Speakers - MidAmerica Healthcare Venture Forum | Venture Investors, Baxter Healthcare, Prolong Ventures

2011 Speakers

Susan Alpert

Managing Director
Venture Investors

Susan Alpert, Ph.D., M.D.is currently the principle of SFA Consulting LLC, a one person firm focused on the strategies needed to place medical devices into the global market. Dr. Alpert joined Medtronic in July 2003 as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Compliance. She was Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs at her retirement in May, 2011 and in this role was responsible for all Medtronic global regulatory policy efforts. Prior to joining Medtronic, Susan served C.R. Bard, Inc., as Vice President of Regulatory Sciences. She also previously worked at the FDA where she held a variety of positions in the Centers dealing with drugs, devices and radiological health, and foods, including six years as the Director of the Office of Device Evaluation. She is a microbiologist and pediatrician with a specialty in infectious diseases and has practical experience in laboratory research and clinical trials.

Susan is on the board of the Society for Women’s Health Research, an organization promoting research on gender differences in health and disease, and has served on the board of the Food Drug Law Institute (FDLI), a forum for the FDA and the legal, business, academic and consumer communities to exchange perspectives on public policy, law and regulation relating to products subject to FDA jurisdiction. She served on the board of advisors for the Medical Technology Leadership Forum (MTLF), an educational organization focused on policy makers, the general public, and the media regarding critical issues affecting the development and adoption of advanced medical technology. In addition, Susan serves on the board of the Women Business Leaders (WBL), an organization of women leaders in the health care sector and on the board of the Minnesota International Center. She is also a past Chair of the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society and a Fellow in that society. Susan served on the Executive Committee of the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI), one of the public/private partnerships working with the FDA to streamline the development of medical products.

Susan completed her undergraduate degree at Barnard College, Columbia University in New York City and holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from New York University. She received her medical degree from the University of Miami (Florida) and completed her clinical training at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York and at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

George Arida

Managing Director
Venture Investors

George Arida is a Managing Director with a focus on the firm’s healthcare practice.

George currently serves as the Board Chair for Zystor Therapeutics and Nerites and as a member of the Boards of Directors at Celleration, Chromatin and ProCertus BioPharm. He also serves on the Board of the Mid-America Healthcare Investors Network, an association of over forty regional venture capital firms active in early stage healthcare investing.

George previously served as the CFO for a financial consulting and brokerage firm. Prior to this, he spent five years at U.S. Filter Corporation in management and technical marketing positions, four years with Betz Laboratories in technical sales and field service management, and two years at Alar Engineering as a Process Engineer.

George has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Business Administration degree with high honors from the University of Chicago.

Arun K. Bhatia

Sr. Manager, Marketing/Venture Development
Innovation Strategy
Baxter Healthcare

Arun Bhatia currently serves as Sr. Manager, Marketing/Venture Development within the Innovations Strategy group at Baxter Healthcare based in Deerfield, IL. The group is uniquely positioned as corporate entrepreneurship group within the R&D organization of Baxter, and is chartered to utilize the technical assets and capabilities of the core business units of Baxter in order to systematically identify novel opportunities, markets and technologies that stretch beyond the company’s core.

Mr. Bhatia’s role within the Innovation group involves outlining and analyzing business fundamentals of industry shifts, competitive dynamics, market characteristics and business modeling in order to fully assess the value and opportunity of organically- and inorganically-developed pharmaceutical and medical device technologies that the company may choose to pursue. In addition, Mr. Bhatia works with the research and engineering scientists at Baxter to implement studies and programs that can technically evaluate such opportunities, and also reports to members of the senior management team to deliver the financial and business value of a potential investment. In the more recently formed Baxter Ventures, Mr. Bhatia helps to source, evaluate, recommend and execute opportunities for investments that feed Baxter’s product pipeline.

Prior to joining Baxter, Mr. Bhatia served as Director of Venture Development for the Illinois Technology Development Alliance (ITDA) where he worked with life-science entrepreneurs to help develop the business model, marketing strategy and financial forecast elements of their proposed business plans. He assisted these start-up companies in both networking with local and regional angel investors and venture capitalists and raising early-stage capital for key clients.

Mr. Bhatia received his MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business with concentrations in Finance, Strategy and Entrepreneurship. Prior to this, he earned an MS in Biotechnology from the Illinois Institute of Technology and served in scientific academic research roles at Washington University-St. Louis and Northwestern University. He also has a BS in Biochemistry from the University of Rochester, NY.

Dan Broderick

Vice President, Capital Formation and Entrepreneurship - BIO St. Louis
Venture Partner - Prolog Ventures

Dan Broderick has over 22 years of experience in the life sciences and venture capital industry. Prior to joining Prolog Ventures in 2007, Mr. Broderick spent 7 years with Mason Wells Biomedical Fund as a Managing Director where he was responsible for all aspects of investment activities. While at Mason Wells, Mr. Broderick served as a member of the Board of Directors of several portfolio companies including Gala Biotech, Mezzia, OpGen, Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals and ZyStor Therapeutics.
Prior to Mason Wells, Dan spent 18 years at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, where for 12 years he served as Director of the Office of Technology Commercialization. He has personally evaluated the commercial potential of hundreds of technologies in virtually every medical specialty. He has been directly responsible for negotiating and consummating over 100 medical technology commercialization agreements. He has experience with technology evaluation, market assessment, negotiations, academic institution technology transfer, and intellectual property management. Dan played a key role in the launch of Mayo Clinic’s $25 million venture investing program. He co-founded and served on the Board of Directors of IntraTherapuetics, Inc., CNSoftware and Medintell, Inc. In 1994, Mr. Broderick was honored with an appointment to the Staff of Mayo Clinic.

Dan Broderick is actively involved in the venture capital community on a regional and national level. He served on the Board of Directors of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). He has testified before the U.S. Congress on behalf of the NVCA; works on a number of NVCA committees, and Chaired the Research Committee. Mr. Broderick is the founder of the Mid- America Healthcare Investor Network (MHIN) and currently serves as President of the organization. He also is the past President of the Wisconsin Biotechnology and Medical Device Association, sat on the Advisory Boards of the University of Minnesota’s Office of Business Development and BioGenerator in St. Louis, Missouri. He also served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Medical College of Wisconsin Research Foundation and the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Research Foundation.

Dan received a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Iowa State University in 1982. He has completed some graduate course work in Finance, Accounting and Marketing at Winona State University.

Gary Brothers

Senior Director, Corporate Development
Medtronic, Inc.

Gary Brothers is Senior Director of Corporate Development for Medtronic, Inc. Gary has responsibility for working in partnership with executive and business unit management in evaluating and executing mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, joint ventures, minority investments, technology licenses, divestitures and other strategic transactions.

Prior to joining Medtronic, Gary was Director of Corporate and Investment Banking for Wachovia Securities, and Vice President of Corporate Finance in the Investment Banking Group at RBC Capital Markets. Gary began his career in Audit and Business Advisory Services at Arthur Andersen LLP.

Gary received his undergraduate degree in Accounting from the University of Minnesota, and his MBA from the University of Michigan. Gary has also successfully completed Certified Public Accountant, Series 7 and Series 63 examinations.

Bill Burkoth: Senior Director
Pfizer Ventures; Bill Burkoth – Bill is currently a Senior Director in Pfizer Ventures, the venture capital arm of Pfizer Inc. Since joining Pfizer in early 2004, Bill has played an instrumental role in numerous new venture investments, including Avid Radiopharmaceuticals (acquired by Eli Lilly), Evolution Benefits (acquired by Genstar Capital), and HandyLab (acquired by Becton Dickinson). Bill currently serves as a board director of DVS Sciences and Novocure, and as a board observer of Clovis Oncology, HD Biosciences, M2S, and Nodality. Prior to joining Pfizer, Bill worked in Business Development at Galileo Pharmaceuticals and at IntraBiotics Pharmaceuticals. Prior to his roles in business development, Bill was an analyst at Bay City Capital. Mr. Burkoth received a BS in chemistry from Whitman College and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Ted Davis

Senior Vice President - Corporate Development / Research & Development
Wright Medical Technology, Inc.

Ted Davis has led Corporate Development at Wright Medical Technology, Inc. (âWrightâ) since 2010, with responsibilities for the Business Development, Government Affairs, National Accounts, Reimbursement and Medical Education teams; as well as leadership of several corporate strategic initiatives. In 2011, Ted assumed responsibility of Wrightâs Research & Development functions, with global responsibility for the Ortho Recon, Biologics and Extremities Product Development teams. Ted originally joined Wright as Vice President â Business Development in December 2006. Prior to joining Wright, Ted spent 10 years in the life sciences venture capital field, where he served on various boards of privately held medical device and biotechnology companies. Most recently, he was a Partner with MB Venture Partners (MBVP), a $75 million, Memphis, TN based firm focused on investments in medical technology and life sciences with a specialization in musculoskeletal diseases. Prior to joining MBVP in 2004, Ted spent seven years with Vector Fund Management (VFM), a $240 million healthcare and life sciences focused venture capital fund in Deerfield, IL. Ted began his career in the healthcare management consulting and pharmaceutical industries.

Ted received a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for SIBone, Inc., Life Sciences Tennessee, The Memphis Research Consortium and on the Healthcare Advisory Board for Baird Venture Partners.

Mark E. DuVal: President
DuVal & Associates, P.A.; Mark DuVal, JD, is President of DuVal & Associates, P.A., a law firm dedicated to counseling companies in the medical device, pharmaceutical, biotech, food, and nutritional supplement industries. His practice includes providing strategic regulatory advice, designing and implementing sophisticated marketing programs, counseling on reimbursement matters, developing compliance programs, conducting sales training and interfacing extensively on behalf of companies with the FDA. He works with FDA on behalf of companies on product approvals and clearances, clinical trial negotiations, approvals, policy arguments, inspections, warning letters, appeals, etc. Prior to founding the firm, Mark was general counsel for 3M Pharmaceuticals and Drug Delivery Systems working both domestically and internationally. He was on assignment for 3M Health Care Systems, Ltd. in Europe based out of the United Kingdom. He then worked at Medtronic in Corporate Compliance for FDA, Anti-kickback, False Claims Act, HIPAA, and other advice related to the FDA-regulated industry. Mr. DuVal earned his Juris Doctor from the William Mitchell College of Law where he served as Executive Editor on the law review, and his Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration from St. Cloud State University. Mark co-founded the Minnesota Medical Device Alliance (MMDA). Mark has served on various boards including Minnesota Medical Device Alliance, Minnesota BioBusiness Alliance, Minnesota Biosciences Council, The Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI), the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (SOPE) and has been a former Chairman of the Minnesota State Food, Drug, and Medical Device Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association. He is also on the Board of Advisors of the Masters in Regulatory Affairs Services program at St. Cloud State University.

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.

Dr. E. Cartier Esham: Senior Director, Emerging Companies Health and Regulatory Affairs
Biotechnology Industry Organization; Dr. Cartier Esham is currently the Senior Director of Emerging Companies Health and Regulatory Affairs for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). She is responsible for working on health and regulatory issues important to BIO's small biotechnology companies, the majority of which do not yet have a product in the market place. Issues of particular importance to emerging companies include intellectual property, technology transfer, clinical trials, investor relations, and funding. The emerging companies section also works on a wide range of FDA regulatory issues and is a strong advocate for NIH's biomedical research programs.

Prior to joining BIO, Esham was a Vice President and Director of Research at Dutko Worldwide, a private consulting firm in Washington, D.C. There she worked on a variety of environmental, education, science, technology and health care related issues both on the federal and state/local levels.

Esham has a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Georgia, a Master's degree in Marine Biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Kentucky. She has published papers in peer-reviewed science journals on water quality, marine microbial ecology and bacterial cloning. Dr. Esham has served on the Brain Trust for the Global Innovation Forum, a project of the National Foreign Trade Council to create a greater understanding of the innovation ecosystem to enable effective solutions to global challenges.

Mike Haugh: Managing Partner
Corporate Strategic Planning- Eli Lilly; Mike is the Managing Director of Corporate Strategic Planning at Eli Lilly and Company. He joined Lilly in 1986, and has moved through a series of cross functional assignments over his career. Following roles in Finance, Marketing and Sales Management, he spent the next ten years in negotiation and account management roles where he built relationships with the US’s largest payer systems, created a healthcare information technology joint venture and closed licensing deals with biotech and major Pharma companies in the US, Europe and Japan. In 2000, he was named as a Certified Managed Care Executive by the American Association of Health Plans. In the past five years His focus has been on the development and evolution of Lilly’s Therapeutic Area strategies. Key contributions from his strategy work have defined Lilly’s Corporate FIPNet strategy, led to the creation of the Diabetes and Oncology business units and their expansion strategies in the Emerging Markets. Mike graduated Magna Cum Laude from Wabash College in 1986 and received his Masters Degree in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School in 1991.

Mark Holroyd

Senior Vice President
GE Capital

Mark Holroyd is a Senior Vice President with GE Capital, GE Equity where he spends the majority of his time on healthcare investments. He is a senior member of GE's Healthymagination Fund (http://www.healthymaginationfund.com), a $250MM dedicated pool of capital focused on identifying, partnering with, investing in and growing highly promising healthcare companies. In this role, Mark works closely with GE's healthcare industrial business, entrepreneurs and the venture capital/private equity community at large to source, diligence and close strategic and financial investments for GE's fund. The majority of Mark's current efforts are focused on medical technology investment opportunities.

Mark has twenty years of middle-market investment and corporate finance experience. He joined GE Capital in 2007 and has previously worked at American Capital Strategies, Inc., (a $5.0bn publicly traded private equity and mezzanine investment firm), the venture and growth equity arm of Diamondcluster Capital Management (a private equity affiliate of Diamondcluster International) as well as Ridge Capital Partners a middle market private equity fund. He began his career with Heller Financial, Inc.

Mark has a B.S. in Finance and a B.A. in Economics from Indiana University. He earned his M.B.A. (with Honors) from the University of Chicago. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

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.

Steven C. Kuemmerle, Ph.D.

Director
Abbott Biotech Ventures

Currently, Steve Kuemmerle is a Director of Venture Investments, Abbott Biotech Ventures, where he is responsible for evaluation and execution of equity investments in emerging pharma and biotech companies of strategic interest to Abbott. From November 2002, until joining ABV, Steve was in Abbott’s Global Pharma Licensing Group. Steve first joined Abbott in 1987, where he managed several clinical diagnostic R&D units. In 1997, he moved to the Pharmaceutical Division, entering the Technology Assessment Group and in December of 1998, was appointed director of that unit. From 2000-2002, Steve was director of the then new Abbott Decision Support Group (DSG), which leads projects applied to pharmaceutical product development strategic decision-making and portfolio analysis.

He received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Michigan State University in 1976 and went on to become an analytical chemist for The Upjohn Company from 1977-1981. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Northwestern University in 1988.

Guy Lyndon Fish, M.D.

Vice President
Fletcher Spaght, Inc.

Guy Lyndon Fish, M.D., is a vice president in the Health Care Practice at Fletcher Spaght, Inc. His interests include health care policy, biotechnology, and finance issues. Fletcher Spaght, Inc. provides strategy and financing assistance to new ventures, including start-up companies, risk capital investors, and emerging technologies/growth enterprises within larger organizations. Prior to Fletcher Spaght, Dr. Fish served as the vice president of business development for Collagenesis, Inc., a tissue engineering firm. He has also worked as a securities analyst in the medical devices sector for Sanford Bernstein, as a health care consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, and as a rural solo-practice physician (internal medicine, board certified).

Dr. Fish serves on the Board of Directors of Phase Biopharma and Metabolon, and is a board observer on Proteus Biomedical. He is a past member of the Board of Registration in Medicine for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and currently is the chairman of the Licensing Board of Dubai Health Care City.

Dr. Fish trained at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital (Case Western program) after attending Yale School of Medicine and Harvard College.

Dr. Fish is co-chairman of the Patient Care Committee and a member of the Patient Care Assessment and Quality Committee and the Medical Education Committee at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

John Neis

Managing Director
Venture Investors, LLC

John Neis is Managing Director of Venture Investors LLC, early stage venture capital firm that is focused on opportunities emerging from leading research universities in the Midwest. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Virent Energy Systems, Inc., Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cellectar, Inc., Inviragen, Inc. and Mithridion, Inc.

Past Board of Directors roles include TomoTherapy, Inc. (NASDAQ:TOMO), Third Wave Technologies, Inc. (acquired by Hologic) and NimbleGen Systems, Inc. (acquired by Roche). He was appointed by the Governor to the Board of the Wisconsin Technology Council, the science and technology advisor to Wisconsin’s Governor and Legislature.

He serves on the Weinert Applied Ventures Program Advisory Board and the Dean’s Advisory Board in the School of Business at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He holds a B.S. in finance from the University of Utah, and received a M.S. in Marketing and Finance from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Peter Shagory

Partner
Baird Venture Partners

Pete joined Baird Venture Partners in 2004 and concentrates on healthcare and life science investments, focusing in medical devices, life science tools, diagnostics, and healthcare services. Prior to joining Baird Venture Partners, he spent five years at Vector Fund Management, a life-sciences venture capital firm, investing broadly across the medical device and biotechnology fields. Prior to Vector, he spent over six years in corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions and merchant banking at JP Morgan & Co. and Banc One Capital Corporation. Pete is currently a Director of Celleration, CoAxia, Core Essence Orthpaedics and Molecular Imaging Research. He is a former Board Chairman and Director of Accuri Cytometers and a former Director of Arbor Surgical Technologies, PharMEDium Healthcare Corporation and NimbleGen Systems. Pete is the founding Chair of AdvaMedÂs National Venture Capital Advisory Board and also serves on the Boards of the Mid-America Healthcare Investors Network (MHIN) and the Children's Memorial Hospital Foundation. He received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Finance from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and his MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.

Tim Petersen

Arboretum Ventures

Tim Petersen leverages his broad business experience creating, growing, and financing entrepreneurial firms to target promising capital-efficient investment opportunities. In recent years he has particularly focused on investments in companies that are changing the way healthcare is delivered. Tim led Arboretum’s investment in HealthMedia (acquired by Johnson & Johnson) and Accuri Cytometers (acquired by Becton, Dickinson and Company) and served on the Board of Directors of each company prior to exit. He also led Arboretum’s investments in Advanced ICU Care, Inogen, MyHealthDIRECT, and CerviLenz, and presently serves as a director of these companies. Tim is responsible for Arboretum’s financial and fund management activities and is a member of the Investment Committee. He has been a venture capital investor for the past twelve years.

Prior to joining Arboretum in 2002, Tim was the Managing Director of the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan, leading the creation and rapid growth of the Institute's programs. He also directed the Wolverine Venture Fund (WVF), the Institute's venture capital fund focusing on early-stage life science and technology investments. Previously, Tim spent nine years at the economic consulting firm Industrial Economics, Inc., becoming a member of the firm's senior staff in 1991. Earlier in his career, Tim was also a manager in the investment banking practice at Plante & Moran.

Tim is involved in a number of community efforts focused on entrepreneurship and frequently lectures at local universities on venture capital. He is currently the Alumni Fund Manager for the Wolverine Venture Fund and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Venture Capital Association, where he is slated to become chairman in late 2011.

Tim earned a BA in Economics from Williams College, where he was captain of the men’s tennis team. He also holds an MS in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

John Rice: Founder & Managing Partner
Triathlon Medical Venture Partners; John is founder and Managing Partner of Triathlon Medical Ventures based in Cincinnati and brings 18 years of venture investing and 13 years of research and R&D management experience in biotechnology, devices, and diagnostics. John was a Managing Director of Senmed Medical Ventures from 1989 until 2003 where he was a member of the investment committee and led the emerging medical technology investment efforts. Prior to joining Senmed, John spent 13 years with Battelle Memorial Institute serving in various research, research management, and business development capacities. Locally and regionally, John was among the early organizers of Bio/Start, Cincinnati's biomedical business incubator and currently serves as Chairman of its Board of Trustees. He is also a trustee of BioOhio, Ohio's life science economic development organization and of the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center at the Cleveland Clinic. John represents Triathlon on the boards of Akebia Therapeutics Inc. and Syntherix as Chairman, and Kereos Inc., and is an observer on the boards of CS-Keys, CoLucid, and Endocyte. John earned his BS, MS and Ph.D degrees in Microbiology and Virology from The Ohio State University.

Frank E. Samuel Jr.: President
Geauga Growth Partnership Inc.; Frank Samuel is President of the Geauga Growth Partnership, Inc., a business-led economic development organization in Geauga County (northeastern Ohio). He was Science and Technology Advisor to the Governor of Ohio from 2000 - 2007, where he was a principal architect of Ohio's Third Frontier Project. Samuel currently serves on the National Advisory Council of the California Health Benefits Review Program and the Board of Directors of the Global Cardiology Innovation Center of The Cleveland Clinic. He has served as Chair and Board member for Providence Hospital (Washington, D.C.), as a member of Institute of Medicine advisory bodies on biomedical technology issues, and as a member of several biomedical company boards of directors. A graduate of Hiram College and Harvard Law School, his paper recommending a regional venture capital strategy for the Great Lakes region was published in 2010 by The Brookings Institution (Washington, D.C.).

John S. Taylor

Head of Research
National Venture Capital Association

John S. Taylor is Vice President of Research at National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), which is based in the Washington, DC, area. He joined NVCA in 1996 and built the NVCA’s research function from scratch by attracting the best commercial and non-profit groups and structuring durable and robust relationships. Accurate, complete, and accessible data provided the industry necessary credibility and visibility. It also enabled association members to access to best-of-breed databases. This has encouraged research and analysis by others and is providing insight into what creates great companies.

In 2003, he co-founded the NVCA CFO Task Force, which focuses on regulation and emerging issues dealing with investment company financial reporting, private company reporting, and responsible industry transparency and disclosure. Today, members of this group have seats at the table of key national and international policy-making groups.

Mr. Taylor is frequently quoted by major newspapers and magazines on the subject of venture capital in major venues including on CNBC, WSJ, Bloomberg, and NPR. When he’s not chasing down IPO and deal information, he has been spotted retrieving errant golf shots in the woods, heading down the ski slopes, and pouring at wine festivals to help local Virginia wineries (none of which, alas, is venture-backed).

He received an MBA degree from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College and a BS degree in chemistry from Dickinson College.