Venture Partners
Tom Steinke
Tom has over 25 years of experience in recognizing opportunities and building businesses. Most recently, he was the founder and CEO of Vessix Vascular (formerly called Minnow Medical), a new company in renal denervation to reduce blood pressure, where he secured the first $25M in equity and venture financing. Before that, Tom was the founder, CEO, and CTO of REVA Medical, a developer of novel resorbable stent for treatment of vascular disease, which became allied with Boston Scientific and recently went public. There he had raised the first $20M in equity and venture financing. Prior to that Tom created then ran Medtronic's Rapid Exchange catheter group where his group was recognized with Medtronic's highest award, the Star of Excellence, and generated substantial revenue. Before that, as an R&D engineer at ACS/Guidant he was also recognized with Outstanding Achievement for his work in advanced composites. His first project professional project was with Daily Medical whose surgical products were licensed to Medtronic. Tom earned a BS in Biomedical Engineering from UCSD and an MBA from National University.
Jerome A. Legerton, OD, MS, MBA, FAAO
Dr. Legerton is currently President of The EPIC Group, an ophthalmic consulting business, and serves as a Director of Innovega, Preventive Ophthalmics, and Pacific Dynamic. He is co-founder of SynergEyes, VICOH and EyeCare for Humanity. Previously, Dr. Legerton served as Director of Clinical Research for Pilkington Barnes Hind, Vice President of Advanced Technology and Market Development for Paragon Vision Sciences, Professor of Practice Management for the University of Houston College of Optometry, and was the managing partner of the largest independent optometric practice in San Diego. Dr. Legerton holds 33 issued US patents and 50 published patent applications, and has authored more than 70 published articles. He received the Founders’ Award from the American Academy of Optometry in 2018, and was previously honored as the California Optometric Association Young Optometrist of the Year and the San Diego Optometric Society Optometrist of the Year. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, and a life member of the American Optometric Foundation. Dr. Legerton earned his BS and OD from Southern California College of Optometry, an MS in Counseling from Trinity, and an MBA from Pepperdine.
Jim Caputo
Jim has over forty years of experience in the medical device industry. He was co-founder and VP of Corporate Strategy for MEPS Real-Time, an early-stage firm developing advanced drug dispensing systems using RFID tracking technology. Previously, he co-founded Kinetic Surgical, a robotic surgery company, which was acquired by Cardinal Health and later spun off into CareFusion, where Jim became VP and General Manger. Prior to that, he was VP of Operations at River Medical, which acquired Ivac in 1995 and then was later acquired by Imed, and VP of Sales and Marketing of Pacific Device (acquired by Avail/Flextronics). He has been directly involved in many regulatory submissions and is the author of eight FDA 510(k) approved medical devices. He has been both a key member and coordinator of ISO 90001 certifications for the manufacture and distribution of medical devices in Europe. He is a multiple patent holder. Jim has an AA degree in Electronics and BS degree in Industrial Technology, Electronics from Long Beach State University.
Roger Jordheim
Roger is formerly President and CEO of Zinc Medical, a start-up developing innovative infection control products. Prior to Zinc, he was President and COO of Venetec (acquired by CR Bard), President of Maxxim Medical, and Sr. VP of Winfield Medical (acquired by Maxxim). Roger began his career with Baxter Healthcare Corporation, where he spent sixteen years with increasing responsibility in sales, marketing and management positions. He received a bachelor's degree in Psychology and Business from North Dakota State University and graduated from the Executive Development Program of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration of the University of Virginia. Roger also served as a US Army Officer in Vietnam.
Jim McCollum
Jim has broad and diverse experience with thirty-five years in the medical device and ophthalmic pharmaceutical space, including P&L responsibility for seven different businesses in the last twenty years. He is currently co-founder and CEO of Presbyopia Therapies, developer of PRX eye drops which improve near vision while maintaining distance vision. His accomplishments include raising over $150 million in private equity, negotiating three M&A exits and helping create and grow several disruptive market categories that include LASIK (laser vision correction), ARTAS robotic hair transplantation, LUMIFY redness reduction eye drops and the LapBand (surgical implant for morbid obesity). Mr. McCollum received a B.A. in Business from North Carolina State University.
Cole Owen
Cole is the principal of Owen & Associates, a consulting firm for life science companies specializing in technology assessments, product development and medical product marketing. Previously, he was a member of the management team at Hybritech (acquired by Eli Lily), a founder of The Immune Response Corporation and Cortex Pharmaceuticals, an advisor to Gen-Probe and Biosite, and a Board Member of Applied Molecular Systems. Earlier in his career, he worked as an industrial engineer for Celanese Fibers Corporation and for AT&T, and held various senior marketing and business positions with Johnson & Johnson. He has lectured and taught courses on entrepreneurship for UCSD in the Rady School of Management and Graduate School of International Relations & Pacific Studies as well as taught courses at the University of Oulu in Finland. Mr. Owen studied Industrial Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and also holds a business degree. He was a former US Naval Officer and veteran of two tours of duty in Vietnam.