Maria Berkman, MD, Director & Head of MedTech, Broadview Ventures
Maria Berkman, MD, MBA, is a Director, and Head of the MedTech practice at Broadview Ventures where she manages the firm’s MedTech investment strategy and activity, from identification and screening of new opportunities through due diligence, negotiation of deal structure, portfolio company board involvement, and overall portfolio strategy.
Maria currently serves on the boards of Alleviant Medical, Aria CV, AtaCor, FineHeart, RapidPulse, Vascular Graft Solutions, and Vectorious Medical Technologies, and previously served on the boards of Lyra Therapeutics (NSDQ:LYRA), Apama Medical (acquired), Remedy Therapeutics (acquired), and Capricor (NSDQ:CAPR).
Prior to joining Broadview Ventures, Maria was a management consultant at Monitor Group, where she specialized in life sciences with a focus on corporate, franchise, and asset-level commercial strategy and competitive strategic planning for BioPharma and MedTech clients. Prior to joining Monitor Group, Maria trained within the Partners HealthCare System at Newton Wellesley Hospital in General Surgery. Maria earned a concurrent MD from the UCLA School of Medicine and MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, graduating Alpha Omega Alpha.
Outside of Broadview, Maria serves as a VC Mentor for the UCLA Biodesign Fellowship, Life Science Committee member at the Boston Museum of Science, member of the AdvaMed MedTech Investment Working Group, and Co-Chair of the NEVCA MedTech Academy; Maria previously served as an SBIR/STTR grant reviewer for the National Science Foundation and as a Strategic Advisory Board Member for the RAD BioMed Accelerator in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Joe Biller, Managing Partner, American Century Private Investments
Joe is a Managing Partner at 3x5 Partners, a venture capital firm that collaborates with passionate entrepreneurs who are developing solutions in response to global healthcare and climate needs. Previously, Joe was a Managing Director at SightLine Partners, where he helped raise $250M+ over 15 years to invest in the healthcare sector. During his tenure at Sightline, Joe served on numerous boards and completed transactions in over 50 companies with his partners. He began his career at Bremer Asset Management and is based in the Twin Cities.
Lori Chmura, CEO, Nyra Medical
Lori Chmura is an accomplished healthcare executive with more than 30 years’ experience in the medical device industry. She currently leads Nyra Medical, an early stage cardiovascular company focused in the structural heart space, as its CEO.
Most recently she served as President and Chief Executive Officer at Soundbite Medical Solutions, a privately held medical device company in Montreal, Canada. Lori provided strategic leadership to transform the business resulting in the receipt of FDA clearance of its revolutionary device for the treatment of calcific occlusive cardiovascular disease using shock wave, energy while securing non-dilutive capital for the company through the signing of an exclusive licensing partnership with a reputable Chinese cross border fund.
Prior to Soundbite, Ms. Chmura led Dune Medical Devices as the Chief Executive Officer, and member of the Board of Directors exiting with a sale of the company’s business in April 2020.
She has held escalating leadership roles within several leading medical device companies, including Medtronic, Covidien and Johnson and Johnson, with extensive experience in leading and growing medical device businesses in the United States and globally across cross functional areas such as commercialization strategies, research and development activities, regulatory affairs, and transfer to manufacturing, among others.
Recognized by the Southeast Medical Device Association as its “Woman of the Year” in 2017, Lori’s proven leadership, with a successful track record in leading, transforming, and growing global medical device businesses, has enhanced shareholder value among both large cap public companies as well as privately held, venture supported organizations.
Lori most recently served on the Board of Directors, as a member of the audit committee, of OpSens Inc. (TSX:OPS), a medical device cardiology-focused company delivering diagnostic and treatment solutions based on its proprietary optical technology. As a member of the strategic planning and deal committee, she helped lead its sale to Haemonetics (HAE) in Dec of 2023. She also serves on the Executive Committee of the ADVAMED Women’s Executive Network Board (WEN) and is past President-elect of the Board of the Atlanta Chapter of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association. Passionate about working with and developing young professionals, she also supports C-LEGS, a catholic leadership development program as a mentor to college students as they prepare for entry into their professional careers.
Lori received her MBA from Duke University as well as a BSN from Southern Connecticut State University. As a lifelong learner, Lori has also participated in numerous advanced education programs from Harvard University, as well as other reputable institutions throughout the years.
Andy Danielsen, Chair, Mayo Clinic Ventures
Andrew J. Danielsen serves as chair of Mayo Clinic Ventures in the Department of Business Development at Mayo Clinic, where he oversees the licensing, technology development, venture investment and business development functions. Collectively, these groups work to identify, develop and commercialize Mayo Clinic intellectual property. These activities generated over $100 million in revenue for Mayo Clinic in 2020.
Prior to joining Mayo Clinic Ventures in 2002, Mr. Danielsen conducted research at Mayo Clinic where he worked to identify therapeutic targets in breast and ovarian cancer.
Mr. Danielsen serves on several committees throughout Mayo Clinic, including the Executive Subcommittee of the Medical-Industry Relations Committee. He is also a member of multiple groups responsible for funding innovative new technologies or startup companies, including the Mayo Clinic Venture Fund Investment Committee, the Discovery Translation Program, and the Department of Business Development Investment Committee.
Mr. Danielsen received his B.S. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and his M.S. in molecular biology from Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
James Eadie, MD, Managing Director, Sante Ventures
James joined Santé Ventures in 2009 and is an emergency medicine physician.
Prior to joining Santé, James served in the Air Force and was Vice-Chair of Emergency Medicine at Wilford Hall Medical Center, an academic level-one trauma center. He completed two tours in Iraq as a Critical Care Transport Team Chief and Emergency Department Commander, before separating honorably as a Major in 2008.
James is an Oversight Committee member for the University of Michigan’s Michigan Translational Research & Commercialization program, an early-stage granting body for life science companies. He is also a Mentor in the Coulter Program at Michigan and a Board Member of the Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care.
James is board-certified in emergency medicine and completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He earned his MD from the Harvard–MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST), his MBA from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and his BS in bioengineering from the University of Michigan.
Morgan Evans, Founder and Board Member, Avio Medtech Consulting
Morgan Evans is an engineer by training, an entrepreneur by nature, and an executive by necessity. With nearly two decades’ experience in the full lifecycle of MedTech product development and delivery - from idea through regulatory approval to commercialization - she works from first-hand knowledge of how to conceive and design technically complex and highly regulated products, attract talent and build teams, and establish sustainable companies.
The throughline in Morgan’s MedTech career is an iterative style of problem-solving that focuses one eye on the immediate task, and the other eye on how a process can be improved. Needing technical expertise for her own product development, Morgan built a network of collaborators that continues to work together through AVIO Medtech Consulting. Finding high age and gender hurdles to her early effort to raise funds, she found partners with whom to form Engage Venture Partners to open doors to angel and early series investors for entrepreneurs, and to make direct investments using special purpose investment vehicles that provide flexibility and collaborative due diligence.
She remains a hands-on leader in an innovative medical device company — Agitated Solutions, Inc (ASI). ASI’s initial product received its first regulatory clearance in early 2024. ASI has a portfolio of new products in the development and regulatory pipeline.
Morgan is involved in a variety of organizations and forums exploring MedTech development, women’s business leadership, and entrepreneurial activity. As a nearly lifelong basketball player and coach, Morgan volunteers with school teams in her home community, as well as with AAU summer programs. But that’s just for the sheer joy of it.
Virginia Giddings, VP of Exploration, Edwards Lifesciences
Virginia is an accomplished innovation executive with experience spanning Fortune 500 companies to start-ups. She is focused on accelerating disruptive, early stage innovation in healthcare. She works collaboratively, fostering partnerships to access external innovation, as well as to drive internal innovation by setting and aligning strategy, inspiring team and addressing internal barriers to innovation. She believes in the importance of customer- and patient-centric innovation, and to that end, looks for opportunities to be immersed with clinicians in hospital and other healthcare settings.
She has achieved outstanding results, across a spectrum of R&D leadership roles, resulting in launch of clinically impactful medical device products in the orthopaedic, cardiology, ENT and neurology spaces. She is an accomplished scientist, having authored numerous peer reviewed publications and been a frequent presenter at global healthcare conferences. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, the prestigious honorary society for Medtech Engineers.
Virginia also has significant management experience, having managed a variety of technical teams and projects with significant annual budgetary responsibility. She is sought after for her professional guidance and serves on several Advisory Boards.
Patrice Kloss, Partner, Fox Rothschild LLP
Patrice is Co-Chair of Fox Rothschild’s national Medical Technology practice group and serves as Administrative Partner for the Corporate Department in Minneapolis. She advises medical technology companies, digital health care companies, other emerging businesses and venture capital investors in a broad range of commercial and financing matters, including venture capital, financings, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, venture debt and credit facilities, and securities compliance. Patrice also guides lenders in commercial loan transactions, including $100 million+ loan facilities, and advises clients on equity financing structures and clinical trial agreements. She frequently counsels’ boards of directors on fiduciary duties and corporate governance obligations.
Prior to joining Fox Rothschild, Patrice was a partner at Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly LLP, where she served as Co-Chair of the firm's MedTech Practice Group and a member of the firm's Policy Committee. Patrice coordinates a weekly lunch service volunteer program involving personnel from the Minneapolis office at Exodus Residence, a short-term living facility for homeless people. She earned her JD at William Mitchell College of Law and a BA from the University of Minnesota.
Garheng Kong, Founder & Managing Partner, HealthQuest Capital
A physician, scientist, and engineer by training, Garheng has over two decades of experience investing in innovative companies in all areas of healthcare and has led over 33 companies to successful exits (IPO and M&A).
Garheng is the Founder and Managing Partner of HealthQuest Capital, a private asset firm that provides growth capital to transformative companies that are improving value in the healthcare system. Prior to founding HealthQuest, Garheng was a General Partner at Intersouth Partners and Sofinnova Investments, and has also spent time at GlaxoSmithKline and McKinsey, and as a CEO of two healthcare companies.
In addition to serving on numerous boards as an investor, Garheng also serves as the Lead Independent Director of LabCorp (LH) and serves on the board of Xeris Biopharma (XERS), Be The Match, Duke University Medical Center, Dell Children’s Foundation, UT President’s Commercial Advisory Board, and the Austin Healthcare Council. He is an Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellow, Kauffman Fellows Mentor, and member of YPO/Tiger21/R360.
Garheng received undergraduate degrees in both Chemical Engineering and Biological Sciences from Stanford, while on an athletic scholarship, and earned MD, PhD, and MBA degrees from Duke University.
Jennifer Kozak, VP, Business Development, Johnson & Johnson
As Vice President, Business Development for Johnson & Johnson MedTech – a $27 billion business unit of Johnson & Johnson – Jennifer Kozak directs corporate initiatives including strategic, investment and portfolio decisions.
During her tenure at Johnson & Johnson, Jennifer has held numerous positions leading business development activities with increasing responsibility for strategic planning and portfolio optimization. Today, Jennifer is a member of Johnson & Johnson’s MedTech Leadership Team and oversees all business development activity to drive growth, innovation, competitiveness, and value for Johnson & Johnson.
Jennifer has executed more than $7 billion in transactions during her tenure at Johnson & Johnson. Most recently, she led the acquisitions of Auris Health and Verb Surgical, expanding J&J’s digital surgery portfolio and capabilities. Prior to her role in Digital Surgery, Jennifer led business development activities for New Growth Platforms, where she was instrumental in enhancing and implementing a more robust strategic planning and business unit portfolio optimization process. She also developed new external innovation models partnering with Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC) to optimize J&J’s equity investment strategy and portfolio. Additionally, Jennifer led a broad-based assessment of the Medical Device landscape to identify new business opportunities, drove strategy to enter the ENT (Ears, Nose, Throat) space and led the acquisition of Acclarent. She also executed numerous other new business development transactions and projects, including the acquisition of Angiotech’s knotless tissue closure device and led a global cross-functional team charged with accelerating the performance of J&J’s acquisitions.
Jennifer began her career at Johnson & Johnson as an engineer at Johnson & Johnson Interventional Systems prior to the merger with Cordis Corporation. While at Cordis, she held various roles in Operations, R&D and New Business Development.
Jennifer earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Bucknell University and completed the Smith College Leadership Consortium Executive Education.
Mike Kujak, CEO, Francis Medical
Mike brings over 35 years of broad and strategic healthcare leadership experience in medical devices, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, clinical research, and payer economics. He currently serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Francis Medical, a start-up medical device company developing water vapor technology for treating prostate cancer. Before Francis Medical, Mike was the Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President of International for NxThera, another start-up medical device company purchased by Boston Scientific. He has also served as Vice President and General Manager of the Prostate Health business unit of American Medical Systems, which developed and commercialized medical device solutions to treat BPH, prostate cancer and stone disease. Mike has been involved with over four strategic exits over his career. Mike received his MBA from the OPUS College of Business, University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a Bachelor of Science in physics and chemistry from the University of South Dakota
Juan-Pablo Mas, Partner, Action Potential VC
Juan-Pablo Mas is a Partner at Action Potential VC, a bioelectronic medicine fund founded by GlaxoSmithKline, and is based in Santa Cruz, CA. He represents APVC on the Boards of Cala Health, Exo Imaging, Neuspera Medical, Presidio Medical, Saluda Medical, SetPoint Medical, Onc.AI and previously CVRx. Prior to APVC, he was an investor at Lightstone Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures, where he was a Board observer at Ardian, Twelve, Nuvaira, Cabochon, and Miramar Labs. Prior to investing, Juan-Pablo led R&D and Strategy teams in Medtronic’s CardioVascular Division and was a member of the Global Brand Strategy team at Eli Lilly. Juan-Pablo earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business as a Bonini Fellow, an MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and a BS in EE from the University of Massachusetts. He now serves on the Oversight Committee for Stanford’s Wu Tsai Neuroscience Institute, the Advisory Board for UCSF’s Rosenman Institute, the DEI Advisory Committee for RockHealth.org, and is a co-founder of the non-profit LatinxVC which is dedicated to increasing diversity within venture capital. Juan-Pablo is originally from Puerto Rico and played Division I men’s lacrosse at UMass.
Geoffrey Pardo, General Partner, Gilde Healthcare
Geoff Pardo joined Gilde Healthcare in 2011 as a Partner working out of the office in Boston/Cambridge, MA and is focusing on Gilde’s investments in North America. He led the investments in Inari Medical (NASDAQ: NARI), Axonics Modulation Technologies (NASDAQ: AXNX), Eargo (NASDAQ: EAR), CVRx, Ablative Solutions, Vesper Medical, InovaLabs (acquired by ResMed), BionX (acquired by Ottobock) and Vapotherm (NYSE: VAPO) and represents or has represented Gilde as a member of the board of directors for each company. Previously, he was a Partner at Spray Venture Partners where he led investments into Interlace Medical (sold to Hologic), Solace Therapeutics, TearScience (sold to J&J) and Cascade Ophthalmics. He served on the board of Solace, TearScience and Cascade, and was actively involved in Interlace and Conventus Orthopedics. Geoff also served as President & CEO of Facet Solutions, a spinal implant company focused on treating lumbar spinal stenosis until the company was sold to Globus Medical in 2011. He has also worked at Cardinal Partners as an Associate leading their investing activity in the medical device sector. Geoff began his career in medical devices as a product manager with Synthes USA, and he has a BA with honors in History from Brown University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. He is a US citizen based in Gilde Healthcare’s Cambridge, MA office.
J.P. Peltier, Managing Director, Global Head, Healthcare Investment Banking, Piper Sandler
J.P. Peltier is a managing director and head of healthcare investment banking at Piper Sandler. Peltier has more than 25 years of healthcare investment banking experience at Piper Sandler. He leads a global team of more than 130 healthcare investment banking professionals in offices across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Peltier has extensive experience advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, public and private equity options, and other strategic alternatives.
Peltier’s prior experience includes five years at HomeServices of America, a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, where he served as vice president of corporate development and president of the mortgage banking division.
Peltier graduated from the University of St. Thomas and received a Master of Business Administration degree from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Jeff Peters, Venture Partner, Healthcare, OrbiMed Advisors LLC.
Jeff joined OrbiMed as a Venture Partner in 2018 and currently serves as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of evanesce Medical. Jeff has over 25 years of medical device experience with executive and strategic roles in companies including Cardialen, ev3 (now Medtronic), Anulex, and Boston Scientific; and financial investment and analysis roles at Black River Asset Management, Foundation Medical, and Dain Rauscher Wessels. Jeff received his B.S. and M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota.
Stacy Pugh, CEO, Endogenx Inc.
Stacey Pugh is the Chief Commercial Officer at Butterfly Network. As a leader in Medical Technology, she has more than 20 years of experience in medical device research, development and commercialization. Stacey joined Butterfly in 2021 and will lead the company in the planning, organization, and implementation of all sales and marketing activities. Prior to Butterfly, Stacey was President of Medtronic’s Neurovascular Operating Unit, where she provided overall global strategic leadership, guided marketing and business development and was responsible for revenue growth. Prior to this role, Stacey was Vice President and General Manager of Neurovascular & Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF) businesses and was responsible for leading the company’s European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) business programs and developing trade strategies to support the global revenue and market share growth of Medtronic Neurovascular products. In addition, Stacey held various leadership roles in Covidien’s Neurovascular division as Vice President of Global Medical Affairs where she provided strategic direction for all medical affairs activities and executed strategic market access plans. As a registered nurse, Stacey spent the early years of her career in research, critical care and trauma nursing, and nursing education.
Darshana Zaveri, Founder and Managing Partner, Catalyst Health Ventures
Darshana is a Founder and Managing Partner of Catalyst Health Ventures (CHV). She is actively involved in all aspects of fund management including investments and capital raising and has led several investments in the medical device, women’s health and diagnostics markets. She led CHV’s investments in Augmenix (acquired by Boston Scientific), nVision Medical (acquired by Boston Scientific), Maxwell Health (acquired by SunLife), Aria CV, PanTher Therapeutics, AtaCor Medical, Instylla, Avive and Rejoni. She currently (or previously) represents CHV on the Boards of all companies.
Prior to joining CHV in 2007, Darshana was an Investigator at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and an integral part of drug development programs in oncology, metabolic disease, and immunology. Previously she worked at Genome Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company and at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and completed an internship at the United Nations. She has authored several publications and scientific journal articles. Darshana currently serves as an advisor of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT, (a foundation that helps MIT students and faculty commercialize breakthrough technologies and inventions), as a Board Director of The New England Venture Capital Association (NEVCA) and as a lead advisor to the Portfolia FemTech fund (an investment fund designed for women).
Darshana received an M.P.A. from Harvard University, an M.A. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Boston University, and a B.S. in Biochemistry from Bombay University in Bombay, India.
