Allan R. Will , MS

CEO

EBR Systems, Inc.
Sunnyvale, CA

Allan Will is an operating executive with extensive experience founding, funding, operating, and selling medical device companies. Will currently serves as CEO of EBR Systems and chairman of the board for private medical device companies. As chairman of the board of Ardian, Will played a key role in the negotiation of the company’s acquisition by Medtronic, the largest private medical device company acquisition in history. Formerly Will was a Managing Director in Split Rock Partners’ (SRP) Silicon Valley venture capital office, focusing on the therapeutic medical device field. Will joined Split Rock’s predecessor entity SPVC in 2002 after more than twenty years in operating roles, the last 17 as CEO of various Bay-area venture backed start-ups. Most recently, Will was Founder, Chairman and CEO of The Foundry, an incubator dedicated to transforming medical device concepts into companies where he co-founded 11 companies including among others Ardian, Evalve and Concentric Medical. Prior to The Foundry, Will was CEO of AneuRx, founded by Thomas Fogarty, M.D. to develop stent grafts for aortic aneurysms. During this three-year period, Will led AneuRx to make up three years on the competition, successfully launching in Europe simultaneously with the recognized market leader. AneuRx was acquired by Medtronic in 1996, growing to >$150MM one year post launch to capture an 80% market leadership position. During this period Will and Dr. Fogarty co-founded Adjacent Surgical, sold to General Surgical Innovations in 1996. In 1994, Will led a $2 billion leveraged buyout attempt of the Eli Lilly cardiovascular device businesses which later became Guidant Corporation. Previously, Will was President and CEO of Devices for Vascular Intervention (DVI), a company founded by John Simpson, MD, PhD to develop atherectomy devices. Will joined DVI in 1986 when the company consisted of 16 employees and over eight years grew the business to more than 500 employees, $100MM revenue run rate and 30% EBIT. Eli Lilly and Company acquired DVI in 1989. Prior to DVI, Will worked for Abbott Laboratories in various business development, marketing and general management capacities. Mr. Will is an inventor on over 20 issued patents. He earned his M.S. in management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981 and his B.S. in zoology from the University of Maryland in 1976. Will currently serves as a member of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center Shareholders Board and on the University of Maryland’s President’s Committee on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. In 2008 Will was the recipient of the Astia/Deloitte Leadership in Mentoring Award for mentoring women executives.