Georgia Venture Partners

Meet the GVP Team

	Thomas H. Callaway, M.D., MBA, Partner Tom is a founding Partner of Georgia Venture Partners, and is involved in all aspects of GVP investment activities. Tom is also founder and president of Life Science Partner. He is also a former partner with Fuqua Ventures (a life science and technology venture capital fund). His experience in disciplines ranging from biotechnology, business and marketing strategy, venture capital, and executive search provides the broad platform from which Life Science Partner serves life science companies. Tom previously held the position of Director, Commercial Development for SyStemix. There he was responsible for business development and marketing for the firm’s proprietary stem cell technology for bone marrow rescue of patients following high dose chemotherapy. He began his biotechnology career at Roche Diagnostics and Roche Molecular Systems. During his tenure at Roche, he developed and executed a global marketing plan for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostics technology, a Noble-prize winning solution for sleuthing out specific sequences of DNA and commercializing the tools to map the human genome. Tom earned a medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He holds an MBA and undergraduate degree from Duke University. He can be reached at tom@georgiavc.com.
	John P. Richard, MBA, Partner John is a founding Partner of Georgia Venture Partners, and a strategic and commercial development advisor to the biotechnology industry. He currently serves as Senior Business Advisor to Agennix AG and Albireo AB, and as a Venture Partner for Phase4 Ventures. He also serves as a director of Targacept Inc. (NASDAQ: TRGT), and Zosano Pharma. John was previously Executive Vice President, Business Development at SEQUUS Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he was responsible for negotiating the acquisition of SEQUUS by ALZA Corporation. Prior to joining SEQUUS, John headed business development for VIVUS, Inc. and Genome Therapeutics Corporation, where he was responsible for establishing numerous pharmaceutical alliances. He was also co-founder and original CEO of IMPATH Laboratories, Inc., a leading cancer pathology reference laboratory subsequently acquired by Genzyme. John received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and his B.S. from Stanford University. He can be reached at john@georgiavc.com.
	Rick Hillstead, Ph.D., FAHA, Partner Rick Hillstead is a Partner with Georgia Venture Partners and is responsible for evaluating potential investments and assisting current portfolio medical device companies. Rick has been actively involved in the design and development of medical devices since 1983. Most recently, he was a founding member of The Innovation Factory (TIF) and a principal partner in Accuitive Medical Ventures I and II . At TIF he served as Chief Science Officer and was primarily responsible for technical due diligence and deal structure in areas of Interventional Cardiology and Orthopaedics. He is a past Chairman of Cerebral Vascular Applications, Inc. and a current director for Epitek Inc. Prior to TIF, he held several progressive, product research and development positions with Cordis Corporation (Johnson & Johnson) and then directed new technology development for Novoste Corporation. He is an inventor named on more than sixty issued U.S. patents and patent applications and dozens of international patents. His intellectual property has been referenced in over seventeen hundred issued U.S. patents and he has been directly responsible for the development of numerous, commercially successful medical devices. Dr. Hillstead holds M.B.A. and undergraduate degrees from Nova Southeastern University and a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Southwest University. He is a Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA) on the Council of Clinical Cardiology and the council on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism. He can be reached at rick@georgiavc.com.