Our Advisory Board

To assist its able management team, Oasis Capital has as assembled an advisory board (the “Advisory Board”) comprised of prominent individuals from the science, technology, media and financial communities. The role of the Advisory Board and its services are as follows:
Consulting on the general conduct of the business, and on the strategic direction, of Oasis Capital Partners.
Assisting in evaluating scientific, technological and regulatory trends that might influence the strategic direction of the Oasis Technology Fund.
Serving on the boards of portfolio companies as requested from time to time by the General Partner of the Partnership, but such service shall not be required.
Providing consulting services and advice to portfolio companies, as requested from time to time by the General Partner of the Partnership.
In the discretion of the General Partner and Manager, participating in opportunities to co-invest directly in portfolio companies.
Consulting with the General Partner and Manager, as may be requested by either of them, on matters of Partnership governance, including but not limited to conflict of interest issues.
Assisting in identifying firms and individuals most qualified to assist Oasis Capital, the General Partner and the Manager in the conduct of their responsibilities, as consultants, employees or otherwise.
The Advisory Board shall have no power or function that would constitute, in any respect, rendering advice to the Partnership, the General Partner or the Manager as to the value of securities or as to the advisability of investing in, purchasing, or selling securities, and the Advisory Board shall not render such service. The approval of the Advisory Board shall not be required for any investment or other action by the General Partner, the Manager, or Oasis Capital.Background information on members of Oasis Capital’s Advisory Board appears on the following pages.
Jill Bargonetti, Ph.D.
Dr. Jill Bargonetti is an Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at Hunter College. Dr. Bargonetti has made significant contributions to cancer research, particularly relating to the p53 tumor suppressor and its relation to DNA. She is also investigating how different chemotherapeutic drugs can activate the p53 protein during the course of the cell cycle.Dr. Bargonetti has published in distinguished journals, received over $1 million in grant funding, and received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the National Science Foundation in 1997. In 2001, she received a New York City Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Science and Technology and an Outstanding Women Scientist Award from the Association for Women in Science.

Jill Bargonetti holds a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, both from New York University. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University where her research focused on identifying the DNA and RNA binding properties of the tumor suppressor protein p53.
Rayton Gerald
Rayton Gerald is an independent financial advisor and business consultant with almost thirty years experience in working with privately-held companies throughout the United States. Over his career, Mr. Gerald has served as an advisor on merger & acquisition transactions, provided valuation and fairness opinions (including several transactions involving Employee Stock Ownership Plans [ESOP's]), structured employee and management buyouts, and served as a principal in several investor syndicates.While his consulting has ranged from manufacturing to services, Ray Gerald is widely recognized for his work in the communications industry, and he is an authority on the economics of magazine publishing. He is a long-time advisor to Essence Communications and Edward Lewis, Essence CEO and current president of the Magazine Publishers Association.

Mr. Gerald holds an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.
Sara Gusik
Sara Gusik has over twenty years of experience in biotechnology that includes positions in industry as well as academic settings. Ms Gusik is presently an Associate Director at Columbia Innovation Enterprise, the technology transfer office for Columbia University. She is responsible fro negotiating licenses in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device sectors and forming research collaborations with industrial sponsors in these areas. In addition, she manages the creation of start-up companies in Columbia University’s portfolio of companies.Ms Gusik began her career as a biochemical researcher at several leading academic centers, including New York University, Columbia University and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She then moved to Applied Microbiology, a biotechnology start-up, where she focused research and product development. While at Applied Microbiology, Ms. Gusik invented an antimicrobial technology which has been commercialized. She holds several patents for her work in biotechnology.

Sara Gusik holds a B.S. in Biology and a M.S. in Biochemistry; both degrees are from New York University.
Marc R. Hannah, Ph.D.
Co-founder of Silicon Graphics.
Robert Naismith, Ph.D.
Dr. Naismith has over twenty years of experience in the biotechnology and healthcare industries in a variety of capacities. He is the Managing Director of Genome Securities, Inc., a specialist investment banking firm that provides financial advisory and merger & acquisition services to small and emerging growth health science companies.From 1996 to 1998, he served as Managing Director for Healthcare and Chairman of the Healthcare and Scientific Advisory Board at BlueStone Capital Partners, L.P. He founded Biofor, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, and served as its President, Chief Executive Officer and Director. He has also been Vice President of Scherer Healthcare, a diversified healthcare company; a co-founder and Executive Vice President of Pharmakon Research International, Inc., a major international pre-clinical contract research organization; and Chairman and Director of the Microcap Fund, a publicly-traded bridge fund.

Dr. Naismith serves as a Trustee of the William Harvey Medical Research Foundation in London. He holds an adjunct associate professorship in the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University and adjunct professorships at Pennsylvania State University and University of Scranton. [At University of Scranton], he also serves as a Senior Fellow at The Institute for Molecular Biology and Medicine. Dr. Naismith serves on several Boards of Directors, including Cistron Biotechnology, Inc., The Pennsylvania Regional Tissue Bank, Inc., the International Institute for the Advancement of Medicine, and the Marion Nichols Corporation.

Dr. Naismith holds a Ph.D. in genetics from Pennsylvania State University.
Linda Pharr
Linda Pharr is a senior marketing communications executive with over thirty years experience in international and domestic marketing and advertising. Ms. Pharr, who is currently Director of Client Services of Wrightway Creative Group, has worked on brand building in large corporate settings and in small entrepreneurial environments. Her experience spans a variety of industries, as well, including consumer goods, retail, financial services and business-to-business. Beginning as an Assistant Account Executive at Young & Rubicam, Inc. (Y&R), Ms. Pharr has served as VP/Management Supervisor at Grey Advertising, Inc., Senior VP/Director of Account Services and a member of the management committee at Burrell Advertising, and Senior VP/Managing Director at Y&R. Her responsibilities have ranged from new business development to managing a 250-person team responsible for integrating all communications disciplines (advertising, sales promotions, public relations, database management, telemarketing, Internet and international) for the U.S. Postal Service.Linda Pharr-led teams have developed award winning creative campaigns for General Foods, General Mills, Kayser Roth, and International Platex brands. In 1984, her team won a prestigious Gold One Show Award for their work for Danskin Corporation.

Ms. Pharr is a graduate of New York University’s School of Commerce and has attended the Stern Graduate School of Business at New York University.
Orville Curtis Wright, Jr.
Orville Wright is an executive with over twenty-five years experience as an investment and mortgage banker, a marketing executive in contract engineering and a consultant on a variety of technology projects. Currently, he is President and CEO of Carfax Mortgage Loan Brokers and a principal of Arete Technologies, LLP. Arete is a market consulting group specializing in global sourcing for manufacturers.Prior to his current responsibilities, Mr. Wright was Vice President of Foreign Military Sales for JPI, Inc. at the Air Force Security Assistance Center, Wright Patterson Air Force Base. At JPI, he participated in research and development focused on effecting technology transfers from the military and the Department of Energy to the private sector. Through an independent venture, Quantum Research Group (headquartered at Cambridge University, England), Mr. Wright has worked with Russian scientists to develop titanium metallurgy, composites and ceramics for use in the automotive industry. In the 1993-1998 period, he used his extensive language skills to translate German and Russian technical documents on powered titanium metallurgy, hydraulics and pneumatics into English, in collaboration with CCDM/Silco Forge and Carnegie Mellon University.

Before moving into research and contract engineering, Mr. Wright spent six years as an investment banker specializing in mergers and acquisitions (m&a). In the 1983-1989 period, he served as an advisor to a number of the principals in headline transactions: Stanley Marcus, Chairman of Carter Hawley Hale; Asher Edelman of Ponderosa Restaurants; T. Boone Pickens; Carl Lindner of Home State Savings Bank, and others.

Mr. Wright is a BA graduate of Wright State University, holds an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business, and earned a J.D. from Yale Law School. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1976.