Todd Usen joined Minerva Surgical as President & CEO on January 3, 2023. Prior to Minerva Todd served as CEO at Activ Surgical, where he oversaw the FDA clearance of its ActivSight technology, as well as leading four Series fundraising rounds totaling over $92M.
Todd came to Activ Surgical after serving as the President of the Medical Systems Group at Olympus Corporation of the Americas, where he helped lead the expansion from 6 medical divisions to 11 in 3.5 years. Prior to joining the Olympus Corporation, Todd held the position of President, Orthopedics, at Smith and Nephew, overseeing the Total Joint, Sports Medicine and Trauma divisions.
Todd has held several other vital positions for Smith and Nelson including Senior Vice President and General Manager, Joint Reconstruction; Senior Vice President, Sports Medicine; and Senior Vice President, Endoscopy.
Prior to Smith and Nephew, Todd worked for Boston Scientific as the Vice President of Sales for the Neurovascular Division, Director of Endoscopy Sales, and Global Manager of Field Development.
Todd completed his MBA at Pepperdine University and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Isenberg School at the University of Massachusetts, While at UMASS he played baseball and was recognized and inducted into the “Outstanding College Students of America” and the Golden Key National Honor Society.
Jill D. Anderson has served as a member of our board of directors since May 2021. Ms. Anderson is a healthcare executive with more than 25 years of experience leading the innovation, development, and commercialization of medical devices. Ms. Anderson was the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cianna Medical, Inc. from January 2008 until its acquisition by Merit Medical Systems, Inc. in November 2018. She also served as President of BioLucent, Inc. from May 2001 until September 2007, as Vice President, Cancer Services of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network from October 1999 until May 2001, and as Vice President, Eastern Region, of Salick Health Care, Inc. from June 1989 until October 1999. Ms. Anderson also serves on the board of directors of Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: MMSI) and OncoRes Medical, LLC, and in the past served on the boards of Cianna Medical, Inc. and WDT Acquisition Corporation d/b/a Solis Mammography. She is a member of the Women Business Leaders in Healthcare and a Leadership Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors. She earned a B.A. in Finance, Magna Cum Laude, as well as an M.B.A. from Temple University.
Niquette Hunt has served as a member of our board of directors since June 2021. Ms. Hunt founded Candesant Biomedical in March 2016, and serves as its President and Chief Executive Officer. From 2009 to 2016, Ms. Hunt served as the Senior Vice President of Commercial Development for Revance Therapeutics. Ms. Hunt has served on the board of directors for Soliton, Inc. (Nasdaq: SOLY) since October 2020. Ms. Hunt holds an A.B. degree in Organizational Dynamics from Stanford University.
Ali Behbahani, M.D. has served as a member of our board of directors since May 2011. Dr. Behbahani serves as a General Partner of New Enterprise Associates (NEA), a global venture capital firm that focuses on development of technologies that drive global innovation. He is on the healthcare team at NEA, and specializes in investments in the biopharmaceutical and medical device sectors. Dr. Behbahani also serves on the board for several private and public companies, including Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc, Cardionomic, Inc., CRISPR Therapeutics AG, CVRx, Inc., Genocea Biosciences, Inc., Ivantis, Inc., Monte Rosa Therapeutics GmbH, Nkarta Inc., Oyster Point Pharma Inc., and Black Diamond Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Behbahani holds B.S. Degrees with distinction in Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Chemistry from Duke University. He earned an M.D. from The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and an M.B.A. from The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, where he graduated with Honors.
Catherine Coste has served as a member of our board of directors since February 2021. Ms. Coste retired from Deloitte and Touche LLP in 2020, where she was a senior partner and served as one of Deloitte’s Life Sciences Industry Executive Leaders. She spent 32 years in both corporate and professional services positions leading global finance, internal audit and operations teams. During her career at Deloitte, Ms. Coste was directly involved with over 30 life science corporations, the majority of which were large-cap and medium-cap public corporations. Ms. Coste also has extensive public company board experience, often attending multiple board committee meetings per month, and currently serves as a director and audit committee chair for Biomerica, Inc. Ms. Coste also has extensive experience in Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, corporate risk analysis and management, cyber risk assessment, fraud prevention, IT systems analysis and upgrades, internal controls, and corporate governance. Ms. Coste is a Certified Public Accountant. Ms. Coste earned her B.A. in Business Administration, Accounting, from California State University, Hayward.
Derrick Sung, Ph.D. has served as a member of our Board of Directors since July 2022. Dr. Sung has served as the Chief Financial Officer of Pulmonx Corporation since 2019. From 2015 to 2019, Dr. Sung served as the Executive Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development for iRhythm Technologies, Inc., a digital healthcare and medical technology company. From 2008 to 2015, Dr. Sung was the senior equity research analyst covering the medical devices sector for Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., LLC, a subsidiary of AllianceBernstein L.P. From 2004 to 2008, he served as Director of Marketing and Business Development in the Neuromodulation division of Boston Scientific Corporation. From 2000 to 2004, Dr. Sung was a management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, and he began his career as an R&D engineer for Guidant Corporation. Dr. Sung holds a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from U.C. San Diego, an M.B.A. from San Diego State University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.
Uri Geiger brings extensive entrepreneurial, management and investment know-how, having created and built many successful medical device enterprises.
Prior to founding Accelmed, Dr. Geiger founded served as CEO of Exalenz Bioscience Ltd. (TASE:EXEN), developer of an innovative breath-based technology for diagnosing liver and gastrointestinal disorders which Dr. Geiger took public in 2007 and later sold to Meridian (NASDAQ: VIVO). Prior to Exalenz, Dr. Geiger co-founded and was the CEO of GalayOr Networks, a developer of optical components, sold in 2003 to MEMSCAP (EuroNext: MEMS). Dr. Geiger is also the founding partner of Dragon Variation Fund, one of Israel’s first hedge funds, which was sold to Migdal in 2007. Dr. Geiger worked on Wall Street during the 1990s, where he gained a broad understanding of capital markets and significant experience, which he put to use after returning to Israel in 1999.
Dr. Geiger was formerly an adjunct professor at the Recanati Business School at Tel Aviv University, where he lectured on private equity and venture capital. He is the author of the books: Startup Companies and Venture Capital (Tel Aviv University Press, 2001) and From Concept to Wall Street (Financial Times – Prentice Hall, 2003). He earned his doctorate from New York’s Columbia University Center for Law & Economics, where he majored in global equity markets. Dr. Geiger served as a major in the Israeli Air Force.
Dr. Geiger is also involved in an extensive philanthropic activity and is the Founder & Chairman of Friends of Poriya Medical Center in the US.
Dan has over 25 years of experience in medical technology finance, investment banking, and private equity. Dan was the Israeli GM of China-based Fosun Pharma, and a principal at France-based Credit Agricole. Dan holds an MBA from ESSEC MBA, a BSc in Computer Sciences, a BA in Mathematics, and graduate studies in Biology.