BOARD OF DIRECTORS


Debra Guerin Beresini
Director

Debra Guerin Beresini is a co-founder and Managing Director of International Venture Fund (IVF). IVF is a Silicon Valley based venture fund focused on seed and early stage emerging growth investment opportunities in the geographic areas of Hawaii, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, as well as Silicon Valley. Ms. Guerin Beresini has served as CEO of Invencor, Inc, manager of IVF, since its inception in April 1997. Ms. Guerin Beresini previously held senior positions at the seed/technology-transfer venture firm of AR&D Corp., at the venture leasing arm of Ford/US Leasing, as a venture investor at Technology Funding, and as Senior Vice President and Manager of the National Division at Silicon Valley Bank. Ms. Guerin Beresini specializes in life science companies, including TheraTx (IPO in 1994, acquired by Vencor for $550 million in 1997), Systemix (acquired by Sandoz) and Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (IPO in 2006, LSE). Ms. Guerin Beresini speaks at various national conferences on venture capital and technology transfer. She presently sits on the Board of AssistGuide, Inc., San Ramon, CA; the non-profit Hawaii Venture Capital Association and HiBEAM, a Hawaii based business accelerator. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Wayne Brown Institute located in Salt Lake City, Utah.

D. Elliot Parks, Ph.D.
Director and CEO

Dr. Elliot Parks is President & CEO of Hawaii Biotech Inc., and brings to the company over 25 years experience in academic research, biomedical product development, executive management, and life science investing. He is also a Managing Director at Hamilton BioVentures, has broad experience and personal knowledge of best practices in corporate governance, and brings this background to the HBI Board. Dr. Parks was CEO of Myelos Neurosciences and has served on the board of several private companies including Idun Pharmaceuticals and Transcept Pharmaceuticals. He has also served on a number of boards of nonprofit medical and research institutions and governmental bodies, including the Whittier Institute of Diabetes. Currently he serves on the boards of HiBEAM, the Hawaii Science and Technology Council, the SDSU BioScience Advisory Council, and BIOCOM.

Robert Robinson, Ph.D.
Director

Dr. Robinson is a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Management at the University of Hawaii, College of Business. From 1991 to 2001, he was on the faculty of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the co-author of Angel Investing: Matching Startup Funds with Startup Companies, published in 2000. In 2001, Dr. Robinson was a visiting professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. In 2002, Dr. Robinson founded UH Angels, a Hawaii-based angel investor network which invests in technology startup firms. He is on the board of the Hawaii Venture Capital Association, the Hawaii Life Sciences Council, and ClearFuels. In 2007, Robert co-founded Kolohala Ventures, a Honolulu-based private equity firm and fund manager. Dr. Robinson consults actively to industry and has served on the boards of several start-up companies.

Mr. Sherman has twenty-five years of experience as a licensing executive, attorney, consultant, and venture capitalist in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. As a licensing executive and Deputy General Counsel in a thirteen year career at SmithKline-Beckman Corporation, Mr. Sherman participated as counsel and negotiator in hundreds of international and domestic transactions; including hostile and friendly acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, limited partnerships, research and development collaborations, venture capital investments, joint marketing relationships, distribution arrangements, and licensing transactions. Mr. Sherman also founded QED Technologies, Inc., a consulting firm that provides science-based companies with experienced advice and counsel in developing and implementing strategies to maximize their business and technology assets. QED's clients include pharmaceutical, biotechnological, chemical, diagnostic and medical device firms; universities and independent research centers; investment groups and funds. QED was purchased by The Omnicom Group, Inc., a NYSE listed firm.

Michael Spooner, BCom, ACA, MAICD
Director

Michael Spooner has an outstanding track record in the rapid international commercialization of high growth companies within the life sciences and technology sectors. Mr. Spooner is a non-executive director of Mesoblast Limited (ASX:MSB), an Australian adult stem cell company which he lead through a successful public listing as Executive Chairman. He was also previously Managing Director & CEO of Ventracor Limited (ASX:VCR), where he led the transformation of a small Australian listed life sciences company into the second highest performing stock on the S&P/ASX 200 index in 2003. Prior to Ventracor, he was a Principal Partner and Director of Consulting Services with PriceWaterhouse Coopers (Coopers & Lybrand) in Hong Kong for seven years. Mr. Spooner has relationships with investment firms and business communities across the globe, having spent the majority of the past 25 years living and working internationally. He advises a number of high growth corporations and is also a non-executive Director of Peplin Inc, an advanced dermatology company based in San Francisco. Peplin Inc is listed on the Australian stock exchange (ASX:PLI).