Robert F. Hemphill, Jr., Managing Director, Co-Founder

Mr. Hemphill has more than 5 years' experience in seed and early stage venture capital investing, and over 20 years' experience in corporate operations, including two successful IPOs, and dozens of project and corporate financings, both domestic and international. He was a co-founder of AES, and senior manager there for over 10 years. AES is a global energy company, launched in 1982 with $1 million of venture capital funding, which today has over 30,000 employees and more than $8 billion in annual sales. Prior to AES, Mr. Hemphill was a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the US Department of Energy, and Deputy Manager of Power at the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Mr. Hemphill is currently on the board of directors of Reactive Nanotechnologies and Serviceware.

Mr. Hemphill earned an MBA from George Washington University with a specialization in finance. He also earned a MA in political science from UCLA. Mr. Hemphill graduated magna cum laude and with highest honors from Yale University, with a BA in political science, and selection to Phi Beta Kappa.

Linda Powers, Managing Director, Co-Founder

Linda F. Powers is a co-founder and Managing Director of Toucan Capital, a $140 million venture capital fund based in Bethesda, MD. She has been appointed to key technology and industry commissions by the Governors of two states. Over the past 7 years, she has become a recognized leader in the stem cell industry nationwide in the U.S, as well as in Europe, India and China, and she served as the Chair of Maryland’s Stem Cell Commission (responsible for administering the state’s stem cell research funding) for the first two years of the program. Ms. Powers has over 25 years of experience in venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and restructurings, and public-private partnerships. Ms. Powers holds a B.A. from Princeton University (Woodrow Wilson School/Economics), magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and a J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School.

Toucan Capital specializes in life sciences investments, with particular emphasis on regenerative medicine (stem cells and tissue engineering) and oncology. Toucan is the only investment fund in the U.S. that has been a major investor in regenerative medicine for over 7 years, and the only fund that has already built a large, diversified portfolio of regenerative medicine companies. The Fund has 16 stem cell companies in its portfolio, spanning all major therapeutic categories as well as tools and services. Toucan’s portfolio companies are active throughout the U.S., and in Israel, Europe, India and China.

Ms. Powers has served for several years on the Technology Advisory Board of the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL, the third largest cancer center in the U.S. by number of patients, and is a Trustee of the Trudeau Research Institute in NY, which is a leader in basic research on immunology. Her board service includes directorships of eight biotechnology companies, and various public boards including the Virginia Research and Technology Advisory Committee, the Advisory Board of the U.S. National Institutes of Standards and Technology’s Advanced Technology Program, and the National Academy of Sciences steering committee evaluating Federal research grant programs. She previously served on the Maryland Governor’s Commission on the Development of Advanced Technology Businesses, and Maryland’s Enterprise Investment Fund (the state’s investment fund).

For 6 years, Ms. Powers has taught a semester-long course on technology commercialization for scientists inside the National Institutes of Health. She also taught for 8 years as an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School.

From 1989 through 1993, Ms. Powers served as a U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce. In this position, she was a co-lead negotiator for the U.S. on the NAFTA Agreement with Canada and Mexico (financial sector agreement), and was in involved in numerous other government-to-government negotiations for trade and market access agreements. She was also responsible for a number of small business and capital access programs. During the 1980s, Ms. Powers practiced law, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, corporate financings and intellectual property transactions.

Abner M. Mhashilkar, Ph.D., Senior Associate

Dr. Mhashilkar focuses on the Stem Cell industry and other biotechnology industries at Toucan Capital. He has over 20 years of Medical Research and Development experience with emphasis on Regenerative Medicine, including Stem Cell Banking and its Clinical applications, Gene therapy using viral and non-viral vectors, and Engineered-Antibody therapeutics. Prior to joining Toucan, Dr. Mhashilkar held a Group Leader position at Athersys Inc., and was engaged in their research programs in cardiovascular disease, process development and manufacturing of bone marrow derived adult stem cells. Before coming to Athersys, Dr. Mhashilkar worked in capacities of Scientific Director, Consultant and Research Manager in different Biotechnology companies.

Dr. Mhashilkar received his M.Sc. from Bombay University, India, and trained there as Mycologist and Medical Microbiologist. He obtained his second M.Sc. in Biochemistry/Life Sciences from Weizmann Institute of Sciences, Rehovot, Israel followed by his Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology from University of Waterloo, Canada. Dr. Mhashilkar received post-doctoral training in Antibody Engineering, HIV and Retroviral vectors at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School, Boston.

Christian Walker, MBA, MS, MA, MEd, Senior Associate

Mr. Walker focuses on the cellular therapy and medical devices industries at Toucan Capital. He currently serves as CEO of MedRelief a Toucan portfolio company and previously served as Director of Business Development at Hypromatrix Inc. a leader in protein arrays. Mr. Walker has also served as President and Founder of Evacyte Corporation, an early-stage cancer detection company that won the 2001 KPMG Start-up Stand-Out award in Austin, TX where it licensed patented Optical Stretching technology from the University of Texas at Austin.

Mr. Walker received his MBA from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Masters of Science in Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He also holds a Masters of Arts in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Texas at Austin and a Masters in Science Education from the University of Massachusetts at Boston with an undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Sabrina Xu, MS, MBA, Associate

Ms. Xu focuses on the healthcare / life science activities in China at Toucan Capital. She has more than 10 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical research field both in the US and China. Before coming to the US, Ms Xu served in a five-person team to start up Roche-Xinya Vitamins, Ltd., a JV between Hoffman La-Roche and Shanghai Xinya Pharmaceuticals. Ms Xu went on to hold various positions at Purdue Pharma LP and Oncology Business Solutions, Inc., including primary and secondary marketing research, sales analysis, medical affairs and financial modeling. Prior to joining Toucan, Ms. Xu oversaw the market launch of a universal cell culture media at MidAmerican Substrates, LLC. She also served as a consultant for Tang Capital Management to evaluate and identify investment opportunities in life sciences industry in Asia.

Ms. Xu holds an MBA from New York University Stern School of Business and earned a Master of Science degree from New York University Medical Center with a major in Biomedical Sciences. She has 6 years of research expertise in Neuro-degenerative diseases at both New York University and Cornell University.