Board of Directors
Jonathan Rothberg, Ph.D. invented the technology and initiated projects to sequence the first human genome (James Watson), the Neanderthal Genome, and crack the disappearance of the honey bee (CCD). Dr. Rothberg earned a B.S. in chemical engineering with an option in biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an M.S., M.Phil. and Ph.D. in biology from Yale University. He is the founder of 454 Life Sciences, Clarifi Corporation, CuraGen Corporation, The Rothberg Institute for Childhood Diseases, and the co-founder and Chairman of RainDance Technologies. Dr. Rothberg was named an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, is the recipient of The Wall Street Journal’s Gold Medal for Innovation for his invention of 454 sequencing, and was awarded The Irvington Institute’s Corporate Leadership Award in Science. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, and serves on the board of trustees of Carnegie Mellon University.
Bill Ericson leads investments in life sciences and software for Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV). He works closely with a cross-discipline team of leading scientists, researchers, and entrepreneurs applying technology solutions to life sciences and health care in non-traditional ways. Mr. Ericson joined MDV after spending 10 years working with and investing in entrepreneurs and early-stage companies. During that time, he served as a board member of a number of life sciences and software companies, both public and private. Mr. Ericson was a member of the founding team of Rosetta Inpharmatics and served on the Board of Directors until its acquisition by Merck in 2001. He serves on the Board of Northwestern University School of Law and is a member of the Personalized Medicine Coalition. Mr. Ericson received his B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University of Foreign Service and J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.
Michael Hunkapiller, Ph.D. joined Alloy in 2004 after 21 years at Applied Biosystems (NYSE: ABI), which he helped grow from startup to almost $2 billion in annual revenues supplying instrument and reagent systems for life science research. At ABI, he held several positions, most recently as President and General Manager. Mr. Hunkapiller was also a founder of ABI's sister company Celera Genomics (NYSE: CRA) and Senior Vice President of Applera Corporation (their parent company). Prior to joining ABI, he was a senior research fellow in the Division of Biology at the California Institute of Technology. Mr. Hunkapiller received a B.S. in chemistry from Oklahoma Baptist University in 1970 and a Ph.D. in chemical biology from the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Caltech in 1974. He has authored more than 100 scientific publications, is an inventor on more than two dozen patents, and has served on the editorial boards of several scientific journals. Mr. Hunkapiller has received several awards for his contributions to life science research, including the development of the automated DNA sequencing systems used to sequence the human genome. He is currently on the board of directors of NuGEN, Fluidigm, and Pacific Biosciences.
S. Roopom Banerjee is President and Chief Executive Officer of RainDance Technologies. Mr. Banerjee joined RainDance from Leerink Swann where he was a Director of Healthcare Investment Banking and led the Life Science Tools and Diagnostics sector. Previously, Mr. Banerjee held positions at McKinsey and Goldman Sachs advising Fortune 500 healthcare companies globally on corporate and growth strategy, product development and launch strategy, international expansion, and mergers and acquisitions. He has successfully completed over 50 transactions, including private placements, IPOs, Followons, PIPE/RDs, and fixed income as well as mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Banerjee also worked at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, the Whitehead Institute/M.I.T. Human Genome Project, and at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. He holds an M.P.P. from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and dual B.S. degrees in Biology and Economics from M.I.T., where he was elected a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholar.
Sue Siegel is a Partner with Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV). Prior to joining MDV, Ms. Siegel was President and Director of Affymetrix, Inc., a company that pioneered GeneChip® technology, propelling the expansion of the genomics field and the opportunity for personalized medicine. Formerly, she served at Amersham International (now GE Healthcare) where her last role was President of the Hoefer-Pharmacia Biotech business. Ms. Siegel built her experience in biotechnology and healthcare at E. I. DuPont & Co., Eastman Kodak Co., and Bio-Rad Laboratories. She is a member of the board of directors of Pacific Biosciences. Ms. Siegel also is a member of the Presidents' Circle of the National Academies, serves as an advisor to the Institute of Medicine, and is a board member of The Tech Museum of Innovation, Silicon Valley. She is a member of the Advisory Council of The J. David Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, a world leading biomedical research organization.
David A. Weitz, Ph.D. has been the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics, Harvard University, from 1999 to the present, and the Director of the Harvard Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, from 2001 to the present. His honors and awards include Bayer Distinguished Lecture, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh; Sir Eric Rideal Lecture, Faraday Discussions 123, Edinburgh, Scotland, and Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Jeff Samberg (Board Observer) is the Managing Member of Acadia Woods Partners, LLC, a New York-based investment partnership that focuses primarily on early-stage technology companies. He lived in the San Francisco Bay area for 15 years where he held a number of high-technology management roles, including Vice President of Corporate Strategy for PeopleSoft Inc., Vice President of Business Development for Wily Technology, and Entrepreneur in Residence for Greylock Partners. Mr. Samberg received his MBA from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and his B.A. with high honors in economics from Princeton University.
Maha Katabi, Ph.D. (Board Observer) is an Investment Manager with Sectoral Asset Management. Dr. Katabi joined Sectoral in 2008. She is responsible of selecting investments for our small cap portfolio in the biotech and medtech space. Prior to joining Sectoral, she was vice-president with Ventures West since 2004, a private venture capital firm with over $700 million under management based in Canada. In this capacity, she managed biotech investments across Canada and the United States, and served as a director of MacroGenics, NeurAxon, and Resonant Medical. Previously, she worked at T2C2 Capital, since 1999, an early stage fund investing in the life sciences space primarily in start-ups and university spin-offs. She joined Chronogen Inc., one of the fund’s portfolio companies to serve as Vice President of business development in 2002. She holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and B.Sc. in Biology from McGill University.
