Who We Are
Board Observers
Brian Atwood
Managing Partner, Versant Ventures
Mr. Atwood specializes in biotechnology investing at Versant. Mr. Atwood co-founded Versant Ventures after spending four years at Brentwood Venture Capital where as a general partner he led investments in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and bioinformatics. He also has more than 15 years of operating experience in the biotechnology industry, with emphasis on therapeutic products, devices, diagnostics, and research instrumentation.
Prior to launching his career in venture capital, Mr. Atwood was founder, president, and CEO of Glycomed, a publicly traded biotechnology company. At Glycomed, Mr. Atwood concentrated on business development and strategic alliances, closing deals with Eli Lilly & Company, Millipore, Genentech, and Sankyo, before leading the sale of Glycomed to Ligand Pharmaceuticals. Prior to this, he co-founded and served as director of Perkin Elmer/Cetus Instruments, a joint venture for robotics automation and genomics research instruments and products later acquired by Perkin Elmer. Under Mr. Atwood's management, the venture developed and launched the GeneAmp® Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) system, the fundamental DNA amplification innovation responsible for fueling the explosive growth of genomics research. He served on the Board of Directors at Coulter Pharmaceutical (sold to Corixa in 2000). Mr. Atwood currently serves as a Board member at the private companies ForteBio Inc., FivePrime Therapeutics, Helicos BioSciences, Calderome Inc., and Synosis Therapeutics, as well as Pharmion Corporation which became a public company in November 2003, and Cadence Pharmaceuticals which became a public company in October 2006.
Mr. Atwood received a Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine, a Master's degree from the University of California, Davis, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Thong Q. Le
Managing Director, WRF Capital
As Managing Director at WRF Capital, Mr. Le focuses on investment opportunities in biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, enterprise software and advanced materials. Since joining WRF Capital, he has worked closely with the management teams and boards of Corus Pharma, Lumera (NasdaqNM:LMRA), Performant (acquired by Mercury Interactive), and Point of CareWare. He is currently a Board Observer at Alder Biopharmaceuticals, HaloSource, Hyperion Therapeutics, Teranode, Uptake Medical, and VLST Corp.
Prior to joining WRF Capital, Mr. Le was the founder, president and chief executive officer of MiniMeals, Inc. and a consultant for Capital Management Consulting, Inc., where his clients included Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurial teams, and top-tier venture capital firms. Earlier, he was at Raymond James & Associates, Singer & Xenos Investment Management Company and Capital Management Group LLC, a private investment firm specializing in biomedical ventures.
Mr. Le completed post-graduate studies at the Templeton College of Oxford University and earned a bachelor of arts cum laude in economics and government from Harvard University. He serves as the Pacific Northwest Regional Director for the Harvard Alumni Association, as a member of the Advisory Council for the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), and as a Board Member for the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association (WBBA). He was also named one of the regions “40 Under 40” by the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Joel Marcus, J.D., C.P.A.
CEO, Founder and Director, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.
Mr. Marcus is Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Founder and Director of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., a $6.1 billion total market capital NYSE company with a stellar public track record is the pre-eminent real estate investment trust focused principally on the ownership, operation, management, redevelopment, selective development and acquisition of properties containing office/laboratory space, the Labspace® niche which Alexandria pioneered. Such properties are designed and improved for lease primarily to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life science research, product, service, defense, educational and translational research entities, as well as related government agencies. Mr. Marcus has extensive expertise, experience and contacts in the life sciences and real estate industries. He is highly experienced in real estate, finance and capital market matters, venture capital and mergers/acquisitions. Mr. Marcus has been involved with the formation, financing and operations of companies ranging in size from multi-billion dollar conglomerates to start-ups. Mr. Marcus won the 1999 Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” Award: Los Angeles - Real Estate. The New York Academy of Sciences Economic Development for Science Award recipient for leadership in support of New York City as a center of scientific excellence. Mr. Marcus is nationally recognized for his experience and expertise in strategic partnering and was one of the original architects of the Kirin-Amgen joint venture. This joint venture owns the rights and financed the development of erythropoietin and granulocyte colony stimulating factor, the two leading genetically engineered pharmaceutical producers. Mr. Marcus was one of the original architects and founders of The Accelerator(SM) Seattle, Washington, and The New York City Orthopedics Technologies Venture, New York, New York. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Janis Naeve, Ph.D.
Director, Amgen Ventures
Dr. Naeve joined Amgen in 2005 as a Director in the Company's corporate venture capital fund. She directs the fund's investment in early-stage biotechnology companies focused on discovering and developing human therapeutics. From 2002 to 2005, Dr. Naeve was director of Corporate Development at X-Ceptor Therapeutics which was acquired by Exelixis. Prior to this she was director of Business Development at Aurora Biosciences where she led transactions for the ion channel technology business unit and managed the collaborations with Pfizer, Merck, Lilly and Bristol Myers-Squibb. Dr. Naeve holds a Ph.D. in Pathology from University of Southern California and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the California Institute of Technology.
Robert T. Nelsen
Co-founder and Managing Director, ARCH Venture Partners
Mr. Nelsen is a co-founder and a Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners.
Mr. Nelsen joined ARCH at its founding and has played a significant role in the early sourcing, financing and development of more than thirty companies including Sapphire Energy, Ikaria, Illumina (ILMN), Adolor (ADLR), Aviron (AVIR, acquired by Medimmune-MEDI), Caliper Life Sciences (CALP), Trubion Pharmaceuticals (TRBN), Array BioPharma (ARRY), NetBot, deCODE Genetics (DCGN), Nanosys, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), XenoPort (XNPT), GenVec (GNVC), R2 Technology (acquired by Hologic-HOLX), IDUN Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer-PFE), Genomica (GNOM, acquired by Exelixis-EXEL), Surface Logix, NeurogesX (NGSX), Classmates.com (acquired by United Online-UNTD), Nura (acquired by Omeros), Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, Elixir Pharmaceuticals, Spaltudaq, VLST, Ensemble Discovery, Accelerator, Apoptos, Fate Therapeutics, Agios Pharmaceuticals, and Everyday Learning.
Mr. Nelsen is a director of Ikaria, Sapphire Energy, Fate Therapeutics, Agios Pharmaceuticals, NeurogesX, and Kythera Biopharmaceuticals. He previously served on the boards of Trubion Pharmaceuticals, Surface Logix, Adolor, NetBot, Everyday Learning, Spaltudaq, Array BioPharma, Caliper Life Sciences, Illumina, R2 Technology, and Classmates.com, among others. He also serves as a director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute. Mr. Nelsen holds an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago and a B.S. in Economics and Biology from the University of Puget Sound.
Carl Weissman
Managing Director, OVP Venture Partners
Mr. Weissman serves concurrently as Chairman and CEO of Accelerator and as a Managing Director at OVP. Carl joined OVP as a Venture Partner in 2007 and became a Managing Director in 2009. He focuses on the digital biology sector, with investments including Allozyne and Fate Therapeutics. He is also a Board Observer to NanoString, Verdezyne and Viral Logic Systems Technology (VLST).
Mr. Weissman led the formation of Accelerator in 2003. Accelerator is a joint investment vehicle backed by a syndicate of venture capital firms, including OVP, which invests in and actively manages emerging biotechnology companies. Accelerator has facilitated Series A investments in, and has managed or is currently managing the operations of five OVP portfolio companies: Allozyne, Seredigm, VLST, GPC-Rx and Mirina. Allozyne and VLST have successfully raised Series B rounds ($55M and $30M respectively) and have "graduated" from Accelerator.
Prior to joining OVP, Mr. Weissman was a Venture Partner at MPM Capital from 2001 through 2006. While at MPM, he served as President and CEO of Centagenetix, a human genetics company in Cambridge, MA. Mr. Weissman led the 2003 merger of Centagenetix with Elixir Pharmaceuticals, catalyzing a $40M Series B financing in the combined company. Prior to joining MPM, he spent six years at Prolinx, Inc., where he held a number of positions, culminating as the head of both Finance and Business Development.
Mr. Weissman serves on the Board of the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association (WBBA), the Board of the Oregon Translational Research and Drug Development Institute (OTRADI) and is President of the Board of Directors of Teens in Public Service.