As managing partner, Linsley will play an enhanced leadership role on a team of investment, biotechnology and medical professionals who manage more than $350 million in assets and oversee investments in more than 25 active portfolio companies in the U.S. and Canada.

"Eric is a savvy investor, an experienced operating executive and a strategist who exemplifies the vision of Pappas Ventures," said Art Pappas, founder and managing partner of the firm. "By making this move today, we are recognizing the key role that Eric has played for some time -- and will play going forward. As we share senior management responsibilities, we will continue to create value for our investors, further building upon our successful, 15-year track record in identifying growth opportunities and leading life science venture investments that change the way medicine is practiced."

Notable investment successes led directly by Linsley include Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Johnson & Johnson, Cerexa, acquired by Forest Laboratories, and Panacos Pharmaceuticals, which executed a successful reverse merger with VI Technologies.

"I value and appreciate the tremendous confidence that's being placed in me. With our recent success in raising a new fund, Art, I and the entire Pappas Ventures team feel that we are in a good position to continue to create winning investment outcomes by building great life science enterprises with outstanding entrepreneurs," said Linsley.

Linsley joined Pappas Ventures in early 2000 and has played an instrumental role in raising and deploying each of Pappas' last three funds. Most recently, he and founder Art Pappas led the team that closed on Pappas Ventures IV, a $102 million venture capital fund focused on the life sciences sector. Like its immediate predecessor funds, Pappas Ventures IV is investing primarily in product-oriented biopharmaceutical companies, with a secondary focus on medical technologies. The new fund has to date invested in three portfolio companies and is actively seeking additional opportunities.

Linsley has been a venture capital investor for 18 years. From 1991 to 1997, Linsley worked as an investment professional with Ampersand Ventures, a leading venture capital firm based in Boston. As a partner at Ampersand, he held interim management positions in operating and financial roles for various industrial products and health care companies. Immediately prior to joining Pappas, Linsley served as Chief Financial Officer of TriPath Imaging, Inc. (Nasdaq: TPTH), a medical device company that was acquired in 2006 by Becton Dickinson. He played a key role in the three-way merger between AutoCyte, NeoPath and Neuromedical Systems that created TriPath. Prior to the formation of TriPath, Linsley served as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Operations at AutoCyte, where he led the company in a successful public equity offering in 1997. Linsley previously served as a management consultant with Bain & Co. and McKinsey & Co., and was a certified public accountant with Arthur Andersen LLP.

He is currently a director of BaroSense, BioSyntech (TSX: BSY), Cequent Pharmaceuticals and FlowCardia.

Linsley is also a board observer at LipoScience and Anthera Pharmaceuticals. Anthera recently filed an S-1 registration statement in connection with a planned initial public offering.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Trinity College, a Master of Science in accounting from New York University and a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

About Pappas Ventures

Founded in 1994, Pappas Ventures invests exclusively in the life sciences sector -- biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals, drug delivery, medical devices and related ventures. Pappas Ventures has more than $350 million in capital under management, and has guided the launch and/or development of more than 50 life sciences companies, including Cerexa (acquired by Forest Laboratories), Peninsula Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), Syntonix (acquired by Biogen IDEC), NuVasive (IPO), and Arena Pharmaceuticals (IPO). For more information about Pappas Ventures, please visit www.pappasventures.com.

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