Dennis B. Costello

Dennis is co-founder and Managing Partner of Triathlon Medical Ventures in Cincinnati. Dennis brings more than 30 years of industry experience in both therapeutics and medical devices to Triathlon. Dennis was with Senmed Medical Ventures from 1996 to 2003 where he originated and managed early and later-stage investments and provided general management for Senmed's start-up investments. He previously represented Senmed Medical Ventures on several boards and currently represents Triathlon on the board of Suturtek.

Prior to joining Senmed in 1996, he served in general management and senior marketing and business development positions for both large public and small private life science companies including American Critical Care (a division of American Hospital Supply Corporation), Clonetics Inc, Regent Hospital Products and Hana Biologics.

Dennis holds a BS from the U.S. Naval Academy and an MBA from The Harvard Business School.

John M. Rice, Ph.D.

John is founder and Managing Partner of Triathlon Medical Ventures based in Cincinnati and brings 18 years of venture investing and 13 years of research and R&D management experience in biotechnology, devices, and diagnostics. John was a Managing Director of Senmed Medical Ventures from 1989 until 2003 where he was a member of the investment committee and led the emerging medical technology investment efforts. Prior to joining Senmed, John spent 13 years with Battelle Memorial Institute serving in various research, research management, and business development capacities. Locally and regionally, John was among the early organizers of Bio/Start, Cincinnati's biomedical business incubator and currently serves as Chairman of its Board of Trustees. He is also a trustee of BioOhio, Ohio's life science economic development organization and of the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center at the Cleveland Clinic. John represents Triathlon on the boards of Akebia Therapeutics Inc. as Chairman, and Kereos Inc., and is an observer on the boards of CS-Keys, CoLucid, and Endocyte.

John earned his BS, MS and Ph.D degrees in Microbiology and Virology from The Ohio State University and is currently and adjunct faculty member in the College of Medicine.

Carrie Bates

Carrie Bates, Managing Partner of Triathlon Medical Ventures, has over 20 years of venture and operating experience, with a focus on medical devices and pharmaceuticals. At Guidant Corporation she ran Compass, Guidant’s venture group. Prior to that, she held various senior management operating positions at Guidant and Eli Lilly. She has an MBA from Stanford, a BS in Finance and a BS in Computer Science, and is a CPA.

She is Chairman of the Board of CS-Keys, on the Board of Directors of Mitralign and Pradama, and was on the Board of Directors of Remon Medical Technologies prior to its acquisition by Boston Scientific.

George Emont

George Emont is a partner with Triathlon Medical Ventures and a Managing Partner of the Kentucky Seed Capital Fund.

Mr. Emont’s two decades of health care industry experience include 12 years in venture capital. Prior to joining Triathlon and KCSF, Mr. Emont was the Director of Venture Capital for Humana Inc. where he managed a venture capital fund that made investments totaling over $75 million in 11 portfolio companies and three venture funds.

Mr. Emont’s resume includes service with Baxter Healthcare Corporation and IAI Venture Capital Group, followed by the successful launch and eventual sale of oncology-focused biotechnology start-up OncoTherapeutics.

Mr. Emont currently represents Triathlon on the board of Celleration. He is also on the boards of ApoImmune, a company that develops vaccines using a proprietary technology to deliver proteins; RhinoCyte, Inc., a biotechnology company that has developed a method of isolating adult stem cells located in the olfactory regions of the human nasal passageway for therapeutic use in spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s Disease, MS and ALS; and Elderserve, a non-profit agency that provides services to over 8000 senior citizens in Louisville, Kentucky the surrounding area.

Mr. Emont is from Granville, Ohio, holds a B.A. from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Randy H. Weiss, Ph.D

Randy is a Partner with Triathlon Medical Ventures and Managing Director of Start-up St. Louis, LLC.

Start-up St. Louis provides services to early-stage biomedical companies, investors, and research institutions. Randy is also a member of the St. Louis Arch Angels’ investor group and serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Iowa Research Foundation.

Previously, he was Vice President of BioGenerator, a St. Louis-based commercialization center, and helped provide seed investments to five early-stage life science companies, as well as serving on the board of APT Therapeutics. He also served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of ABC Laboratories, a pharmaceutical contract research organization. As President of Molecular Strategies, he provided due diligence services to St. Louis area venture capital firms. Randy also served as Executive Vice President of Crown Capital Corporation, an investment banking firm.

From 1987 until 2000 Randy was with Monsanto/Searle until its sale to Pharmacia and served in various research and development roles, including Director of Research & Development and as a co-inventor of technology that was spun-off to MetaPhore Pharmaceuticals, a venture-backed pharmaceutical start-up.

Randy has a Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry and an Executive MBA degree, both from Washington University in St. Louis. He was a Robert A. Welch post-doctoral fellow in Biochemistry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Randy serves as an observer on Kereos’ board.

Mark Collar

Mark is a venture partner of Triathlon Medical Ventures in Cincinnati, which he joined in 2008 after retiring as president of Global Pharmaceuticals and Personal Health at Procter & Gamble. Mark brings 15 years of broad-spectrum expertise in the pharmaceutical business — from discovery and development through launch and sales — as well as an invaluable network of industry relationships.

No stranger to the venture capital world, Mark was appointed by the governor and currently is chairman of the Third Frontier Advisory Board, which provides direction for Ohio’s $1.6 billion economic development investment fund, and also is vice chairman of BioOhio, the state’s life science economic development organization. He sits on the board of directors of Ohio-based AtriCure, Inc., is a Trustee and, Member, Executive Committee, of the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, and was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to advise the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

In addition, Mark serves on the research committee of the board of trustees for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

He is a Wisconsin native, and received his Bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University.