Chairman and CEO
Mr. William Caldwell serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company and has a 30-year management career working with emerging technologies and restructuring distressed corporate environments. During his career, he has served in senior executive positions both in marketing and finance. He has worked with Booz Allen and Hamilton; the Flying Tiger Line Inc.; Van Vorst Industries; and Kidder Peabody. He started a firm specializing in corporate financial and strategy planning, which was instrumental in restructuring over $1.0 billion of debt for over twenty companies and partnerships. He was a pioneer in the satellite radio auctions as president of Digital Satellite Broadcasting Corporation; assisted in the financing, and became president and ultimately CEO in the restructuring of CAIS Internet. He has advised corporations, both public and private, in technology, telecommunications, retailing, real estate, hospitality, publishing, and transportation. He received his B.A. degree from the University of Southern California and was a Multinational Enterprise Fellow at the Wharton Graduate School of Finance. He serves as a director of Lee Pharmaceuticals (LPHM.PK) and King Koil Franchising Corp.
Dr. Erkki Ruoslahti is a distinguished professor at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and at University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Ruoslahti joined The Burnham Institute in 1979 and served as its President from 1989 to 2002. Dr. Ruoslahti is the recipient of the 2005 Japan Prize for his work in cell biology. Dr. Ruoslahti’s other honors include the Gairdner Prize, and membership in the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a Knight of the Order of the White Rose of Finland. Dr. Ruoslahti earned his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Helsinki in Finland. After postdoctoral training at the California Institute of Technology, he held various academic appointments in Finland and at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California. Dr. Ruoslahti’s research has been the basis of several drugs currently on the market or in clinical trials. He has been a founder and director of several biotechnology companies.
Dr. Alan Shapiro has more than 30 years’ experience in corporate and international financial management. Dr. Shapiro is currently the Ivadelle and Theodore Johnson Professor of Banking and Finance at the University of Southern California, where he previously served as the Chairman of the Department of Finance and Business Economics, Marshall School of Business. Prior to joining the University of Southern California, Dr. Shapiro taught as an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business, and has been a visiting professor at Yale University, UCLA, the Stockholm School of Economics, University of British Columbia, and the U.S. Naval Academy. Dr. Shapiro has published over 50 articles in such academic and professional journals as the Journal of Finance, Harvard Business Review, and the Journal of Business, among many others. He frequently serves as an expert witness in cases involving valuation, economic damages, international finance, takeovers, and transfer financing. He received his B.A. in Mathematics from Rice University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Shapiro is a trustee of Pacific Corporate Group’s Private Equity Fund and also serves as a director of Ramington Oil and Gas Corporation (NYSE:REM).
Dr. Alan Walton has been a General Partner of Oxford Bioscience Partners, an investment fund concentrating on investments in the medical, medical services and biotechnology fields, since 1987. From 1981 to 1987, Dr. Walton was President and Chief Executive Officer of University Genetics Co., a publicly traded biotechnology company involved in technology transfer and seed investments in university-related projects. Prior to 1981, Dr. Walton was a professor at Harvard Medical School, Indiana University and Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Walton currently serves as a director of Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE:ARE), Acadia Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) and Avalon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRX). Dr. Walton received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Chemistry, his Doctor of Science degree in Biological Chemistry and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Nottingham University in England.
Gary Rabin has a 20 year career in finance that primarily encompasses investment management and capital raising targeting small-cap and emerging growth companies. Currently, he is the Managing Partner of GR Advisors, LLC, investment manager for two long/short hedge funds focused on the media and communications industry. Until June 2007, he was a Portfolio Manager at MAC Investment Management, LLC (“MAC”), which he joined in November 2005. MAC is a long/short fundamental equity hedge fund concentrating on growth-oriented stocks including technology, communications and healthcare. Previously, he was a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Marketus Associates, a long/short hedge fund where he focused on communications, healthcare services, energy and special situations. Prior to that, he was Managing Director and Co-Head of the Media and Telecom Investment Banking Group at CIBC World Markets (“CIBC”), where he was responsible for all corporate finance and M&A, financial restructurings, and principal investing activities (both debt and equity) within the sector. Before joining CIBC, Mr. Rabin served in an operating capacity at a broadband services company when he was Chief Strategy Officer of CAIS Internet, Inc. (“CAIS”). At CAIS, he was responsible for raising over $500 million of financing commitments in both the public equity markets and from his relationships at Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts & Co., Qwest Communications, Cisco, Nortel, 3Com and Microsoft. Mr. Rabin has also started and served as Managing Director and Head of the Global Telecom Investment Banking Group at ING Barings Furman Selz, and was a founder of the telecom group at UBS Securities. He began his career in finance in 1987, and concentrated on energy, utilities, and metals until 1993. Throughout his career, Mr. Rabin has been responsible for building and developing businesses. Mr. Rabin earned an AB in Economics from the University of Michigan