Guido has served as a member of our board of directors since 2006. From July 2004 until retiring in November 2005, Mr. Neels served as Chief Executive Officer of Guidant Corporation, a world leader in the development of cardiovascular medical products. He was responsible for the global operations of Guidant�s four operating units: Cardiac Rhythm Management, Vascular Intervention, Cardiac Surgery, and Endovascular Solutions. From December 2002 to July 2004, Mr. Neels was group chairman, Office of the President, responsible for worldwide sales operations, corporate communications, corporate marketing, investor relations and government relations. In January 2000, he was named president, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Canada. Mr. Neels previously served as vice president of global marketing for Vascular Intervention and as managing director for German and Central European operations. Mr. Neels is a director of Biopure Corporation, a publicly-traded developer and manufacturer of oxygen therapeutics, and the New England Healthcare Institute, a nonprofit, applied research health policy organization. Mr. Neels holds a business engineering degree from the University of Leuven in Belgium and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. |