Favorite Personal Sayings: *Innovation always encounters resistance until persistence breaks through.*Mistakes teach you how to succeed.*Success requires tacking, pivoting and failure-learning to achieve your desired Exit.*A written business plan forces the entrepreneur to think through a focused path to success, or kill a seemingly awesome idea early.

Wearable Artificial Kidney; FDA Fast Tracked & Innovation 2.0 Award

Co-Founder, with Peter David, PhD., and CEO. Peter led the yeast modification team that identified the crystal structure of RNA Polymerase II for which his Stanford Professor received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.We founded AmbroZea to modify fuel-ethanol yeast to co-produce essential amino acids, to create a sustainable and lucrative revenue model for the ethanol industry without government mandates.Secured $15M term sheet from blue chip venture funds that dried up in 2009 when the financial melt-down put the venture firms out of business.

Joined in 2006; served as a Board Member from 2007 to 2010Most Succesful investment to date: Juul Labs, Inc.

Turned company around from insolvency to a public exit in 10 months through a reverse merger with an $8.5M PIPE investment. Remained on Board of Directors until 2009.Company product: a nano-emulsion biocide that killed 22+ pathogens as a surface disinfectant (ex. HIV, MRSA, Tuberculosis) without harming the environment or mammalian cells.

Co-Founder with Alex Zaffaroni, PhD. Initial Name: Alexza/Molecular Delivery Corporation.Managed company after 2001 merger of equals between MDC (see below) and Alexza (founded by Alex Zaffaroni), during continued development of FDA approvable "vape technology", through decision process for selecting which of 200 viable compounds to advance through FDA approval process, and through $45M Venture raise. Company subsequently re-named Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ALXA); Remained on Board of Directors from 2001 until 2006 IPO; company received first ever FDA approval of pharmaceutical + vape device in 2012.

Founded the company in 1997 (initially named Canna Therapeutics) after California voters passed the first Medical Marijuana Initiative in November 1996; company was subsequently re-named Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ALXA).Mission: Deliver THC by inhalation as an FDA approved ethical pharmaceutical to be sold through pharmacies with known purity and dose/response characteristics.Raised initial $5M; invented the first "vaping" technology.Merged with Alexza in 2001, and secured a $9M investment from Alex Zaffaroni, PhD, one of the inventors of the birth control pill, founder of ALZA Corp which invented the transdermal patch, inventor of the gene-chip and spawned some 30 other pioneering companies. He received the National Medal of Technology from President Bill Clinton for his contributions to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

First hire, responsible for marketing and sales. Promoted the use of patient's own(autologous) blood for transfusions prior to availability of the AIDs antibody test. Avoided risk of contracting non-A non-B hepatitis, Herpes, HIV or a myriad of other diseases from transfusions of donated blood. Grew the company from its inception through a $6.5M Venture funding.