BioEnterprise Adds Silicon Valley Board Member

BioEnterprise, the regional bioscience business formation, recruitment, and acceleration initiative, announced the addition of Joe Mandato, Managing Director of De Novo Ventures of Palo Alto to its Board of Directors.

Mandato joined De Novo as a general partner and managing director in 2003. Currently, De Novo has $350 million under management. Its mission is to provide capital and work with management teams to help build health care companies. The firm's principals have an average of 20 years experience in the company's targeted sectors and as entrepreneurs have founded or co-founded 10 companies that were acquired or taken public for a total value of $2.3 billion.

"Joe Mandato brings a wealth of bioscience entrepreneurial experience to the board in addition to the perspective of an active West Coast health care investor," said Baiju R. Shah, President of BioEnterprise. "BioEnterprise and its companies will benefit greatly from his knowledge, experience, and networks. He has already introduced us to a number of Bay area health care funds that are interested in seeing opportunities out of this region."

Prior to De Novo, he served as Chairman of Confer Software, a developer of software used to create efficiencies and streamline processes in health care. He was CEO of ACompany Orthodontics, a leveraged purchase from Johnson & Johnson that was later acquired by Sybron Dental, and also served as President and CEO of Origin Medsystems, a developer of minimally invasive surgical devices. Origin was acquired by Guidant Corporation, where Mandato served as a vice-president and member of the founding management committee. He was a co-founder and CEO of Gynecare, a woman’s health spin-out of Guidant and CEO of Heart Rhythm Technology, a company formed to create tools to diagnose and treat certain forms of heart disease. Earlier in his career, he was CEO of Ioptex Research, a developer of intraocular lenses used in cataract surgery, which was acquired by Smith & Nephew PLC. He joined Ioptex from Cilco AG in Zug, Switzerland, the Europe, Middle East, Africa headquarters of a unit of Rorer Group where he served as founder and CEO. After the sale of Origin, he served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Mayfield Fund, a venture capital firm. Mandato holds a Doctorate in Management from Case Western Reserve University.

About BioEnterprise

BioEnterprise is a business formation, recruitment, and acceleration effort designed to support the growth of bioscience companies. Located in Cleveland, BioEnterprise provides management counsel and support services to Health Care companies. BioEnterprise's partners are Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, University Hospitals Health System, Inc, and Summa Health System. Additional technology partners include the NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland State University, and NorTech. The BioEnterprise Initiative comprises the collaborative activities of BioEnterprise Corporation, Case Research Institute Office of Technology Transfer, Cleveland Clinic Innovations, and Summa Enterprise Group. The combined efforts of these groups has created, recruited, and accelerated more than 40 companies in three years.

Contact Information: BioEnterprise Paul Nickels or Baiju Shah BioEnterprise 216.658.3966 Cell: 216.402.0510 pnickels@bioenterprise.com www.bioenterprise.com

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