Definiens Supervisory Board
Friedrich Bornikoel (Chairman)
Friedrich Bornikoel joined TVM Capital in 1987. He has 20 years of experience in venture capital and has been a Managing Partner of TVM Capital since 1997. His investment activities focus primarily on companies in the following sectors: software, industrial applications, design and planning tools, telecommunications and semiconductors.
Currently Mr. Bornikoel represents TVM Capital on the Board of Directors of alfabet AG (Berlin), Definiens AG (Munich), iTAC Software AG (Dernbach) and VPIsystems (Holmdel, NJ). For many years he served on the board of SCM Microsystems, an early TVM Capital lead investment, and various other portfolio companies. He was a member of the Board of the German venture capital organization BVK from 2003-2007.
Prior to joining TVM Capital, he managed a large program of public R&D grants administered by the Federal Minister of Science and Technology (BMFT) in the area of advanced microelectronic components and sensors based on fiberoptics, integrated optics, and semiconductor technologies, as well as related design methods. Prior to joining BMFT, he was a project leader at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Technology in Munich.
Friedrich Bornikoel earned his master in physics (Diplom Physiker) at the Technical University of Munich.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Uwe Bicker MD PhD (Deputy Chairman)
Prof. Uwe Bicker is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Adventism Foundation, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics GmbH and a Member of the Board of the University of Marburg. He is also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Future Capital AG, Frankfurt, Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Epigenomics AG and Member of Conseil d´Adimistration Sanofi-Aventis SA, Paris.
He was previously a board member of the Behringwerke AG, a board member of HoechstMarionRoussel AG and a board member of Boehringer Mannheim GmbH. He is a qualified physician, holds doctorates in medicine and chemistry and is a Professor at the University of Heidelberg Medical School.
Prof. Dr. Gerd Binnig
Prof. Dr. Gerd Binnig, along with his colleague, Heinrich Rohrer, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986 for his work in scanning tunneling microscopy. Mr. Binnig and Mr. Rohrer were recognized for developing the powerful microscopy technique, which can form an image of individual atoms on a metal or semiconductor surface by scanning the tip of a needle over the surface at a height of only a few atomic diameters.
Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Mr. Binnig was educated at J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1973 and his doctorate in 1978. That year he joined a physics research group at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory. Mr. Binnig was assigned to IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., from 1985 to 1986, and was a visiting professor at nearby Stanford University from 1987 to 1988. Mr. Binnig is a permanent consultant for Definiens since 1994.
Werner Dreesbach
Until founding Cipio Partners in 2003, Werner Dreesbach was a Senior Principal of Atlas Venture, Boston/London, a large early-stage investment firm serving the Information Technology, Communications and Life Sciences industries with funds of $2.4bn. He was a member of Atlas Venture's Global Management and Investment Committees responsible for evaluating and approving all investments made by the partnership. In his day-to-day responsibility, he served as lead partner for numerous investments, especially in the German-speaking countries.
Prior to Atlas, Mr. Dreesbach was Vice President Strategic Development for NASDAQ-listed Viasoft Corporation, a developer of software tools. In 1996, he sold his own company, R&O Software-Technik GmbH, one of Europe's largest system software vendors, to Viasoft. Prior to co-founding R&O in 1984, he served as a senior consultant with Diebold & Partner, one of Germany's leading management consultancies in IT strategy and management, now part of Deutsche Telekom. Mr. Dreesbach holds a BA degree in Computer Science with a minor in Psychology from Bonn University.
Steffen Schuster
Steffen Schuster, General Partner, Corporate Finance TVM Capital, works closely together with the Information Technology Team on all aspects of corporate finance involving the TVM portfolio companies.
Mr. Schuster joined TVM Capital in February 2008 after almost 5 years as CFO of publicly traded Unified Messaging Software company Cycos AG (YOS.DE) where he successfully managed a corporate turnaround followed by an international expansion of business operations through his management of finances, controlling, investor relations, human resources, information technology, and quality management. Prior to his tenure at Cycos, Steffen was an investment partner at I+C Mustang Funds for Europe and Israel, a part of Siemens Venture Capital GmbH. After several successful years with the Siemens Network Division in various positions in international M&A and controlling of large information technology service projects in Asia and Africa he co-founded the Mustang Ventures fund, where he was MD Finance and investment partner. Steffen Schuster holds a Master of Economics (Dipl.-Kfm.) of the University of Saarbrücken.
