Board of Directors

In addition to Dr. Mahncke, Dr. Merzenich and Mr. Zimman, the following people serve on our Board:

Vince Kim
Board Member, General Partner of Aberdare Ventures
Vince Kim joined Aberdare in 2002. Since that time, he has collaborated with entrepreneurs across medical, scientific, engineering and business disciplines with the aim to help build valuable, enduring companies that improve our health and wellbeing. His current areas of investment focus are on medical technology companies, principally those developing novel therapeutic medical devices, and also ones whose enabling technologies make possible the simultaneous goals of better healthcare outcomes and more efficient use of resources. He currently serves as a director on the boards of NeoStim, Nevro Corporation and Posit Science. His previous investment responsibilities include Ablation Frontiers, Ample Medical, EnteroMedics and VertiFlex.

Prior to joining Aberdare, Vince participated in early-stage venture capital investments in healthcare information technology and services companies at Acacia Venture Partners. His professional healthcare experience began at APM, a leading healthcare consulting firm, where he worked with management teams of healthcare provider and technology organizations on issues of strategy and operations.

Vince is a graduate of Princeton University where he received an AB degree in American History.

Joanna Rees
Board Member, Founder and Managing General Partner of VSP Capital
Joanna Rees has held senior positions with global consumer products companies and investment banks. Joanna Rees is a participant in the World Economic Forum, where she was designated a Global Leader for Tomorrow. She was named the 2000 Entrepreneur of the Year Rising Star by the National Association of Women Business Owners. She is a Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. Most recently, she was elected to the Board of the National Venture Capital Association. She also serves on the Boards of Mirra, Sabrix, and Candera, and leads her firm's investments in Quin Street and Danger.

Horace Deets
Board Member, Former Executive Director, AARP
Horace Deets served as Executive Director of AARP from 1988 to 2001. He currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Help Age International and is on the Boards of the National Council of La Raza and Sunrise Senior Living at Home. Horace Deets also works as a consultant to Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Age Lab and is a Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford University's Institute of Ageing. Prior boards have included the Andrus Gerontology Center of the University of Southern California, the U.N. Institute on Ageing in Malta and the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights. Horace Deets was a member of the Policy Committee of the 1996 White House Conference on Aging and was the recipient of The American Society on Aging Chair's Award, the Andrus Gerontology Center's Dean's Medallion, a Champion of Diversity Award from Working Mother Magazine, the Foreign Policy Association's Award for his public education efforts, and the International Platform Association's Claude Pepper Humanitarian Award.

Steve Jurvetson
Board Observer, Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Steve Jurvetson's investments have included Hotmail, Interwoven, Kana, Tradex, and Cyras. Steve Jurvetson was an R&D engineer at Hewlett-Packard, worked in product marketing at Apple and NeXT, and was a consultant with Bain & Company. He earned his BSEE at Stanford in 2.5 years, graduating first in his class. He also holds an MBA and an MSEE from Stanford. Steve Jurvetson is Co-Chair of the NanoBusiness Alliance. He was recently honored as “The Valley's Sharpest VC” on the cover of Business 2.0. He has been profiled in the New York Times Magazine, featured on the covers of Worth and Fortune, named by Forbes as one of “Tech's Best Venture Investors”, called one of the “Ten Most Influential VCs” by Venture Capital Journal, and given member status in Fortune's “Brain Trust of Top Ten Minds.”