About – Bio’s
Principals
Biography
Brian Doughty
Brian Doughty, Delta Force Principle, comes from Detroit where he was the first in his extended family to attend college. He has earned Masters Degrees in Business Administration, Public Administration and Psychology. He started his business career in sales at AT&T where he quickly rose through the ranks securing the largest contract in the company’s history at that time with Ford Motor Company. Next, Brian entered the med/tech world with Johnson & Johnson where he won every sales and leadership award in the company. He joined Medtronic where he created an evidence-based sales process for a new division that grew from $0 to over $800M in annual revenue. The process was so solid the division still uses the sales process he created over eight years later. From Medtronic, Brian held executive positions in 3 straight successful start-up companies. One of the 3 sold for over $320M and the other 2 went public with a combined market capitalization of $2.1B.
Brian started Delta Force Group Inc. to leverage his unique talent for moving from Current State to Desired State across multiple firms and industries. He has created a unique process of “cracking the code” to solve problems, reach goals and install the systems and processes along the way to make the solutions stick. A gifted speaker and educator, Brian speaks on each of the topics and tools.
The General Partner has identified additional prospective associates for the management of Fund I, including persons with deep background in finance, intellectual property, and pharmaceuticals. These associates may be added to the team at a future date.
Close
Brian Doughty, MBA, MPA, MA
Biography
Linda Doughty
Linda Doughty BSE, MBA has over 15 years of experience developing leadership, management, and team effectiveness to achieve objectives while building a strong culture. Mrs. Doughty has held executive positions at Rockwell International, Entertainment Publications, and Quicken Loans where she led Human Resources and specifically team effectiveness from the CEO to the most junior associates. At Delta Force, Mrs. Doughty participates in Benchmarking/Vetting/Scoring, Fundraising, Operations, and Human Resources for clients. She also builds and launches the Human Resources function for start-ups who have reached the level of requiring HR compliance, sourcing, interviewing, hiring, on-boarding system, and performance development. Mrs. Doughty also has considerable experience coaching leadership team employee relations skill sets and handling employee relation issues.
Close
Linda Doughty, BSE, MBA
Physician Entrepreneurs
Biography
George Adams
George Adams, MD is a board-certified Interventional Cardiologist at UNC Rex Hospital and Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA. He completed his internal medicine internship and residency at the University of Texas Southwestern and his general cardiology fellowship, interventional cardiology fellowship and master’s in health sciences at Duke University. Most recently he earned his Masters of Business Administration from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC Chapel Hill. He is currently a clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is the Director of Cardiovascular and Peripheral Vascular Research for North Carolina Heart and Vascular Research at UNC Rex Hospital. Adams is well-published in the field of complex peripheral vascular interventions in critical limb ischemic patients, development of regional systems of care for STEMI, and nuclear cardiology techniques. He has led a robust clinical research program enrolling patients in approximately 100 peripheral, carotid and coronary trials and has served as national primary investigator in 6 trials. As an international leader in peripheral vascular techniques, he travels worldwide performing procedures and formally training physicians, bioengineers, and industry representatives. He is involved with device and biologic development for the advancement of peripheral vascular disease treatment and amputation prevention. In his spare time he enjoys spending time on his farm with his three daughters.
Close
George Adams, MD, MBA
Biography
Tony Das, M.D.
Tony Das, MD FACC is a board-certified interventional cardiologist specializing in complex coronary, peripheral vascular and valvular heart disease. Dr. Das is founder and CEO of Connected Cardiovascular Care, the first cardiology practice in the US dedicated to offering personalized remote physiologic monitoring for cardiovascular patients. He also serves as the Regional Medical Director, Peripheral Vascular Interventions, Cardiac Innovation and Digital Health for the Baylor Scott and White Heart Hospital, Plano, Tx. Dr. Das is an active member of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) committee for Innovation in the Wearables and Devices Section. Additionally, Dr. Das is a founding member of the VIVA (Vascular Interventional Advances) meeting and serves as consultant to several medical device startups. Dr. Das graduated from Baylor Medical School, did his medical residency at Harvard Massachusetts General Hospital and Fellowship at the Texas Heart Institute.
Close
Tony Das, MD, MBA
Biography
Peter Fitzgerald, MD, PhD
Dr. Peter Fitzgerald is Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Technology at Stanford University Medical School, and Co-founder/Managing Partner at Triventures. He is an Interventional Cardiologist and has a PhD in Engineering. He is Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Medicine and Engineering at Stanford. He has led or participated in over 150 clinical trials, published over 450 manuscripts/chapters, and lectures worldwide. Peter has been principal/founder of 18 healthcare companies in Silicon Valley, has transitioned 13 of these start-ups to medium/large-cap life science companies, and remains on several of their advisory boards. He has been a consultant for the FDA for the past 15 years focused on medical technology and more recently, digital health.
Prior, Peter was a co-founding partner of LVP capital in San Francisco, deriving his experience in venture capital from three funds focused on medical device and biotechnology start-ups. Peter heads the US Triventures office and travels to Israel monthly.
Close
Peter Fitzgerald, MD, PhD
Biography
Jihad Mustapha
Jihad Mustapha, MD, FACC, FSCAI is a board-certified interventional cardiologist who specialized in endovascular therapy for critical limb ischemia (CLI). Dr. Mustapha graduated from Wayne State University and St. George University School of Medicine. He went on to medical residency at Spectrum Health Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan from 1996-1999. He has completed Fellowships in both Cardiology (1999-2002) and Interventional Cardiology (2002-2003) at Louisiana State University School of Medicine.
Dr. Mustapha currently practices at Advanced Cardiac and Vascular Centers for Amputation Prevention in Grand Rapids and Lansing, Michigan. He is the Founder and Director of the AMPutation Prevention Symposium (AMP). Dr. Mustapha is the Founder and a Board Member of the CLI Global Society. He has multiple publications, including those on critical limb ischemia and amputation prevention. He has a special interest in medical device inventions and holds many patents.
Close
Jihad Mustapha, MD
Biography
Mahamood Razavi
Mahamood Razavi, MD, FSIR, FSVM is a board certified interventional radiologist and the Chief Medical Officer of Neuravi. He is the founder or co-founder of 6 current or past medical device companies with an exit value of over $600,000,000 to date and the recipient of 39 US & International patents. He has been the Chief Medical Officer of 5 early stage companies focused on development and commercialization of medical devices. He has served on the Board of Directors and/or the Scientific and Strategic Advisory Boards of several major device and biotechnology companies.
In addition, Dr. Razavi is a current or past adviser to 37 startup medical device companies to date
with 14 exit/IPOs. He is a partner in two venture funds focused on early & mid-stage biotech/medtech companies and consults for several venture capital firms.
He is currently the Director of the Center for Clinical Trials and Research at St Joseph Heart and
Vascular Center in Orange, California. Prior to this, he was an Associate Professor at the Stanford
University Medical Center and the Director of the fellowship program at the Vascular & Interventional Section. He had also served as the Acting Chief of Interventional Radiology at the Stanford University Hospital.
To date, he has authored or co-authored over 300 scientific publications, abstracts, and book
chapters and has been the recipient of many honors and awards from various professional medical societies. He has been the recipient of several industry, institutional and federal grants and has given over 600 invited lectures at National & International meetings. He has served as the Global Principal Investigator in 8 sponsored clinical trials and been the site PI of another 50 multicenter studies.
Dr. Razavi has served as the Editor and on the Editorial Boards of several scientific journals. His
scientific work has been featured in over 100 national & international radio, television, and press
news articles and programs.
Close
Mahmood Razavi, MD
Biography
Mintu Turakhia, MD, MBA
Mintu Turakhia M.D. M.A.S. is a cardiac electrophysiologist, outcomes researcher, and clinical trialist. Dr. Turakhia has an active, highly-funded multidisciplinary program in atrial fibrillation, where uses large datasets to examine quality, outcomes, and risk prediction for heart rhythm disorders. As the Executive Director of Stanford’s new Center for Digital Health, he is the principal investigator of several multi-center trials to test digital health tools and wearable devices to screen and manage heart rhythm disorders. In his clinical role as Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology at the VA, Dr. Turakhia performs invasive procedures such as catheter ablation and device implantation to treat heart rhythm disorders. Dr. Turakhia is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and Heart Rhythm Society.
Close
Mintu Turakhia, MD, MBA
Biography
Dr. John R. Mehall, MD, MBA, FACS, FACC
Dr. John R. Mehall, MD, MBA, FACS, FACC has been a successful serial entrepreneur across a variety of healthcare fields. As a nationally recognized heart surgeon specializing in valve repair and minimally invasive approaches, Dr. Mehall has had over 20 nationals meeting podium appearances, 50 published articles and abstracts, and has trained over 300 surgeons in cutting edge techniques. Dr. Mehall has also had cardiovascular leadership roles regionally and nationally as the co-Chair of the CommonSpirit National Cardiac Surgery Service Line. As a business owner, he has started seven different business with sole P&L responsibility of over $20mm, and multiple successful exits. Dr. Mehall is currently the Chief Medical Officer for Curative, the staffing arm of Doximity, and is leading the cardiovascular vertical buildout for HaloDx. As an owner-operator and healthcare leader with M&A experience, Dr. Mehall regularly advises private equity, venture capital, and investment banks on transactions in the healthcare and digital healthcare space.
Close
Dr. John R. Mehall, MD, MBA, FACS, FACC
Business/Finance Entrepreneurs
Biography
Gerald Carlson, Ph.D.
Dr. Jerry Carlson retired as the managing partner in a consulting practice which focused on new business development, new product development, technology transfer, and intellectual property management, and was affiliated with two other related consulting practices. Dr. Carlson has developed expertise in technology transfer, strategic alliance development, licensing, business planning, and technology platform development in the broad areas of food, drug, and chemical specialty products with occasional forays into other scientific specialties. From 2001-2010, he was the Senior Technology Advisor to The Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation in Wisconsin, a unique business incubator which used strategic licensing as a development strategy. Between 2005 and 2012, he served as consulting R&D director for a chemical specialty start-up through its $220 million IPO and directed technology acquisition and product development for a variety of companies. In addition to his consulting practice, he was Vice President for Research at Venture Incite, a venture capital operating company headquartered in Oak Ridge Tn. He was also a founder of Clodico, a seed-stage company developing a novel broad-spectrum biocide.
During his industrial career, Dr. Carlson led development teams which introduced over 70 new chemical specialty products worldwide. He was a member of S.C.Johnson’s worldwide R&D executive committee and led three of Johnson’s four R&D divisions, responsible for products such as Edge®, Pledge®, Raid®, and OFF! ® as well as a products in the food and drug categories, including Aveeno® brands. Dr. Carlson has had budget responsibility exceeding $24 million, led scientific staffs from 3 to 130 individuals, and spent 3 years in Shanghai leading Johnson’s Asian laboratories. He was the CTO of Rydelle Laboratories, a Johnson subsidiary. Earlier, Dr. Carlson was an Associate Consultant in Gastroenterology and Assistant Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry at the Mayo Clinic. A graduate of Indiana University and the University of North Carolina, his professional publications include papers in Science, the New England Journal of Medicine, Gastroenterology, the Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, and the Journal of Organic Chemistry. Dr. Carlson’s outside interests include metalworking and programming. He was a volunteer with SCORE®, providing business consulting to small and start-up businesses and entrepreneurs, and a member of the American Gastroenterological Association, the American Chemical Society, AAAS, and other scientific organizations and honoraries including Sigma Xi and Rho Chi. Dr. Carlson has been a member of the NASA Great Lakes Industrial Technology Center (GLITeC) Board of Advisors, and a mentor for the Tech2020 incubator in Oak Ridge as well as an invited lecturer at the University of Tennessee in the Law School and the Engineering MS/MBA program. He is a member of the BoD of General Graphene.
He has been active as an angel investor (via Angel Capital Group) with a particular interest in companies with new products having a unique chemical or physical approach since 2013.
Close
Gerald Carlson, PhD
Biography
Alex Day
Alex Day is a serial entrepreneur who has assisted in raising over $100 million in capital for multiple projects. He has managed two venture capital funds, including the Commonwealth Seed Capital Fund and the Owensboro Emerging Ventures Fund. Under Alex’s management, both of these funds provided positive returns for their investors.
Alex’s academic background is in physics, mathematics and Russian Language. Alex received a Bachelor of Science from Western Kentucky University and attended the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. Alex started his professional career as a Technical Liaison with Audax, Inc., a pharmaceutical research and discovery company. Alex went on to serve as Vice President of Business Development and President of Audax, where he assisted in the development of pharmaceutical and nutritional products and dramatically increased the sales of the company.
In 2000, Alex founded Sheltowee LLC and secured seed capital funding for the company. The company licensed pharmaceutical and nutritional products during its first 3 years of operations. In 2004, Sheltowee assumed the management of the Commonwealth Seed Capital Fund. Through Sheltowee, Alex oversaw the initial establishment of the fund and developed the policies and procedures for evaluating and conducting due diligence on prospective portfolio companies. During his tenure as the manager of Commonwealth Seed Capital Alex was appointed by Governor Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky to chair the Governor’s Consortium on Life Sciences, a blue ribbon panel charged with developing a strategic plan for the Commonwealth of Kentucky on life sciences. Alex convened the consortium over a period of 120 days and authored the strategic plan that resulted in over $100 million of investment in the Commonwealth.
In 2005, Alex developed the business plan and founded Kentucky BioProcessing, LLC (KBP). He secured capital for KBP to purchase the assets of Large Scale Biology Corporation. KBP went on to secure over $50 million in capital to develop production capabilities around plant made pharmaceuticals and utilizing tobacco as production platform to express therapeutic proteins. In the first year of operations KBP has less than $75,000 in annual sales and when Alex left in 2011, KBP had over $15 million in annual sales. KBP was purchased by RJ Reynolds and provided a substantial return for its investors.
Alex has been involved with numerous early stage companies and has worked on projects in Israel, Italy, Cambodia and Vietnam. He has familiarity with numerous technology sectors including life sciences, alternative energy and health informatics. In 2017, Alex was named as an Economic Development Liaison to the Ambassador of Cambodia to the United States and Mexico. More information on Alex’s background can be found in his CV as Exhibit B to this Memorandum.
Close
Alex Day, MBA
Biography
Eric L. Dobson, Ph.D.
Eric Dobson is a seasoned entrepreneur and investor who has raised over $25 million in capital for multiple projects. He leads the Angel Capital Group, which operates as a syndicate of angel groups in the Southeast and Midwest. Dr. Dobson has lead investments in 25 companies in the last seven years first as the Chief Financial Analyst, then the Chief Executive Officer, of Angel Capital Group. Under Dr. Dobson’s leadership, Angel Capital Group has enjoyed one 6x exit (Facebook IPO), one 4x exit (Arkis Biosciences acquisition to Integra Lifesciences), with one 3x exit pending (OnCore Golf). Dr. Dobson was instrumental in founding the Appalachian Investors Alliance, a syndicate of eight microventure funds across the Appalachian region focused on entrepreneurial readiness and access to capital under contract with the Appalachian Regional Commission. To date, 100+ AIA accredited investor members have incorporated eight angel/impact funds in as many Appalachian states which have placed $7 million in direct private investment into 22 entrepreneurial companies. This capital leveraged an additional $78.7 million in investments from outside the AIA region and network.
Dr. Dobson’s academic background is in geography, computer science, and big data analysis. Dr. Dobson received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Tennessee, his Masters of Science from the University of South Carolina, and his Doctoral degree from the University of South Carolina. Dr. Dobson started his career with the Land Resources Division of the State of South Carolina, moved to Technology Planning and Management Corporation at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coastal Services Center, and then became an entrepreneur. He founded two companies and has assisted in founding six more. Dr. Dobson founded Navigational Sciences, which was a wireless technology development company that worked under contract to the Homeland Security Advanced Projects Agency under the Department of Homeland Security and recipient of the National Laboratory Technology of the Year for 2004. He later founded TrakLok, a transportation security and wireless tracking solutions company for the global supply chain, where he was awarded the 2011 Pinnacle Business Award for Innovator of the Year. Dr. Dobson joined the Angel Capital Group in 2012 as the Chief Financial Analysis and later as the Chief Executive Officer in 2014.
Close
Eric Dobson, PhD, MBA
Biography
Jon Ricketts
Jon Ricketts, MBA, JD is the Vice President of Business Development for Integrity Laboratories and a seasoned veteran of the medical device industry. He previously held positions with EnteroMedics, Medtronic, and 3M Health Care. Jon brings 12 years of experience in leadership roles within medical device and biotechnology organizations. His specific areas of expertise in commercial strategy, healthcare economics, regulatory and compliance, and value based systems make him uniquely suited for his role evaluating commercialization of medical devices for Sheltowee. In addition to his industry experience, Jon is an active angel investor and venture capital partner with an emphasis on emerging healthcare technologies. Jon received his Bachelors of Arts from Middle Tennessee State University, his Masters of Business Administration from Bethel University, and his Juris Doctor from Lincoln Memorial University.
Close
John Rickets, MBA
Biography
Steve Tisdell
Steve Tisdell has over 30 years of worldwide experience in corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, and business operations. Mr. Tisdell has significant public company experience as a senior financial executive including M&A transactions, corporate governance, turnaround management, debt financing (including: financing and refunding of industrial revenue bonds and hospital bonds), equity financing, syndication of multi-bank complex credit facilities, mezzanine income tax strategy and corporate compliance. Mr. Tisdell has significant industry experience in retail, real estate, healthcare, and not-for-profit higher education. Over the last ten years, since being a corporate financial executive, Mr. Tisdell has done significant consulting, representing both debtors and creditors. As CFO, he was instrumental in the turnarounds of Brooks Drug Stores (1983), Service Merchandise (1987) and Maison Blanche Department Stores (1992).
Prior to founding Tisdell Associates, Mr. Tisdell was President of The Compliance Partners, Principal at Centre Health Partners, Morris Anderson & Associates and Bridge Associates. He focused on restructuring, capital raising, due diligence, corporate governance, compliance issues with SOX and healthcare, universities, real estate and retail as various roles as interim CFO and CRO, and strategic advisor to both debtors and creditors.
He remains an active angel investor interested in early-stage startups. Mr. Tisdell specializes in investing or financing of public and private equity, convertible debt, public bonds both taxable and tax free, large (over $1 billion) and small bank syndications. He is proficient at tax restructuring to advantage multistate and multinational companies. He is a n investor in multiple healthcare and healthtech related startups.
Close
Steve Tisdell, MBA
Biography
David Vulcano
David Vulcano is a well-known leader in the clinical research industry through numerous publications, presentations and contributions. Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, he earned his Masters degrees in both Social Work and Business Administration. Additional credentials include obtaining the status of Certified IRB Professional (CIP) and Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC). His current primary employment is as the Responsible Executive for Clinical Research for Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), overseeing the research efforts of over 160 hospitals, over 100 Surgery Centers, various physician practices and affiliated programs across the United States and in London. David is a Past Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) assisting their mission in providing global leadership to promote integrity and excellence in the clinical research profession.
His contributions to the research industry are numerous, with the most recent recognitions including the 2012 Special Recognition Award by the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society, the 2012 Best Practice in Human Subject Protection by the Health Improvement Institute and named one of the Top 100 leaders in the Health IT Community in 2012 by the HealthTech Council (through his leadership to assure the ethical conduct of clinical research with “big data” in healthcare). David has been called to be an expert witness for matters in the clinical trials industry, a judge in the Health Improvement Institute’s Annual Award for Excellence in Human Research Protections and a former Human Subject Protection Program accreditation surveyor for both the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and Partners for Human Research Protection (PHRP). His role as Guest Editor for the December 2010 Issue of The Monitor helped earn the 2010 Gold Circle Award for Peer-Reviewed Journal by the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). David has been a speaker for most major research-related and other healthcare related associations and organizations on topics related to the clinical trials industry.
Close