BOARD OF DIRECTORS
John Farina
Chairman
Managing Director of Glenbarr Partners, LLC
John Farina is the founder and Managing Director of Glenbarr Partners, LLC a Southern California based venture capital fund specializing in technology and biotech. Mr. Farina has demonstrated a history of identifying, building, and running successful hardware, software, and professional services businesses in technologies, including digital imaging, software development, e-commerce, computer graphics, and electronic publishing. He has served as President and/or CEO of Vidyah, Inc., IXL, Inc., Quintar Co., and the Quintar Division of Bell and Howell. After leading a venture-backed buyout of the Quintar Division, he merged the company with Splash Technology, helping to build a computer graphics powerhouse with an $80M/year revenue stream in less than one year. As a senior partner and Managing Director of IXL Ventures, LLC, a $300M venture capital fund with 29 companies in its portfolio, Mr. Farina was responsible for deal selection and review, selection of board members and senior management, monitoring of company activities, and strategic relations with major Venture Capital firms including Chase Capital Partners, Flatiron, GE Capital, Intel Capital, and others. Mr. Farina has served on the Boards of Quintar, IXL, Splash, and Vidyah, and the Digital Coast Roundtable. Mr. Farina received his B.S. in Education and Mathematics from Villanova University, and his M.A. in Communications Management from the University of Southern California.
Willem Mesdag
Managing Director
Red Mountain Capital Partners, LLC
Willem Mesdag is the Founder and Managing Director of Red Mountain Capital Partners LLC. He was previously a Senior Advisor at the Davis Companies, Mr. Marvin Davis' family office and holding company. Mr. Mesdag joined the Davis Companies in March 2002, where he managed the firm's current investments and evaluated new ventures. He was also a Partner and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and Co. and worked for 20 years in New York, London, Frankfurt, and Los Angeles. He has worked in the U.S.A., the U.K., and Germany and co-founded Goldman Sachs' Capital Markets Group in 1982, Asset Securitization Group in 1986, and its European Financial Institutions Group in 1989. Mr. Mesdag is a Director at Encore Capital Group, Harvard-Westlake School, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, 3i Group plc, and a Director and Trustee at Scripps College. Mr. Mesdag is also a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow at the Aspen Institute. During his career, he has held positions as Vice Chairman of the Board at Skandia and as Advisory Director at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Mesdag is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Cornell Law School.
Oye Olukotun, MD, MPH, FACC
Chief Executive Officer
CardioVax, LLC
Oye Olukotun, MD, MPH, FACC is a Board Certified Cardiologist who has been instrumental in the submission of more than fourteen New Drug Applications, Premarket Authorization Applications, and 510k Applications in 30 years he has spent in pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Previously, he was the co-founder of VIA Pharmaceuticals and served as the Chief Medical Officer. Before joining VIA, Dr. Olukotun founded CR Strategies, LLC, a clinical research and development consulting firm in Princeton, NJ, and served as its Chief Executive Officer. He also was Chief Medical Officer of Esperion Therapeutics, Inc., a cardiovascular drug development company, until its acquisition by Pfizer. From 1996 to 2000, Dr. Olukotun was Vice President of Medical and Regulatory Affairs and Chief Medical Officer of Mallinckrodt, Inc. Prior to joining Mallinckrodt, Dr. Olukotun spent fourteen years at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, where he served as Vice President of two divisions focused on cardiovascular research. Dr. Olukotun received his MD degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and obtained a MPH degree from Harvard University School of Public Health. Throughout his career, he has published more than forty articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology as well as the American Heart Association. He is also currently a member of the Boards of Directors of BioClinica, Icagen, Milestone Pharma, and SemBioSys.
Edward Prunchunas
Chief Financial Officer
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Edward Prunchunas has served as Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center since 1998. Having previously served as an Associate Director of Finance and Director of Finance from 1981 to 1983, Mr. Prunchunas rejoined Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in 1993 as Vice President of Finance. Mr. Prunchunas has previously serviced as Chief Financial Officer at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, Northridge, California, and as a member of the consulting staff of the accounting firm Ernst & Ernst (now known as Cap Gemini Ernst & Young). Mr. Prunchunas is a Fellow of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), Past President of the HFMA Southern California Chapter and has held regional and national positions with HFMA. He currently serves as a Board Member of the California Hospital Association. Mr. Prunchunas earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting, with an emphasis in mathematics and computer science, from University of Illinois.
BERT JUNNO
Chief Executive Officer
Forskarpatent, i SYD AB
Bert Junno presently serves as the CEO of Lund University Technology Group and WntResearch AB, a biotech startup company developing novel anti-cancer drugs. Mr. Junno has extensive prior extensive management and fund raising as Chairman, CEO and CTO of several Swedish start-up companies producing semiconductors, electronics, electronics production tools, medical technology and media software. In addition, he has worked internationally as a consultant in the field of semiconductor production technology. Mr. Junno serves on the boards of Taurus Energy AB and the Swedish patent office. He holds a PhD in Semiconductor Physics and Technology and a MSc in Physics from Lund University.
