Advisory Team

Hugh Straley, MD, Board of Directors

Dr. Hugh Straley is currently a retired physician executive. From 2009 until September of 2011 he served as the Chief Medical Officer for Soundpath Health, formerly Puget Sound Health Partners, a Medicare Advantage Health plan founded by physicians.

Prior to this he served for over thirty years as physician at Group Health Cooperative, retiring in 2008 as the President of Group Health Physicians and Medical Director of Group Health Cooperative. Dr. Straley held several positions within the Group Health organization including Associate Medical Director for Quality and Research, Assistant Chief of Staff for Specialty Services, and Director of Hospice and Chief of Oncology. He has been a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington since 1979.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, Dr. Straley earned his Doctor of Medicine (MD) from the University of Washington in Seattle. He completed both his residency and fellowship in hematology/oncology at the University of Washington and is board certified in both internal medicine and medical oncology. He holds a Certificate in Medical Management from the University of Washington, School of Public Health.
Dr. Straley currently serves on the Board of Trustees of YouthCare, the largest agency in the State serving homeless youth, on the Board of Qualis Health, the Board of the Foundation for Health Care Quality, and on the Quality Improvement Committee of the Puget Sound Health Alliance. He has held seats on the Board of Directors for the Puget Sound Health Alliance, the Washington State Medical Association, The Puget Sound Blood Center and the Foundation for Medical Excellence. He also served as a Surveyor for the National Committee for Quality Assurance from 1995 to 2002. In 2004, Dr. Straley received the Robert H. Williams Leadership Award from the Seattle Society of Internal Medicine for outstanding leadership in the community.
 

Jane Conner, CPA, Board of Directors

Ms. Conner has been a key contributor to the success of many companies over her 33-year career. For the past 17 years, she has focused on strategic planning and new product development. She continues to work closely with executive management on strategic issues.

Providing guidance to early-stage medical device companies developing innovative products is the focus of Biomed Innovation Fund, where Ms. Conner serves as a Managing Director. Biomed seeks to create an innovative environment to encourage intellectual property creation leading to competitive advantage.

From 1995 through 2008, Ms. Conner was CFO of iSense Corporation, where she guided the administrative and operations functions of the company she co-founded in 2005. Ms. Conner facilitated the integration of iSense into Bayer following the sale of iSense to Bayer Healthcare in 2008. Prior experience includes six years with Deloitte & Touche as well as increasingly responsible financial management positions in private industry.

Ms. Conner holds an MBA degree from the University of Portland, and a BS degree in Business Administration from Humboldt State University. She is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Oregon.
 

Jonathan Fitzgerald, Advisor to the Board

Jonathan Fitzgerald advises the Board of Directors and Management of Samepage on governance, business and financial matters. Jonathan has over twenty years of investment banking experience and has served as an advisor to numerous technology businesses in the medical device and digital media sectors. Jonathan has a longstanding professional interest in the application of digital technologies to diabetes disease management. He is presently a member of the Board of Directors of a NASDAQ-listed solar technology company.

Previously, Jonathan worked in New York and London for Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers International where he won multiple Deal of the Year awards on behalf of his clients. Mr. Fitzgerald received a B.A. with Distinction from Bowdoin College, an MSc(Econ) from The London School of Economics and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
 

Richard Sass, Advisor to the Board

Using his entrepreneurial skills, Mr. Sass has been instrumental in bringing about innovative technologies that promote and improve quality of life for humankind. Over the past forty-seven years he has successfully founded, directed, and exited companies within the medical technology arena. He continues to consult with companies regarding design and manufacture of medical products with disruptive technologies.

Mr Sass founded Contact Wellness (CW) as part of his personal contribution to healthcare reform. CW represents his desire to move beyond the delivery of innovative medical products to the creation of motivational tools and processes leading to positive changes in attitudes, beliefs and behavior of people living with diabetes and other chronic disease. He serves as Chairman of the Board and is a member of the Executive Committee.
In 2009, Mr. Sass founded Biomed Innovation Fund. Biomed is focused on emerging medical device technologies that can be quickly developed into market-moving products. Biomed leverages the operating experience and industry relationships of its fund managers to invest in early stage opportunities, working closely with entrepreneurs to move efficiently through product development to market readiness.

In 1995, Mr. Sass founded iSense Corporation, an enterprise focused on the development of a continuous glucose monitor for people with diabetes. From 1995 – 2008, Mr Sass provided the vision leadership and capital to grow the company from initial concept through product development leading to a state of clinical readiness. The company was sold to Bayer Healthcare in 2008.

In 2001, Mr Sass was successful in leading microHelix, a company he found in 1997, through an IPO microHelix provided enabling technologies to OEMs focused on next generation products designed to reside within the human body. The company also manufactured miniature and micro-miniature wire and cable assemblies.

Mr. Sass founded Precision Interconnect (“PI”) in 1972. PI became a leader in medical ultrasound cable technology under his guidance. Over the course of 19 years, Mr. Sass grew the company to over 500 employees at the time of the company’s sale to AMP, Inc, a Fortune 500 company, in 1991. AMP, subsequently acquired by TYCO, was one of the largest connector manufacturers in the world. In addition to serving as its President and CEO, Mr. Sass directed the Strategic Planning, Sales, and Marketing efforts of the enterprise. He established overseas markets as well as partnered with large OEM customers domestically.

Mr. Sass holds a BA in Business Administration from Michigan State University, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, London.

Warren Lubow, Advisor to the Board

Warren has more than 25 years experience working in high technology companies. Prior to advising Samepage, he held executive leadership roles with responsibilities for product development and delivery of industry solutions for Mobile Operating Systems, Middleware, Software, and Hardware with Mainstream PC OEM giants, Telecommunications leaders, and Software pioneering companies covering a wide variety of industries. He has worked at companies such as Microsoft (over 10 years), AT&T, Motorola, Intrinsyc Software, Adeneo, Sony, Dell, Compaq and others.

Warren has also been lead in development and product efforts, as well as partnership relationships for Healthcare Industry solutions such as Accu-Chek Glucose Blood monitoring device, Phillips Medical portable defibrillator, Spacelabs Patient Monitor NIBP blood pressure and ECG monitor systems.

By tackling new vertical markets, building strategies, and working with C Level executives, Warren's experience has garnered him:

• a clear understanding of working in the varied ecosystems,
• the ability to understand the keys to working with a variety of customers,
• the expertise to drive projects, programs, solutions and specific customer needs to difficult schedules and complex delivers with a great deal of success.

These experiences in working in a variety of Business Development/Product Development/Sales/Marketing capacities in building partnerships, alliances, and overall customer delivery and satisfaction for long-term solutions are what enable him to work with customers of any size, in any marketplace with a variety of technologies to quickly understand their needs, target goals, and requirements and deliver solutions that meet or exceed expectations.