William Link, PhD - Managing Partner
Bill Link is a leader in the healthcare industry. He is a Managing Director of Versant Ventures, a leading venture capital firm focused in healthcare. At Versant, Bill has specialized in early-stage investing in medical devices. Prior to co-founding Versant Ventures in 1999, Bill was a general partner at Brentwood Venture Capital. With more than two decades of operations experience in the healthcare industry, he has a proven record of building and managing large, successful medical product companies.
Prior to entering venture capital, Bill founded two companies which still today are leaders in the field of surgical ophthalmology. In 1987 Bill founded, and served as chairman and CEO of Chiron Vision, a subsidiary of Chiron Corporation specializing in ophthalmic surgical products. Chiron Vision was sold to Bausch and Lomb in 1997. Prior to Chiron Vision, Bill founded and served as President of American Medical Optics (AMO), a division of American Hospital Supply Corporation, which was sold to Allergan in 1986. Later Bill served on the Board of AMO’s successor company, Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) which was acquired by Abbott in 2009. Bill serves on the Board of several private companies and is on the Board of three public companies, Glaukos (GKOS), Second Sight (EYES) and Edwards Life Sciences (EW).
Before entering the healthcare industry, Bill was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Bill received his BS, MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University.
Andy Corley - Partner
Andy Corley co-founded eyeonics, Inc. in 1998. Mr. Corley’s 5-year effort changed CMS policy to allow Medicare beneficiaries a choice in the selection of their intraocular lens associated with cataract surgery. eyeonics was sold to Bausch and Lomb in 2008 where Mr. Corley served as President of the Surgical Division.
He was co-founder of Chiron Vision, where he was General Manager of the Refractive Surgery Division until 1997. During his term at Chiron, he played a key role in the introduction of LASIK. In 2005 he was the Orange County Entrepreneur of the Year and the Crystalens was declared the AeA Technology of the Year.
In 2011 Mr. Corley formed Yelroc Consulting Inc. He is a graduate of Georgia Southern University.
Richard Lindstrom, MD - Partner
Dr. Lindstrom is the founder and attending surgeon at Minnesota Eye Consultants, Adjunct Clinic Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota Department of Ophthalmology, and visiting professor at the UC Irvine Gavin Herbert Eye Institute. He is a board-certified ophthalmologist and internationally recognized leader in corneal, cataract, refractive, glaucoma and laser surgery. He has been at the forefront of ophthalmology's evolutionary changes throughout his career, as a recognized researcher, teacher, inventor, writer, lecturer and highly acclaimed physician and surgeon.
After graduating Magna Cum Laude from the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Lindstrom completed his doctorate degree in medicine in 1972.
Dr. Lindstrom has been awarded over 40 patents in ophthalmology and has developed a number of corneal preservation solutions, intraocular lenses and instruments that are used in clinical practices globally. A frequent lecturer throughout the world on cornea, cataract, glaucoma, laser, and refractive surgery, he has presented over 40 named lectures and keynote speeches before professional societies in the U.S. and abroad. He has co-edited ten books, published over 350 peer reviewed journal articles and 60 book chapters. His professional affiliations are extensive.
Matthew Larson - Administrative Partner
Matt Larson has over 15 years of experience in the ophthalmic sector. With roles on the clinical research side as well as several positions with a commercial focus, Matt has been involved in multiple aspects of medical device companies. He was responsible for launching the KAMRA corneal inlay in Asia Pacific, and while living in Tokyo, Japan he brought this innovative device for the treatment of presbyopia to over a dozen countries in the Asia Pacific region. He led the launch of the IC-8 intraocular lens in Europe and Asian Pacific. Matt also played an executive role in getting US approval for the KAMRA corneal inlay - the first corneal inlay for presbyopia approved in the US. He is currently President & COO of Equinox Ophthalmic, Inc. which is a company developing a novel medical device for the treatment of glaucoma. He is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Jeevan Gore - Chief Operating Officer
Jeevan Gore is a business professional with over 18 years of experience in structuring and negotiating complex transactions, investment management, as well as providing legal and strategic advice to companies across various industries. He has recently served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of a rapidly growing healthcare startup and was Co-Portfolio Manager at Tennenbaum Capital Partners, LLC where he co-managed the firm’s multi-strategy hedge fund. In addition, Mr. Gore managed the legal and operational matters of the fund. Prior to joining Tennenbaum Capital Partners, he was a corporate attorney at Latham & Watkins LLP, with a primary focus on general corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions as well as corporate finance. Mr. Gore received a J.D. from the New York University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of California, Irvine.