MedTech IGNITE's Board

Charles Johnson is Chair of Choate, Hall & Stewart's Business & Technology Practice Group and a member of the Private Equity Practice Group. Mr. Johnson's practice extends from start-up to public company work, with an emphasis on equity financings, mergers and acquisitions, technology licensing, and business planning. He acts as general counsel to enterprises in industries ranging from security technologies, telecommunications, and medical device to e-commerce, financial services, and health care. He represents venture capital funds on the investment side, and has represented companies that obtained financing from many of the region's leading venture capital and mezzanine capital providers. Mr. Johnson was formerly a member of Hill & Barlow where he was chair of the firm's Technology and Emerging Companies Group.

Tom Sommer was named the first president of the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC) in October 1996 by the organization's founding Board of Directors. Since that time, Sommer has served as the association's chief executive officer, managing its day-to-day operations and working with medical device industry executives in developing its policy agenda. Since its establishment, MassMEDIC has grown to over 300 member companies - manufacturers and developers of medical products, suppliers, research institutions and academic health centers - and has advanced the public policy interests of the Massachusetts medical device sector on Capitol Hill, Beacon Hill, and before various federal agencies.

Linda is a member of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo's Boston office, practicing in the Health Care Section and Biotechnology Group. She has extensive experience representing pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device manufacturers, assisted living companies, managed care organizations, health care providers and insurers on corporate and regulatory matters.

Linda advises health products manufacturers on the regulatory and reimbursement status of particular products and procedures and on strategic pathways for bringing new products to market. She advises clients on compliance with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and related matters such as clinical trial agreements, arrangements with contract manufacturers and contract research organizations, labeling and advertising, and requests for orphan drug and fast track designations. Linda has worked with companies to obtain reimbursement from insurance companies, managed care organizations and Medicare.

David is Director of Medical Technology at Cambridge Consultants, Inc. His general responsibilities include strategy development, technical management and commercial management within a wide variety of medical markets including drug delivery, diagnostics, surgical and interventional devices and sensing systems. Within his role at Cambridge Consultants, David has gained significant experience working as a design and development partner with numerous early stage ventures in addition to established global companies. As part of his wider remit, David is responsible for internal technology investments and intellectual property management within the Medical Technology Division.

Prior to his current role, David has over a decade of experience working at the UK headquarters of Cambridge Consultants, leading multidisciplinary teams to bring to market a multitude of innovative high-tech products and systems in a diverse range of industries.

David has a passion for modern system engineering techniques - promoting a "right first time" approach to risk management - essential for getting emerging technology "off the bench" and translated to commercial success.

David graduated from Jesus College, University of Cambridge, with an honours degree in Computer Science. His previous appointments include leading cutting-edge technology R & D projects for a world champion formula 1 racing team.

Prior to joining Medical Capital Group as president and managing director, John was a founder of PrismVentureworks. Prism has six funds, aggregating over $1.25B, and John was responsible for healthcare investing. John is currently on the Board of Directors of Confirma, Inc. MedManage Systems, Uptake Medical and Optiscan of these Prism portfolio companies.

Prior to co-founding Prism, Brooks served as a General Manager at Pfizer/Valleylab where he developed and executed a comprehensive, minimally invasive surgery and emerging opportunity strategy. Prior to that at Pfizer/Strato, he led the growth of a rapidly evolving vascular access medical device business.

Brooks also held several vice president of finance and operations positions at successful high-tech, venture-backed companies and spent over 10 years in public accounting and consulting focused on supporting venture backed entrepreneurs.

Brooks has co-founded three paradigm-shifting life sciences start-ups - Songbird Hearing, Locus Pharmaceuticals and Insulet (PODD).

Brooks is currently a member of the Board of Associates for the Whitehead Institute, is on the Draper BioAdvisory Board, and is the Vice Chair and Finance Chair of the Joslin Diabetes Clinic.

Kevin is an assurance partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers' Life Sciences practice specializing on serving medical technology companies. With over 18 years of experience in public accounting, Kevin has gained extensive experience in serving clients in the medical technology sub-sector. Kevin has significant experience assisting his medical device, diagnostics, and medical technology clients with respect to financial audits, internal controls and Sarbanes-Oxley 404, initial public offerings, private placement financing, debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, corporate ventures, strategic collaborations and accounting for restructurings, and process and controls. He also has significant experience dealing with SEC reporting matters.

Kevin is a frequent developer and presenter of seminars and presentations on hot topics. Kevin co-authored a thought leadership publication entitled "Issues and Solutions for the Medical Technology Industry" which was released in November 2009.

Kevin graduated from Purdue University with a BS in Accounting and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants. Kevin currently serves on the Advisory Board of the MedTech IGNITE initiative of the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC).

William Contente, Gesmer Updegrove's managing partner, represents a wide range of corporate clients, both large and small, including e-commerce companies, ASPs, a variety of internet-based companies, computer hardware and software companies, medical device companies, systems integrators, venture capital firms and consulting firms. He has extensive experience in domestic and international licensing, "angel" and venture capital financing, secured and unsecured lending, structuring distribution and development arrangements and mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. Contente serves as a director of Launchpad Venture Group. He is active in the Massachusetts Software and Internet Council (MSIC) and the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC). Mr. Contente is a certified mediator. Mr. Contente co-chaired the High Technology Practice Group of the Massachusetts Bar Association from 1994 through 1999 and acted as an arbitrator for the National Futures Association from 1989 through 2001. He served as Chairman of the Board of Lena Park Community Development Corporation from 1997 through 2002. He received his undergraduate and law degrees with honors from Boston University.

Paul Magnin spent 17 years as a key contributor to Hewlett-Packard's Ultrasound Imaging business. He was the General Manager of Hewlett-Packard's Imaging Systems business from January 1996 through 1998. From 1998 through 2003, Dr. Magnin was the President of LightLab Imaging. LightLab Imaging, a medical device start-up company, brought to market a proprietary technology that employs infrared light to make images with resolution on the micron scale for Cardiology, Endoscopy, Neurology, and Surgical Microscopy. He managed the company from the start-up phase through the sale of the company to Goodman Ltd. Currently he is the Founder and President of Novelis, Inc. a privately funded start-up focused on the Interventional Cardiology application.

He serves on the Board of Directors of Radianse in Lawrence, MA, and the Ontario Consortium for Small Animal Imaging in Toronto, ON and is the Chairman of the Board of Ultrasonix Medical Corp. in Vancouver, BC.

Dr. Magnin has been studying and working in medical imaging since 1977 while an undergraduate at Princeton University. In 1981 he completed his doctorate in Biomedical Engineering at Duke University where he was part of the Ultrasonic Imaging research team.

Aaron is a managing director at Norwich Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage medical device companies. In his capacity as managing director, Aaron is involved in all facets of the investment process and draws from a broad background in healthcare and start-up operations to advise and support companies throughout their growth.

Prior to founding Norwich Ventures, Aaron worked for DEKA, the engineering think tank of Dean Kamen, where he helped develop partnerships and formulate business plans for emerging technologies. Aaron has also worked in start-up operations where he helped launch a subsidiary of Express Scripts and helped launch a venture-backed payments company. Both companies were acquired in transactions totalling over $500 million. Aaron began his career as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he advised healthcare clients ranging from leading medical device companies to a rural hospital system.

Josh Tolkoff is a principal at the Ironwood Equity Fund of Boston and has:

• Founded three medical device companies. Thirty-plus years of in depth experience in medical device research, development, manufacturing, regulatory affairs and general management. Including hospital research and entrepreneurial start-up of medical device companies.
• Hands-on problem solving experience with early-stage company issues including financing, staffing, cash management, and distribution.
• Significant experience in interventional radiology, cardiology, anesthesiology and gastroenterology markets.
• Significant experience providing outsourcing resources for the medical device industry.
• Extensive networks in the device industry.
• General management and director of medical ventures.
• Over 20 patents and experience with hundreds of medical devices.

Pamela J. Weagraff has been bringing medical devices to market for over 20 years. As a Principal with Quintiles Consulting, Ms. Weagraff partners with constituents in commercialization of emerging medical technologies by ensuring strong linkages between business strategy and operational elements. With relevant expertise in diverse types of medical technology and device classes, Ms. Weagraff's unique approach combines customer focus, collaboration and pragmatic solutions to achieve solid results.

Prior to joining Quintiles, Ms. Weagraff founded Acelera Consulting and served as a regulatory and reimbursement advisor to a range of medical device companies. Ms. Weagraff also served for 5 years as Vice President, Regulatory, Clinical and Quality for MediSpectra, Inc., an emerging medical technology company. Ms. Weagraff was a key contributor to the development of the company's overall business strategy, including marketing, regulatory, clinical and payment strategies. Previously Ms. Weagraff contributed for 10 years to product marketing, regulatory and quality efforts within Hewlett Packard's Medical Products Group (now Philips Medical).