VINETI - Key Persons
Before co-founding Vineti, Amy focused on healthcare new business creation for GE Ventures/healthymagination. Prior to GE, Amy was Chief Business Officer at Navigenics, a genomics company sold to Life Technologies in 2012. She was co-founder and Executive Director of Proposition 71, California's $3B stem cell research initiative passed in 2004, as well as Chief of Staff at the resulting state grant oversight agency. Amy holds an MBA and MA/BA in English from Stanford University. She was named a 2016 Health Innovator Fellow by the Aspen Institute. Amy also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the ARM Foundation for Cell and Gene Medicine.
Ann brings more than 25 years of healthcare technology product strategy, management, sales and marketing experience to Vineti. Before joining the company, Ann served as Chief Product Officer for Tact.ai, a leading CRM company focused on the life sciences industry. Before joining Tact.ai, she served as Chief Product Officer and Partner for ZS Associates and as Vice President and General Manager, Healthcare, for Vlocity (now Salesforce Industries). Previously, Ann offered corporate and product strategy consulting services to healthcare and other software companies. Earlier in her career, Ann held positions of increasing responsibility in the healthcare technology industry, including as Senior Vice President of Product Management for Risk Management Solutions, General Manager of Insurance and Healthcare at Siebel Systems (acquired by Oracle), and Senior Manager of healthcare strategy at Accenture. Ms. Ann received her MBA from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and her BA, magna cum laude from Princeton University. She also currently serves as an advisory board member for Capsico Health.
Job Titles:
- President and CEO of Golden Living
Dr. Neil Kurtz has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare. He is a physician with Boards in psychiatry and neurology with an advanced degree in pharmacology. He spent 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry. He has served on Medidata's board of directors since 2002. He also serves on the Board of Directors of TeamHealth, the nation's leading provider of emergency department services.
Currently, Dr. Kurtz is also President and CEO of Golden Living, a leading provider of long-term care. He was President and CEO of Worldwide Clinical Trials, an international clinical research operation purchased by UnitedHealth Group in 1999.
Dr. Kurtz holds a B.A. in psychology from New York University and an M.D. from the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Job Titles:
- Chief Investment Officer and Founder of Casdin Capital
Eli Casdin founded Casdin Capital in 2011 after nearly ten years spent focused on disruptive technologies and business models in life sciences and healthcare, including authoring the black book, The Dawn of Molecular Medicine. Casdin Capital's combination of long-term vision and strong industry relationships keep it focused on the big picture yet nimble, while maintaining a consistent approach: Take aim at big markets; Invest in great ideas and great teams; Stay focused; Avoid hubris.
Prior to founding Casdin Capital, Eli was a Vice President and Analyst at Alliance Bernstein and a member of its "thematic" based investment group, responsible for researching and investing in the implications of new technologies for the life science and healthcare sectors. Eli's early experience includes time at Bear Stearns and at Cooper Hill Partners, one of the earliest biotechnology focused investment firms.
Eli earned his B.S. from Columbia University and his MBA from Columbia Business School and serves on the Columbia University School of GS Board of Directors.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner and Co - Founder at Threshold Ventures
Emily is Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Threshold Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm that spun out of DFJ Ventures. Emily has spent more than a decade working with early-stage companies. Emily's primary areas of interest include consumer and mobile technology, healthcare technologies and marketplaces. Her investments include BetterUp, Elation Health, Livongo, Redfin, Shift, and Wellframe. Emily started her career at DFJ and spent eight years at the firm where she sourced and became actively involved in consumer and enterprise investments including Meebo (acquired by Google), Flux (acquired by MTVNetworks), Kudo (acquired by Google), Redfin, ShareThis, and RichRelevance. Recently, she was an advisor to Pulse Networks (acquired by LinkedIn), HealthTap, and PoshMark. She holds a BA with honors and distinction in political philosophy and an MBA, both from Stanford University.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Operations Executive
Heidi has been an Operations Executive in the Biotechnology industry for over 25 years and is a Co-founder of Vineti. She has an extensive and proven track record in leading operations and commercializing innovative technologies ranging from recombinant protein/device combinations to the first active immune cell therapy, Provenge. Previously, Heidi was the Global COO for SOTIO, in Prague, Czech Republic with a US office in Boston, MA. Before joining SOTIO she worked for Dendreon for ten years as Senior Vice President of Operations and ten years with Immunex Corporation in a range of roles in drug development and operations management. Heidi has a B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology, an MS in Bioengineering, and an MBA from the University of Washington.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President and Practice Lead, Provider Technology Services, Optum
John leads the Provider Technology Services practice within Optum Advisory Services. He plays a pivotal role leading:
Electronic health record (EHR) implementation
EHR optimization
Population health/value-based operations efforts
IT strategy
Prior to consulting, he practiced internal medicine for 14 years. His focus was ambulatory chronic disease management and inpatient critical care.
John Kontor's unique perspective comes from his experience serving as an executive in multiple roles at IDNs. These include chief medical information officer, vice president of medical affairs and medical director of an employed physician network.
John received his Bachelor of Arts from Boston University in health policy and earned his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- President
Louise brings almost 25 years of global experience in biopharmaceutical and healthcare technology to Vineti. Before joining the company as Chief Strategy Officer, she led major biopharmaceutical engagements in Europe and the U.K. for IQVIA, a global leader in the use of data, technology, and analytics to advance healthcare. She has also led large-scale technology transformation programs for global pharmaceutical leader GSK in the Asia-Pacific region and leading medical testing provider Quest Diagnostics in the United States. Earlier in her career, she managed network administration for biotech start-up CombinatorRx, where the team built a high-throughput IT platform to identify and develop new medications based on synergistic combinations of approved drugs. Louise holds a data science certificate in object-oriented programming from Harvard University, and received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner of Section 32
- Managing Partner, Section 32 Chairman, Foundation Medicine
Dr. Pellini is Managing Partner of Section 32, a venture fund that invests in companies and inventors that are changing the way humans use technology and the way technology betters humanity. Previously, he served as CEO of Foundation Medicine (NASDAQ:FMI) from May 2011 until he transitioned to Chairman in February 2017.
He currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Tango Therapeutics, Singular Genomics, Adaptive Biotechnologies, the Personalized Medicine Coalition, and the Mission Hospital Foundation, in addition to his Board Chair position with Foundation Medicine. As a physician with more than 20 years of executive experience with companies at the forefront of clinical diagnostics and genomics, Dr. Pellini brings a breadth of understanding in personalized medicine, with a particular interest and focus on defeating cancer. Dr. Pellini is a member of the President's Leadership Council at Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health, as well as the Advisory Board for Mission Hospital's Cancer Institute (Provident/St. Joseph Health).
Dr. Pellini received a BA from Boston College, an MBA from Drexel University and an MD from Jefferson Medical College.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at Cardinal Health
Michele Holcomb has over 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry, as a scientist, strategist, and global leader of business development and R&D. Michele brings a broad knowledge of the healthcare ecosystem, across pharmaceutical companies, payors, providers, pharmacies, and the dynamics among them. She has worked with companies at all stages of pharmaceutical development and with companies in healthcare services.
Michele currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at Cardinal Health. She works with business leaders to develop strategy and identify opportunities for innovation and growth. Her team also leads the execution and integration of acquisitions, partnerships and divestitures.
Michele came to Cardinal Health from Teva Pharmaceuticals where she held roles in R&D and Strategy. Her roles included Chief Operating Officer of Global R&D and Senior Vice President of Strategy, Portfolio, Search and Partnerships, and Vice President of Corporate Strategy.
Prior to Teva, Michele was a Partner in the Global Pharmaceutical Practice at McKinsey & Company, where she spent 15 years. She served 6 of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies, as well as high-growth biotechs and mid-cap pharmaceutical companies.
Michele was a member of the board of naviHealth, a private, care transitions company that takes on risk to optimize clinical and financial outcomes prior to acquisition. She is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Pharmaceutical Executive, the World Economic Forum Strategy Officers Community, and board member for the Liberty Science Center (New Jersey) and BalletMet of Columbus, where she chairs the long-range planning committee. Michele has lectured on healthcare strategy at Kellogg (Northwestern), Columbia and Fuqua (Duke) business schools.
Michele is trained as a chemist, with a B.S. in Chemistry from Stanford University, a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and experience as a bench chemist at Syntex Pharmaceuticals and Ciba-Geigy.
Nina Kjellson invests in biopharmaceutical and digital health companies that aim to transform care for patients. She focuses on therapeutics for serious and underserved conditions such as cancer, autoimmune disease and life-threatening infections and IT-enabled transformation of healthcare delivery. As a leader of Canaan's Women of Venture program, Nina is a vocal advocate for women entrepreneurs and investors. She serves as a mentor to Blueprint Health, a digital health incubator and Springboard Life Sciences, an accelerator for healthcare companies driven by women entrepreneurs. She is a member of the advisory board for the Oliver Wyman Health Innovation Center.
Prior to Canaan, Nina was a General Partner at InterWest Partners where she had invested in healthcare start-ups since 2002. Before InterWest, she was an investment manager at Bay City Capital, a life sciences merchant bank, and a research associate at Oracle Partners, a healthcare-focused hedge fund. Nina began her career conducting health policy and survey research with the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Compliance Officer & SVP, Quality, Security & Compliance
Subbu has over 20 years of experience with QMS and compliance in life sciences with a focus on software development and implementation. His area of specialty is compliance in the cloud, from GxP to data privacy and security regulations (such as HIPAA, GDPR) and he now leads this effort for Vineti. Additionally, he has led software development, process automation, agency inspection preparedness, agency compliance, and remediation efforts for a variety of life science companies. Subbu has a BE in Mechanical Engineering from Bangalore University (India) and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.