Board of Directors

Donald W. Grimm
Director

Donald Grimm retired from Eli Lilly & Company, a research-based pharmaceutical company, in December 1993 after 23 years of service. Mr. Grimm held various executive positions at Lilly. Following these assignments, Mr. Grimm was President and CEO of Hybritech, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Lilly. Since June 1995 he has served as Chairman and President of Strategic Design, LLC, a strategic planning and consulting company. Mr. Grimm has been a director of Hamilton BioVentures, LLC, a $100 million fund focused primarily on life sciences, since August 2001. In addition, he is currently a director of several private life science companies. Mr. Grimm has been on the board of Life Technologies for approximately 12 years. During that time period Life Technologies grew from $30 million in revenues company to their current annual revenue of over $3 billion. Mr. Grimm received his B.S. in pharmacy and his M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh.



Gary E. Jacobs
Director

Gary Jacobs is the Managing Director of Jacobs Investment Company, which participates in real estate development and other investment activities throughout the United States and abroad. In addition, he has multi-million dollar investments in several other venture capital funds. He also owns and operates a professional minor league baseball team, the Lake Elsinore Storm, affiliated with the San Diego Padres. Mr. Jacobs serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for High Tech High, a public charter high school, Vice-Chair of the Jewish Community Center Association Continental Board and is a board member of the Lawrence Family JCC and the UCSD Board of Overseers. Mr. Jacobs's other philanthropic work includes being a past president of the United Jewish Federation of San Diego County. Additionally, Mr. Jacobs and his wife created and funded the Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs International Teen Leadership Institute which promotes Muslim / Jewish understanding. Prior to his current investment and philanthropic activities, Mr. Jacobs worked as a software engineer and senior education specialist at QUALCOMM, Inc. Mr. Jacobs holds a B.A. in Management Science from the University of California at San Diego.


Robert G. Lachenauer
Director

Robert Lachenauer is co-founder and CEO of GEO2 Technologies, a material science licensing company that originally developed and patented Cross Linked Microstructure. At GEO2, Mr. Lachenauer established the product development and IP strategies, built the technical and business team, raised its capital, and led its license negotiations. Prior to his role at GEO2, Mr. Lachenauer was a Vice President and Director of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) from 1995 to 2004 where he helped leading multi-national companies set and implement growth strategies. He has experience with pharmaceutical companies, material businesses, and automotive firms. He has worked in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He co-authored a book about competitive business strategies published by the Harvard Business School Press entitled “Hardball” which was translated into six languages. See link here. Mr. Lachenauer holds a B.A. from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.


Paul K. Nichols, Jr.
Executive Chairman

Paul Nichols has 32 years experience with rapidly growing companies in the medical device industry, with the past 24 as an executive and entrepreneur in the musculoskeletal sector. Between 1995 and 2005 he founded three orthopedic surgery technology companies, all yielding exceptional investor returns at exit. Mr. Nichols currently serves as a director of several early stage medical technology companies and provides management consulting services to growth stage businesses.



Gary L. Weiss
Director

Gary Weiss, founder of Weiss Group, LLC, has more than 30 years of experience in building and managing technology businesses. The Weiss Group, LLC specializes in assisting growth companies by providing management, advisory, financing and executive search services. Mr. Weiss served as President and CEO of Source Services, a search and recruiting business that grew from $3 million to $80 million in sales while building 140 offices across the U.S. and Canada, with 480 search professionals. Prior to joining Source Services, he held various positions at Periphonics (an Exxon Enterprises Company) and IBM. Mr. Weiss received his B.S. in Marketing from the University of Arizona.


Adam R. Wallen
Director, President and Chief Executive Officer