Dr. Stephen Cass, Associate Advisor for the Middle East, is President and CEO of Motif BioSciences Inc, a biopharmceutical company currently working with Arab governments to identify the genetic causes of major common diseases such as diabetes in the Gulf region, through the collection and interpretation of genomic data. Dr. Cass divides his time between offices in London and Kuwait and is fluent in Arabic.

Prior to joining Motif Dr. Cass was a Co-founder and Senior Vice President of AgentArts, Inc. a San Francisco based pattern recognition and personalization company. At AgentArts, Dr. Cass was instrumental in raising several rounds of funding, as well as in forming strategic relationships with Nokia and Panasonic. Dr. Cass was responsible for US licensing for the company and developed customer relationships and licensing deals with Universal-Vivendi and Gracenote/CDDB.

Dr. Cass was previously a Managing Director at Amphion Capital Management, with responsibilities for Amphion Crossover Investors, a fund formed to make structured private investments in healthcare and technology focused public companies. Dr. Cass was active in developing relationships with companies for potential investment and with investment banks as deal sources.

Dr. Cass started his career as a consultant with Global Business Network (Monitor), a strategic planning consultancy, where he supervised projects in the US, Asia, and Europe for clients such as Motorola and MCA/Universal.

Dr. Cass received his Masters and his Doctorate in international relations, with a focus in Middle Eastern studies, from Oxford University's Magdalen College. He received his undergraduate degree in international relations, magna cum laude, from Harvard.

Bob Ward, Associate Advisor for Information Technology, is Co-Founder of Capybara Ventures, LLC, one of the leading early-stage venture capital companies in the Pacific Northwest, based in Portland, Oregon. Bob brings with him hands-on management expertise in the areas of fund raising, research and development, and fiscal management. Bob also maintains close relationships with the Bay Area business and venture communities.

In addition to Capybara, Bob is founder and CEO of Acclivity Photonics, an optics-based high tech company serving the telecom sector. Acclivity's line of MirageTM micro lenses holds the promise of significantly reducing both the footprint and cost of fiber optic components. Bob has guided the company through two rounds of venture financing, and assembled and managed a world class technical and business team. Bob was also an early contributor at LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) where he served in the positions of Director of Marketing and Director of Operations.

Bob earned his Masters degree in Engineering Management from Stanford University, and also holds undergraduate degrees in Economics and Physics from Bowdoin College.