Fred co-founded De Novo in 2000. Prior to De Novo, he was a Managing General Partner of Medicus Venture Partners (“Medicus”), which he founded in 1989. Medicus was an early stage investor in companies such as Anergen, Applied Molecular Evolution, Biosite Diagnostics, Inhale Therapeutic Systems (now Nektar), Omnicell and Tularik. Prior to Medicus, he was a General Partner with Crosspoint Venture Partners for 5 years, where he invested in life sciences companies. Prior to joining Crosspoint, Fred served in executive positions in finance, marketing, sales, manufacturing and business development for companies selling pharmaceuticals (Searle), medical instruments (Merrimack), biotechnology research tools (Millipore), and computers (IBM).
Fred earned an MBA from the University of Chicago, a Masters equivalent in Economics from the University of Louvain, Belgium and a BS in Engineering from Iowa State University, where he received a Professional Achievement Citation in Engineering in 2000. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Journal of Private Equity.
Fred sits on the boards of Bayhill Therapeutics, Cartilix, HemaQuest, Talima, SenoRx (NASDAQ: SENO) and Vitreo Retinal Technologies. Fred also represented De Novo on investments in Microvention, Oncomed and Renovis.
