About Imperative Care

A Silicon Valley medical device entrepreneur, Fred is Managing Director of Incept LLC, a health sciences innovations accelerator, founded in 1998. Incept has founded 23 medical companies (16 with exits), in which Fred has served as an executive and/or a director. For more than 30 years, Fred has held management and executive positions in both large and small medical technology enterprises.  Fred is either inventor or co-inventor on over 200 US and worldwide granted patents and pending patent applications. He serves on the Board of Trustees at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS.org), a bipartisan think tank dedicated to providing strategic national security insights to help decisionmakers chart a course toward a better world; is a member of the Board of Directors at Spirit of America (spiritofamerica.org) a non-profit that promotes private-sector support for the safety and success of our troops and the local people they want to help; and a Convening Board Member for Technology for America (T4A.org), a nonprofit for promotion of innovation as a way to engage public-private dialogue that benefit all Americans. Fred holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering and graduated cum laude with an M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Tech University. 

Chuck Alpuche joined Imperative Care in 2023 after retiring from Insulet Corporation in April 2022.  He served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Insulet Corporation since February 2019. Since 2016, he served as Executive Vice President and Senior Vice President in several operational leadership roles for Insulet. Prior to that, from 2012 – 2016, Chuck served as an independent consultant for both domestic and international companies in the food, beverage and chemical industries. Previously, he spent thirty years at PepsiCo in leadership roles of increasing responsibility overseeing domestic and international plant operations. Earlier in his career at PepsiCo, he held a number of management roles in plant operations, product management and quality control. Most recently, he served as PepsiCo’s Senior Vice President of North America Beverages, and before that he held the position of Vice President and General Manager, Concentrate Operations, Asia and Americas. Chuck holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Delaware Valley College and pursued an Executive Master of Science in Organizational Management from the University of Pennsylvania. He currently is a board director for the Starrett Corporation and the non-profit organization, Exceptional Minds in Sherman Oaks, CA.

Todd Van Horn brings more than two decades of leadership experience in finance, strategy, operations, and organizational transformation at global medical device and life sciences companies. Most recently, he served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer at Candela Medical, where he led the operational aspects of a comprehensive turnaround that improved growth, focused strategy, and increased profit margins. Prior to Candela, Todd served in roles of increasing responsibility at Cord Blood Registry, most recently as its General Manager, both when it was an independent company and as a subsidiary of AMAG Pharmaceuticals.Todd spent the first decade of his career as a private equity investor and as an analyst in investment banking, focused on life science and healthcare companies. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a Bachelor of Science in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology from UCLA. 

Jay brings more than 25 years of executive leadership experience across medical devices, robotics, imaging, and advanced technology platforms, with a proven track record of scaling organizations, commercializing disruptive innovation, and driving sustained global growth. His experience includes full product lifecycle leadership, global P&L management, international team expansion, and execution of transformative go-to-market strategies.

Most recently, Jay served as President of VulcanForms, where he built the company’s commercial and product engineering organization and helped transition the business from development-stage to scaled production. He established a scalable commercial infrastructure across aerospace & defense, industrial, consumer, and medical sectors.

Previously, Jay spent eight years at Globus Medical, serving as President of Imaging, Navigation, and Robotics. He led the development and commercialization of robotic and imaging platforms, achieving record adoption milestones and scaling revenue. He built and led a global organization spanning product development, marketing, sales, clinical education, and field service.

Earlier in his career, Jay held senior leadership roles at Intuitive Surgical and Boston Scientific, leading high-performing commercial teams and managing large regional revenue responsibilities.

Jay holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Drexel University, with concentrations in finance and marketing.

Richard is an accomplished professional with a strong background in the development of robotics and breakthrough applications in the medical field. Currently serving as the General Manager for the Telos Health business at Imperative Care since August 2022, he brings over 20 years of invaluable experience to his role.

Previously, Richard held the position of Vice President of Research and Development at Auris Heath, where he played a pivotal role in the development of the Monarch robotics endoscopy platform. This innovative platform revolutionized the diagnostic and treatment approaches for lung cancer and kidney stone management. Richard’s expertise was further demonstrated as he successfully guided the company through its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). 

Prior to his tenure at Auris Heath, Richard served as the General Manager and Vice President of Research and Development at Mako Surgical. In this role, he made significant contributions to the company’s success in the robotic solutions for Hip and Knee replacement field, culminating in its acquisition by Stryker. 

Richard’s career also includes leadership roles at renowned organizations such as ASML, the global leader in lithography, and GE Healthcare. He has consistently demonstrated his technical expertise and visionary leadership in these positions. 

Carole has 20 years of Human Resources experience in the medical device and drug delivery industries and joined the team in 2016. Prior to Imperative Care, Carole played a strategic HR leadership role in a consulting capacity for Shifamed, a medical device incubator, and with Apama Medical, which was acquired by Boston Scientific Corporation (BSX) in October 2017.   Carole was VP of Human Resources for AccessClosure, followed by supporting the Orthopedics and Cordis cardiology businesses of Cardinal Health (CAH) after their acquisition of AccessClosure in 2014. Early in her career, Carole was in compensation, HRIS, and HR generalist roles with Conor Medsystems and ALZA, which were both acquired by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). Carole holds a B.S. degree in Psychology from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and her SPHR certification.

Scott Elliott joined Imperative Care in July 2023 and brings over 30 years of experience as a trusted strategic and legal advisor to high-growth companies and investors in various industries, including medical devices.  Throughout his legal career, Scott has acted as outside general counsel for companies at various stages of their life cycles. He has advised boards of directors on governance issues, executing on public and private financings, mergers and acquisitions and other strategic transactions, and counseling clients with respect to various corporate and securities law matters.  Prior to joining Imperative Care, he was a corporate partner at O’Melveny and Myers, LLP in the mergers and acquisitions group, and was Co-Head of their Life Sciences Practice where he helped clients structure and negotiate their most meaningful transactions.  Previously, he was a corporate partner at Ropes & Gray LLP and Co-Head of their Emerging Companies and Venture Capital group.  Scott started his career and was a partner in the corporate group at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, where he was one of the founding members of their Silicon Valley corporate practice.  Scott holds a J.D. from University of California College of the Law, San Francisco and a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Nora has over 20 years of experience supporting business goals of small start-up, medium-size, and large multi-national medical device companies.  Nora’s experience includes a broad range of medical devices and all major medical device processes in the US (including FDA Advisory Panel), Europe, Canada, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and ASEAN countries.  Prior to Imperative Care, Nora was VP of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Shockwave Medical, Inc. (SWAV), bringing to market their innovative intravascular lithotripsy technology.  As Director of Regulatory Affairs at Abbott Vascular (ABT), Nora was responsible for global regulatory activities for a variety of peripheral and coronary products. Prior to Abbott Vascular, Nora held leadership positions at BeneChill, Inc. and Myocor, Inc.  Nora also worked with cardiac resynchronization and sacral nerve stimulation technologies at Medtronic (MDT).  Nora earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.

Doug has 20 years of experience in various sales and marketing roles, primarily focused on bringing new and disruptive medical technologies to market. Doug joined Imperative Care in 2021 to support the early commercialization of the Zoom portfolio and to build out the foundational team and technology at Telos Health. He later became the Vice President of Marketing for Telos and led the market and product strategy for its telerobotic vascular intervention platform. Prior to Imperative Care, Doug served as the Director of Marketing at Auris Health, which pioneered the development and commercialization of robotic endoscopy before the company was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2019. Previously, Doug worked at PEAK Surgical, an early stage electrosurgery company focused on bringing low energy electrosurgery to the world of general, orthopedic, plastic surgery, ENT and EP. After its acquisition in 2011 by Medtronic, he moved into a new role at the company leading training and distribution of the PlasmaBlade in Europe, the Middle East and APAC. During Doug’s career, he has also held marketing roles at early-stage companies including Mauna Kea Technologies and Rubicor Medical. Doug holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems from Terry College of Business at University of Georgia. 

Peter joined Imperative Care in 2023, bringing over 35 years of manufacturing, strategic supplier management and product development experience. Peter’s expertise is in the manufacturing efficiency and cost improvement derived from his experiences in operations management, outsource product development, and supplier management. Peter most recently held the position of Group VP and Chief Procurement Officer at Insulet Corporation. As a member of the Operations Leadership team Peter lead Insulet’s contract manufacturing of insulin pumps and the Irvine manufacturing site specializing in nitinol wire assembly manufacturing. He lead efforts to optimize contract manufacturing performance in China and develop strategy to expand Insulet’s manufacturing footprint to Malaysia. Prior to Insulet, Peter was the global leader of contract manufacturing at Harman International managing their entire automotive contract manufacturing engagements. Peter’s experience also includes leadership roles at Navico Corp and Bose Corp. Peter has a Bachelor of Science in Management (Industrial) Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from the F.W. Olin School of Business at Babson College.

Emir joined Imperative Care in 2020. He has over two decades of experience in product development, clinical research, and medical affairs for both start-ups and public companies in the medical device and biotechnology industries. Previously, Emir led Auris Health’s (acquired by Johnson & Johnson [JNJ]) robotic surgery clinical strategy and programs. Prior to joining Auris, Emir was Medical Director of CareDx (CDNA), where he was responsible for the publication strategy and execution of multiple clinical trials. During his tenure at EndoGastric Solutions, Emir held various leadership positions within clinical and medical affairs and was instrumental in obtaining a new CPT code for the Company’s novel endoluminal procedure. Earlier in his career, he held leadership positions at early-stage and venture-backed private companies (Sonitus Medical, RODO Medical, Spine Align) where he managed prototype development and early clinical efforts. Emir started his medical device career at Align Technology (ALGN) pre-IPO, where he held various key R&D and clinical affairs leadership positions. Emir received his MD from the University of Tuzla and completed the Clinical Trial Design and Management Program at San Francisco State University.

Jonathan Conta currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Marketing & Product Management for Imperative Care.  During his 22+ year career in medical devices, he has led teams pioneering new products and programs across multiple geographies and call points, and has held leadership roles in Marketing, Product Management, Brand & Creative, and Corporate Strategy.

Prior to joining Imperative Care, Jonathan was the Chief Marketing Officer at Moon Surgical and spent 16+ years in a variety of leadership roles at Intuitive Surgical including Vice President of Product Management, Senior Director of Marketing Programs, and Senior Director of Platform Strategy.

He has additionally spent time in management consulting, software-as-a-service technical sales, and orthopedic research. 

Jonathan holds a BSc in Biomechanical Engineering from Brown University and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Fred has been pioneering the development of life-saving technologies for more than 25 years. Fred is managing director of Incept LLC, a health sciences innovations accelerator, founded in 1998. Over the past 25 years, Incept has founded 25 medical companies – 16 with exits – for which Fred has served as an executive or a director. With more than 30 years of experience in the medical technology industry, he is an inventor or co-inventor of over 200 U.S. and worldwide granted patents and pending patent applications, and his innovations impact more than one million patients per year. Fred also serves on the Board of Trustees at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a bipartisan think tank dedicated to providing strategic national security insights to help decision makers chart a course toward a better world. He is also on the Board of Directors for Spirit of America, a nonprofit that promotes private-sector support for the safety and success of our troops and the local people they help, and a convening board member for Technology for America, a nonprofit for the promotion of innovation as a way to engage public-private dialogue that benefits all Americans. Fred holds a B.S. and a M.S. in mechanical engineering from Tennessee Tech University. Fred received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2023, which is given to immigrants who have shown an outstanding commitment to serving the United States either professionally, culturally, or civically. He was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2024 in recognition of his revolutionary ophthalmic, cardiovascular, and neurovascular interventions.

Dan Dearen brings more than 40 years of experience in the healthcare and medical device industries. He co-founded Axonics, Inc. and served as President and Chief Financial Officer, helping grow the company from three employees to approximately 800 and from the preapproval stage to more than $400 million in annualized revenue and profitability within its first four years of commercialization. Axonics was acquired by Boston Scientific for $3.7 billion.

During his tenure at Axonics, Dan helped guide the company’s capital and growth strategy, including raising more than $850 million from venture capital and public investors, completing its $138 million initial public offering and four subsequent follow-on offerings, and supporting the $230 million acquisition of Bulkamid. He also helped establish the company’s public-company governance practices and led its audit committee meetings.

Dan currently serves as an independent director and audit committee chair for Beta Bionics and InspireMD, as well as on the boards of Archimedes Vascular, Imperative Care, JenaValve Technologies, Spiro Medical and Algenesis Materials. He previously served as an independent director and audit committee chair for Endotronix. Earlier in his career, he worked at Ventana Growth Funds and as an auditor in EY’s healthcare group.

Dan holds an MBA from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management and a BBA from Southern Methodist University. He earned an Accredited Public Company Director Certification from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Tyler Binney brings decades of experience in the medtech industry, with a proven track record of driving growth through strategic leadership and operational expertise. From April 2021 to November 2023, Tyler served as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors at Relievant Medsystems. During his tenure, he scaled the company’s commercial operations and successfully led its acquisition by Boston Scientific for more than $850 million. Prior to Relievant, Tyler was the President and General Manager of Teleflex’s Interventional Urology Business Unit. He also served as Vice President of Sales at NeoTract, where he played a key role in the company’s $1.1 billion acquisition by Teleflex. Tyler currently serves as Chairman of the Board of iO Urology and a member of the Board of Directors of Intrinsic Therapeutics and ProVerum Medical. 

Stacy has been a leader in the medical technology industry for more than 30 years. She is currently an Operating Partner with Lightstone Ventures and serves on the boards of several public and private healthcare technology companies, including Sonova (SOON), LivaNova (LIVN), Contego Medical, Cala Health and Corza Medical. Stacy has been involved in the successful launch of over 20 medical technologies and more than 10 substantive M&A transactions. Prior to Lightstone Ventures, from 2010 – 2015, she served as President of Covidien Vascular Therapies through its acquisition by Medtronic in 2014. Previously, Stacey spent 10 years as co-founder and President of ev3 where she was instrumental in taking the company public and growing its peripheral business to a market leader. Earlier in her career, she held sales and marketing leadership roles with SciMed (aquired by Boston Scientific) and American Hospital Supply (acquired by Baxter Healthcare). Her past board appointments include Hillrom (acquired by Baxter Healthcare), Vesper Medical (acquired by Philips), preCardia (acquired by Abiomed), Claret (sold to Boston Scientific), Spirox (acquired by Stryker), CVI (acquired by Philips), FIRE1 and Solace Therapeutics. Stacy holds a B.A. in Public Policy from Michigan State University and an MBA from Harvard University.  

Andrew joined Bain Capital in 2019 and is a Partner with Bain Capital Life Sciences. Prior to this, Andrew was Chief Financial Officer of Editas Medicine (Nasdaq: EDIT) where he had responsibility for finance, investor relations, business development, information technology, and operations. Andrew also served as a portfolio manager at Millennium Management, where he ran a market-neutral healthcare hedge fund focused on biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics, and life science tools companies. Earlier in his investment career, he was a securities analyst at several healthcare-focused hedge funds and investment banks, and served as Director of Life Sciences at Reify Corporation, a life science tools and drug discovery company.  He serves on the board of directors of Alkeus Pharmaceuticals, JenaValve Technologies, Merida Biosciences, Mersana (Nasdaq: MRSN), and Nuvalent (Nasdaq: NUVL). Andrew received an A.B. in biology with special honors, an M.D., and a Ph.D. in molecular genetics and cell biology from the University of Chicago.

John was elected president and Chief Executive Officer of CSIS in January 2000. Before joining CSIS, he served as the 26th U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense. Prior to holding that post, he was the Undersecretary of Defense (comptroller) from 1993 to 1997. Earlier in his career, Dr. Hamre worked for 10 years as a professional staff member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. During that time, he was responsible for overseeing and evaluating procurement, research, and development programs, defense budget issues, and relations with the Senate Appropriations Committee. From 1978 to 1984, Dr. Hamre served in the Congressional Budget Office, where he became its Deputy Assistant Director for National Security and International Affairs. He earned his Ph.D. with distinction in 1978 from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and received his B.A. with high distinction from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with a focus on political science and economics. The following year he studied as a Rockefeller fellow at the Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Shacey brings decades of executive leadership experience in the medical device industry to the Imperative Care Board. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Exact Sciences Corporation and Ambu A/S.  Prior to this, Shacey was President and Chief Executive Officer at Insulet from January 2019 to May 2022 after serving in several other executive roles at the company. She served on Insulet’s board from September 2018 until May 2023.  Under her leadership, the company grew from $2 billion in market cap to over $20 billion. Prior to her time at Insulet, Shacey served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Clinical Innovations, LLC, a developer and manufacturer of medical devices and diagnostics for women’s health. She also served in several key roles at Hologic, Inc. and Cytyc Corporation, which merged with Hologic in October 2007, including Vice President and General Manager of Hologic’s GYN Surgical Products division, as well as various sales and marketing leadership roles in the U.S. and Europe. Shacey earned her B.S. in Biology from the University of Wisconsin. 

Hank joined Morgenthaler Ventures in 2007 after more than 25 years in the life science industry. He co-founded Lightstone Ventures in 2012. Previously he co-founded eight medical device startups and supported the exits of seven companies with a combined value of more than $3 billion. His successful exits include the acquisitions of Relievant and Claret Medical by Boston Scientific, Access Closure by Cardinal Health, Ardian and Twelve by Medtronic, Acclarent by Johnson & Johnson, and Embolic Protection by Boston Scientific. He also served as President and CEO of Perclose, leading the company from product concept to $100 million in sales and managing its successful IPO and acquisition by Abbott Laboratories. Hank holds a B.S. in Finance from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and currently serves on the Boards of Setpoint Medical, ZeaKal and two non-profit organizations. 

Kevin Reilly joined Ally Bridge Group in 2021 and is a Managing Director, Head of Medtech, for the private equity strategy, focused on transactions across healthcare subsectors. Before joining Ally Bridge Group, Kevin was a Principal at CRG, a healthcare investment management firm providing growth capital to companies through the form of long-term debt and equity. Kevin began his career in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Stifel. Kevin holds a B.S. in Finance and Information Systems from the University of Maryland.

Holly joined CooperCompanies as Executive Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer in June 2018. She was named President of CooperSurgical in July 2020. Prior to joining Cooper, Holly had over 20 years of experience in investment banking, with a focus on medical equipment and technology. From 2009 to 2018, she was Managing Director, Global Head of Medical Technology at UBS Securities. Prior to that, Holly was at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette from 1997 to 2000 until it was acquired by Credit Suisse, where she stayed until 2009. Holly holds a B.S. degree from Cornell University and obtained an MBA from Columbia Business School.