The team

Anthony Koblish is a medical device entrepreneur with 25 years of experience who has served on the Cerapedics board of directors since 2013. He is currently co-founder, president and CEO of TELA Bio, a biosurgical reconstruction company. Prior to founding TELA Bio, Mr. Koblish was president and CEO of Orthovita, a publicly traded orthobiologics and biosurgery medical device company, where he helped grow the company’s valuation from $30 million to a $316 million sale to Stryker Corporation.

Kenneth Abramowitz is a co-founder and Managing General Partner of NGN Capital. He joined NGN Capital from The Carlyle Group in New York where he was Managing Director from 2001 to 2003, focused on U.S. buyout opportunities in the healthcare industry. Beginning July 2003, he transitioned to Senior Advisor at Carlyle in order to devote the time necessary to create a dedicated healthcare fund on behalf of Carlyle. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Abramowitz worked as an Analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. where he covered the medical-supply, hospital-management and HMO industries for 23 years, after which he was an EGS Securities Healthcare Fund Manager. He was voted top hospital supply and/or service analyst on the Institutional Investor Magazine “All-America Research Team” during 15 out of 20 years between 1980-2000 and made “The Team” for both healthcare services and medical supplies for 9 years since 1987.

Douglas Kohrs has 35 years of experience in the medical device industry as a founder, board member, and executive of many innovative companies and non-profit organizations. He is currently managing director of Responsive Arthroscopy, a company focused on value-based healthcare solutions for sports medicine. Prior to Responsive Arthroscopy, Mr. Kohrs founded Responsive Orthopedics, which was acquired by Medtronic in 2016. He also has served as president and CEO of both organizations. He currently serves on the board of directors of six entities and is the president of the Foundation for Essential Needs, a non-profit focused on eradicating hunger.

Valeska has served as our Chief Executive Officer since late 2022 and as Chairman of the Board since late 2021. Prior to assuming the role of CEO, Valeska served as a Managing Director of KCK, a single-family evergreen fund that invests in industries, including medical technologies. Since 2016, Valeska was part of KCK’s Medical Technologies Investment Group, where she was responsible for leading investments and advising portfolio companies. Valeska has been a board member for KCK portfolio companies, including Cerapedics, Sight Sciences, Aerin Medical, Intuity Medical, and Lungpacer. Before joining KCK, Valeska held roles in product development, program management, and marketing in a number of medical device companies. Valeska obtained a BS, MS, and PhD from University of California at Berkeley in Materials Science and Engineering.

Greg Garfield currently serves as Head of Medical Technology Investments for the KCK Group. Previously, Greg was the General Manager of Laryngology and Emerging Therapies for J&J’s Acclarent subsidiary, which J&J purchased for $800M. Prior to this role, Greg served as Acclarent’s Chief Operating Officer focusing on developing and commercializing products for use by ENT physicians to improve and enhance patients’ lives. Greg has many years of experience in the medical technology industry in a variety of roles.

Andrew Tofe, PhD has over forty years of experience in developing and commercializing diagnostic and therapeutic products for bone disease and bone repair. This research and work in bone includes over 50 publications and patents. Dr. Tofe founded and served as President and Chief Executive Officer of CeraMed Dental, where he developed and brought to market three different types of bone substitutes, OsteoGraf®/N in 1990, OsteoGraf®/LD in 1994, PepGen P-15™ in 1999, and PepGen P-15 Flow in 2001. Dr. Tofe served as President and Chief Executive Officer from the transition of CeraMed Dental into Cerapedics, Inc until 2006.

Tyrell J. Rivers, Ph.D., has served as a member of the board of directors of Cerapedics since June 2018. Dr. Rivers is also an Executive Director within AstraZeneca’s Corporate Development group, having responsibility for equity investments, mergers and acquisitions, and divestments. Prior to this role, Dr. Rivers was at MedImmune Ventures where he specialized in biotechnology investing, and at Merck & Co., Inc. where he led the technical support for multiple commercial vaccine franchises and subsequently directed global business initiatives for accessing key technologies for research and development. Dr. Rivers earned his BS in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a PhD in Chemical Engineering from University of Texas at Austin, and his MBA from the New York University Stern School of Business. Dr. Rivers serves on the board of directors for ADC Therapeutics SA, Armaron Bio Ltd, Corvidia Therapeutics and Viela Bio, Inc. and previously G1 Therapeutics, Inc. (GTHX) and PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (PHAS). He also serves as a board observer for several private companies.

Dana G. Mead, Jr. has served as a member of the board of directors at Cerapedics since December 2023. Mr. Mead currently serves on the boards of Inari Medical (NASDAQ GS: NARI), Inspire Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE: INSP), and Pulmonx Corporation (NASDAQ: LUNG). He previously served on the board of Intersect ENT (NASDAQ: XENT), Inc. until its acquisition by Medtronic Inc. in 2022. From May 2019 to February 2021, Mr. Mead served as President and CEO of HeartFlow, Inc., and from November 2016 to May 2019, Mr. Mead served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Beaver-Visitec International, a medical device company located in Waltham, MA. Previously, Mr. Mead was a Strategic Advisor and Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capital firm, having joined the firm in May 2005 and serving until June 2016. Mr. Mead was at Guidant Corporation, a cardiovascular medical device company, from 1992 to 2005, most recently as President, Guidant Vascular Intervention. Mr. Mead holds a B.A. from Lafayette College and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California.