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John Bacich Jr.
Chairman of the Board
Mr. Bacich has been involved in the biopharmaceutical industry for 40 years. Most of that experience was with Baxter Healthcare beginning in 1968 and retiring in 1998. He held a variety of positions including quality management, research and development, global manufacturing operations, and general management leading to the presidency of what is now called the Bioscience Division of Baxter Healthcare.
In his capacity as president he was responsible for the plasma products worldwide and the development of the recombinant proteins business. He was also a charter board member of the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association which is the only industry association for plasma products producers and their recombinant equivalents.
Mr. Bacich remains active in the industry as a consultant and is a member of the EMT for Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals. He is also a past director of the Southern California Hemophilia Society. Mr. Bacich holds a BS in Microbiology from California State University at Long Beach.
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Ned Brown
Board Member
Ned Brown is a Senior Advisor for Health Evolution Partners, focusing on investments in the life sciences area, including medical devices/products, specialty pharmaceuticals and outsourcing services for the life sciences industry. Ned has been involved in the healthcare industry for over 25 years, as an investor, board member and advisor to a broad range of companies in all sectors of the industry.
Prior to joining HEP as an advisor in June 2010 and full time in January 2011, Ned was a Managing Director at TPG Biotech, from June 2007 to June 2010, where he focused on medical device investments. Prior to TPG, Ned co-founded in June 2004, and was a Managing Director of, Healthcare Investment Partners, a healthcare focused growth equity investment firm, founded with Henry Wendt, the former CEO of SmithKline Beecham and Chairman of Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette's healthcare investment arm, Global Healthcare Partners. Prior to HIP, Ned spent 17 years as an advisor, investor, and investment banker in all sectors of the healthcare industry, most recently as a Managing Director and Head of the West Coast Healthcare Group for Credit Suisse.
Ned has served on both private and public company boards, including his current role at Cardiovascular Systems (NASDAQ:CSII), and past roles at Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Tandem Diabetes and Novasom (formerly Sleep Solutions). Past investments include control buyouts of Charles River Labs and Wilson Greatbatch, growth equity investments in Cardiovascular Systems, NxStage Medical and Prometheus Laboratories, and venture investments in Access Closure, Animas, Cardiovascular Systems (formerly Relpidyne), Embolic Protection, Novasom, Spinal Concepts and Tandem Diabetes.
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Scott A. Elster
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Elster has over 20 years of experience in the biosciences and financial sectors. His experience encompasses planning, finance and strategy development, supply chain, and operations. Most recently, Mr. Elster was director of operations and supply chain at Clinical Micro Sensors (CMS), a Motorola Company. There, Mr. Elster successfully prepared operations for the company's first commercial launch, including FDA approval of the GMP manufacturing facility. He led the quality control function, the manufacturing team, and operational strategy development. His team was also responsible for materials and inventory management, as well as distribution and warehousing.
For over 13 years at Baxter, Mr. Elster's management work was focused directly on plasma products worldwide. His roles included manager of strategic planning, business development, finance and strategy for the hyperimmune business unit, and director of global supply chain. Mr. Elster began his career at Deloitte and Touche as a financial statement auditor, and is a current board member and past chairman of the board for Monrovia Growers.
Mr. Elster received a Bachelor of Science degree from California State University, Northridge, and a Master of Business degree from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at University of California, Los Angeles.
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Frank H. Foster
Chairman Emeritus
Mr. Foster is the Managing Director of the Gideon Hixon Fund, the venture capital investment vehicle for the Hixon Family and a venture partner of Draper Fisher Jurvetson Frontier. The Gideon Hixon Fund and its predecessor entities (HixVen and Southwest Venture Partnerships) have a long history in venture capital beginning in the 1970s. The group's venture capital investments include Apple Computer (NASDAQ & NYSE: AAPL) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) as well as more recent successes including CORSolutions (acquired by Matria), Medior (acquired by AOL), Security Dynamics (acquired by RSA), WebCal (acquired by Yahoo) and Xiotech (acquired by Seagate). Prior to that, he was a General Partner of Allen & Buckeridge PTY LTD, a leading Australian venture capital firm with approximately $250 million under management. At Allen & Buckeridge he led investment efforts into Hitwise, eKit, Wishlist and Next Generation Entertainment.
Mr. Foster also has extensive operational experience through his roles at Virtual Music Entertainment (sold to NAMCO), Contexture Systems and Prophecy Development Corporation. Recently, he acted as an independent director and consultant to YellowPages.com where he helped guide the company through its successful sale to SBC Communications (NYSE: SBC) and Bell South (NYSE: BLS) in November 2004. He was also a director of Cogent Data technologies through its successful sale to Adaptec Inc (NASDAQ: ADPT) in June 1996. Mr. Foster is currently a member of the board of directors for Prolacta Bioscience, eKit.com, Hixon Properties Incorporated, and Our Happy Child Productions. He received his MBA from The Harvard Business School and a BA cum laude from Harvard University.
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Alison Kiley
Board Member
Alison joined Alta Partners as an Associate in 2001 and became a Director of Alta Partners VIII in 2006. Her primary investment focus at Alta is on medical technology and biopharmaceuticals. She serves on the board of directors for Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Esperion Therapeutics and Prolacta Bioscience. Alison also led Alta's investments in the original Esperion Therapeutics, Insulet Corporation, Kerberos Proximal Solutions and SurgRx.
Prior to Alta, she was a Senior Associate in Robertson Stephens' Life Sciences Investment Banking Group with primary responsibilities for the execution of corporate finance transactions including IPOs, follow-on equity and convertible preferred offerings. Previously, she was an Associate in Robertson Stephens' Equity Research Group where she focused on growth medical technology companies. She began her career in the business development group at Geron, a biotechnology company.
Alison earned a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Colgate University.
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Joshua Saipe
Board Member
Joshua Saipe is Vice President of Health Evolution Partners' Growth Fund. He focuses on the firm's Life Sciences initiative, including the following sectors: Medical Products and Devices, Specialty Pharmaceuticals, and Specialty Outsourced Services.
Before joining Health Evolution Partners, Joshua served as a Vice President at RoundTable Healthcare Partners where he focused on principal investing in middle market healthcare companies, predominantly in the medical technology, pharmaceutical, and drug delivery sectors. His key responsibilities included relationship development, deal sourcing, transaction evaluation, deal execution, and leading post-investment strategic and business development initiatives.
Prior to RoundTable Healthcare, Joshua was an investment banking analyst at J.P. Morgan Securities in the firm's Financial Sponsor Group. He was a member of a team responsible for originating, structuring, and executing private equity transactions. Joshua's experience included M&A advisory, leveraged finance, and equity products across a variety of industries.
Joshua earned a Bachelor's degree from Tufts University.
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Ernie Strapazon
Board Member
Mr. Strapazon has been involved with nutrition, health and wellness products for over thirty years. Most of this experience was with Nestlé where he held a variety of positions including brand management, global strategic planning, innovation/renovation and general management. He led a pioneering effort to establish the Nestlé Infant Nutrition business in the US.
As President, Nutritional Products Division and Nestlé Nutrition – USA, his responsibilities included Clinical Nutrition (Peptamen, Carnation Instant Breakfast) , Performance Nutrition (PowerBar) and Infant Nutrition (Good Start Infant Formulas).
Mr. Strapazon is also a board member of Nellson Nutraceutical, LLC. He holds an undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Northwestern University and a PhD in Biochemistry and MBA from the University of Chicago.
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