Back to topBoard of Directors
James Heywood, Co-Founder and Chairman
When his brother Stephen was diagnosed with ALS in 1999, Jamie founded the world's first non-profit biotech, the ALS Therapy Development Institute. As its CEO for 8 years, Jamie grew ALS TDI to be the world's largest ALS research program. He completed the first published stem cell transplant in ALS, developed a unique high throughput in vivo drug validation program, collaborated with dozens of companies, and brought 2 drugs to clinical trial. An engineering graduate of MIT, Jamie’s unique approach to disease research and management has been profiled by Pulitzer Prize winning author Jonathan Weiner in the biography His Brother’s Keeper, 60 Minutes, The New Yorker, and in the Sundance award winning documentary So Much So Fast.
Benjamin Heywood, President and Director
Ben’s experience spans a diverse set of operational areas including successful ventures in the medical device industry, the entertainment industry, and in speculative residential real estate development. After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ben moved to Silicon Valley to work for Target Therapeutics, the leading designer and manufacturer of microcatheter-based products for the treatment of stroke. After significant involvement in both manufacturing and product design, Ben eventually moved into Business Development until Boston Scientific acquired the company for $1.3 billion. After receiving his MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA, Ben channelled his creative energy working in the feature films industry both in production and script development.
Dr. Jay M. Tenenbaum, Director
Dr. Tenenbaum is a world-renowned Internet commerce pioneer and visionary. He was founder and CEO of Enterprise Integration Technologies, the first company to conduct a commercial Internet transaction (1992), secure Web transaction (1993) and Internet auction (1993). In 1994, he founded CommerceNet to accelerate business use of the Internet. (full bio)
Walter A. Winshall, Director
Walt is a principal in Collaborative Seed and Growth Partners, LLC, an investment firm specializing in the commercialization of early-stage technology. Previously, he was a co-founder and Chairman of SilverPlatter International, NV, a company providing information services for libraries, which was acquired by the Dutch publishing company Wolters Kluwer in 2001. Walt currently is also a Director on the Board of Agamatrix, Inc. He graduated from MIT in electrical engineering and from the Harvard Law School.