Board of Directors
William E. Orabone, Founder and CEO of Syneptics
Mr. Orabone is the President of Syneptics, an alternative energy venture financing entity in Ann Arbor, and is a veteran of four successful technology startups which have resulted in over $400 million in exit valuations: Memcor (microfiltration); Harding Energy (nickel metal hydride batteries); Intract (manufacturing equipment); and Lion Compact Energy (dual graphite batteries). He has considerable expertise with capital sourcing, technology acquisition and licensing, strategic partnerships and industry first product introduction. Mr. Orabone previously held positions in sales and marketing, manufacturing, and strategic planning at PPG Industries and Eagle Picher. He received a degree in chemical engineering from Purdue University.
William Brinkerhoff, M.B.A., M.S., Chief Operating Officer, Cerenis Therapeutics
Mr. Brinkerhof is a founder and the COO of Cerenis Therapeutics and has over 17 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. From May 2002 to April 2004, Mr. Brinkerhoff was Vice President of Business Development and an executive officer for Esperion Therapeutics. He led the Esperion BD side in the successful $1.2 Billion merger with Pfizer in 2004. From January 1999 to May 2002, Mr. Brinkerhoff was employed by Sankyo Pharma Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the Tokyo-based pharmaceutical company Sankyo Co., Ltd., as Director of Business Development. From November 1996 to December 1998, he served as Director of Market Planning & Sales Operations at Sankyo Pharma Inc., after serving as Manager of Market Research for Sankyo USA Corporation from June 1995 to November 1996, during which time he was a member of the senior negotiating team that formed the Sankyo/ Parke-Davis joint venture. Prior to that, Mr. Brinkerhoff worked as an account manager for the pharmaceutical industry group at Oracle Corporation, and worked in various sales, marketing and manufacturing management positions for the Lederle Laboratories division of American Cyanamid from 1989 to 1994. Mr. Brinkerhoff received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Industrial and Operations Engineering and an MBA from the University of Michigan
Michael Long, Ph.D., President and CEO
Dr. Long founded Velcura Therapeutics, Inc. in 2001 to develop a portfolio of bone therapy programs and subsequently recruited a senior management team that has raised over $11 million in non-equity financing. He has built the company’s business development and licensing function, including strategic directions, team formation and execution of a partnering initiative. As part of this effort, Dr. Long led the transaction team negotiation of an exclusive intellectual property agreement from the University of Michigan, as well as the in-licensing transaction from Nippon Chemiphar for intellectual property (5 patents) covering Velcura’s first bone disease therapy (VEL-0230) and its related molecules. Following the recent discovery that VEL-0230 was a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, he and his team successfully refocused and positioned the company in the area of Rheumatoid Arthritis, as VEL-0230 functions as as a powerful disease-modifying anti-rheumatoid drug (DMARD). He next developed and led a clinical trials team through two successful IND applications and successfully completed a Phase I clinical trial for VEL-0230 that demonstrated safety, tolerability, and, importantly, efficacy in humans. Dr Long has put together very strong Scientific and Medical Advisory Boards and maintains strong communications with a working Board of Directors regarding Velcura’s direction and status of current partnering and fundraising efforts.
Dr. Long has extensive private sector experience, having served as a consultant for startup and leading biotechnology firms as well as major pharmaceutical firms, particularly in the areas of refining and troubleshooting their discovery research efforts. He worked extensively with a later stage biotechnology company to improve its scientific presentations in preparation for an IPO and played a role in the company’s subsequent acquisition - valued in excess of $500 million. Dr. Long’s organizational management experience includes the direction of large clinical and research laboratories. He also has 25 years of volunteer experience with the non-profit Leukemia and Lymphoma Society; six on its Executive Committee and now serves as a Director of this $300 Million non-profit organization. This association has provided broad experience in corporate oversight, fundraising, strategic planning, and legal affairs. He is a past Board member of the Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest, a state-wide educational group that provides business plan development and a yearly business plan competition for startup companies. Dr Long has spoken at numerous business functions locally, nationally, and internationally, including the 2005 International Patent Licensing Seminar in Tokyo, Japan held by Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation.
Dr. Long has worked in the area of cell and molecular biology for more than three decades He has received approximately $20 million in funding for his research from the National Institutes of Health, and other agencies. As a professor at the University of Michigan, he developed the technology for bone cell analysis and for forming human bone outside the body, ultimately generating 15 patents (Primary & Divisional) of which he is the primary inventor. The University of Michigan has exclusively licensed these patents to Velcura.
During his career, Dr. Long served on multiple national grant review committees at the National Institutes of Health and has reviewed grant applications for the American Cancer Society and other national organizations. He has been a reviewer for Science, Nature, Nature Biotechnology, and ~25 other scientific publications. He is often invited to speak at national scientific conferences and is the author of over 70 publications. Dr. Long received his B.Sc. degree in biology and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in human physiology from Wayne State University School of Medicine. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Sloan Kettering Memorial Cancer Center NY, NY and sabbatical training in the laboratory at one of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute laboratories.
