Page History

Todd C. Zion, Ph.D., is the Co-founder, President and CEO of Akston Biosciences

Corporation, which is developing an injectable therapy for antigenspecific

prevention of Type 1 Diabetes. Prior to starting Akston Biosciences,

Zion founded SmartCells, Inc. to develop SmartInsulin, the first glucose-regulated,

injectable formulation for treating diabetes. As SmartCells’ President

and CEO, Zion was instrumental in raising $10 million in equity financing

and $10 million in grants to support research and clinical development.

Merck and Co. acquired SmartCells for over $500 million in cash and clinical

milestone payments. Prior to enrolling at MIT, he worked as a polymer

development engineer at Eastman Kodak. Zion graduated from Cornell

University summa cum laude with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering. He is

currently an Associate Director at MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service and also

serves on a number of advisory boards including those of the Beth Israel

Deaconess Medical Center, Joslin Diabetes Center, and the Cornell Engineering

College Council. He is also active in his community serving as the head

of Devereux School and President of Dollars for Scholars.

Andrew W. Verhalen joined Matrix Partners, a venture capital partnership
in 1992. Since then he has led Matrix’s involvement in dozens of successful
technology companies, including Phone.com, which went public in 1999;
SiTera, which sold to Vitesse; and Alteon Websystems, which listed its shares
on Nasdaq before being acquired by Nortel Networks. Before joining Matrix,
Verhalen helped start Grand Junction Networks, an Ethernet switch business
that is now a major division of Cisco. Previously he worked for 3Com, where
he built a new division focused on network adapters and hubs. Prior to that,
he managed marketing for Intel’s flagship microprocessor, the 8086. Today
he is working with a few young companies: Ambarella provides HD video
and image processing solutions; Panzura provides enterprise cloud storage
controllers; Sila Nanotechnologies is developing advanced battery materials.
Verhalen received a B.S. in electrical engineering, M.Eng. in electrical
engineering and M.B.A. all from Cornell.

260 Homer Avenue,
Suite 201
Palo Alto, CA 94301
650-798-1600 (office)
650-798-1601 (fax)
averhalen@matrixpartners72 Nanepashemet St.
Marblehead, MA 01945
857 389-2273
todd@toddzion.com