Board Members
Tony Eisenhut
Chairman of the Board
Mr. Eisenhut is a 1988 graduate of Cornell. In 1999 he co-founded KensaGroup, a technology commercialization company that bridges the gap between university-developed intellectual property and the innovation needs of Fortune 1,000 companies. Through KensaGroup, Mr. Eisenhut has co-founded seven technology-based startups, and serves on the Board of Directors for four of these portfolio companies.
Jim Matheson
Director
Jim joined Flagship Ventures in 2000 and focuses on creating and funding new ventures in the sustainability, clean technology and special technologies (e.g. nano-technology, materials and technology systems) arenas. Jim earned an MBA from The Harvard Business School, a Bachelor of Science (with honors) from the United States Naval Academy and retired as a Commander in the US Naval Reserves.
Jim has over 20 years of technology and leadership experience across a variety of organizations and roles designing, engineering and deploying sophisticated technology platforms. He formerly served as a Navy F-14 & FA-18 pilot including duties flying combat missions from an aircraft carrier, and as a TOPGUN Instructor and Adversary Pilot. He also gained broad experience in emerging aircraft & weapons system design, testing and procurement, and was deeply involved in many of the military’s IT modernization initiatives.
Jim is on the Board of New York-based hedge fund Black Horse Capital, Common Impact (a non-profit providing business services to other non-profits), and the Center for Women & Enterprise, and is actively involved in numerous entrepreneurial and venture capital organizations including the Department of Energy's Biomass Technical Advisory Committee, New England Clean Energy Council, the MIT Enterprise Forum, The Deshpande Center, and The Service Academy Business Network.
Andrew Williamson, Ph.D.
Director
Andrew Williamson is a Director at Physic Ventures, a San Francisco based Venture Capital firm investing in consumer-directed Health and Sustainable Living. Dr. Williamson's investment practice is focused on science-based companies that are developing technologies and products to enable consumers to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. Among the portfolio investments managed by Physic Ventures, Dr. Williamson is a member of the boards of Chromatin, EnergyHub, Halosource, Impinj and Novomer. Prior to joining Physic Ventures, Dr. Williamson spent 10 years leading materials science research and development projects at the Dept. of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. While at LLNL, Dr. Williamson helped develop strategies for identifying and investing in and commercializing new technologies. Dr. Williamson has published over 50 peer reviewed academic articles and 2 patents. He holds a BA and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Cambridge and a MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Robert Pangborn, Ph.D.
Director
Dr. Pangborn is the founder of Pangborn Associates, LLC, which advises pre-IPO companies in the chemical, materials, and energy industries. Past and current clients include Diversa, Materia, CSP Technologies, Metabolix and Genomatica. Dr. Pangborn has also served as a senior advisor to Cargill’s Industrial BioProducts Division, and played a key role in helping to develop and implement strategy for this key corporate growth initiative. Previously Dr. Pangborn was employed at Dow Chemical in a variety of R&D and business leadership roles, rising to the post of Vice President of Central Research and Development. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from Dartmouth, attended Harvard Business School, and was an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Carl Weissman
Director
Carl Weissman is a Managing Director at OVP Venture Partners, a venture capital firm which invests in cleantech, digital biology and information technology. He concurrently serves as the Chairmen and CEO of Accelerator, a joint investment vehicle backed by a syndicate of venture capital firms, which invests in and actively manages emerging biotechnology companies. Prior to joining OVP, Carl was a Venture Partner at MPM Capital from 2001 through 2006. While at MPM, he served as President and CEO of Centagenetix, a human genetics company in Cambridge, MA. Prior to joining MPM, he spent six years at Prolinx, Inc., where he held a number of positions, culminating as the head of both Finance and Business Development. Carl serves on the Board of the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association (WBBA) and the Board of the Oregon Translational Research and Drug Development Institute (OTARDI).
Chief Executive Officer, Director
Throughout his career, Jim Mahoney has established a track record of driving new innovations in chemistry into high growth markets. He brings over 20 years of senior executive experience at various biotechnology, healthcare and specialty chemicals companies to Novomer. In addition to having been the CEO of Surface Logix Inc. and Prolinx Inc., he previously held senior executive positions at Dade Behring Inc, Baxter International, and FMC Corporation. Mr. Mahoney has an MBA degree from Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg School of Management, an MMA degree in international economics from the University of Southern California and a BS degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.