A Silicon Valley medical device entrepreneur, Fred is Managing Director of Incept LLC, a health sciences innovations accelerator, founded in 1998. Incept has founded 23 medical companies (16 with exits), in which Fred has served as an executive and/or a director. For more than 30 years, Fred has held management and executive positions in both large and small medical technology enterprises. Fred is either inventor or co-inventor on over 200 US and worldwide granted and patent applications. He serves on the Board of Trustees at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS.org), a bipartisan think tank dedicated to providing strategic national security insights to help decisionmakers chart a course toward a better world; is a member of the Board of Directors at Spirit of America (spiritofamerica.org) a non-profit that promotes private-sector support for the safety and success of our troops and the local people they want to help; and a Convening Board Member for Technology for America (T4A.org), a nonprofit for promotion of innovation as a way to engage public-private dialogue that benefit all Americans. Fred holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering and graduated cum laude with an M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Tech University.

Daniel Davis joined Imperative Care in 2020 and brings 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and business development with both early stage and Fortune 500 companies in medical devices and before that in software and consumer products. Prior to Imperative Care, he was Chief Commercial Officer and President, North America for Penumbra, Inc. (PEN) where he helped lead the company’s IPO and successful entry into the peripheral vascular market. Daniel earned increasing responsibility in the company as he progressed from a leader in the marketing organization to Vice President of Strategy to President, North America. Joining Penumbra in 2007 in the pre-commercial phase, Daniel launched the first FDA cleared intracranial delivery catheter (Neuron), the first FDA cleared aspiration system for neurovascular mechanical thrombectomy (Penumbra System), and the Penumbra Coil 400 for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms. Previously, he held sales and marketing positions of increasing responsibility at Boston Scientific (now Stryker Neurovascular) as well as roles at Newell Rubbermaid and Trilogy. Daniel holds an A.B. in History and in Economics from Duke University.

Matt joined Imperative Care in October 2020 and brings over 20 years of financial experience in medical technology and biotech fields. Previously, he served as CFO at iRhythm Technologies (IRTC), a publicly traded NASDAQ company that has redefined the way ambulatory cardiac arrhythmias are clinically diagnosed. Matt took the company public in October of 2016. Prior to iRhythm, Matt served as CFO of Navigenics, a company focused on personalized genetic testing to determine if individuals were at risk for certain health conditions. Matt has also served in various financial and business development roles at Corventis, Cogentus, Affymetrix and Guidant Corporation. Matt received his MBA in Finance from the Kelley School of Business in Bloomington, Indiana and his B.A. degree in Finance and minor in sociology from the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

Carole has 20 years of Human Resources experience in the medical device and drug delivery industries and joined the team in 2016. Prior to Imperative Care, Carole played a strategic HR leadership role in a consulting capacity for Shifamed, a medical device incubator, and with Apama Medical, which was acquired by Boston Scientific Corporation (BSX) in October 2017. Carole was VP of Human Resources for AccessClosure, followed by supporting the Orthopedics and Cordis cardiology businesses of Cardinal Health (CAH) after their acquisition of AccessClosure in 2014. Early in her career, Carole was in compensation, HRIS, and HR generalist roles with Conor Medsystems and ALZA, which were both acquired by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). Carole holds a B.S. degree in Psychology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and her SPHR certification.

Yi is a seasoned medtech executive/entrepreneur with over 22 years of experience in the medical device industry. Yi is the Chief Technology Officer of Incept LLC, a highly successful medical device accelerator located in Silicon Valley and Boston. Prior to Imperative Care, he was the COO of Ostial Corporation, overseeing development, production, and commercialization. Previously he was the co-founder and VP of R&D at CAVU, a medical device startup developing novel technologies for the treatment of obesity. Yi held senior management roles at Boston Scientific Corporation (BSX) and EndoTex Interventional Systems, Inc. (acquired by BSX). Other positions Yi held were technical project manager at EP Technologies, Inc. (acquired by BSX), and technical leader at Guided Medical Systems, Inc. Yi is the inventor or co-inventor on multiple patent applications. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.

Ariel holds over 15 years of commercial experience bringing disruptive technologies to market and joined Imperative Care in August 2016. Prior to Imperative Care, Ariel was the VP of Marketing at Cordis Cardinal Health (CAH) (formerly AccessClosure, Inc.) establishing Cardinal Health’s interventional franchise. During her tenure at AccessClosure, Ariel played a major role in the growth of the Mynx Vascular Closure Device. Ariel was Director of Marketing at FoxHollow Technologies where she led market development and product marketing for the SilverHawk atherectomy device. Ariel also held engineering and marketing roles with Texas Instruments (TXN) and LifeScan, a division of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). Prior to joining industry, she spent a year in Israel at the Technion Institute of Technology as a Fulbright Scholar. Ariel earned a Sc.B. in materials engineering from Brown University and an MBA and MEM from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Nora has over 20 years of experience supporting business goals of small start-up, medium-size, and large multi-national medical device companies. Nora’s experience includes a broad range of medical devices and all major medical device processes in the US (including FDA Advisory Panel), Europe, Canada, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and ASEAN countries. Prior to Imperative Care, Nora was VP of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Shockwave Medical, Inc. (SWAV), bringing to market their innovative intravascular lithotripsy technology. As Director of Regulatory Affairs at Abbott Vascular (ABT), Nora was responsible for global regulatory activities for a variety of peripheral and coronary products. Prior to Abbott Vascular, Nora held leadership positions at BeneChill, Inc. and Myocor, Inc. Nora also worked with cardiac resynchronization and sacral nerve stimulation technologies at Medtronic (MDT). Nora earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.

Chad brings over 25 years of experience as an engineering innovator in the medical device space. Previously, Chad led the development of Pulsar Vascular’s PulseRider platform, acquired by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). At Avantis Medical Systems, he led the development of a unique imaging catheter to improve colonoscopies. Chad spent five years at Aspire Medical (acquired) developing minimally invasive surgical treatments for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). As Director of R&D for Appriva Medical (acquired by Microvena), he led the development of the PLAATO (Percutaneous Left Atrial Appendage Transcatheter Occlusion) system. Chad also held engineering positions at Target Therapeutics and Scimed Life Systems, both acquired by Boston Scientific (BSX). Chad has over 50 patents issued and many pending related to cardiology, catheters, stents and therapeutic aneurysm therapies, along with multiple commercial product launches. He holds a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

Kris brings over 20 years of financial and public accounting experience in the medical technology, pharma, software, e-commerce, and technology fields. Previously, he served as Vice President Finance for Intersect ENT (XENT), a publicly traded NASDAQ company dedicated to advancing the treatment of ear, nose, and throat conditions, and RealNetworks Inc. (RNWK), a leading player for digital media products and services. He also served in various finance leadership roles at Cepheid, which was acquired by Danaher (DHR), a leading global molecular diagnostics company. Kris spent 11 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP where he was a Senior Manager serving technology clients in the Bay Area and in his home country, Hungary. Kris received his MBA in Economics from Corvinus University in Budapest and earned his B.S. degree in Accounting from the College of Finance and Accountancy. Kris is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Emir joined Imperative Care in 2020. He has over two decades of experience in product development, clinical research, and medical affairs for both start-ups and public companies in the medical device and biotechnology industries. Previously, Emir led Auris Health’s (acquired by Johnson & Johnson [JNJ]) robotic surgery clinical strategy and programs. Prior to joining Auris, Emir was Medical Director of CareDx (CDNA), where he was responsible for the publication strategy and execution of multiple clinical trials. During his tenure at EndoGastric Solutions, Emir held various leadership positions within clinical and medical affairs and was instrumental in obtaining a new CPT code for the Company’s novel endoluminal procedure. Earlier in his career, he held leadership positions at early-stage and venture-backed private companies (Sonitus Medical, RODO Medical, Spine Align) where he managed prototype development and early clinical efforts. Emir started his medical device career at Align Technology (ALGN) pre-IPO, where he held various key R&D and clinical affairs leadership positions. Emir received his MD from the University of Tuzla and completed the Clinical Trial Design and Management Program at San Francisco State University.

Brenda joined Imperative Care in November of 2021 and has over 20 years of experience in Finance, with over 15 years in medical technology, biotech, and pharma fields. Previously, she was VP of Financial Planning & Analysis at iRhtythm Technologies (IRTC), a publicly traded medical technology company. Prior to iRhythm, Brenda served as VP of Financial Planning & Analysis at Counsyl (acquired by Myriad Genetics(MYGN)), a women’s health company focused on non-invasive prenatal screening, identifying couples at risk to pass down serious, prevalent, clinically-actionable inherited conditions and hereditary cancer tests. Brenda also held other financial roles at Gilead Sciences (GILD), Illumina (ILMN), and Affymetrix (AFFX). Brenda received her MBA in Finance from Santa Clara University and her B.A. degree in Management and Information Systems from the Autonomous University of Guadalajara in Mexico.

Ron joined Imperative Care in October 2020 and has 20 years of experience providing legal support to technology companies. Ron previously served as General Counsel of Biosensors International Group, Ltd., an international drug eluting stent company. He also established and managed Biosensors’ U.S. based R&D center. He served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of XTENT, Inc. and as Corporate Counsel of Compliance for @Road, Inc., a GPS tracking company. Ron has held executive roles in several medical device start-ups, and he began his career as an attorney with Silicon Valley Law Group. He holds a B.A. in History, an MBA and a J.D. from the University of Maine.

Phil Nalbone spent 20 years on Wall Street as an analyst following the medical device industry at such firms as Hambrecht & Quist, Salomon Smith Barney, and RBC Capital Markets. During that time, he published research on nearly 100 companies and participated in more than 40 equity financings, including 30 IPOs. In 2011, he joined Vascular Solutions, Inc. as Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations and a member of the executive management team. After Vascular Solutions was acquired in 2017 by Teleflex Inc. (TFX), Phil spent the next year as part of Teleflex's Corporate Development group to assist with the integration and to provide strategic support to the newly-created Interventional business unit.

Jon joined Imperative Care in December 2021 with a background in corporate finance, M&A, strategy, and consulting. Prior to joining, Jon was the VP of Finance for the Interventional Urology Business Unit at Teleflex (TFX), where he was responsible for FP&A, accounting, customer service, and sales operations. He also worked in the Corporate Development department at Teleflex, closing 25 transactions, most notably the acquisitions of Vascular Solutions (VASC), NeoTract, and Essential Medical. Before Teleflex, Jon worked at Axalta Coating Systems (AXTA) on its IPO and consulted companies in the telecom, energy, and hospitality industries as part of the Valuation Advisory group at Duff & Phelps. Jon graduated with a B.S.B.A. and MBA from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business while playing offensive line for The Ohio State University Football Team.

Gerard joined Imperative Care in 2022 and was previously a member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the Medical Device Practice group at Knobbe Martens, which specializes in all aspects of intellectual property law. He received his bachelors degree in Chemistry from Rice University and Occidental College, and his J.D., cum laude, from the University of San Diego School of Law. He studied international law at the Institute on International and Comparative Law, Oxford University, England and has taken graduate courses in patent law at George Washington University Law School. Gerard served for two years as a law clerk to the Honorable Helen W. Nies, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington D.C. (the patent appeals court). He has served for six years as an Adjunct Professor of Patent Law at the University of San Diego School of Law, and served on the Board of Directors of two public and four private venture backed medical device companies. He is currently a guest lecturer and Team Coach at Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign.

Chris joined Imperative Care in January 2022 bringing over 20 years of experience in domestic and international manufacturing, supply chain, engineering, and general management in high growth middle-market medical device and Fortune 500 industrial companies. Prior to Imperative Care, Chris was Managing Director for SMC Ltd. and senior operations head for The Tech Group, a West Pharmaceutical Services company (WST), worldwide contract manufacturers of single-use medical devices. Other positions he held were in finance and business development, and as country manager at Air Products and Chemicals (APD). Chris holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.