Leadership
Executive Officers
Gerhard F. Burbach
President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director
Gerhard Burbach joined Thoratec as president and chief executive officer in January 2006, at which time he was appointed to the board of directors. Prior to his arrival, Burbach served as president and chief executive officer of Digirad Corporation, a leading provider in solid-stage cardiology and nuclear medicine imaging products and services, and continues to serve on the board of directors. Burbach has held executive positions at Bacchus Vascular Inc. and Philips Nuclear Medicine, as well as the consulting firm of McKinsey & Company, Inc. He has a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Stanford University and a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.
David V. Smith
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
David Smith joined Thoratec on December 29, 2006 as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining us, Mr. Smith was Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of Chiron Corporation, a global pharmaceutical company, from April 2003 until April 2006. Mr. Smith served as Chiron's Vice President, Finance from February 2002 until April 2003 and as Chiron's Vice President and Principal Accounting Officer from February 1999 until February 2002. Mr. Smith served as the Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Anergen, Inc. from 1997 until he joined Chiron. From 1988 to 1997, Mr. Smith held various financial management positions with Genentech, Inc., in both the United States and Europe. Mr. Smith is a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Audit Committee of Perlegen Sciences, Inc.
Lawrence Cohen
President, International Technidyne Corporation (ITC)
Lawrence Cohen became president of ITC in May 2001 after serving as CEO of HemoSense, Inc., a developer of coagulation testing. Prior to his arrival, he held executive positions at Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, a Johnson & Johnson Company; Instrumentation Laboratory, which develops critical care diagnostics and hemostasis products; and Beckman Coulter, a leader in clinical diagnostics and biomedical research. Cohen, a past president of the Biomedical Marketing Association, serves on the Board of Trustees of the National Blood Foundation, which supports research and educational initiatives in the fields of transfusion medicine and blood banking.
David A. Lehman
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
David Lehman joined Thoratec as vice president and general counsel in May 2003 and became senior vice president in 2007. Prior to his arrival, he served at Brigade Corporation, which provides business and knowledge process outsourcing for global corporations; Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., a life science research and clinical diagnostics company; and Mitsubishi International Corporation in New York and Tokyo. He began his career as an associate attorney at the law firm of Hall, Dickler, Kent, Friedman & Wood in New York.
Board of Directors
Neil F. Dimick
Chairman of the Board, Thoratec Corporation
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (retired), AmerisourceBergen Corporation
Laguna Hills, California
Gary F. Burbach
President, Chief Executive Officer, Thoratec Corporation
J. Daniel Cole
General Partner, Spray Venture Fund
Boston, Massachusetts
Steven H. Collis
Executive Vice President, AmerisourceBergen Corporation and President, AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group
Frisco, Texas
Elisha W. Finney
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Varian Medical Systems, Inc.
Palo Alto, California
D. Keith Grossman
Managing Director, TPG Biotech, L.P.
San Francisco, California
Paul A. LaViolette
Venture Partner, SV Life Sciences Advisors
Boston, Massachusetts
Daniel M. Mulvena
Founder and Owner, Commodore Associates
Marblehead, Massachusetts
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