ABOUT: BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OVERVIEW | LEADERSHIP TEAM | TEAM | BOARD
Paul Wotton
Dr. Paul K. Wotton received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Nottingham and is an experienced CEO, Board Member, named inventor and entrepreneur. He has extensive experience in strategic growth management, business transactions and product development. Dr. Wotton serves on the Board of Directors of Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ: VCEL), Cynata Therapeutics (ASX: CYP), Kytopen (Chairman), Combined Therapeutics and is a Co-Founder and Director of Avenge Bio., a clinical stage biotechnology company. Dr. Wotton was President and CEO of Ocata Therapeutics(NASDAQ:OCAT) until its acquisition by AstellasPharma in 2016. Paul was named as a “Top 100 Innovation CEO” by World Biz Magazine and won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Regional (NJ) Life Sciences award in 2014.
Omid Veiseh
Dr. Omid Veiseh, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at Rice University, where he leads a research program aimed at engineering next-generation treatments for a wide range of human diseases by leveraging the latest techniques in synthetic biology, immunoengineering, and materials science to develop innovative cell-based platforms for real-time production of biologics. He is also a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded Sigilon Therapeutics (Nasdaq: SGTX), Avenge Bio, Pana Bio, and Curada Bio. These companies collectively have attracted ~ $500M in private and public investment capital.
Dr. Veiseh received a dual Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering and Nanotechnology from the University of Washington. He completed his postdoctoral research with Prof. Robert Langer and Daniel G. Anderson at MIT and Harvard Medical School. Throughout his career, he has authored or co-authored more than 75 peer-reviewed publications, including those in Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Materials, Nature Medicine, and Nature Biomedical Engineering. He is an inventor of more than 40 pending or awarded patents.
Rima Chakrabarti, MD
Before joining RBL LLC and Sentinel BioTX as the CEO, Rima was a Partner at KdT Ventures where she invested in early-stage biotech spanning human health, climate technology, and synthetic biology. She sits on the board of multiple companies, including Dimension Inx, Cypris Materials, and Modulus Therapeutics. Prior to KdT, she directed the preclinical and clinical development of a portfolio of therapeutic assets at the Fannin Innovations Studio, a venture creation firm focused on technology commercialization in the life sciences.
Rima started her career as a neurologist at the University of Pennsylvania and is a physician-scientist trained at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Her research as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellow in the lab of Dr. Helen Hobbs focused on the development of bio-engineered assays to study lipid transport and metabolism in the context of cardiovascular disease.
John Jaggers
John has been in the venture capital industry since 1983 and with Sevin Rosen Funds since 1988. His entire venture capital career focused on very early-stage technology companies. At Sevin Rosen, he started as an investing General Partner, where, as a board member and lead investor, he was involved in all aspects of starting and growing companies bringing cutting edge technology to real world applications. Later, as the firm’s Administrative General Partner responsible for all financial, legal and operational aspects of the firm, he oversaw financings for all the companies in the Sevin Rosen portfolio. Since 2006, he has been the firm’s Managing General Partner. Before joining Sevin Rosen, John was an investment banker, and before that, a design and software engineer.
John has formerly served on the boards of numerous private companies, the National Venture Capital Association, and Rice University (2011-2015). While a Rice Trustee, he served as Chair of the Information Technology Committee of the Bboard and as Chair of the Digital Learning and Scholarship Trustee Advisory Committee (now the Digital Learning Committee of the Board), where he is still an Emeritus Trustee member. Also at Rice, he was a founding member of the Rice Alliance, President of the Rice Engineering Alumni Board, advisor to the student group founding OwlSpark, and guest lecturer for senior engineering classes focused on entrepreneurship. In addition, he served on (2012-2016) and chaired (2016-2019) the External Advisory Board of the George R. Brown School of Engineering, chaired the ECE Department Advancement Committee (2013 & 2016), and chaired the ECE Visioning Committee (2019-20).
He currently serves on the board of Theatro Labs, and Impact Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on empowering entrepreneurs in the North Texas BIPOC community. He has also served on SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering Executive Board, and the board of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, where he was Chair from 2014-16.
He received an MBA from Harvard University in 1979 and a BA and MEE in Electrical Engineering from Rice University in 1973.
Devyn Smith
Devyn Smith, Ph.D., joined Arbor in April, 2021 as Chief Executive Officer and as a board member. Previously, Devyn served as Chief Operations Officer and Head of Strategy at Sigilon Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotechnology company. At Sigilon, he helped grow the company from 10 to over 100 FTEs in four years, build an IND engine with a novel platform focused on delivering 5 INDs in three years and move from product concept to a product entering clinical trials. Prior to this, he was head of Business Operations and Strategy at the Medicinal Sciences Division at Pfizer R&D. He was previously at Pfizer’s Neusentis Research Unit in the UK from 2011-2014 as Chief Operating Officer, responsible for strategy and operations for the unit where he helped bring two novel cell therapies and several small molecules from discovery through to clinical trials. Prior to joining Pfizer, Devyn was a principal for The Frankel Group, a boutique management consulting firm in New York City and Cambridge. In his consulting experience, he led a wide range of projects, across multiple therapeutic areas and a host of technology platforms, including basic R&D tools, regenerative medicine, gene therapy, and macromolecules/biologic products. Devyn currently serves as chairman of the Alliance of Regenerative Medicine (ARM), the industry group for nearly 400 gene and cell therapy companies and as an advisor/board member to several companies in the advanced therapies space. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School, M.S. from Idaho State University, and a B.S. from Brigham Young University. For relaxation, Devyn likes to climb high peaks, garden and raise chickens.
James Watson
James Watson is an operating partner on the Bio + Health team at Andreessen Horowitz, where he leads financing, business and corporate development for the firm’s life sciences portfolio.
Prior to joining Andreessen Horowitz, he held executive positions at numerous biotech companies, including Carmot Therapeutics, where, as Chief Business Officer, he lead strategy, finance, and corporate development. At Carmot, Mr Watson led the raising of over $200 million in equity capital and built business development relationships that significantly contributed to Carmot’s $2.7billion acquisition by Roche. He also served as CBO and President ICT at Sigilon Therapeutics, where he led a $485M cell therapy partnership with Lilly, prior to Lilly’s acquisition of the Company.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Watson spent nearly 10 years in a financing and strategic advisory role as CEO of the investment bank at Burrill & Company. He also held leadership roles at Incyte, The Wilkerson Group, and Eli Lilly & Company. Mr Watson earned an MBA as a Fulbright Scholar at Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Portsmouth, UK.
Adrian Trömel
Adrian Trömel is interim Chief Innovation Officer and Vice President for Innovation at Rice University. At Rice, Adrian helped establish and develop the Office of Innovation, where he launches resources to support new venture creation, and leads strategic investments in innovation for the Rice ecosystem, including taking strategic LP positions, deploying non-dilutive grants and setting up and leading the creation of the university-affiliated venture fund. He previously helped build Hamilton Health Box to a leader in the telemedicine enabled primary care space serving rural and isolated populations and was a Biodesign Fellow at the Texas Medical Center’s Innovation Institute where he co-founded CNX Medical, a non-invasive neurostimulation company. Additionally, Adrian serves as Foreign Trade Advisor to Luxembourg supporting bilateral economic development between Texas and the Grand Duchy.
Originally from Luxembourg, Adrian speaks four languages and holds an MSc in Materials Sciences from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. He completed his MBA at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University in Houston, Texas. In his free time, Adrian enjoys spending his time with his wife, son and two cats, and practicing yoga, piano, sailing and freediving.
Sahir Ali
Sahir Ali is the founder of Modi Ventures, a venture capital firm at the forefront of investing in the convergence of biology and technology. With a focus on scientific superintelligence and the engineering of life, he has backed breakthrough companies advancing AI-driven drug discovery, diagnostics, and next-generation therapeutics.
As a parallel entrepreneur, scientist, and innovator, Sahir has led transformative work across artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and precision medicine. He has advised and worked with some of the world’s leading corporations and institutions to implement advanced technologies and data science practices.
Sahir is also the co-host of Membrane, a flagship gathering co-led with Sir Richard Branson that brings together global leaders in science, medicine, and technology. He serves on the Board of Directors of Drug Information Association (DIA) and on the NGS Scientific Advisory Board at Aga Khan University.