Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Gene Burleson, Chairman
Zubeen Shroff, Vice Chairman
Steven T. Johnson
Richard Johnston
Joel Kanter
Richard Martin
Dr. J. David Reed
Keith Rosenbloom
Robert Wallace
Audit Committee
Joel Kanter (Chair)
Richard Johnston
Richard Martin
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
Richard Martin (Chair)
Zubeen Shroff
Compensation Committee
Zubeen Shroff (Chair)
Richard Johnston
Richard Martin
Acquisition Committee
Keith Rosenbloom (Chair)
Richard O. Martin
Zubeen Shroff
Richard Johnston
GENE E. BURLESON, the Company’s Chairman of the Board, has served as a director of the Company since its formation in June 2005. Mr. Burleson served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Company from its formation in June 2005 until it merged with XLNT Veterinary Care, Inc. and as Chairman of the board of directors of Mariner Post-Acute Network, Inc., an operator of long-term care facilities, from January 2000 to June 2002. Mr. Burleson also served as Chairman of the board of directors of Alterra Healthcare Corporation, a developer and operator of assisted living facilities, during 2003 and as a member of the board of directors from 1995 to 2003. Mr. Burleson currently serves on the board of directors of: Deckers Outdoor Corporation (Nasdaq:DECK), an outdoor shoe company, where he has served since 1993; Prospect Medical Holdings, Inc. (AMEX:PZZ), a provider of management services to affiliated independent physician associations, where he has served since 2004; SunLink Health Systems, Inc. (AMEX:SSY), an owner and operator of acute care hospitals; and Nesco Industries, Inc. (OTCBB:NESK.OB), a manufacturer of aqueous polymer Hydrogel used for wound care and transdermal drug delivery systems. In addition, Mr. Burleson is involved with several private companies, including BioHorizons Implant Systems, Inc., a provider of dental implants and related products; Med Images, Inc., a provider of integrated documentation services to surgeons and hospitals through multimedia technology; Marina Medical, Inc., a provider of medical billing and accounts receivable management services to hospital based physicians; Footcare Associates, Inc., a provider of therapeutic and diabetic footwear; and David Braun Productions, Inc., a producer of children’s television programming. Mr. Burleson served as Chairman of the board of GranCare (formerly an NYSE listed company) from 1989 to 1997. Additionally, Mr. Burleson served as President and Chief Executive Officer of GranCare from 1990 to 1997. Upon completion of the merger of GranCare’s pharmacy operations with Vitalink Pharmacy Services, Inc. in 1997, he became Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Vitalink Pharmacy Services Inc. (formerly an NYSE listed company). Mr. Burleson resigned as Chief Executive Officer and Director of Vitalink Pharmacy Services, Inc. in 1997. From 1986 to 1989, Mr. Burleson served as President, Chief Operating Officer and a Director of AMI, an owner and operator of acute care hospitals. Based in London from 1981 to 1986, Mr. Burleson served as Managing Director of AMI’s international operations. Mr. Burleson graduated from East Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Science in accounting and earned an M.B.A. in 1972.
ZUBEEN SHROFF, the Company’s Vice Chairman, has served as a director of the Company since January 2008. Mr. Shroff served as a director of XLNT Veterinary Care, Inc. from February 2006 until its merger with the Company and served as Chairman of the Board of XLNT from March 8, 2007 until its merger with the Company. Mr. Shroff has been a Managing Director of Galen Partners, a healthcare private equity firm founded in 1990, since 1998. Mr. Shroff joined Galen in 1997 from The Wilkerson Group, where he was a Principal with a client base including pharmaceutical, diagnostics, device and biotech companies, plus a select number of venture capital firms. Prior to joining The Wilkerson Group, Mr. Shroff worked at Schering-Plough France, where he directed the marketing and Phase IV clinical development of the company’s high-growth biotech business. Mr. Shroff received a BA in Biological Sciences from Boston University and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Shroff is currently serving as a director of the following companies: ONI Medical Systems and Aperio Technologies. Mr. Shroff has previously served as a director of the following companies: Cognia, Inc., Encore Medical Corporation, Essential Group, Inc, Lumenos, Inc. Additionally, he is an Executive Committee Member of Boston University’s Medical School Advisory Board and is a member of the Westchester Medical Center Foundation Board.
RICHARD JOHNSTON has served as a director of the Company since January 2008. Mr. Johnston served as a director of XLNT Veterinary Care, Inc. from February 2006 until its merger with the Company. Mr. Johnston has been a Managing Member of Camden Partners Holdings, LLC since February 2002. Mr. Johnston has over 40 years of investment experience and is focused primarily on investments in the health care sector. He serves as Chairman of the Boards of Atricure, Inc. (Nasdaq:ARTC), Biomedical Enterprises, Inc., and Picis, Inc., and as a Director of Liposcience, Inc., Lombard Medical Technology PLC (LON AIN: LMT), Medivance, Inc. and Wedmedx, Inc., all of which are Camden Portfolio companies. Previously, Mr. Johnston was Vice President of Investments and a Director of The Hillman Company, an investment holding company with diversified operations, where he was employed from 1961 to 2000. Beginning in June 1970, he was responsible for deal origination and investor representative relations with numerous private equity financings, including HBO, Medical Care International and Rehab Services among many others in healthcare; Dial Page, Nextel, and Brooks Fiber among many others in telecommunications services together with a variety of other investments in capital goods, financial services, and transportation. Additionally, Mr. Johnston managed marketable securities portfolios for Hillman entities, including small-cap portfolios, and originated and/or monitored limited partnership holdings in numerous private equity funds including Brentwood Associates, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Columbia Capital, Technology Crossover and Crosslink. He has been an Advisor to several private equity funds, including Bridge Capital, Health Care Capital Partners and T. Rowe Price Threshold Funds. He was Chairman of the Boards of The Western Pennsylvania Hospital from 1979 to 1999 and The Western Pennsylvania Healthcare System from 1984 to 2000, and was Chairman of the board of West Penn Allegheny Health System upon its founding in 2000. Mr. Johnston earned a Bachelor of Science from Washington and Lee University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
JOEL KANTER has served as a director of the Company since its formation in June 2005. Mr. Kanter served as the Company’s President and Secretary from its formation in June 2005 until January 2008 and has served as President of Windy City, Inc., a privately-held investment firm, since 1986. From 1995 to 1999, Mr. Kanter served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Walnut Financial Services, Inc., a publicly traded company (formerly listed on Nasdaq). Walnut Financial’s 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 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), and the third largest U.S. institutional pharmacy company (Vitalink Pharmacy Services, Inc.). Walnut Financial was acquired by THCG, Inc. in 1999. From 1985 through 1986, Mr. Kanter served as Managing Director of The Investors’ Washington Service, an investment advisory company specializing in providing advice to large institutional clients regarding the impact of federal legislative and regulatory decisions on debt and equity markets. 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 I-Flow Corporation (Nasdaq:IFLO), Magna-Lab, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board:MAGLA.OB), Modigene Inc., a life sciences company that is developing technology to extend the life of proteins (OTCBB:MODG.OB); Aquamatrix, Inc.. (OTCBB:AQMT.PK), a manufacturer of aqueous polymer Hydrogel used for wound care and transdermal drug delivery systems; Prospect Medical Holdings, Inc. (AMEX:PZZ), a provider of management services to affiliated independent physician associations and WaferGen BioSystems (OTCBB:WGBS.OB), which manufactures and sells systems for gene expression, genotyping and stem cell research for the life sciences pharmaceutical and drug discovery industry. Mr. Kanter served on the board of Encore Medical Corporation (Nasdaq: ENMC) prior to its going-private merger led by Blackstone in November 2006. Mr. Kanter also serves on the board of directors of several private companies; Med Images, Inc., a provider of integrated documentation services to surgeons and hospitals through multimedia technology, where he has served since 1989; MathMastery, Inc., a company that develops homework help products for the educational market; and Prescient Medical, Inc. an early stage company seeking methods to identify and treat vulnerable plaque in cardiology patients. 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. Mr. Kanter graduated from Tulane University in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.
RICHARD O. MARTIN, PHD, has served as a director of the Company since its formation in June 2005. Dr. Martin retired in 2001 as President of Medtronic Physio-Control Corp. (NYSE:MDT), the successor company to Physio-Control International Corporation, the worldwide leader in external defibrillation, monitoring and noninvasive pacing devices. Dr. Martin became President of Physio-Control International Corporation in 1991 when Physio-Control International Corporation was part of Eli-Lilly (NYSE:LLY). During his tenure at Physio-Control International Corporation, Dr. Martin instituted company-wide quality improvement programs, rebuilt the management team after separation from the company’s pharmaceutical parent, and was instrumental in taking the company public in 1995. In September, 1998, Physio-Control International Corporation merged with Medtronic, Inc. Previously, Dr. Martin was with Sulzermedica, Inc., where he was Vice President of Cardiovascular Business Development. Prior to that, he held several senior executive positions in engineering, marketing and sales with Intermedics, Inc. before being named President and Chief Operating Officer of that company in 1985. Dr. Martin also served as Director, President and Chief Operating Officer of Positron Corporation during 1989 and 1990. Before joining the corporate world, he taught at Christian Brothers College and the University of Tennessee. Dr. Martin served on the board of the Northwest affiliate of the American Heart Association and was its Chairman from 1997 to 1999. He served on the board of the Medical Device Manufacturers Association and was its Chairman from 1996 to 1998. He served as a board member of the Washington Council of AeA (formerly American Electronics Association), the U.S.’s largest trade association representing the high tech industry, from 1991 to 2001 and as AeA’s national chairman during 2000 through 2001. Dr. Martin currently serves on the boards of CardioDynamics International Corporation (Nasdaq:CDIC), a company that develops, manufactures and markets noninvasive impedance cardiography diagnostic and monitoring technologies and electrocardiograph electrode sensors, where he has served since 1997; Inovise Medical, a company that develops and markets advanced electrocardiographic systems, where he has served since 2001; Cardiac Dimensions, an early stage company that develops minimally invasive tools for mitral valve repair, where he has served since 2001; and Prescient Medical, an early stage company developing diagnostic and therapeutic products designed to prevent heart attacks caused by vulnerable plaque. Dr. Martin also served on the board of Encore Medical Corporation prior to its merger with Blackstone in November 2006. Dr. Martin received his BSEE in 1962 from Christian Brothers College; MSEE in 1964 from Notre Dame; and PhD in Electrical Engineering in 1970 from Duke University.
J. DAVID REED has served as a director of the Company since January 2008. Dr. Reed served as a director of XLNT Veterinary Care, Inc. since October 2004 until its merger with the Company and served as Secretary of XLNT from October 2004 until June 2007. Dr. Reed has served as the Director of XLNT’s Hospital Operations for Northern California since October 2004. From 1999 until October 2004, Dr. Reed served as owner and medical director of Lawrence Pet Hospital in Santa Clara, CA , which he opened in 1999. In 1998, Dr. Reed purchased Bascom Animal hospital. From 1992 until 1996, Dr. Reed served as Medical Director of Pets’ Rx, including following VCA Antechs’ purchase of Pets’ Rx in 1996, where he served as liaison between the corporation and practitioners until 1998. In 1980, Dr. Reed became a practice-owner when he took over a multi-doctor practice in Los Gatos, CA, which was purchased by Pets’ Rx in 1992 At the same time, Dr. Reed served as president of the Santa Clara County Veterinary Medical Association from January 1980 until December 1980. Dr. Reed received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Illinois in 1972.
KEITH ROSENBLOOM has served as a director of the Company since January 2008 and served as a director of XLNT Veterinary Care, Inc. from March 2005 until its merger with the Company. Mr. Rosenbloom has served as the Managing Member of the CARE Capital Group, an investment company focused on investing in hedge funds and creating specialized alternative investment opportunities since September 2003 until the present. He previously served as Portfolio Manager for both the CARE Fund, Care Market Neutral Fund and the ComVest Absolute Return Fund since their inception in 2002. He has been an employee and shareholder of Commonwealth Associates, a FINRA member, since 1995.
ROBERT WALLACE has served as the Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company since its merger with XLNT Veterinary Care, Inc. Mr. Wallace served as the Chief Executive Officer and a director of XLNT from its inception in 2004 until its merger with the Company and as Chairman of the board of XLNT from 2004 to November 2006. In 1993, Mr. Wallace founded Pets’ Rx and served as its Chairman until it was sold to, among others, Veterinary Centers of America Inc. (now VCA Antech, publicly traded on NASDAQ under symbol: “WOOF”) in 1996. From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Wallace was a paid advisor responsible for strategic planning for Wyse Technology, Inc.
STEVEN T. JOHNSON has served as President and Chief Operating Officer and a director of the Company since its merger with XLNT Veterinary Care, Inc. Mr. Johnson served as President and Chief Operating Officer and a director of XLNT from July 2007 until the merger with the Company. From 2005 until joining XLNT, Mr. Johnson served as President of Fresenius Medical Care North America, with total operational and financial responsibility for the West Business Unit. Prior thereto, Mr. Johnson served as the Regional Vice President/Vice President of Operations at Renal Care Group from 2002 until 2005. From 1998 until 2002, Mr. Johnson served as Vice President for Renal Disease Management, Inc. and its affiliates. Mr. Johnson graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Kenyon College and earned a MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.