Board of Directors
Marvin R. Brown, MD, Director, has more than 15 years of entrepreneurial experience and is an active investor and director in numerous early stage companies. As founder and CEO of Alanex Corporation, he led the growth of the company from inception through successful acquisition by Agouron Pharmaceuticals, and subsequently became Vice President of Warner Lambert. Dr. Brown was a Professor of Medicine and Surgery at the University of California and Co-founder of the Peptide Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute in La Jolla. Dr. Brown earned his MD from the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center and completed his training in medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and his scientific training at the Neuroendocrinology Laboratory of the Salk Institute.
John Chiplin, PhD, Director, has broad-based experience in the life science and technology industries, both from an operational and investment perspective. His most recent accomplishment was the corporate reengineering of Arana Therapeutics, a world leading Antibody developer, which resulted in the acquisition of the company by Cephalon for a significant premium to market (March, 2009). Immediately prior to running Arana, Dr. Chiplin was head of the $300 million ITI Life Sciences investment fund in the UK. His own investment vehicle, Newstar Ventures Ltd, has funded more than a dozen early stage companies in the past ten years. Dr. Chiplin earned his Pharmacy and Doctoral degrees from the University of Nottingham, UK.
Arnold T. Hagler, PhD, Founder and Chairman, has a distinguished career spanning over 25 years as an educator and leader in developing and applying molecular simulation techniques to problems in physical chemistry and drug design. In 1984 he founded Biosym Technologies, the first molecular modeling software company, serving as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Under Dr. Hagler's leadership, the company grew to more than $30 million in annual sales with nearly 250 employees worldwide before being acquired by Corning, Inc. for approximately $100 million in 1992. Dr. Hagler has a PhD in Physical Chemistry from
Cornell University.
Kevin J. Roberts, Director, brings 35 years of diverse business experience to the board. His current advisory capacity extends to the boards of Optical Research Associates, Hybir Inc., CyberHULL and Board Advisor to Skinit. Mr. Roberts began his career in senior management at McDonnell Douglas, then joined BIOSYM Technologies in 1988 serving as SVP Worldwide Sales and ultimately CEO when the company was sold to Corning in 1992 for $100 million. Other leadership roles include SeQual Technologies (a leading provider of Oxygen Concentrator Systems), an Angel Investor and board member for Akos (which became Endonetics and sold to Medtronics for $67 million in 2001), Angel Investor and Board Advisor for Interactive Simulations Inc. (which sold to MDL for $6 million in 2002), Chairman and CEO of Azron Inc., (which sold for $12 million in 1999) and a board member of Reaction Design, Inc. from 1997 to 2000. Most recently he served as CEO of Superscape Plc (listed on the London Stock Exchange) which sold for $36 million in 2008.
Michelle A.Youngers, President & CEO, brings over 20 years diverse experience in the development and implementation of operational and financing strategies for early stage, high growth companies across multiple industries. From 1994 to 1998 she served as CFO and general business manager at Alanex Corporation, a San Diego-based drug discovery company where she played a significant role in building the company from start-up through its acquisition by Agouron Pharmaceuticals in 1997. Ms. Youngers served as Acting Chief Financial Officer of ScienceMedia from 1999 to 2001 and joined the company as President in 2001. From 1989 to 1994 Ms. Youngers was Principal of Youngers & Company, an accounting and consulting practice focused on services to privately held companies in high growth rate industries.
Ms. Youngers currently serves on the Dean's Advisory Committee for UCSD's Division of Physical Sciences. She received her BBA in Accounting from the University of San Diego.
