TEAM BOARD OF DIRECTORS
JOHN OSBORNE LEO LINBECK III
BEN HERTZOG MARK WORSCHEH
MICHAEL CUCHIARA MARTIN LINDENBERG
CHRISTOPHER DURST
JASON HEURING
BRENTON SCOTT

JOHN OSBORNE

John is Managing Partner of AlphaDev LLC.  Prior to joining AlphaDev, John founded three successful venture funded startup companies ranging from a NYC-based digital technology company, to a national retail DVD rental business, to a venture-funded life science company.   John's track record of developing and leading early stage ventures, managing their growth, and assembling world class leadership teams to build long term value combine to advance the value creation efforts at AlphaDev's portfolio companies and its broader strategic objectives.  Having raised $100+ million in institutional financing, John also brings deep experience working with professional investors to fund promising venture-stage companies.  John received his MBA from Rice University, Jones School of Business and received his BBA in finance from Southern Methodist University.

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BEN HERTZOG, PhD

Ben Hertzog is Managing Director of AlphaDev, LLC. Ben joined AlphaDev in 2009 and brings over a decade of experience in healthcare and life sciences as an entrepreneur, investor and management consultant. Ben manages day-to-day operations, portfolio strategy and deal flow, as well as spending considerable time advising AlphaDev’s portfolio companies.

Ben is also a founder of Hertzog Partners, LLC, an entity he founded in 2007 to provide consulting services and look for acquisition opportunities in later-stage opportunities. Hertzog Partners is focused on profitable, privately-owned companies in healthcare technology, products and services.

Prior to Hertzog Partners, Ben was Vice President of BCM Technologies, an early-stage venture capital firm affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine. Ben was also an engagement manager with the management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. where he was a member of the firm’s Pharmaceutical and Medical Products Practice.

Ben has a PhD from the graduate program of Artificial Organs, Biomaterials, and Cellular Technology at Brown University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Trinity University.

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JASON HEURING, PhD

Jason is a Vice-President at AlphaDev. Jason's responsibilities include evaluating technology-based portfolio opportunities and managing day-to-day operations of portfolio companies. Prior to joining AlphaDev, Dr. Heuring was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Austin Ventures, one of the premier venture capital firms in the nation. At Austin Ventures, he founded, staffed, and successfully raised seed funding for a start-up company developing hardware and software components for sensor fusion, interpretation and control.

Prior to Austin Ventures, Dr. Heuring was an Associate Principal in the Houston office of McKinsey & Company with a high-tech and operations focus. He has also directly managed various projects with budgets exceeding $10 million.

Dr. Heuring was the co-founder of IP-Mill, Inc., a technology start-up company that was acquired in 2000. While an undergrad, he was a research assistant at the Microelectronic Research Laboratory and the Applied Research Laboratories at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Heuring received his Ph.D. in Robotics and Computer Vision from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and a B.S. in Electrical and Biomedical Engineering with Highest Honors from the University of Texas at Austin.

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MICHAEL CUCHIARA, PhD

Michael Cuchiara is a Principal for AlphaDev. Michael manages intellectual property, facilitates prototype design and development activities, in addition to sourcing and analyzing potential investment opportunities. Prior to working at AlphaDev, Michael obtained his BS in Bioengineering from Arizona State University and his PhD in Bioengineering at Rice University in Dr. Jennifer West's research group where he developed hydrogel microfabrication technologies for tissue engineering applications.

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CHRISTOPHER DURST, PhD

Christopher is a Principal for AlphaDev. In his role, he manages day-to-day operations of portfolio companies and advises on portfolio strategy. Christopher is an accomplished bioengineer with extensive experience in structural heart reasearch. He has worked in world-class labs in both the US and Europe, where he developed enabling technologies for the treatment of heart valve disease. Chris holds a BS with highest honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and earned his PhD in Bioengineering from Rice University.

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BRENTON SCOTT, PhD, MBA

Dr. Brenton Scott is an AlphaDev Principal and the COO and co-founder of Pulmotect, a company holding multiple patents for activating innate lung immunity defenses. Brenton brings a distinguished career in biochemistry and cell biology research at Rice University and MD Anderson Cancer Center and is a co-founder of Pulmotect. Brenton received his PhD in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from Rice University and his MBA from the University of Houston in 2005.

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LEO LINBECK III

Leo Linbeck is the Chairman of AlphaDev Management Partners and President and CEO of Aquinas Companies, LLC, the sponsor of AlphaDev. The Aquinas Companies, founded more than 70 years ago, have experienced exceptional growth over the last decade to achieve revenues now exceeding $600 million annually, with particular experience in healthcare facilities development and operations, as well as real estate and construction.

Mr. Linbeck’s track record of leading and managing high-growth enterprises, technical engineering expertise and passion for entrepreneurship combine to advance all of AlphaDev’s managed companies as well as AlphaDev’s broader commercialization objectives.

He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with both Civil Engineering and Liberal Arts degrees, received a Masters in Engineering from the University of Texas and then earned his MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Linbeck serves on the graduate business faculty at both Rice University and Stanford University, where he teaches courses he developed on the subject of managing business growth.

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MARK WORSCHEH

Mark Worscheh is the CFO of AlphaDev Management Partners, as well as the Executive Vice President of Aquinas Companies. He focuses on capital raising, structuring and development strategy for the portfolio companies, relying on his nearly 20-year experience as both an investment banker and a start-up company CFO.

He spent nearly ten years in investment banking for a variety of global investment banking firms (Merrill Lynch, Bankers Trust and NatWest Capital Markets) before his five-year position as CFO of a venture capital-backed entertainment venue developer and operator. For the past five years, Mr. Worscheh has overseen Aquinas’s third-party investments in private equities and real estate, as well as handing or advising on financial assignments for the Aquinas Companies and selected third parties.

Mr. Worscheh graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in Economics and also earned an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

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MARTIN LINDENBERG, MD, MBA

Dr. Lindenberg is co-founder and board member of AlphaDev.

Among his over thirty-five years of varied business experiences, Dr. Lindenberg has been involved with six successful biotech start-ups that have progressed to acquisition or IPO. Dr. Lindenberg led a $9M seed financing for Xeotron Corp. in Houston prior to the company’s acquisition by Invitrogen in 2005 and also was a founder and VP of Biofield Corp. through a series of VC financings. The company went public at a market cap of $70M in 1996.

Martin received his MD and MBA degrees from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Martin was also the founding chairman of the Houston Technology Center in 1997 where he remains an active board member. He also serves on the boards of educational and community organizations.

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