Board of Directors
Dr. Lynn Bahr
Dr. Lynn Bahr graduated from the College of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Georgia in 1991. Between 1991 and 2006, she worked as a DVM at Cheshire Animal Hospital, Ft. McPherson Army, East Cobb Veterinary Clinic and Sandy Springs Animal Hospital as part of an exotic animal practice.
Dr. Diana Hawkins Manuelian
Diana Hawkins Manuelian is a consultant and entrepreneur in the area of advanced TV services. Dr. Hawkins graduated from Harvard Graduate School of Education (Doctorate in Human Development, Educational Media and Interactive Technology) and the State University of New York (B.A. and B.F.A in Psychology). Diana Hawkins Manuelian has extensive experience in the gaming industry and in theme park development.
Dr. Tom Merigan
Thomas C. Merigan, MD is the George E. and Lucy Becher Professor Emeritus of Medicine and the Director Emeritus of the Center for AIDS Research at Stanford University. Dr. Merigan is a distinguished teacher and physician; his research focused on human host defense responses to viruses and on developing human antivirals. He introduced Interferon (native and recombinent) to treat human viral infections such as hepatitis, herpes, cancers and multiple sclerosis. In his long and distinguished career, he has published 575 papers, edited 23 books, was awarded 11 US patents and was selected as one of the 250 most highly cited scientists in Clinical Medicine (1981-2001). Dr. Merigan has been a governmental advisor to several governments, including the US government (8 Congressional appearances). He is a consultant to a wide variety of profit and non-profit organizations. Dr. Merigan graduated from UC Berkeley (BA) and UCSF (MD). His clinical and research training was at Harvard Medical School and the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, Maryland).
Sue Merigan
Sue Wuerflein Merigan served as President of the Junior League of San Jose and the Summit League. Ms. Merigan served as a Trustee of The Health Trust, Inc. She served on the Board of Directors for Good Samaritan Hospital-HCA for six years and has actively supported the hospital through a variety of volunteer activities and committee assignments for more than 10 years. She served as Trustee of the San Francisco Zoo. She served on the Planetree Health Library Board and was a Member of the Governance Forum Advisory Board to the California Healthcare Association. She has a lifelong commitment to volunteerism and community service. She is a Registered Nurse who helped to establish the Volunteer Nurses Association of Santa Clara County. Ms. Merigan holds a BS in Nursing from the University of Michigan.
Michele Raffin
Michele Raffin was a high tech executive, venture capital consultant and writer before deciding to devote her time to saving animals. Her publications include articles in the Aviculture Society of American Bulletin, Australian Aviculture, American Dove Association Dove Line and other avian related journals. Her books include Love that Lasts and The Good Nanny Book. Pandemonium: Life, Love and Birds on the Edge of Extinction, a book about Pandemonioum Aviaries and its birds, will be published by Algonquin Books.
Ms. Raffin has been a lifelong animal lover. She was the Co-chair, Board of Directors of a large humane society for five years and served on the board of a companion bird rescue organization. Her passion for conservation and protection of the natural world is focused on saving bird species from extinction.
Ms. Raffin graduated from Tufts University (BA, Political Science) and Stanford University School of Business (Masters in Managment Science). She studied incubation with Susan Kaiseke (California Condor Project) and is a certified Aviculturist through the American Federation of Aviculture. Ms. Raffin won a gold medal at the 2011 Pan American Olympic Weight Lifting Championship and holds the Pan American Masters record.
Dr. Thomas Raffin
Dr. Raffin has spent 30 years on the faculty at Stanford University School of Medicine where he remains the Colleen and Robert Haas Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Biomedical Ethics, former Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Co-Founder and Director Emeritus of the Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics. Dr. Raffin has been an active clinician, teacher and investigator, and has written over 200 articles, chapters and books. Over the past two decades he has worked extensively in the healthcare and medical device business sectors and was an advisor to: Cell Therapeutics Inc. (1993-1997), Broncus Technologies (1997-2004), iMedica (1998-2002), and Inhale Technologies (1998-2001). He co-founded Rigel Pharmaceuticals in 1996. In 2001 he co-founded as a General Partner the San Francisco life sciences private equity firm Telegraph Hill Partners. Dr. Raffin has been a member of the Board of Directors of AngioScore, Confirma, Freedom Innovations, LDR, NewLink Genetics and PneumRx. Dr. Raffin served on the Board of Directors of the Humane Society Silicon Valley. Dr. Raffin received a BA from Stanford University and an M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine and medical residency at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston.
Dr. Alex Shubat
Dr. Alex Shubat has more than 25 Years of experience in the Design, Management and Executive Roles in the Technology industry. He is currently an investor, Board Member and an Executive Advisor to a number of startups. He is a member of the Band of Angels and Silicom Ventures.
Alex co-founded Virage Logic in 1996 and served as the company’s president and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) until Sept 2010 when the company was acquired by Synopsys. During his tenure as the CEO, the company doubled in revenue, grew profitability, gained market share through both organic and inorganic product expansion, completed three acquisitions and expanded its global footprint. Prior to taking on the role of president and CEO, he served as COO and CTO.
Prior to co-founding Virage Logic, he served as director of engineering at WaferScale Integration, a provider of Programmable Microcontroller Peripherals (subsequently acquired by ST).
Alex is serving on the Santa Clara University Industry Advisory Board and he served on the EDA Consortium (EDAC) Board of Directors. He has an executive M.B.A. from Stanford University, a B.S. and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto, Canada, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Santa Clara University.
Ed and Pamela Taft
Edward and Pamela Taft live in Los Altos Hills, California. They have been married since 2003. They both grew up in the Boston area, but they had not known each other prior to their first meeting in 2002.
Ed moved to the Bay Area in 1973 after college. He worked as a software engineer at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) for ten years. In 1984, he joined a tiny startup company named Adobe Systems. Today, he is still at Adobe in a very small part-time capacity.
Pamela previously lived in North Carolina, where she was employed at Nortel Networks for 23 years until her retirement in 2001.
Ed and Pamela are active in various philanthropies, primarily in the areas of education and health care. They are major supporters of El Camino Hospital Foundation, where Pamela has served on the board, and of Fogarty Institute for Innovation. In Boston, they support St. Mark’s School (which Ed attended) and New England Aquarium. They also support Zamorano, an agricultural university in Honduras. Ed serves on the board of Los Altos History Museum.
Ed and Pamela travel extensively. While they have no background in birds, they have had some amazing bird-watching experiences during their travels. Pamela loves birds and hopes to bring some of her fund-raising experience to Pandemonium.
