Advisory Board - MidAmerica Healthcare Venture Forum | Fletcher Spaght Ventures, Triathlon Medical, Arboretum Ventures, Metacyte Business Lab, Thomas McNerney

The 9th Annual MidAmerica Healthcare Venture Forum advisory board members include influential venture capitalists and investors from Fletcher Spaght Ventures, Triathlon Medical Ventures, Arboretum Ventures, Metacyte Business Lab LLC and Thomas McNerney Partners.

Conference Chairman

Peter Kleinhenz: Venture Partner - Fletcher Spaght Ventures
Managing Director - CID Capital; Peter Kleinhenz is a Venture Partner at FletcherSpaght Ventures. He has been actively involved in life science-based businesses for over 25 years as an entrepreneur, consultant, and investor. Currently he serves on the boards of five CID life science portfolio companies. Peter invests in a broad array of life since opportunities with a special interest in medical devices. He joined Fletcher Spaght Ventures in 2009. Prior to joining CID in 2001, Peter served as VP of Commercialization for Battelle Memorial Institute and as an independent consultant to The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Battelle, and a variety of life science start-ups. Peter was CEO of Progenics. Inc., a medical device design and manufacturing company and held a variety of senior executive positions at Neoprobe Corporation, a biotech and medical device company focused on cancer diagnostics and therapeutics, including CFO and Vice President of Product and Market Planning. Peter received an MBA from Case Western Reserve University, a Bachelor's degree from Loyola University of Chicago, and is a Certified Public Accountant, Ohio.

Advisory Board Members

George Emont: Managing Partner
Triathlon Medical Ventures; George Emont is a Managing Partner with Triathlon Medical Ventures and a Managing Partner of the Kentucky Seed Capital Fund. Mr. Emont’s more than two decades of health care industry experience include 14 years in venture capital. Prior to joining Triathlon and KCSF, Mr. Emont was Director of Venture Capital for Humana Inc. where he managed a venture capital fund that made investments totaling over $75 million in 11 portfolio companies and three venture funds. Mr. Emont’s resume includes service with Baxter Healthcare Corporation and IAI Venture Capital Group, followed by the successful launch and eventual sale of oncology-focused biotechnology start-up OncoTherapeutics. Mr. Emont currently is on the boards of Celleration, Juventas Therapeutics, Pradama, ApoImmune, RhinoCyte, AllTranz and OrthoData. Mr. Emont is from Granville, Ohio, holds a B.A. from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Jan Garfinkle: Managing Director
Arboretum Ventures; Jan Garfinkle specializes in medical technology investments, utilizing her educational background in biomedical engineering to select and nurture outstanding companies. Jan currently serves on the board of directors for HandyLab and NXThera Inc., and as an observer for Aptus Endosystems, BAROnova, Esperion Therapeutics and Uptake Medical. Prior to founding Arboretum in 2002, Jan spent 20 years in senior management positions and was Founder and President of Strategic Marketing Consultants. Earlier in her career, Jan was part of the senior management team for two successful medical device start-up companies, advanced Cardiovascular Systems (ACS) and Devices for Vascular Intervention (DVI), both of which were acquired and became part of Guidant Corporation. Jan earned a BS in Bioengineering from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Steve Gailar: President and CEO
Metacyte Business Lab LLC; Steve Gailar is President and Chief Executive Officer of MetaCyte Business Lab LLC. Upon his arrival in 2004, Steve introduced a new operating model in which the former "fee for service" model was replaced by a partnership system.

Since redefining the operating model and building the current team, MetaCyte has founded or brought into its pipeline 19 new companies. Guided by Steve, the MetaCyte staff has raised more than $28 million in capital and financing for its portfolio companies and has created more than 50 new high-tech jobs with an average salary of $70,000.

In addition to his leadership at MetaCyte, Steve is Acting CEO of both ApoVax and RhinoCyte, serves on the Board of Directors of ApoVax, Pradama, RhinoCyte and Intrepid Bioinformatics and is on the boards of the Enterprise Corporation, Kentucky BioAlliance, and Health Enterprise Network. He is a member of the Louisville Angel Investor Network, and managing partner of the Kentucky Seed Capital Fund.

Kathleen A Tune: Partner
Thomas McNerney Partners; Kathy joined Thomas, McNerney & Partners from Piper Jaffray, where she was a health care analyst focused on medical technology companies. While at Piper, Kathy covered over 20 companies in the medical device, medical supply and diagnostic areas. Her background also includes experience in new product development at Solvay, S.A. (in a division that is now part of Wyeth). Projects at Solvay included the development of vaccines for the prevention of viral infections. Kathy also was a Senior Scientist in molecular biology at the University of Minnesota, where she worked on the development of molecular biology based assays for the detection of infectious agents. Kathy is currently a board member of Softscope Medical Technologies, Inc. Her educational background includes an M.S. degree in Microbiology from the University of Minnesota and an M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, where she was a Robert and Gail Buuck Scholar.