MATTER Launches Mentors-In-Residence Program to Provide Coaching For Healthcare Tech Startups
MATTER, Chicago’s new entrepreneurship and innovation hub for next-generation health IT, medical device, diagnostics and biopharma companies, today launched its Mentors-in-Residence program. MATTER’s mentors-in-residence are veteran entrepreneurs, executives and investors who will help advise the incubator’s member companies.
MATTER’s first members-in-residence are: Jordan Dolin, founder of Emmi Solutions; Richard Ferrans, a veteran physician executive and former CEO and CIO; Steve Gould, surgeon, former biotech CEO and founder of Gould Consulting Group; and Sachin Gupta, co-founder of Skyline Global Partners.
“I’m thrilled and honored to be a member of the extended MATTER team,” said Jordan Dolin, founder of Emmi Solutions. “As a 25+ year veteran of Chicago’s entrepreneurial community, I know firsthand the value of a resource like MATTER and am deeply committed to their mission. Healthcare is a complicated, challenging environment and I’m proud to support the innovators who are willing to try to make it better.”
MATTER, which will open in early 2015, will accelerate innovation by connecting the region’s healthcare ecosystem. MATTER also recently announced that it has formed strategic partnerships with leading companies across the healthcare ecosystem and raised over $8 million to support its launch.
“The mentors-in-residence will get to know MATTER startups well and help guide them through critical phases of growth,” said MATTER CEO Steven Collens. “These are experienced executives with lots of options for how they could spend their time, and we are honored they are choosing to dedicate substantial time to helping MATTER’s companies grow.”
Mentors-in-residence will spend at least one day per week at MATTER working with startups, and have made a 6-month commitment to the program.
Biographies of MATTER’s first members in residence:
Jordan Dolin is a 25+ year veteran of Chicago’s entrepreneurial community. He has founded two companies, helped to launch a third and has served as advisor/ investor/ board member for several dozen early stage companies across multiple industries. In 2002, Dolin founded Emmi Solutions, a healthcare technology company that leverages interactive media to engage and empower patients to take a more active role in their care. The company combines innovation and expertise to help leading healthcare organizations improve clinical and financial outcomes. In late 2012 Primus Capital, a private equity firm based in Cleveland Ohio, acquired Emmi Solutions. Prior to founding Emmi, Dolin spent three years on the leadership team of an artificial intelligence software company and 14 years successfully leading a consumer products company that he co-founded in 1986. He is a frequent speaker, published author and an adjunct professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business’s entrepreneurship program.
Richard Ferrans is a 20-year veteran of healthcare delivery, management and policy. Ferrans started his career as an internal medicine physician, academic chief of medical informatics and assistant professor of medicine and public health. During his career, he has participated in numerous startups in healthcare IT and biotech including founding Avreo in 1997, which trail-blazed the use of Internet protocols and automated workflow in radiology. He is one of a handful of physician executives in the country with broad experience serving as a former CEO of a Medicare ACO, health system CIO and CMIO, a Medicare Advantage medical director, and a health system executive responsible for clinical integration. Ferrans advises health systems around the country on transformation strategies to better manage populations in the era of value-based care. He is a graduate of George Washington University, Tulane Medical School, and Harvard School of Public Health.
Steve Gould is the interim executive director of Chicago Innovation Mentors (CIM) and an entrepreneur-in-residence at UChicagoTech. Gould is the founder and principal of The Gould Consulting Group LLC, which provides advisory services to companies, universities and venture investors seeking to develop and capitalize on biotechnology and life science innovations. He was previously a scientific founder and chairman and CEO of Northfield Laboratories Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company. Prior to Northfield Steve was chief of surgery at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center and a professor of surgery at the University of Chicago and then the University of Illinois at Chicago. Steve received his B.A. degree from Williams College and his M.D. degree from Boston University School of Medicine. He completed his residency training in surgery at Yale and the University of Vermont, and a research fellowship at Michael Reese and the University of Chicago.
Sachin Gupta has over 15 years of experience as an early- and late-stage investor, operator, and consultant. Prior to co-founding Skyline Global Partners, a middle-market private equity firm based in Chicago, Sachin spent 12 years in principal investing within the healthcare, technology, business services and manufacturing industries, both in the US and abroad, with firms such as UIB Capital, Toucan Capital and VentureEAST. Currently, Sachin also co-manages an angel investment fund focused on healthcare and technology. He is the co-founder of a handful of healthcare and technology companies, including Avaz Surgical, Bijali Surgical, GoTrak Systems, and Complete Clinics. Sachin sits on the board of directors of Captek Softgel and PatientFirst Infusion.
MATTER is currently accepting applications for membership. Interested entrepreneurs should visit matter.health. Membership rates start at $150 per month and include access to MATTER’s mentor network, workshops and events designed to help entrepreneurs and innovators accelerate the growth of their companies. MATTER will also provide space to venture capital firms, research universities, healthcare providers and established companies.
MATTER is a not-for-profit organization developed by a team of entrepreneurs and industry leaders and supported by the state of Illinois. ChicagoNEXT, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s council on technology and innovation, helped develop MATTER and is a key partner.
About MATTER
MATTER is a community of healthcare entrepreneurs and industry leaders working together in a shared space to individually and collectively fuel the future of healthcare innovation. MATTER’s mission is to proactively connect and promote collaboration between entrepreneurs, scientists, physicians and industry partners in order to bring next-generation products and services to market that improve quality of care and save lives. For more information, visit matter.health and follow @MATTERhealth.