Ambassador

Patrick J. Foley is the founding chairman of the Delaware Innovation Fund, served as its Board Chair for five years, and has been an active member of the Board since the Fund�s inception. In June 2001, Dr. Foley joined the Delaware Innovation Fund following his retirement after 32 years with DuPont.

The Delaware Innovation Fund (DIF) is a $10 million private non-profit venture capital firm established in 1995. The DIF provides early-stage investment capital and counsel to encourage the growth of seed, start-up and early-stage high technology companies in Delaware and throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

Maryland achieved international recognition with the completion of the sequencing of the human genome in 2000, a combined effort of one of the industry leaders, Celera, Inc., and one of Maryland's strategic scientific assets, the National Institutes of Health�s Human Genome Project. Dubbed the genome �BioCapital,� Maryland is home to �DNA alley� � one of the largest concentrations of gene-based therapeutic development companies in the world. Although 42nd in geographical size, Maryland has achieved noteworthy success in the development of its high technology industries and the bioscience industry in particular.

Dr. Phillip Chan joins the NJTC Venture Fund to spearhead investments in the healthcare, medical device and biotechnology sectors. He received his MD and PhD in Genetics from the Yale University School of Medicine where he helped pioneer new advances in oligonucleotide-based gene therapy. During a research career spanning 15 years, he has also had special interests in the fields of cancer, diabetes, and stem cell research. A fully licensed physician, Dr. Chan completed his Internal Medicine residency at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard. He also holds a B.S. in cell and molecular biology from Cornell University, graduating with honors and distinction.

The NJTC Venture Fund provides financing to promising start-ups and early-stage companies located in the New Jersey region. The initial investment ranges from $1 - 2 million. Over the course of the portfolio company partnership, NJTC Venture Fund expects to invest $3 - 4 million. At the time of investment, companies may be seed stage or have as much as $5 million in annual revenue.

Chris Kroeger works primarily with Aurora�s life science investments, specifically in the areas of drug discovery, biotechnology and medical devices. Previously, Chris trained in general surgery at Brigham and Women�s Hospital/Harvard Medical School where he was involved in the care of transplant, trauma, vascular cardiac and general surgical patients. He also has significant basic science research experience, including work on the molecular biology and genetics of apoptosis, and the transcriptional regulation of Interleukin-2 in human T-cells. While in business school, Chris worked in Corporate Development at Genzyme and performed independent research developing licensing strategies in Biogen�s business development unit. He also formerly worked at Arthur D. Little, performing industry analysis for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

The Aurora Funds is a venture capital firm that provides capital, connections and strategic help to entrepreneurs with early stage life science and information technology companies. Founded in 1994, Aurora invests primarily in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. The firm manages over $155 million in four venture funds. Aurora�s six investment team members have over 35 years of combined venture capital experience and over 40 years of high technology operational experience.

As TAP�s Director, Scott Magids oversees all marketing, screening, consulting, and portfolio management activities. Scott leads fundraising, management consulting, executive recruiting, and marketing projects for TAP companies. In addition, Scott builds and manages strategic relationships with venture capital firms, industry technology firms, and professional services companies.

TAP is a leading incubator and accelerator which assists early-stage technology companies achieve their goals. TAP expedites the maturation of young firms by providing a unique bundle of services and resources ranging from intense mentoring and funding introductions to extensive technical resources and low-cost physical infrastructure.

Duc Duong is the Program Director of MTDC. His duties include the review, screening of applications, staffing of Advisory Board to select applicants and review business progress of tenants, Developing and coordinating delivery of business support services to tenants.

MTDC is a project initiated and managed by Montgomery County Department of Economic Development. It was developed, financed and constructed as a joint partnership between the County and the State of Maryland. The County has contracted with the Technology Council of Maryland to provide on site program management. MTDC is a build-to-suit facility which offers low-cost rental space and a network of technical and business support services to help you succeed. The objective of the MTDC is to help young enterprises grow over the critical period of "incubation".

Dr. Bernard Cambou is responsible for sourcing, researching, evaluating, negotiating, and monitoring investment opportunities in the life sciences sector. He has 22 years of international business and research and development experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

With more than $115 million under management, Birchmere Ventures has a successful track record of investing in and building early-stage technology and life sciences companies. Birchmere focuses principally on early stage, pre-revenue start-ups where they have direct operational or investing experience. They prefer to lead syndicated deals with other institutional investors.