William G. Walters
– Chairman of Advisory Board
Mr. Walters has over 40 years experience raising money for small-
cap public companies. He successfully completed over 140 transactions and raised over $2 billion
as founder and CEO of Whale Securities. Some of his successful companies include Cheyenne
Software, Nationwide Cellular, Asta Funding, Take Two Interactive Software, Presstek,
Parkervision, Universal Display, Delcath, e.Diets, Workstream, Turbochef, Traffix, Amarillo
Biosciences, and Top Image Systems. Mr. Walters is a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance,
University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Walters currently oversees the origination team at Commonwealth
Associates and invests the firm's capital in early stage companies.
Joel Kanter
Mr. Kanter has served as President of
Windy City, Inc., a privately held investment firm, since July 1986. From 1995 to November 1999,
Mr. Kanter served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Walnut Financial Services,
Inc., a publicly traded company (NMS: WNUT) whose primary business focus was the provision of
different forms of financing to small businesses. Walnut Financial accomplished this objective by
providing equity financing to start-up and early stage development companies, bridge financing
and factoring services to small and medium-sized companies, and by providing later stage
institutional financing to more mature enterprises through an institutional fund it ran for the
Teachers Retirement System of Illinois. Over the course of its 13 year history, Walnut Financial
provided financing to over 300 companies, including many that became well known and successful
ventures including Plax Mouthwash (Oral Research Laboratories), Sonicare Toothbrushes (Optiva
Corp.), the first manufacturer of Global Positioning System devices (Magellan Corp.), the largest
and only nationwide Preferred Provider Organization (First Health), what became the country's
fifth largest nursing home company (GranCare, Inc.), and its third largest institutional pharmacy
company (Vitalink Pharmacy Services). Walnut Financial was acquired by THCG, Inc. in 1999 in a
transaction that ultimately provided some $300 million in market value to the shareholders.
From 1978 - 1980,
Mr. Kanter served as a Legislative Assistant to former Congressman Abner J. Mikva (D-Ill.). From
1980 - 1983, Mr. Kanter served as Special Assistant to the National Association of Attorneys
General. From 1983 - 1985, Mr. Kanter served as the Staff Director of the House Rules Committee's
Subcommittee on Legislative Process Chaired by the late Congressman Gillis W. Long (D-La.). From
April 1985 through June 1986, Mr. Kanter served as Managing Director of The Investors' Washington
Service, an investment advisor service whose clients included Amoco Oil, AT&T, Bankers Trust,
Chase Manhattan Bank, General Motors, and J.C. Penney.
Mr. Kanter serves on
the Board of Directors of several public companies including Encore Medical Corporation (NMS:
ENMC), I-Flow Corporation (Nasdaq: IFLO), Logic Devices, Inc. (NMS: LOGC), Prospect Medical, Inc.
(ASE:PZZ), and Magna-Lab, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board:MAGLA), as well as a number of private
concerns. He is Chairman of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. He is the past President of the
Board of Trustees of The Langley School in McLean Virginia, and a current Trustee at the
Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C
Joseph M. Cohen
Mr. Cohen is the Chairman of the JMCohen&Co., LLC. Mr. Cohen joined
the former Cowen & Company in 1967. Mr. Cohen became co-managing partner in 1971 and was
appointed sole managing partner and Chairman in 1986. He actively managed and directed expansion
via acquisition and internal development. Under Mr. Cohen's leadership, Cowen & Company attained
a global reputation for excellence in research and investment banking specifically in health care
and technology and developed into one of the most successful private partnerships on Wall Street.
It was also the largest corporate bond broker in the United States. In July 1998, Cowen & Company
was sold to Societe Generale, among the seven largest banks in the world. In February 2000, Mr.
Cohen resigned from SG Cowen Securities Corp. and became the Chairman of JMCohen&Co, LLC, a
private family investment firm. Mr. Cohen started his financial career with Loinel D. Edie &
Company as an analyst specializing in the retail industry. He graduated from the Wharton School
of the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Economics and from Columbia University with an MA
in Economics. Mr. Cohen is the President of Citymeals-on-Wheels, a Director of the Glaucoma
Foundation, a Governing Trustee of The Jackson Laboratory, a leading genetics research and non-
profit mouse production facility, a member of the Chairman's Council and the Collector's
Committee of the National Gallery and currently on the board of the 410 - 57th Street Corp. He is
also an advisory Director of Viscardi, a German merchant bank specializing in health care, and a
Director of Cantel Medical, a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Dr. Fred Sancilio
Ph.D. Physical & Analytical Chemistry - Rutgers; MS Analytical
Chemistry - Rutgers;BA Chemistry - Rutgers
Thirty years of scientific, managerial, and
Board Level experience with major pharmaceutical companies (Hoffman - La Roche, Schering-Plough,
and Burroughs-Wellcome). Founder and Chairman of aai Pharma (a Nasdaq traded Development Services
and Pharma products Company). Entrepreneur and Scientific head of Sancilio and Co. focused on
leveraging a Global network of scientists, entrepreneurs, and existing drug companies to produce
highly profitable new and improved drugs. Completed 16 U.S. Pharmaceutical Patents and 5
International Pharmaceutical Patents since 1994 and 16 scientific publications.
Dr. Michael Wolk
MD, MACC, Past President (ACC BOT 1995 - 2008)
Michael Wolk, MD, is currently in private
practice in New York City, a Board-certified cardiovascular specialist since 1973. He graduated
from Colgate University as an All-American swimmer and received the President's Cup as the
outstanding graduating senior. He received his medical degree from Columbia College of Physicians
& Surgeons in New York City, and completed his residency in internal medicine as chief resident
at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. He is an attending physician at New York-
Presbyterian Hospital and chairs the Fund for Medicine within the Department of Medicine.
Dr. Wolk is a member of the American College of
Physicians, the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Heart Association-Clinical
Council, the Medical Society of the State of New York, and the Board of Directors of the New York
Cardiac Center. His research has appeared in the Journal of American Cardiology (JACC), the
Journal of Medical Education, the American Journal of Cardiology, the New England Journal of
Medicine, and Circulation, among others.
Douglas Levine
Mr. Levine is currently the Chairman of
Push Media LLC, a customized mass market personal training business, as well as the Chairman of
Archie M.D., an interactive medical animation company. He is a Managing Partner of Kabuki Films,
which produced Dave Chappelle's Block Party (released March 2006 - Universal Pictures).
He was the Founder,
CEO, and Chairman of Crunch Fitness, which he sold to Bally Total Fitness Holding Corporation
(NYSE: BFT) in January 2002. Based in New York City, Crunch served nearly 100,000 members with
24 gyms in Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, Atlanta, San Francisco and Mission Viejo. Renowned for
fusing fitness and entertainment and offering an environment that welcomes people from all walks
of life - regardless of shape, size, sex or ability - Crunch also incorporated original apparel
and accessories for men and women, chart-topping exercise videos, music compilation CDs and a
lifestyle book series.
He is also on the
boards of Adopt a Classroom and L.E.A.D., a school choice initiative.
Kevin
McGovern
Mr. McGovern (AB '70, JD '75 St. John's University School of Law) is
Chairman and CEO of McGovern Capital LLC, which provides Intellectual Property Rights strategy
and originates, structures, and implements capital formation, joint ventures, and business
alliances. Mr. McGovern is also the chairman of Greenwich Alliances, Ltd., which specializes in
the formulation and negotiation of strategic alliances and has participated in over 25 business
alliances worldwide, including four alliances in China. He is the owner and managing partner of
the law firm McGovern & Associates, located in New York, New York. The firm specializes in
corporate law, with an emphasis on emerging businesses, merger and acquisitions, venture capital,
patent enforcement, and research and development financings. Mr. McGovern is a founder and/or
key shareholder in over 20 companies, and five of the companies he co-founded - all based on
proprietary technologies - are currently leaders in their respective industry's product
categories. These companies include SOBE Beverages (sold to Pepsi); TriStrata, the worldwide
owner of all Intellectual Property to Alpha Hydroxy Acids comprising the single most successful
technology in skin care history and KX Industries, the world leader in consumer carbon, water and
air filters. He is also Co-Chairman of Angstrom Publishing which publishes with Forbes worldwide
"The Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report". He formerly served on the Board of the Sports Authority
(NYSE) and Nobel Education (NYSE).
Mr. McGovern has served on Cornell's Board of
Trustees since 2001 and serves as Co-Chairman of the Technology/IP Committee. He teaches at the
Cornell/Johnson graduate business school, a course entitled "Global Innovation". Mr. McGovern
was also recently named the Cornell "Entrepreneur of the Year" for 2006/2007.
Michael S.
Falk
Mr. Falk is Chairman of The ComVest Group and the Managing Partner of
ComVest Investment Partners whose affiliates manage the various ComVest partnerships,
Commonwealth Associates, and the CARE Fund. Commonwealth Associates is a New York City based
merchant and investment bank that Mr. Falk co-founded in 1988. ComVest Investment Partners is a
private equity fund based in New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida with significant
investments in aviation, software, healthcare, and manufacturing. Over the past twenty years,
Mr. Falk has recapitalized, structured, and led equity investments of up to $50 million in over
100 small to medium size growth oriented businesses many of which have created significant equity
valuations and or have been acquired. Currently he is Chairman of Averion International
Corporation, which provides contract research services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology
businesses and is a board member of Allegiant Air, Catalyst International, Inc and the CARE Fund
LLC. Mr. Falk is Co-Trustee of the Michael and Annie Falk Foundation which supports children,
the environment, and the arts. Mr. Falk holds a B.A. degree in Economics from Queens College and
attended the Stanford University Executive Program for Smaller Companies.
Edward
Jankowski
Mr. Jankowski was the Chairman of SyPixx Networks. SyPixx was a
producer of video surveillance hardware that allowed analog systems to operate with digital
video. In April 2006, Cisco completed its acquisition of SyPixx for $51 million. Mr. Jankowski
was also the Founder and CEO of Loronix, Inc., a security company that Commonwealth Associates
funded in February 1996. Loronix developed, marketed, sold and supported a family of software-
based digital video recording and identification management systems. Loronix was the world leader
in networked digital video management solutions with an extensive installed base of Internet-
enabled digital video recorders. In July 2000, Loronix was sold to Comverse Technology for
approximately $225 million. He was also the Founder of JPW Industries, as well as the CEO and
Founder of Exo Sensors.
Jerry R.
Jacob
Mr. Jacob spent 37 years at American
Airlines (AMR), 26 of those years as Vice President of the Eastern Division. He was responsible
for the day to day operation of the airline on the East Coast, the Caribbean, Central America and
South America. From 1994 until 1997, he was Chairman of Midway Airlines.
Mr. Jacob is a
graduate of Southern Methodist University (SMU) where he received a degree in Finance and
attended the university's law school.
Allan MacDonald – OBE, BA, Deng,
Dtech, FIMgt, FRAes
Mr. MacDonald is an experienced
industrialist. He has been involved in major corporation activity over a long career and, since
1997, has participated in private equity early stage investment management, initially as an
investor and subsequently in chief executive roles. In 2002 he was appointed as Chief Executive
of Microsulis by the private equity consortium that re-financed the company. Mr. MacDonald has
been instrumental in raising $100 million in equity to fund the company through turnaround.
Microsulis is an early stage medical technology platform company specializing in microwave
dielectric ablation. In November 2005 Mr. MacDonald was appointed Vice Chairman of the Microsulis
Board of Directors. He previously held various senior appointments in British Aerospace spanning
General Management, Engineering Projects and Regulatory Management, and International Marketing
and Sales. Mr. MacDonald was appointed to the Board of British Aerospace Commercial Aircraft Ltd
in 1991 and to the Company's Operating Executive Committee in 1995. He represented British
Aerospace on British Government international business councils and served in a non-executive
capacity on various boards of joint ventures and start up operations. In 1996 Mr. MacDonald was
awarded an OBE for his services to the aviation industry. He is a Fellow of the Chartered
Management Institute and the Royal Aeronautical Society.
Richard M. Cohen
Mr. Cohen, the Managing Principal of RMCC,
has more than two decades of diverse background on Wall Street (Furman Selz, Henry Ansbacher) and
Corporate America (MacMillan). Over his years, he has stepped in to serve as president of several
troubled companies, helping lead the successful turnaround of two businesses and the successful
sale of another. Mr. Cohen formed RMCC in 1995 after three years as president of a major
international publishing and media company (General Media, Inc.). He holds an MBA from Stanford
University, a B.S. Cum Laude from the Wharton School of Pennsylvania, and a CPA from the State of
New York.
