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Finistere Ventures Team
Dr. Jerry Caulder
Executive Chairman
Often referred to as the "father of agricultural biotechnology," Dr. Jerry Caulder is the executive chairman of Finistere Partners, LLC. Dr. Caulder has an unparalleled record of success in the life science industry. His career began at Monsanto, where for 15 years he held a number of management positions including responsibility for Monsanto's early venture investment activity and worldwide responsibility for commercial development and introduction of all new agricultural products.
In 1983 Dr. Caulder came to San Diego and became the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mycogen, Inc., then a start-up plant biotech company.
Under Dr. Caulder's direction, Mycogen became a highly successful agbio company until acquired by Dow Agro Sciences (www.dowagro.com) in 1998. At the time of its acquisition, Mycogen's market capitalization exceeded US$1.2B. Since then, Dr. Caulder has held similar positions in a number of high profile biotech business–Myelos Pharmaceutical, a therapeutic drug discovery company and Akkadix, a plant discovery and gene regulation company.
Dr. Caulder is currently Executive Chairman of Chlorogen, Inc., a venture backed therapeutic plant company based in St Louis; Athenix Corporation, a venture backed plant sciences company based in Research Triangle, North Carolina; and PhytaGro, Inc., a plant sciences company based in California and New Zealand. Dr. Caulder is also director of Catharos, Inc., an early stage Bay Area medical devices company.
Until June 2005, Dr. Caulder was Executive Chairman of Advanced Stent Technologies, Inc., a cardiac intervention medical devices company based in Pleasanton, California. He also serves on the board of advisors to both of Burrill & Co's agbio venture funds and was involved in the founding of many local, state and national biotech industry groups and initiatives. Dr. Caulder is internationally well recognized and is a frequent speaker at industry forums.
Bruce J. Brumfield, Jr. (“Jay”)
Managing Director
With 13 years of management experience in both established and start-up companies and seven years practicing law as an associate and partner at a large, mid-South law firm (Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrère and Denègre) Jay has a unique and diverse background for the assessment and operation of emerging technologies and startups in the life sciences sector.
Prior to joining Finistere in July 2005, Jay was most recently President and Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Stent Technologies ("AST"), a medical device startup focused on developing and commercializing a proprietary stent system for the treatment of coronary artery bifurcation disease. Under his leadership, AST was sold to Boston Scientific Corporation (BSC) in March 2005.
Prior to AST, Jay held several positions with a large US-based agri-chemical company. His last position was Vice President of Strategic Initiatives where he was responsible for identifying emerging technology investment and partnering opportunities in the agbio and agritech fields.
Jay is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Catharos Medical Systems, Inc. and sits on the Board of Biabsorbable Therapeutics, Inc. He is also is a board observer at nContact Surgical, Inc., SquareOne Inc. and Sadra Medical, Inc. All of these are early stage medical device companies which are part of Finistere Ventures portfolio.
Arama Kukutai
Managing Director
Arama Kukutai joined Finistere in March 2005 as a Managing Director, from a successful career in agribusiness, investing and international trade. Prior to joining Finistere, he served as Regional Director - North America for the New Zealand government's Trade Development agency in North America establishing multiple pathways for New Zealand businesses to access this key market. U.S.-New Zealand trade reached US$5B in 2004, making it the second most valuable market globally for the country. Mr. Kukutai has had an active career in investment, both in commercial banking at Westpac Banking Corporation, and continues to serve as a Director of PKW Incorporation, a successful $300M agribusiness and diversified investment entity involved in agriculture, aquaculture and property development with activities in New Zealand, Asia and Australia. He is Chairman of PKW Farms, a large Dairy agribusiness. Mr. Kukutai has lived and worked internationally for much of his career and brings a strong agricultural business focus to Finistere Venture's activities.
Ann Whitley
Finance Director
Ann Whitley brings 20 years of public and private accounting and business management experience to the team. Most recently, she led the accounting department at Hamilton & Assoc. CPA, Inc. managing budgets over 60 million. A wealth of Tax and Financial Reporting comes from her vast experience working with an extensive and diversified cliental. She also serves on the Board of Directors as CFO for two Non Profit Associations in San Diego, California. Ann earned her Bachelor's of Science from Southern Oregon University.
Dr. Kenneth A. Selzer, MD
Venture Partner – San Diego, CA
Dr. Selzer is a graduate of both UCLA School of Medicine and Harvard Business School. He has done advanced training and research, in the neurosciences, at both Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, and the UCSD School of Medicine in San Diego. He is board certified in both Pain Management and Neurology. He currently sits on the board of INC Research and is an emeritus board member of the Harvard Business School Alumni Association. In addition he is a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards at the Institute for Aging, and Photothera, as well as an active member of WPO. He has extensive expertise in the areas of developing CNS/Pain drugs and devices.
Dr. Selzer has twenty five years experience with healthcare service, biotechnology, medical device and pharmaceutical companies. His business experience has included senior management positions in both an entrepreneurial environment as well as in large companies such as Pharmacia-Pfizer. He was the founder, CEO of INC Research, where he successfully raised over $30 million dollars in Venture Capital money from four blue chip Venture funds. INC Research, now a global CRO, is focused on CNS/Pain clinical trials, in phase I to IV. INC currently manages clinical trials in 25 different countries. INC Research was the third company which he founded.
The first was IHS (Integrated Healthcare Services), a healthcare service corporation which owned and managed outpatient primary care centers. IHS was ultimately sold to a major Healthcare Company. The second company was NEUROPRACTICE, which sold monthly newsletters, written for physicians in the areas of neurology, neurosurgery and pain management fields. This company was sold to Wolters-Klower, a global publishing company. Dr. Selzer has had hands on experience with in-licensing drugs, development of marketing strategies and new product launches.
Dr. Paul Zorner
Venture Partner – San Diego, CA
Paul Zorner brings a unique blend of corporate, entrepreneurial and scientific expertise to the Finistere Ventures team. He has held scientific, development, operations and senior administrative positions with start-up and fortune 500 companies that include The Dow Chemical Company (Chief Scientist - Global Biotechnology Platform) , BASF Corporation (Manager - North American Crop Protection Discovery) , Mycogen (Vice-President, Product Development) and CellFor Corporation (Senior Vice President, Operations). Paul is a founder and current Director of several small biotechnology companies focused on alternative energy and production of recombinant proteins in agricultural crops. He also serves on the Biotechnolgy Business Advisory Council for the Queensland, Australia Government. Paul was named a Queensland Champion in 2006 for his career contributions and the first American citizen to be so honored. He is a member of the steering committee for California's Secure Transportation Energy Partnership (CalSTEP) and the National Resources Defense Council. Paul is a Fellow of the Weed Science Society of America. He is an inventor on over 30 issued US patents and serves on the board of two K-12 science education foundations. Paul also serves as Adjunct Professor of Horticulture at North Carolina State University and is a Senior Fellow at Clemson's Institute for Nutraceutical Research with a focus on military nutrition. Paul's undergraduate degree is from Lewis and Clark College and his Ph.D. from Colorado State University.
