Linking Utah's Innovation Community
Dinesh Patel, Ph.D. Chairman
Spencer P. Eccles, Vice-Chairman
Scott Anderson, Director
Richard Ellis, Director
Jim Dreyfous, Director
Hunter Jackson, Ph.D., Director
Dan Olsen, Ph.D., Director
Cynthia J. Burrows, Ph.D., Director
Charlie Precourt, Director
Richard Linder, Director
Board Members
Dr. Dinesh Patel is considered by many to be the father of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals in the Mountain West region.
Dr. Patel is a founding managing director of vSpring Capital. From 1999 to 2004 he was the Founder, Chairman, President & CEO of Ashni Naturaceuticals, Inc., a company that specializes in the research, development and marketing of clinically tested and patent-protected nutraceutical products. He currently holds 15 US Patents and Foreign Counterparts. Prior to vSpring, Dr. Patel was an active angel investor in over 20 biotech and technology companies. In 1999, Dr. Patel co-founded and was the Chairman of Salus Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the research and development of nucleic acid-based therapeutics, including antisense and gene therapy drugs. From 1985 to 1999 Dr. Patel served as Co-Founder, Chairman of The Board of Directors and President & CEO of TheraTech, Inc., a biotechnology company which he took public and eventually sold for $350 million to Watson Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Patel serves on several non-profit boards, and has won numerous awards including; 2006 Utah Technology Council Hall of Fame Inductee, 2006 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, US Small Business Administration's Business Achiever Award, Scientific and Technology Award (State of Utah), Entrepreneur of the Year Award (Mountain West Venture Group) and Scientific and Technology Development Pioneer of Progress Award to name a few. He is also a charter member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE).
Dr. Patel served as co-chair of Governor Huntsman's transition team and is currently on the board of the Utah Policy Partnership (UPP).
Born and raised in Zambia, Africa, Dr. Patel received his bachelor's degree in Pharmacy at Gujarat University located in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, his master's degree from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and his Ph.D. in Physical Pharmacy from the University of Michigan. Dr. Patel led vSpring's investments in Altea Therapeutics, Axial, Exagen, Inflabloc, Protolex, Q Therapeutics, Zars and Salus Therapeutics which was acquired by Genta (NASDAQ: GNTA) for $30 million.
A businessman and philanthropist, Eccles was named Executive Director of GOED in September 2009. He was formerly affiliated with the Salt Lake City office of Wells Capital Management (Wells Fargo Bank). He has most recently been involved with entrepreneurial technology companies. In addition to his venture-capital projects, Eccles' business interests include managing three ranching operations in Idaho and Wyoming and the Goldener Hirsch Inn in Deer Valley. Eccles managed the development of the Snowbasin Resort venue and oversaw the events held there during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.
Anderson is president and chief executive officer of Zions First National Bank. Prior to joining Zions, Anderson spent 17 years with Bank of America in San Francisco, working in many positions including business banking manager and manager of the San Francisco main office. He also spent seven years working in Bank of America's Asia division, headquartered in Tokyo. Active in community affairs, Anderson serves on the Federal Reserve Bank Board in San Francisco as well as dozens of other community group, university and non-profit boards. Anderson received a bachelor's degree in philosophy and economics from Columbia University in New York. He also received a master's degree in economics and international studies from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Zions Bank is Utah's oldest financial institution and is the only local bank with a statewide distribution of branches. Zions operates 107 full service branches throughout Utah and 25 full service branches in Idaho. In addition to a wide range of traditional banking services, Zions offers a comprehensive array of investment, mortgage, and insurance services and has a network of loan origination offices for small businesses, nationwide. Founded in 1873, Zions Bank has been serving the communities of the Intermountain West for nearly 130 years.
Prior to becoming State Treasurer, Ellis served nine years as the Chief Deputy State Treasurer under his predecessor, Ed Alter (a former USTAR GA member). Ellis’s other state experience includes three years as the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget under Governors Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. and Olene S. Walker, and a stint as the Executive Director of the Department of Administrative Services. His career has focused on public finance with experience as the first Finance Director for Draper City, an investment banker with Dougherty, Dawkins, Strand & Bigelow, and as the Assistant Treasurer with the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District. In total, Ellis has more than 24 years of experience in public finance.
Ellis received his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Utah in 1990. He completed his undergraduate work at Brigham Young University where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management with a Finance emphasis. He currently is an adjunct faculty member of the Marriott School of Business at BYU and teaches a class in Cash Management and Investments for the Romney Institute.
Mr. Dreyfous co-founded and has been a General Partner of UV Partners since 1986. He has worked with every one of UV Partners' portfolio companies. Mr. Dreyfous exemplifies the UV focus and approach: active with founders and directors; experienced in building and developing management teams; and adept at accessing relationships which allow for attraction of expertise and capital at every stage of a company's growth.
Mr. Dreyfous' earlier career experience was focused in commercial banking, private investments, and small business management. He was an officer of Citicorp and Bankers Trust, and was a principal for a privately held oil and gas production and distribution company. Jim currently serves on the board of a number of portfolio companies and philanthropic boards. He is active in the civic community. He holds a BA in Economics from Middlebury College.
Dr. Jackson was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of NPS since founding NPS in 1986 through 2006. Dr. Jackson is currently Executive Director, Technology Venture Development, University of Utah and Adjunct Professor of Management, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah. He also serves as Executive Chairman of NeuroAdjuvants, Inc. Before founding NPS, he was an Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Dr. Jackson received a Ph.D. in Psychobiology from Yale University. He received postdoctoral training in the Department of Neurosurgery, University of Virginia Medical School.
Dr. Olsen has been a leader in researching human-robot interaction. He is a professor of computer sciences at Brigham Young University and has worked as the director of the Human Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. The author of two books and numerous other publications, Olsen is engaged in many professional organizations. He earned a BS and MS in computer science in 1976 and 1978, respectively, from Brigham Young University. He earned his PhD in computer and information science from the University of Pennsylvania in 1981.
Cynthia J. Burrows, Ph.D., is pursuing research that seeks to understand the processes of oxidative damage to DNA, from which stem many health issues related to cancer and aging. Burrows holds a B.A. degree from the University of Colorado, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University. She conducted postdoctoral research at Université Louis Pasteur, in Strasbourg, France. She is a Senior Editor of the Journal of Organic Chemistry, and has won numerous awards in her career, including the U of U’s Distinguished Scholarly and Creative Research Award in 2005. In 2008, she was named to the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences.
Charlie Precourt joined ATK Launch Systems Group in March 2005 as Vice President, Advanced Strategic Programs. He has since been named Vice President for Strategy and Business Development. Precourt joined ATK following a distinguished 15-year career with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) where he was the Chief Astronaut and a program manager in the Senior Executive Service. He also served twenty-three years in the US Air Force, retiring as a Colonel. He is a veteran pilot and commander of four Space Shuttle flights that flew between the years 1993-1998. In the U. S. Air Force, Precourt served as a test pilot, fighter pilot and flight commander. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the United States Air Force Academy, a Master of Science degree in engineering management from Golden Gate University, and a Master of Arts degree in national security affairs and strategic studies from the United States Naval War College.
Linder's business experience includes management positions at Merit Medical, and co-founding Rubicon Medical, Inc. in 1996. Linder developed the fundamental and key design concepts for the Rubicon Filter, a product for the embolic protection market. Under Linder's leadership, Rubicon and Boston Scientific entered into an option and equity transaction in 2003. Boston Scientific acquired Rubicon in 2005, which was the largest filter vascular protection transaction in history. Upon leaving Boston Scientific in 2006, Linder became President and CEO of Coherex Medical Inc., which is based in Salt Lake City.