Nola Masterson works with Board Wise and serves clients on governance practices and coaches’ directors and aspirational directors. She is an experienced global executive and board leader serving on public company, venture-backed private company and non-profit organization boards. Her successful business experience, as CEO and co-founder of Sequenom (SQNM) and the first analyst in biotechnology on Wall Street with Drexel Burnham Lambert and Merrill Lynch, followed successful business building at Millipore for eight years. She has experience in managing her own venture fund, as well as being a Venture Partner in a major European IT and life sciences venture fund, TVM.  She is co-Chair of the San Francisco Chapter of Women Corporate Directors (WCD) Foundation. Areas of her expertise include medical device, pharmaceuticals, scientific tools, separation processes and diagnostics technology as well as genetic analysis. One strength she brings is her understanding, at several levels, of the “DNA” that makes a great company. Her leadership style is as a synthesizer, to create a professional board environment that is aligned with, and which contributes to the success of, companies at every stage in their development. Ms. Masterson has been certified by the American College of Corporate Directors as an Advanced Professional Director, and is listed in the Intrabond.com Capital Registry of Corporate Directors. She has solid experience in board position recruitment and CEO transition processes, in building productive board cultures and aligning these with CEOs and senior executive accountabilities. She is an Adjunct Professor at the University of San Francisco in the School of Management.