ADVISORY BOARD
The company is managed by senior executives with longstanding international experience. Its advisory board is composed of renowned cardiologists and senior business executives. Their common goal is to develop innovative and practical solutions in line with the company’s credo SMART.PRECISE.RELIABLE
Berthold Hackl
Berthold Hackl has extensive experience as an executive, investor and advisor in the life sciences. He runs his own advisory and investment firm, Sorrento Investment GmbH, which focuses on the life sciences industry, and holds a number of non-executive board appointments in the medtech, biopharma discovery & development and animal reproduction spaces. He served as General Manager Europe at Eurofins Scientific where he enlarged the company’s position within the biopharma and medtech industries with a combination of organic growth and successful M&A transactions. Mr. Hackl spent a significant part of his career in the medical device industry with previous roles at Synthes (acquired by Johnson & Johnson) and at invendo medical, where as CEO he led the company from startup phase to US FDA clearance and initial revenues. Invendo was acquired by AMBU in 2017 in a €225m transaction (CPH:AMBU-B). He also has extensive experience as a venture capitalist within the life sciences industry with a focus on companies in biopharma, women’s health (cancer diagnostics), cardiovascular implants, gastrointestinal cancers, analytical equipment and biological orthopedics, and raised significant amounts of equity capital in his portfolio. Last he advised the life science activities of boutique M&A firm Taurus Advisory. Mr. Hackl received a Diploma in Molecular Biology from the University of Freiburg, an MBA from INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France), and has completed the INSEAD In-Board Program.
Thomas R. Villinger
Thomas Villinger studied economics and geography at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. He also earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Schiller International University (USA & F). He is represented on numerous supervisory boards of the early-stage companies. Thomas Villinger has more than 12 years of venture capital experience with companies such as CapGemini, KfW (Reconstruction Loan Corporation) and the World Bank. He has focused on M&A and private/public capital procurement for high-growth companies in Europe, the Gulf states and the USA. Previously he was responsible for the venture capital supported business in the technology sector. Thomas Villinger has been co-founder and CEO of Zukunftsfonds Heilbronn (ZFHN) since 2006. Before that, as founder and CEO, he helped set up the company Innovationsfabrik Heilbronn, a large center with 60 startup companies focusing on industry, electronics and communications.
Prof. Dr. med. Joachim Cyran
After concluding his studies of human medicine in Tübingen and Vienna, Joachim Cyran earned his doctorate with the topic “Hormone Synthesis Disruptions in the Adrenal Gland”. Subsequently he supported continuing education measures in the fields of internal medicine, cardiology/angiology, internal intensive care and clinical geriatrics at Tübingen University and Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich. A study visit to the National Heart Institute in London followed in 1977, with the scientific focal points of cardiology and internal intensive care. In 1980 at Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Joachim Cyran researched myocardial function under dobutamine stress before and after a coronary bypass operation. From 1985 to 2007, he was Director of the Medical Clinic I in Heilbronn focusing on internal medicine, cardiology/angiology, internal intensive care, pneumology and hematology/oncology.
Angelo Auricchio, M.D., PhD
Angelo Auricchio is director of the Clinical Electrophysiology Unit at Fondazione Cardiocentro Ticino, Lugano, Switzerland, and Professor of Cardiology at University Hospital in Magdeburg, Germany. He is the immediate past President of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA). Moreover, he is a co-director at the Center for Computational Medicine in Cardiology at Università della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, Switzerland. He also serves as Scientific Director at the Fondazione Ticino Cuore, an institution devoted to increase public awareness of out-of -hospital cardiac arrest victims and to improve the survival rate of victims of out-of hospital arrest. In 1985 Dr. Auricchio graduated from medical school in Naples (Italy), in 1994 he received a PhD in Cardiovascular Physiology at University of Rome “Tor Vergata” (Italy), in 2000 he was appointed assistant professor in cardiology, and in 2008 he was appointed full professor of cardiology at the University of Magdeburg where he is still teaching. Dr. Auricchio is also a part-time professor in Cardiology at the University of L’Aquila (Italy).
Matthias Weber, M.D.
Dr. Matthias Weber is an International Executive with 20 years leadership experience in the medical device industry, including Global P&L leadership positions in Germany, France, Finland and the US.
In 1991, after training as an MD (Cardiology) in the University of Munich, Dr. Weber joined Hellige GmbH and swiftly progressed to the role of Director of Marketing and Engineering. He subsequently joined Marquette Electronics as VP of Operations, with direct responsibility for all non-commerical activities (R&D, manufacturing, supply, etc.) in Europe and ~300 employees.
In 1999 Dr. Weber joined GE Healthcare and has since held multiple key positions, including VP of Monitoring solutions; a $1B business with major operations in the US, Finland, China and India. During his 4 years as VP of Diagnostic Cardiology, he oversaw the dramatic expansion of the business, while also overseeing the expansion of R&D teams in emerging market countries (India and China).
In 2012, Dr. Weber became President of Leica Biosystems, a position he currently holds. Leica Biosystems is a $950M global leader in cancer diagnostics with more than 3000 employees globally.