has served as President of, numerous prestigious academic organizations of ENT surgeons. Among his honors are the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the medical school at Wayne State University, the Distinguished Faculty Award from the University of Illinois Medical School and The Frank Netter International Award for 1999. He is the developer of two widely used middle ear implants that bear his name and for which he holds U.S. patents. His practice has been limited to otology for the past 25 years. Dr. Applebaum is the co-author of a book and has published over 130 scientific articles and book chapters. He was the Editor of the American Journal of Otolaryngology for five years and serves on the editorial boards of three otolaryngology journals. Brigitte Autran, MD, PhD - Groupe Hospitalier Pitie-Salpetriere - Paris, France Sarah Cairns - Ms. Cairns is an entertainment industry expert in Beverly Hills, CA. Sean Conlon M.D. (Medical Advisory Board) Dr. Conlon is an ENT surgeon in private practice in Fort Collins Colorado. He has a special interest in hearing loss. He completed his residency in Otolaryngology at Northwestern University Medical School and had additional fellowship training in Otology/Neurotology at Northwestern and the Ear Research Foundation in Sarasota Florida. Dr. Conlon has an extensive clinical practice with a strong emphasis on hearing disorders. He has published papers in peer reviewed journals and presented at national scientific organizations. He is a Diplomat of the American Board of Otolaryngology and a member of a number of ENT societies. Sean is especially facile in the business aspects of hearing disorders and serves as a consultant to the Northport Private Equity Group. Steven Deeks, MD - University of California at San Francisco - San Francisco, California Sam Figler - Mr. Figler is the former Vice President North American Operations and former Vice President of Global Sales for Yahoo!. Carl June, MD - University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Christine Katlama, MD - Groupe Hospitalier Pitie-Salpetriere - Paris, France Daniel Kuritzkes, MD - Harvard University - Cambridge, Massachusetts Joep Lange, MD - Academic Medical Centre - Amsterdam, The Netherlands James McDonald, Au.D., Sc.D. (Medical Advisory Board) Dr. McDonald is a prominent audiologist who holds a Doctor's degree in Audiology and Science from the University of Arizona and Johns Hopkins University. Dr. McDonald is an active clinician and a driving force in American Audiology. He is past present of The Society of Dispensing Audiologists, is a member of the Accreditation Commission of Audiology Education, and currently serves as the Director of AuDNet; a nation-wide network of dispensing audiologists. He is a member of virtually all of the important national Audiology societies. Dr. McDonald's research interests include applied psychoacoustics as it relates to the diseased ear and the electrophysiology of audition, specifically to clinical applications of the auditory evoked potential. He is the author of a number of peer-reviewed publications and has presented his work at a wide array of prestigious national Audiology organizations. Andy Miller - Mr. Miller has a proven track record in identifying and responding to the continually evolving needs of the high-tech marketplace. In 1977, Mr. Miller founded Miller Communications, now Miller/Shandwick Technologies, the first firm to specialize in public relations for the IT industry. He led that firm from a one-person start-up to a $60 million, nine-office, global public relations network. Prior to founding Miller Communications, Andy served in various editorial capacities at Little, Brown & Co., as staff writer for the Associated Press, and as Associate Editor of The Harvard Business Review. Mr. Miller is currently on the Advisory Board for the Internet Capital Group, VennWorks Inc., and Bullhorn, Inc., and is a member of Walnut Venture and Common Angels, venture groups comprised of select technology and investment leaders targeting emerging technologies and promising start-ups. Mr. Miller is also on the Advisory Council for Neurobiology at the Harvard Medical School. He has served as a member of the Governor's Committee on Telecom Policy for the State of Massachusetts, known as Mass Telecom, an early member of the Massachusetts Software Council, and a Trustee of the Computer Museum. Julio Montaner, MD - British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS - Vancouver, British Columbia Robert Murphy, MD - Northwestern University - Evanston, Illinois Paula Pitha-Rowe (Chairman, Scientific Advisory Board) Dr. Pitha-Rowe is a Professor of Oncology and has a Joint Appointment in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at the John Hopkins University. Dr. Pitha-Rowe received her PhD in Biochemistry in 1964 from the Academy of Sciences in Prague, Czech. After her postdoctoral experience, she became an Assistant Professor of Medicine at John Hopkins University in 1971 and has been a Professor of Oncology, and Microbiology in the Molecular Biology and Genetics Department since 1985. During her career she has authored 216 publications and has been supported by numerous NIH grants. Her laboratory is currently interested in the effects of viral infection on the expression of cellular genes and in the novel approaches to modulation of the antiviral and anti-inflammatory responses. They have shown that three transcription factors of the interferon respective factors family (IRF-3,5 and 7) are functioning as a direct inducer of virus mediated signaling in infected cells. These factors play a critical role in the induction of cytokine and chemokine genes. Technology developed in her laboratory is some of the foundational technology VIRxSYS has exclusively licensed from John Hopkins University. She has been affiliated with VIRxSYS since its founding and currently serves on VIRxSYS' Scientific Advisory Board. Richard Pollard, MD - University of California at Davis - Sacramento, California Ajmal Rahman - Mr. Rahman is an independent strategic advisor and private investor based in London. He worked for Merrill Lynch in several senior positions for over 17 years from 1986 until 2003. From 2001 to 2003 he was the co-head of the Asia Investment Banking Group of Merrill Lynch based in Hong Kong. Between 1996 and 2001 he was managing director and regional head of Merrill Lynch's Asian Equity Capital Markets group. Prior to this appointment Mr. Rahman worked in the ECM for Merrill Lynch in London and New York. Jeff Smith - Mr. Smith is CEO of SmittyINK, music industry management and promotions company. John Sullivan, MD - University of Massachusetts Medical Center - Worcester, Massachusetts Jay Sweet - Mr. Sweet is Founder of Sweet and Doggett Music Industry Consultants. Joe Trippi - Mr. Trippi has been described by The New Republic as the man who "reinvented campaigning." He pioneered the use of online technology to organize what became the largest grassroots movement in presidential politics. Mr. Trippi is an advisor to the John Edwards 2008 presidential campaign. He is an MSNBC political analyst and former Harvard University fellow. In addition, Mr. Trippi currently heads the Washington, DC political consultancy, Trippi & Associates. He has been profiled in GQ, Wired, Fast Company, The New Republic and The New York Times Magazine. Mr. Trippi is the author of, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet and the Overthrow of Everything." Robert H. Walter - Mr. Walter serves as CTO and VP of Development at NetNumber.com where he provides managerial and technical leadership to NetNumber's Development and Network Operations organizations. Prior to joining NetNumber in November 1999, Mr. Walter was a consultant at Cisco Systems working on the Cisco Network Registrar product. Prior to consulting at Cisco, he was VP of Architecture and Technology at UNIFI Communications. In this capacity, Mr. Walter was responsible for UNIFI's messaging services architecture and technology. Prior to joining UNIFI in August of 1997, he was lead architect on Pratt & Whitney Aircraft's Virtual Jet Engine program, a large scale, distributed object-oriented system involving the simulation and optimization of multi-dimensional jet engine propulsion systems. Mr. Walter holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering (BSME) from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, a Masters Degree in Computer Science (MCS - Software Engineering Option) from Florida Atlantic University and a Certificate of Graduate Studies in Software Engineering from Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. Drew Dixon Williams - Mr. Williams is former Vice President of A&R for Arista records and currently General Manager and CEO of SmittyINK. John Zappia M.D., FACS (Medial Advisory Board) Dr. Zappia is an Otologic Surgeon with the prestigious Michigan Ear Institute in Suburban Detroit. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan where he did his Residency in Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery. He was an NIH Resident Research Fellow and had further training in Otology and Neurotology upon completion of his formal residency training. After his residency and fellowship, Dr. Zappia served for five years on the teaching faculty of Northwestern University Medical School. Among his numerous certifications, appointments, and professional society memberships; he served on the Board of Governors of the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery and was elected as a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Zappia is the author of 35 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters dealing predominantly with problems of the ear and he has made over 75 presentations to a wide variety of ENT and other medical and scientific organizations. He continues in an active teaching role at The Michigan Ear Institute. Andrew Zolopa, MD - Stanford University - Stanford, California