BOARD
Robert J. Zollars, Chairman and CEO, joined Vocera Communications, Inc. in May 2007 and has over 30 years of experience leading healthcare and technology organizations ranging in size from less than $100 million to over $5 billion in annual revenues.
Prior to Vocera, Mr. Zollars served as chief executive officer of Wound Care Solutions, Inc., an operator of outsourced chronic wound care centers. From 1999 to 2006, Mr. Zollars served as chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors for Neoforma, Inc.(Nasdaq: NEOF), a healthcare technology company. Mr. Zollars served as a section 16 officer and executive vice president of Cardinal Health, Inc.(NYSE: CAH), a supplier of health care products and services, from 1997-1999 where he was responsible for five wholly-owned subsidiaries: Pyxis Corporation, Owen Healthcare, Medicine Shoppe International, and Cardinal's Information Technology and International businesses . From 1985 to 1997, Mr. Zollars served as a division president of four different operating units at Baxter International, Inc.(NYSE: BAX), a global medical products company. From 1979 to 1985, Mr. Zollars served as area vice president and in various other capacities at American Hospital Supply Corporation (NYSE: AHSC), a medical supply company, which was acquired by Baxter International in 1985.
Mr. Zollars' involvement in the business community extends to board of director appointments at select companies in other industries. Since February 2005, Mr. Zollars has served on the board of directors of Diamond Foods, Inc. He has also served on the board of directors of VWR International, LLC, a scientific equipment distributor since May 2004.
Mr. Zollars graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. degree in Marketing from Arizona State University and earned an M.B.A. degree in Finance from John F. Kennedy University.
Brian Ascher, joined Venrock in 1998 as a Kauffman Fellow and is currently a Partner based in Palo Alto. Brian focuses on Healthcare IT and general internet investments. Brian's current Healthcare IT investments include Vocera and Awarepoint, and he was a past director of RelayHealth up until its acquisition by McKesson. Brian also serves on the Boards of Retail Solutions, Inrix, Billfloat, Redbeacon, and Atrenta; and previous investments include ADiFY (acquired by Cox Enterprises), DATAllegro (acquired by Microsoft), and Unicru (acquired by Kronos.) Prior to Venrock, Brian was a Senior Product Manager at Intuit responsible for Quicken and Quicken.com, and earlier in his career was a Strategy Consultant at the Monitor Group. Brian has been named to the Forbes Midas List, which ranks the top venture capitalists, multiple times including the current edition. Brian received his B.A. from Princeton and his M.B.A. from Stanford.
John Grotting, most recently, Chief Executive Officer of Ascent Healthcare Solutions, which was acquired by Stryker Medical in December, 2009. Mr. Grotting has over 30 years of hospital and healthcare management leadership experience. Prior to joining Ascent, he served as President and CEO of Bridge Medical, a leading developer of hospital medication management systems. Prior to Bridge Medical, he held top executive positions at Allina Health System and Legacy Health System. Mr. Grotting earned his BA in economics from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and a Master's Degree in healthcare management from the University of Minnesota.
Jeffrey H. Hillebrand, Chief Operating Officer of NorthShore University HealthSystem. Mr. Hillebrand, in addition to his role as COO of NorthShore University HealthSystem, is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and served as a Regent for five years. He is a member of the World Presidents' Organization. Mr. Hillebrand served as a Commissioner of the Certification Commission of Healthcare Information Technology and on the board of the National Association of Healthcare Information Technology. Mr. Hillebrand earned his BA from Dartmouth College and an MA in health services administration from the University of Michigan.
Howard Janzen, a 30-year veteran of the telecommunications and energy industries. Until April 2011, he was chief executive officer of One Communications, the largest privately-held competitive local telecommunications exchange carrier in the United States. Previously, Mr. Janzen served as president of Sprint Business Solutions, serving its $12 billion worldwide business customer base. Mr. Janzen also has received the 2001 Ovations Award from Telecom magazine and COMNET for completing a $7 billion, next-generation fiber network as chief executive officer of Williams Communication Group. He earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in metallurgical engineering from the Colorado School of Mines.
John McMullen has served as senior vice president and treasurer at HP since 2007. He joined HP as part of the Compaq merger in 2002. At Compaq, he held the position of vice president of Finance and Strategy for Worldwide Sales and Services. Prior to that, he held various financial leadership roles at Digital Equipment Corporation. Mr. McMullen holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Massachusetts.
Sharon L. O'Keefe has served on our board of directors since March 2012. Since February 2011, Ms. O'Keefe has served as President of the University of Chicago Medical Center. From April 2009 through February 2011, Ms. O'Keefe served as President of Loyola University Medical Center. Prior to her role at Loyola, she served from July 2002 to April 2009 as Chief Operating Officer for Barnes Jewish Hospital, a member hospital of BJC Healthcare, St. Louis. In addition, Ms. O'Keefe has served in a variety of senior management roles at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Montefiore Medical Center, University of Maryland Medical System and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. She has also served as a healthcare consultant with Ernst & Young. In addition, Ms. O'Keefe has served on the National Institutes of Health Advisory Board for Clinical Research, the Finance Committee of the National Institutes of Health Advisory Board , the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Hospital Association, and an Examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Ms. O'Keefe holds an M.S. degree in nursing from Loyola University of Chicago and a B.S. degree in nursing from Northern Illinois University.
Hany Nada, is a co-founder of GGV Capital and is actively investing in software, wireless applications, and multimedia. He is also active with GGV Capital's portfolio companies including Kintana, Performance Retail, and OneWave. From 1991 to 2000, Mr. Nada was a Managing Director and a Senior Research Analyst at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, specialising in software and e-Infrastructure. He was influential in U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray becoming one of the top software investment banks. In 1999, Mr. Nada was selected as a Wall Street Journal All-Star analyst in computer software and was named runner-up as an Institutional Investor All-Star in three categories. He has authored several key industry reports on diversified media, consumer software, multimedia, internet software and enterprise software. Mr. Nada aided in the formation of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray's private equity strategy through its Partners Funds. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota where he earned a BS in economics and a BA in political science.
