Michael Rice – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Mike Rice became president and chief executive officer and a member of our Board of Directors in August 2006, and Chairman in August 2007. He has more than 20 years of leadership and entrepreneurial experience in the medical and high tech industries. He was most recently the senior business development manager for medical and wireless products at AMI Semiconductor (NASDAQ:AMIS). Mr. Rice also served as the director of marketing and business development at Cardiac Science, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCX), a manufacturer of automated external defibrillators. Prior to that, he was the Vice President, Sales and Marketing for TEGRIS Corporation, a privately held network services provider. Mr. Rice also spent 12 years at Physio Control Corporation in several sales and marketing management roles prior to its acquisition by Medtronic Inc.
Howard S. Breslow (member – Corporate Governance Committee)
Howard S. Breslow has served as a director of the Company since July 1988. He has been a practicing attorney in New York City for more than 40 years and is a member of the law firm of Breslow & Walker, LLP, New York, New York, which firm serves as general counsel to the Company.
Roderick de Greef (member – Corporate Governance, Audit & Finance Committees)
Mr. de Greef has been a director of the Company since June 2000, and since July 2007, has been retained by the Company to provide strategic and financial consulting services. Mr. de Greef provides corporate advisory services to several other companies, including Cambridge Heart, Inc., where he has been employed as Chairman of the board of directors since November 2008. From October 2005 to July 2007, Mr. de Greef was Chief Financial Officer of Cambridge Heart, and Vice President of Finance and Administration from June 2006 to July 2007. From February 2001 to September 2005, Mr. de Greef was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Cardiac Science, Inc., which merged with Quinton Cardiology, Inc. From 1995 to 2001, Mr. de Greef provided independent corporate finance advisory services to a number of early-stage companies, including BioLife Solutions and Cardiac Science. From 1986 to 1995, Mr. de Greef served as Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of several publicly held, development stage medical technology companies. Mr. de Greef is also a member of the board of directors of Irvine, CA based Endologix, Inc. Mr. de Greef has a B.A. in Economics and International Relations from California State University at San Francisco and earned his M.B.A. from the University of Oregon.
Thomas Girschweiler (member – Compensation, Audit & Finance Committees)
Thomas Girschweiler joined the Board in 2003. Mr. Girschweiler has been engaged in corporate financing activities on his own behalf since 1996. From 1981 to 1996 he was an investment banker with Union Bank of Switzerland. Mr. Girschweiler was graduated at the Swiss Banking School.
Raymond Cohen (chair – Audit & Finance Committee, member – Compensation Committee)
Raymond W. Cohen joined the Board in May 2006. Mr. Cohen is an Accredited Public Company Director. He currently serves as the CEO and member of the Board of Directors of Minnow Medical, Inc., a venture backed developer of a novel RF Thermoplasty therapy for treatment of vascular disease and as an advisor to Fjord Ventures, LLC., a life science incubator. Cohen also serves on the Board of publicly traded Cardiogenesis, Inc., (CPCG) a manufacturer of transmyocardial revascularization lasers, Syncroness, Inc., a privately-held engineering and product development firm and CardioPolymers, Inc., a privately-held developer of novel biotherapeutics for the treatment of congestive heart failure. In 2008, Mr. Cohen was named by AeA as the Private Company Life Science CEO of the Year. Previously, Cohen served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cardiac Science (CSCX). In 2004, Cardiac Science was ranked as the 4th fastest growing technology company in North America on Deloitte & Touche’s Fast 500 listing. Mr. Cohen was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2002 by the Orange County Business Journal and was a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in the medical company category in 2004. Mr. Cohen is a member of a number of local Southern California organizations, notably the Forum of Corporate Directors, OCTANe where he is a member of the Biomedical Leadership Council and as a Advisory Council member to the Keck Graduate Institute, BioScience MBA program. Mr. Cohen holds a B.S. in Business Management from the State University of New York at Binghamton.
Andrew Hinson (member – Compensation, Corporate Governance Committees)
Andrew Hinson joined the Board in February 2007. He is currently the Vice President for Clinical and Regulatory Affairs for LoneStar Heart, Inc., a developer of proprietary biopolymer, small molecule and cellular-based therapies to effectively treat heart failure and other cardiac conditions. Mr. Hinson has diverse experience in the cell and gene therapy markets and extensive experience with regulatory and clinical trial issues for new therapies for cardiac, neurologic, and gastrointestinal applications.
